I've got a writing challenge going each week that's an open submission grid limited to 50 bloggers on the challenge grid and unlimited bloggers on the hangout grid.
It's a cool showcase of the best writing you can bring us--personal essay mainly, although there can be some fiction thrown in---that's put to a friendly vote each week.
We really do have an elevated spirit of community found in very few places on the Web. It welcomes newcomers (we call them virgins) and it's a good mix of beginning writers learning from the advanced writers as we tell stories on the grids, hang out on Twitter and drink.
Please join us!
I love this, Erica. Such a fine idea. I've tried my best to enlist my blog as a place where the work of other writers can be showcased, and this project of yours inspires. Bravo.