100 Words: Love

If you saw the first 100 Words Project on September 11th, you probably already have a sense of how powerful it can be to watch the screen expand over the course of the day to incorporate multiple memories on the same topic.

During the first project, 55 people contributed 100 words each on the same topic: September 11th. The only rule is that the post can be no longer than 100 words. Images can be submitted in lieu of words. On October 13th, beginning at midnight, the screen will contain a single post. At regular intervals, posts will go up, the screen expanding to collect a wave of brief thoughts.

The theme for October's 100 Words is Love. Yes, it's that simple. A single moment of intense love--between you and any other person on earth. Get creative. Did you love your kindergarten teacher, a random stranger you met at a youth hostel, your sister? There are so many kinds of love and I think October 13th will blow your mind when you read the intensity of love squeezed down into 100 words.

How long is 100 words and does it really have to be 100 words? Yes, it really can only be 100 words. And the editing will be sloppy, literally cutting off the post on the 100th word if you don't edit it to the correct amount (you do not have to use every word, but you can't go over 100). Just to give you a sense of size, see the paragraph below, which is 100 words.

So, just in case you were wondering what 100 words looks like in terms of length, this paragraph is 100 words. I checked it with that fancy word count feature on Microsoft Word (and you may want to do this too) before cutting and pasting it here. The posts are going to be set to upload once every fifteen minutes or so throughout the day, creating this long mosaic over a 24 hour period on the experience of love. Oh—and if you don’t wish to present 100 words, you can also present one image. So this is 100 words.

If you want to participate this is what we need: your blog name and url (if you want to submit your entry to run anonymously, please let me know. If not, it will be linked back to your blog). The 100 words or an image. All emailed to me. By October 2nd. This project is open to every single person in the entire world.

If you participated in the last 100 Words and would like to tell others about your experience with the project, leave a comment below.