_ For our first Writers in the Attic anthology, we’ve asked you to write about a room. It could be your kitchen, a room you know so well you barely see it anymore; or it could be an imaginary room in an imaginary mansion on an island you've never seen before. The room could even be an eggshell or a computer screen, a drawing, a dance, an emotion. What’s important is that it means something to you, the writer. It’s not just a room to you. Show us why. Let the room help you tell the story.

The following excerpt is from a column on WritersDigest.com, “‘The How of Where’—The Importance of Setting in Your Fiction,” by novelist David Rocklin. The author talks about how to transform a room into a character in your writing, and offers this prompt:

Find a room you’ve never seen. It has no meaning to you and holds nothing of your past life. You don’t know its contours, or how it looks on a cloudy morning. You can literally find one and occupy it, or find a picture and imagine yourself into it. Describe it. Tell the readers what we see. What we could touch, if only we were really there.

Now, describe the same room a second time. This time, give the room a story. This is where someone died. That chair was where a husband sat as his wife told him that she was leaving him. Out that window, a single mother watched a moving van pull up after losing the house to foreclosure.

What just happened? The room’s physical description changed, didn’t it? That’s not merely a bed. That’s not simply a street outside. The walls and their peeled paint have something akin to a voice. This setting isn’t just an edifice or a space anymore. It bears witness.

_ The Cabin is now accepting submissions for the first edition of Writers in the Attic, a new digital anthology that will showcase work from local authors. We're accepting fiction or nonfiction stories, 1,000 words or less, on the subject of a room. Entries will be accepted through January 31, 2012.

UPDATE 12/6/11: We are no longer charging an entry fee or awarding money for accepted entries. If you've already entered, we'll either refund your money or grandfather you in with the old rules, whichever you prefer. Please see updated guidelines. Manuscripts must be free of personal information to allow for blind judging. Entries will be read and considered by a team of professional writers and editors. A submission form along with the full list of rules and guidelines is available by clicking on WITA Guidelines and WITA Submission Form.