FINISH THAT THOUGHT #19

Welcome back for week 19 of Finish That Thought! This is a special day...seriously...11/12/13? That's just cool. :) (unless you write your date the other way...then you have to wait for the 11th of December...) (And yes, this goes live at 10pm on Monday, so you'll just have to wait for tomorrow if you're reading this then...) Sorry for the ramble. Wow. NaNo is messing with my brain! Go write!

NaNoers: By the end of this flash contest, you should have 20,000 words on your NaNoWriMo Novel to be 'on track'. (as of writing this, I don't...no judging coming from me!) No matter where you are in relation to that number, KEEP GOING! Every word written is a word you didn't have before! Feel free to use this prompt in your WIP, or take a break and jot off a quick flash piece to rest your brain from the story...whatever will help most. Write on!



If you need to read the full version of the rules, go here. Otherwise, here's the short version:

Rules:
1. Up to 500 words
2. Keep it clean (nothing rated R or above)
3. Start with the given first sentence.
4. Optional Special Challenge
5. Include Twitter/email, word count, Special Challenge accepted
6. The challenge is open for 24 hours on Tuesday EST



Oh, and feel free to change pronouns, punctuation, tense, and anything in brackets to fit the story/pov/tone. I'm not going to be TOO picky... Our judge however...

Our Judge today is Eric Martell also known as @drmagoo. Check out his blog here. Read his winning tale from last week here!

 Your first sentence for FINISH THAT THOUGHT #19 is:
[She] awoke in the grass, freshly mowed except for a ring around [her] body.



 Your SPECIAL CHALLENGE from the judge is:


An ending and an answer.


 AAAAAAAND WE'RE OFF!!!

FINISH THAT THOUGHT #18 - RESULTS!

I LOVED you entries! Imaginary friends are so much fun...or...erm...maybe not! And the DARES!  What? Remind me to never play truth or dare with any of you! :) If you missed all the fun, go read the entries here. Otherwise, let's see what our judge had to say. (oh, she also commented on the thread, so check those out too if you missed that!)



Reviews:

drmagoo :

OH, I was so hoping he'd at least have a bungee cord. But alas, it's not to be. First time I read this my heart was pounding. Great tension. I felt right in the story, unfortunately, all the way to the end. Yikes! Great work.

Michelle:

Wow, okay I got chills at the end.
Love that you kept me guessing who was the imaginary one up until the last part. At first I thought it was Robert.
Loved this. Great job.

Pen Name: 

You put me right in your world. Loved the dialect and that he was an ogre. Really liked this character, hope you can use him again in a bigger story.
Well done.

 

Melissa:

As one whose spelling is horrid, I can see where entering a spelling bee would be dangerous. Enjoyed the story and I always have to look up discombobulated, too, but I love how it sounds. lol. Fun read.

JM MacF: 
Didn't see that coming. lol. I was confused at first, thinking she had the crush on Isaac, but I believe that's what you intended. I liked the surprise ending, but did have to reread a couple of times to understand what was going on. Perhaps showing the empty swing next to her in the beginning might have cleared that up. Loved the twist at the end.

Rebekah Postupak:
Noooo, oh, poor girl. What a great twisting of fairy tales, along with a great ending. Enjoyed this story and loved how you even twisted up the challenge in the end. Well done!



Everyone entered some great stories. I really enjoyed them all and loved that everyone even accepted both challenges. Great work all of you.

Okay, after much deliberation and arguing with Stanley who wishes everyone would write about nice imaginary friends - like, why would they do that? Geeze - We've... uh, I have made my decision. Hush Stanley!

Here goes:
 

 

 Special Challenge Runner - Up:
Rebekah Postupak - Enchanted



 

Special Challenge Champion:

Pen Name - Boys Will Be Boys

 

 

 

 

Grand Champion Runner - Up:

Michelle - Imaginary


 
Grand Champion:

drmagoo - Untitled

FINISH THAT THOUGHT #18

Welcome back for week 18 of Finish That Thought! Hopefully you're 7K into NaNo (if you're participating) by now... If you are participating in NaNo, feel free to use this prompt in your WIP, or take a break and jot off a quick flash piece to rest your brain from the story...whatever will help most. Feel free to post a snippet of your story here (begin at given first line and no more than 500 words). For the rest of you, you've got a flash story to write! I dare you.... ;)



If you need to read the full version of the rules, go here. Otherwise, here's the short version:

Rules:
1. Up to 500 words
2. Keep it clean (nothing rated R or above)
3. Start with the given first sentence.
4. Optional Special Challenge
5. Include Twitter/email, word count, Special Challenge accepted
6. The challenge is open for 24 hours on Tuesday EST


Oh, and feel free to change pronouns, punctuation, tense, and anything in brackets to fit the story/pov/tone. I'm not going to be TOO picky... Our judge however...

Our Judge today is Jackie Castle also known as @Jackie_Castle. Check out her blog here. Read her winning tale from last week here!

Your first sentence for FINISH THAT THOUGHT #18 is:

I cared what [she] thought, so when [she] dared me, I knew I was in trouble.



 Your SPECIAL CHALLENGE from the judge is:


Include an imaginary friend.
Use the word: discombobulated


 AAAAAAAND WE'RE OFF!!!

On NaNo-Eve...

I figured that today was a good day for an update, seeing as I won't be doing one for the next month with NaNoWriMo starting in 9 hours.... 

Wait?!?!?! 9 HOURS!?!?!?!?! Where did the time go?!?!?!

Sigh.

First, an update on Shadow Runner (my NaNo novel for the previous two years). My goal had been to finish the edits on this before NaNo started this year... You see, last year I tried to 'take a break' from it and work on a different novel for NaNo. That didn't work. At all. However, I finished the first draft during NaNo last year, so I'm not complaining. :) This year has been full of...life...and my progress has been slower than desired (to put it mildly). I'm still somewhere between 50%-60% through the first draft, BUT I believe I may actually have a first scene!!!!!! (Yes, that was in question...I've had at least a dozen, none of them really worked well.) So that's a huge breakthrough that was slowing me down to a grinding halt! I have a couple scenes to write/rework in the beginning, then back to the midway+ point to finish the edits so that people can look at it! I'M SO EXCITED!!! I still have the goal of having this finished by the end of the year.

What does November look like for me? I'm planning on working on Child of Blessing this month. I'm REALLY hoping to finish it (HA! Eternal optimism...) for NaNo. Theoretically, that should be possible. It's a middle grade fantasy novel, so the 50K word count is about right. This is an idea I've been playing around with for a while now. I tried adding some structure to it, but it was too early in the process for me and that backfired horribly. I have been unable to write on it for several months because of that, but I'm hoping that the time off has reset my brain and I can move forward from here.

What I'm a bit worried about/could really use prayers for:

1) Time management. I've been a mess in this area lately. A mess. My life needs to get organized, but when I try to think of it I just get a bigger headache.

2) Being able to let Shadow Runner rest. I am driven to finish it. I don't know if I'll be able to stop and work on something else for November. NaNo may turn into an editing month for me and I'll do CoB in December...or January?

3) Taking care of myself. I haven't been exercising or eating well or sleeping well or doing my daily devotions for weeks (vacation really messed everything up - although I really enjoyed seeing everyone!). I'm one big bundle of REALLY tight neck/shoulder/back muscles and my head hurts. Yeah. Not a great way to start NaNo. (But I'm determined to tackle ALL of the messes! Lord, have mercy!)

4) Not having my OK NaNo peeps around. I've missed my in-person crit group a lot since moving. They gave me SO MUCH enthusiasm to get back to writing every week! I've signed up for a meet up/write in with some Indy NaNoers on Tuesday nights, so hopefully that will go well and I'll have an in-person thing again.

Okay. So there you have it. My mess of a "I'm starting NaNo in a few hours" blog post. I'd love to do some word sprints with you all this month! I'm lissajean over on the NaNo page and @lissajean7 on Twitter. Okie Dokie...I need to get some dinners prepped for the next few days and one of the twins in crying...gotta go check that out. :) HAVE A GREAT MONTH!!! :)

FINISH THAT THOUGHT #17 - RESULTS!

Wow! That was fun! I had a great time reading all the stories this week. If you missed them, go here to read them all. From the feedback you all gave me, I will be running November like every other month (since most of you aren't participating in NaNo); HOWEVER, I think I'll be allowing excerpts in addition to flash stories to accommodate NaNo participants. So, I'll see you all next week! Now, for the judging you've all been waiting for.... (thanks, Christy!)

Muses were a popular choice this week when considering the mythical creature part of the special challenge. Must be something in the air...

Also, I protest that you all made it so difficult to select winners this week – too bad I didn't have a muse to guide my way.

 

Taking Wing by penname24

I was intrigued to figure out what kind of creature the main character was – it was clear she wasn't human. Once you mentioned sparrows, I noticed a lot of the hints scattered in the story that helped guide to that conclusion.

 

Daydream Believer by Kate

Firstly, you got that song stuck in my head, thank you. I like the world set up, and would love to see the  "Daydream Believers" company in a longer work. I'm worried for Marci (and curious what the girls are going to do with her) but overall the premise seemed too large for the 500 word limit.

 

A Muse Thing by Jcastle316

A heartbroken muse learns her artist isn't acknowledging her contributions – I felt sad for her when she got to the dedication page. Good job at drawing emotions out.

 

Escaped from the Labyrinth by @patrickjstahl

A fresh take on the mythical creature, I liked the great Minotaur war that was happening. The inclusion of Christmas felt a bit forced a first, but it was tempered by the continuation of the thought – whether or not the MC's wife would put up a tree.

 

Holiday of a Lifetime by @MissieK

I like the alternate use of holiday. Definitely a case of mis-advertising going on with this trip, though, and I hope I never find myself on a holiday like this one.

 

Seeking Shelter by @CharlesWShort

An animal shelter, a love story. I like the change in the character relationship over the span of the story, and that even though they've changed, their situation hasn't.

 

Untitled by @drmagoo

A little girl's perfect room, complete with magic wands. I had a bit of trouble determining the age of the child (she seemed infant at first, but older later when the MC asks what "got her interested in all of this"). The ending felt complete, despite this being the shortest entry.

 

Muse Abuse by JM MacF

As a big fan (and long time participant of NaNo WriMo) I enjoyed seeing it make it's way into a story. The time line confused me – it read like a single letter, and it took me a second read to realize the monologue was over the course of the month. And as a WriMo, I completely empathize with having such a moody muse.

 

 

 

Special Challenge Runner Up:

 

Holiday of a Lifetime by @MissieK

 

 

 

Special Challenge Champion:

 

Escaped from the Labyrinth by @patrickjstahl

 

 

 

 

Grand Champion Runner Up:

 

Seeking Shelter by @CharlesWShort

 

 

 

Grand Champion:

 

A Muse Thing by Jcastle316

FINISH THAT THOUGHT #17

So...our last contest before NaNoWriMo begins... Let's get those fingers warmed up and those brains chugging! 

First, I need some help deciding what would be best for you all. I need to know how NaNo will affect each of you in November in terms of this flash contest. The two options I'm considering are:
1) Business as usual - including winners judging the following week.
2) Writing Prompts minus the judging - giving you the option of adding the sentence into your WIP or writing a separate flash piece for freshness. (This option would give this weeks winner judging duty the first week of December)

Please leave me a comment so I know how to proceed next week...maybe I'm the only one of us doing NaNo this year??? :)

 Anyway, we all know NaNo will be all rainbows and puppies and cupcakes with sprinkles...so I'm ready to read about something that may not be as sweet as expected. ;) GO WRITE!



If you need to read the full version of the rules, go here. Otherwise, here's the short version:

Rules:
1. Up to 500 words
2. Keep it clean (nothing rated R or above)
3. Start with the given first sentence.
4. Optional Special Challenge
5. Include Twitter/email, word count, Special Challenge accepted
6. The challenge is open for 24 hours on Tuesday EST


Oh, and feel free to change pronouns, punctuation, tense, and anything in brackets to fit the story/pov/tone. I'm not going to be TOO picky... Our judge however...

Our Judge today is Christy Shorey also known as @weylyn42. Read her winning tale from last week here!

Your first sentence for FINISH THAT THOUGHT #17 is:


"What, did you think it was going to be all rainbows and puppies?"

Note: the punctuation can ABSOLUTELY change as long as all the words are in the right order.


 Your SPECIAL CHALLENGE from the judge is:


Include a mythical creature and a holiday.


 AAAAAAAND WE'RE OFF!!!

FINISH THAT THOUGHT #16 - RESULTS!

So sorry for the late results this week! I'm on vacation and have been MIA from the computer. I'm in the middle of packing and I'll be driving all day tomorrow, so this is going to be short. Thank you, Eric, for judging! Go check out the stories this week here. And here is what Eric had to say:



A small group this week, but still some very enjoyable reading. Thanks to those who took on the challenge and submitted a story!

Pen Name: I like the use of the 'story within the story,' although overall I found myself a little confused as to who the voices were in the story - Monster, whoever wrote the note, the character in the story. It felt like this was a story which needed a little more room to breathe.

Christy: Such a horrible life for these children, and I fear, a life that is about to come to an end. It put me in the mind of Anne Frank or a child dealing with the horrors of war and genocide. Very well constructed. I don't see anything in the story about a broken window, however, so this story doesn't qualify for the special challenge.

Sarah Aisling: When I saw the comment about the full moon, I thought we were headed for a werewolf story, but you took it another way. Nicely optimistic without being treacly, and set well in the present day.

Jeffrey Hollar: (Ineligible...by a minute) Well-constructed, atmospheric. Dark in multiple ways. Poor Coltrane, living through an apocalypse that doesn't seem to want to end...until he decides to take matters into his own hands.



Special Challenge Champion:

Sarah Aisling

A nice little real-life story, with some hope for the future.



Grand Champion:

Christy

Dark and depressing, but compelling.