Thanks for wanting to share your story and creativity with Velvet Ashes!

We are a community of women living and serving abroad–and we would love for you to offer your words here. We’ll be richer for hearing from you.

We believe truth and hope are best shared through story. And the power of story lies in authentic vulnerability fueled by love. As you prepare a post for Velvet Ashes you may want to read What is Velvet Ashes, We are Women Who, and Responsible, Ethical Storytelling. Poke around to get a sense for what this community is all about.

We sit with a theme for the whole month. There will be one blog post per week, which will give more time to ponder together. Openings for submissions are more limited than they have been in the past when we had 3-4 posts per week. 

The questions and suggestions following each prompt are merely ideas to get you going. Feel free to take your own unique angle on the prompt. Themes with openings are listed below.  

The Return (due June 18): We live in a world that measures return in visible outcomes—impact, growth, numbers, fruit we can point to and report back. It’s easy to carry that framework into our calling, to look for evidence that the cost is paying off. But it is in the slow, often reluctant turning of our hearts back toward God that we move away from striving, proving, and away from the need to make sense of everything we carry. Can you recall a time when choosing trust (even imperfectly) became a source of strength? What did that look like?

Jealousy (due July 18): What if jealousy is not just something to resist, but something to listen to? Beneath it often lives a deeper desire: to be seen, to be chosen, to know that your life—exactly as it is—is held with intention. How have you experienced God’s presence or kindness in the midst of comparison?

Whimsy (due August 15): Whimsy is the quiet rebellion of joy. What tends to shut down your sense of playfulness or delight? What feels at risk if you embrace whimsy? How does your cultural context shape (or limit) your expression of joy, humor, or play?

Your submission should:

• Be approximately 600-900 words.
• Be submitted as a Word doc or docx only.
• Include your name and the title of your post in the document itself as well as in the doc title (example: Sarah Doe – Post Title Here.doc). We do accept pseudonyms as required by context or location.
• Be original content. We publish content that has not been published elsewhere, including personal blogs.
• Be aware that essays for online publication need only one space after periods/full stops. This will save us loads of time in the editing process.
• Conclude with a reflective question to invite conversation in the comments.
• Include a headshot and personal bio. Headshots should be attached (not in the body of your submission) and no larger than 600 x 600 px. Bios should be 100 words or less, telling us a bit about you, but mostly drawing readers to feel a connection to you. Please include all your social media hyperlinks so that readers can connect with you and so we can tag you when we share your post.

Please send your submission to Sarah at: submissions (at) velvetashes (dot) com

We do have limited spots available. If selected for publication, posts may be edited for length and clarity. We do not offer compensation for published work.

In addition to full-length blog posts, we also have up to four spots per month for micro-blogs! Published on our social media sites, micro-blogs are 200-300 words related to the monthly topic. Micro-blog submissions should be succinct and well-written. Send your micro-blog submissions to the address above! 

We look forward to reading and prayerfully considering your piece. If you don’t hear from us immediately, please don’t be alarmed. We’ll be in touch!

Thank you for the gift of your story,

– The Velvet Ashes Team