Literary Site Wants Your D.C. Experiences

The literary Web site Hitotoki (pronounced hee toe toe key) is looking to launch a D.C. edition, but the editorial staff is facing a small problem — they need content.

What is Hitotoki, you ask? In Japanese, the word can mean a moment or a brief stretch of time. Online, it's a project — launched in May 2007 — that publishes stories tied to specific locations within a city. These stories range from an Italian artist questioning his stay in Tokyo after an experience in a book store to a band from the Midwest getting hit up by a potential manager/janitor in the Bowery subway station. The site currently has Tokyo, New York and London editions, but it plans to expand to D.C., Paris and Shanghai.

Greg Lavallee, who is handling the submissions for the D.C. site, describes Hitotoki's purpose as "alerting people to the interesting in the everyday," adding, "If it gives novice or experienced writers a chance to show their stuff, all the better."

If you're interested in writing for Hitotoki, download a submission form or check out the site's temporary D.C. page. Stories should be 200-500 words long, focus on a single moment in a specific place and authored by someone who either lives in or has visited the city.