Here are the Blogs in the Writing in Competition category.
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
So Close or Filth Don't Fail Me Now
My wonderful filthy story, "Cochran's Navy Skirt," came up one place short in the 2010 NYC Midnight Short Story Challenge.
The contest started with 30 groups -- "heats" they called them -- of around 25 authors. We all had two prompts, genre and subject, and two weeks to come up with a 1000-word story. Only the top two authors in each group/heat would move on to the 2nd and final round.
My genre was Comedy and my subject was A Gang. I dug deep and found a very obscure use of "gang" in the old Press Gangs that would force unfortunates into service in the Royal Navy. I also took a risk by making my main character an inordinately well-endowed loser, Cochran, who went by the nickname "Cock."
It was a naughty, fun little comedy.
When the results came in, I was hopeful. We had all waited a good long time, two months, to find out the results of the first round. I went to the site, clicked the link that would show the results in my group/heat and got excited. There was my name among the five featured stories. Seeing that, I was confident i had succeed. I posted on Facebook about my victory.
A little later, I did the math. Five authors across 30 groups/heats. 150 stories to judge seemed pretty high for a final round. Curious, I returned to the results page that had given me such a boost. I read more closely and discovered that only the two top authors, the ones with the **FINALIST** next to their names actually moved forward.
As much as I appreciate the mention -- being featured IS nice -- by this time it amounted to a disappointing tease. Sad-faced, I reposted my error.
Maybe I shouldn't have gone blue, or at least light blue as the story wasn't overtly nasty. I could second-guess myself over and over, I suppose. But you can't win them all. The positive in this is I now have a funny little story that someone somewhere will buy. I don't feel defeated either. If anything, I feel heartened to try just a little harder next time.
The first stage of the NYC Midnight 2010 Short Story Challenge came to an end at 11:59 pm edt on Saturday. I turned in my story well early and am more than half pleased with it. I decided to go humorously blue with it. My wife urged me not to, but I figured what better way to test where the edges are than to push, right?
The story dealt with a lead character who went by a shortened version of his last name Cochran and who boasted a "inordinately large" male presence. The action ensues when he is out at a bar and the first of the English impressment gangs enter to forcibly recruit (press) drunks and the homeless into service in the Royal Navy. Press gangs were a real and unwelcome entity from 1665 to the day Napoleon was defeated in the early 19th century. The gangs most commonly consisted of sailors themselves, so that's the route I went in telling the story.
Cochran has built up a reputation for bedding nearly all the women in town. In so doing, he has become a skilled escape artist, able to extract himself from the stickiest escapes from the townswomen's husbands, brothers and fathers. So when the press gang comes knocking, he's the only one to make it out of the bar.
He's nearly caught when the townswomen themselves, pleased with his presence (see above) in town, join together to insure Cochran's escape is successful.
In the spirit of the time and subject matter, I've added the highly disturbing video you see below. It is a forced animation on a vintage still photo of a woman. She is reciting an old Irish poem about the threat of the press gangs. Enjoy if that's possible:
For the writing contest, entrants had eight days to complete the first stage and will have only one for the second leg in March. I'm looking forward to getting the feedback on this first story than I am in engaging in the second phase, to be honest.
For those who have not attempted a short-term contest like those held regularly by NYC Midnight, I'd suggest trying it. For me, entering the occasional contest is good for keeping my writing fresh. I dedicate some small or large time to writing every day and I find that trudging through the same long work day after day can get a little old. I can afford to take 24 hours out every now and then to visit characters and setting far removed from those with whom I spend so much time.
I thought it might be a good idea to blog in the middle of a contest, especially given the first stage is a full week. That is unusual. Most of the time contests are single story events and most of the time in that type of event writers are given either weeks to develop their story or 24 hours. Having no more and no less than a week is a strange luxury for me. I'm not sure how to proceed without a ticking bomb in my ear.
This is another NYC Midnight event (the 2010 Short Story Challenge) so the way it works is similar to other contests of theirs I've entered. Entrants are divided into smaller, more manageable groups. Each group is given a genre and a "thing" to revolve the plot around. My group was given Comedy as the genre and A Gang as its thing. There are about 660 of us starting out in 30 groups so there's no lack of competition.
With each contest, my confidence grows and my nervousness diminishes. After last year's 4-stage contest, a two-stager with a soft first stage seems like child's play. That is not to say I'm not taking it seriously, only I know better what the judges are looking for a little better and I"m familiar with their preferred formatting and submission process.
So what about the story itself? Comedy. A Gang.
As soon as I saw Comedy, I breathed a sigh of relief. Comedy is a genre I have to intentionally avoid if I'm working on a serious piece so being allowed to run with it in this case should be a real relief. A Gang being the thing we're plotting around was not as satisfying.
As I saw it, I had two pretty obvious choices:
An urban gang, something we white folks probably think we know a lot more about than we actually do. Going in that direction felt like an easy trap to fall into;
Other criminal organizations; or,
But I didn't want to go with the obvious, so I dug into the deepest recesses of my memory to pull out less-than-obvious ways I could comply with A Gang.
I came up with:
Gang of Four, the leftist Chinese faction during the Cultural Revolution, which I knew too little about to choose;
A chain gang, which could really have some hilarious potential.
Various takes on gang bangs, which for reasons of taste and propriety, I chose to avoid;
Our Gang (aka The Little Rascals) which I counted out as already comedic fiction; or,
the one I decided to choose, a Press Gang.
A Press Gang, for those unfamiliar with the phenomenon, was a group of government officials or sailors or others authorized to do so, who forceably recruited able-bodied men between the ages of 15 and 45 into service in the Royal Navy from 1664, begun during the reign of Elizabeth I, to 1812 following the defeat of Napoleon. The gangs were a hated lot that, at the time, were a humorless lot. Now, however, thinking about their trickery, fooling or abducting drunkards and the homeless into service, there is only stuff to laugh at.
And two days into the stage, I've written some and have a good idea of where the story is going, but I'll wait until I've fleshed out more of if before sharing. Let it suffice to say, even after I've written the whole story, there will only be some that I'll be able to share here. There is a definite off-color element to it that might not be appropriate -- okay, will undoubtedly be inappropriate -- for younger or more sensitive eyes.
I admit it. I sputtered out in the last two stages of the 2009 NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Short Story Championships. I finished 26th overall with 56 points total. The winner, earning 50 points for her final story soared to 111 points, prestige and a healthy cash prize. Congratulations to her. It's a long comittment, this contest. And I fully expect I'll participate in it next year.
I'm disappointed in my performance to a certain extent. I know I can write better than my last two stories. But if I look at my standings, I nearly made it into the top 10% which could be considered an accomplishment of sorts. If it were a grade, I would have gotten an 89, a B+, the correct grade I'd say.
I think I overwrote in the last two months. Whereas I should have been making progress on my longer works when I wasn't involved with a contest weekend, I succumbed to editing the contest stories, so for nearly 4 months, I never enjoyed the necessary distance from them that I should have allowed myself. By the end of the contest I was so tired of these obviously prompted stories, only half of which I truly had a solid handle on.
On to the 3rd Round (By the Hair of My Chinny-Chin-Chin)
Goodish news from the NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Writing Competition. My story The Hole In One Lofton Cole scored 6th out of 20 writers in my group, earning me 14 more points and securing me a spot in the 3rd and final round to take place this weekend. My points total sits at 56. That puts me in the 22nd spot out of the forty remaining writers.
Though I'm pleased as punch about moving to the 3rd round, the manner in which I did so is less than desirable. I had become accustomed to top 3 finishes in my group. This latest story dropped my into the middle third, an uncomfortable unglamorous place to be. I know I have better in me.
To be clear, I am satisfied that my story earned the luke-warm reception it deserved. My disappointment is entirely in myself and not the process or the judging.
We'll receive our 3rd and last round prompt at a minute before midnight tonight and the bulk of the thinking and writing will take place tomorrow and Sunday. I've all but decided, barring a genius first draft, I'll not participate in the Writers Weekly competition that, as luck would have it, fell on the same weekend. I would love nothing more than to write two stories and have them place well, but logic says that both will suffer if I push the matter and I've come too far in the NYC competition to sabatoge myself for the sake of pride.
Wish me luck. Keep me in your prayers and thoughts. Send me cash. Whatever will get the job done. I just want to do well and place respectfully.
Sometimes events converge. We call these coincidences, accidents, chance meetings, any number of names. Sometimes these convergences lead to bad days; sometimes they lead to opportunity. The jury is still out as to a] whether I will experience such a convergence this coming weekend and b] in what category it will fall.
I participate in many of the quarterly Writers Weekly 24-hour Short Story Competitions. I also may be facing writing a 48-hour short story for the NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Short Story Championship, depending upon the success of my story The Hole In One Lofton Cole in the 2nd round. If I earned a top 5 spot in my group of 20, I'll be facing a weekend in which I must write not one, but two completed short stories in a 48-hour period.
What's my strategy? I don't believe seat-of-the-pants will work under these circumstances. Without intensive, careful (and brief) up-front planning, I fear I'll flounder.
Can I do my best work given that I'll effectively have half the time to write my NYC story as others will have? Honestly I can't say. Being a website designer has taught me one thing: sometimes a deadline is exactly the right medicine for producing work under a deadline.
I have considered scrapping the Writers Weekly competition. My buy-in was a mere $5 and they prestige and payout is less than the publicity and cashola I stand to gain from NYC.
I may have just talked myself out of the Writers Weekly competition. See? It all comes out in the writing. So there's my plan:
If I move to the last round of NYC, I'll focus on that alone.
If I don't make it, I'll concentrate on Writers Weekly.
Why risk losing both due to my perfectionist streak?
Woo hoo! My story based on the prompt fantasy/wating room/lobster won 3rd place in Round 1.5 of the NYC Midnight 2009 Creative Flash Fiction Writing Championship. I guess the judges weren't turned off by a single-minded farting dwarf. This bodes well for my future in the competition.
In unconfusing terms, Round 1 is comprised of two stories. We wrote the first in June and the second in July. We earn points depending upon our placement in our 15-person groups. I received 22 points for the first story so I'm sitting on 20 points. That means I'm leading my group!
All but the bottom five writers in each of the 16 groups move on to Round 2, writing the 3rd story, tonight. We'll have until one minute before midnight tonight until one minute before midnight on Sunday, 2 days to write a 1000-word short story. It's a challenge to be sure.
Since I'm someone who needs to think of data in all sorts of ways to understand it I came up with the following:
I'm going into the 2nd round in 23rd place out of a starting group of approximately 240. Percentage-wise that puts me in the top 9-10%, an A minus. With only the top 10 in each group moving on, we'll be down to 160 writers. My 23rd place drops me from an A minus to a middle B. Voila! There's my motivation. I'm not even doing anything and I have to study harder to keep up. This is the sort of thing I respond to: deadlines and dynamic odds.
Cross your fingers for me. I'm hoping for a good genre, setting and object (our prompt). Regardless, I'll take my long meditative walk and let the rhythm of my steps bring a story idea to me.
Participants in the NYC Midnight 2009 Creative Writing Championships learned the results of the first round of action last night at a minute before midnight. This contest is run in a curious, fun fashion. Participants earn point in the first two round based on their stories' standings relative to others in their 15-writer group. First in a round earnes 25 points; second earns 22 and so on. Only those with the highest pont totals earn the right to write a third-round story. Only the highest-ranked of that round move on the the fourth and final round.
I woke up after midnight, remembering the results would be in. I found my name and saw a 4 next to it. I jumped around in ecstacy. 4th place out of 15 writers. Not bad for a story that didn't fare terrribly well in my local critique group. I logged on to Twitter and was about to tweet when I decided I'd be wise to double-check. I'm Irish and am easily swept up by emotions. I've done foolish things before in this state of mind.
I confirmed I had made an error. I realized the "4" denoted the group I was in, not my ranking. I clicked the correct link on the page for the group results, my heart low by now. I had placed 2nd. More jumping ensued, so much so that I forgot to Tweet or post on Facebook. I went to bed with a big smile.
Good news is so energizing. I was already pumped about tomorrow's prompt and write-in, now I'll be lucky to find a hook in the ground to keep me in my chair!
It's only Wednesday but I'm way excited about this coming weekend.
Round 2 of the NYC Midnight Creative Writing Championship runs from -- duh -- midnight on Friday until midnight on Sunday. The contest directors email out a Setting, Genre and Object and contestants have the next 48 hours to whip up a 1000-or-less-word story. Last month's story for Round 1 got skewered in critique. My story idea was good -- more on this later -- but I think it was a bit more than 1000 words could handle.
Live and learn, right. With last weekend's Writer's Weekly short story in which we only had 24 hours to come up with a similar-lengthed story I think I may have found the right groove for coming up with the right scope of ideas.
My good fortune is that everyone in the competition gets to Round 2. It's the combined ranking of Rounds 1 and 2 that earns us a place in Round 3. We are assigned a group of 15 writers. Each writer in my group got the same Setting, Genre and Object. So let's say I really messed up in Round 1 and I came in dead last. If I whip out the best story in Round 2, my total is 16: 1 point for last place in Round 1 and 15 points for first place in Round 2. That would beat someone who came in 8th one week and 9th another.
That's not to say I think I got last place, but it's possible. Regardless, I learned a lot from Round 1 and I'll be surrounded by fellow writers for much of Round 2 so I can bounce ideas off them if necessary.
And that brings me to the second reason I'm pumped about this coming weekend. It's another San Antonio Writers Guild write-in at Bethany Congregational Church. I'm normally pumped about the write-ins but this weekend, with the NYC contest, I don't have to make a decision about what to write. I'll already have been stewing on the idea by the time I arrive.
The event starts at 9am, but I always arrive early, around 8ish. There are always too many breakfast tacos, nice folks, scheduled breaks and quiet during writing blocks. It's a perfect atmosphere for writing and it couldn't come at a more perfect time.
This will be the second weekend in a row that is dominated by my writing. In an effort not to come off too selfish, I'll probably need to be ultra-present for a couple weeks.
Summer '09 Writers Weekly 24-Hour Short Story Contest
Saturday (07/18) at noon, I received the odd prompt from Writers Weekly for another round of their wonderful 24-Hour Short Story Contest. Last Fall, I had great success, winning one of 10 honorable mention spots. I joke with people that consider it a 4th-place finish when it's just as likely I placed 13th. Still, it was my first contest entry and any recognition was a great boost to my ego and fueled my writing for another couple months.
This year's prompt was difficult for me though:
She was licking the cotton candy crystals from her fingertips when she felt the first raindrops. She joined the other visitors in racing for shelter as the drops turned into a summer afternoon torrent. She ducked into the nearest red-and-white striped tent, almost running into a woman with caked make-up and large rings on every finger. As the girl started to offer an apologetic smile, the woman looked up. Her wrinkled face registered instant recognition and she screamed, "It's you!"
I've been trying to pinpoint what made the prompt so difficult for me and I've decided it was the setting. I have never enjoyed fairs or circuses or the atmosphere that surrounds them but I have had fun writing about setting I wouldn't enjoy being in. The difficulty that, in a circus setting the weird is completely expected, so making something odd happen there loses its contrast with the normal. Go to a creepy or weird place and, of course, weird stuff will happen. What I enjoy is going to the safest places, the commonest places, and have hell break loose.
I suppose I could have thought about the prompt in a different manner. It could have been NOT a fortune-teller. It could have NOT been a circus tent. It could have been cotton candy that she happened to buy at the corner market, but c'mon.
The curious thing about not being immediately taken with the prompt is the story idea came more easily than ever before. I pride myself on having pretty good ideas and coming up with them relatively quickly. I've even learned how to push past a common pitfall among creatives, that being having difficulty choosing between a pile of good ideas. No, I took pretty much my first idea and ran with it, never considering a sidestep to another idea. Doing so made the process move smoothly. Never once did I feel rushed. Compared to the NYC Midnight contest [which I'm in the midst of] which gives me 48 hours instead of 24, this story was a cake walk as far as the amount of stress experienced.
What I came up with was a story about...Well, I suppose I need to wait. Never know who reads things these days, eh?
The results of the contest should be published about this time next month. I'll keep you posted.
Last time I entered, I was 1 of 23 participants who earned honorable mention. My story was called Into Spirit and Speck. It was a 1000-word story about a witch, who has turned her captive man into a clump the size of a fava bean, must overcome her failing memory to find where she's placed him before a dark winter storm descends.
This go-around should be a bit better in that I have months more writing under my belt and I know what to expect in a gun-to-your-head writing competition. I brought my last entry to critiques after the Fall contest and learned a lot about things I need to take into consideration in tomorrow's contest.
Shawn Edgell, aka Motke Dapp, of ICG Link fame just placed in the top ten in this year's Tweet Me A Story competition held by our friends at NYC Midnight Movie Madness. So a big congratulations to him.
"I want to like you, but I don't," she said, a tear streaking her makeup. He removed her arms, placed them in the box, and mailed her back."
Visit Shawn (or Motke. He's not picky.) at www.motke.net to view his painting, writing, film work and his...his what? Hrm. Tread lightly, is my advice.
Oh, yeah. NYC Midnight (NYC Midnight Movie Madness, LLC) is holding their annual Creative Writing Championships again. Starting at 11:59pm Friday, June 19th -- that's two days away (gulp) -- we get our first prompt: a setting, a genre and an object. Writers then have two days to create a single 1000-word story. This is called a "challenge." Each challenge gives writers a two-day window. Contestants are guaranteed at least two challenges and the most successful entrants will compete in as many as four. Each early challenge scores the writer points. Those with the most points in the first two challenges move to the second round. The cream of that new, smaller group moves to the final round.
1st Round (Challenge #1) June 19-21, 2009
1st Round (Challenge #2) July 25-27, 2009
2nd Round (Challenge #3) August 22-24, 2009
3rd Round (Challenge #4) September 19-21, 2009
I'm feeling pretty good about my chances to move along the rounds. I've put in my time and have some decent chops now but the deadlines can really screw with a writer's psyche. Then there's the genre aspect. I'm not as well read as many, so I'm guessing I'll find fitting my work in unfamiliar genres most challenging. 1000 words may not seem like a lot of work, but these all have to be beginning-middle-end, full stories, edited and reedited, all within two days. That's 48 hours, some of which must be assigned to sleep.
The bad luck of it is my older son has a crit North of Austin and it's Father's Day. The latter wouldn't be a factor is my younger boy were a bit older, but he's still just young enough that those sorts of holidays still carry some weight.
Getting the story completed with Sunday's obstacles will be a fun test of my dedication to the craft. I'm a website designer, so I have tons of experience working within a deadline. Maybe the ticking clock will work to my advantage.
Last year's winner was Chelsea Bauch, a NYU grad and a writer/editor working with such notable publications as The Onion AV Club, JC Report, Boldtype and Flavorpill.
Honorable Mention in the 24-hour Writers Weekly Competition
The 24-hour writing contest that
Writers Weekly holds quarterly was held October 28th. They kept their word when they said the judging would end in a month-ish.
I received an email last Friday (113108) notifying me that I and about 20 others had won honorable mention. Initially, I didn't trust the subject line to match the contents of the email, but when I read the confirmation, I nodded and smiled.
This was my first entry and my first sort of win. I didn't get the monied recognition, but I was thrilled nonetheless. Maybe I should stop now while I'm batting 1000. I don't see that happening.
I shared the news with my family. My boys, who see me plan guitar and design websites and write endlessly and attend writing-related meetings probably saw the news as just another detail in my strange path. My wife, who knows how hard I work at it but who is far from excitable seemed pretty excited. More surprised because she's read more first and second drafts than finished pieces, but there was some excitement in there.
None of those closest to me gave me the charge I was looking for per se, so I did what any other proud man would do. I called my mom and she did not let me down. She squealed and said 'proud' and 'honey' a few times.
So now I have to decide what to do with the story. The rules specifically give permission to publish it however we please after the contest has been judged, so I guess I'll have some questions to ask at our next San Antonio Writers Guild meeting this Thursday.
Last Saturday, I entered the Writer's Weekly 24-hour Short Story Contest this last weekend. The site (www.writersweekly.com) hold these quarterly, As with most of these contest, a prompt was given along with a time- and word-limit. In this case, entrants had an 800-word max and 24 hours. At noon on Saturday, they posted this prompt on a hidden web page:
The cast iron pot was blackened and warped, but had provided years of delicious concoctions. Movement caught her eye through the cracked window. She turned her head, but saw only red, orange, yellow and brown leaves racing by in the fierce wind. She shivered as cold air leaked through the window's cracks, and leaned down to stoke the fire.
Until the contest is judged, I won't post the story itself. I'll discuss my experience at that time. Still, here are a few words about contest itself.
I hear these contests are a dime a dozen; however, it was my first real writing competition, so I didn't know how I'd respond to the pressure. 800 words is not a high word limit for 24 hours. On the contrary, it is very low, and for that reason, it is difficult.
As the drabble contest the San Antonio Writers Guild (www.sawritersguild.com) held a few months back proved, the shorter the work the more challenging the storytelling. Anyone can tell a story at novel-length, novella-length. The further under twenty pages the more challenging the task becomes.
800 words is about three pages...a touch over. In that space, introduction of character, setting and conflict and hook must be accomplished simultaneously (and transparently if done well) from the first sentence and continue no further than the first concise paragraph. By then, one has already used up a substantial fraction of his allotted words.
of The contest officials promise results would be announced a month after the deadline. The winner is awarded $300 and a few of their products. Second pays $250 and third pays $200. For a $5 entry fee, that's a good return.
The contest was capped at 500 entrants, but I'm not sure that's a good thing or a bad thing. A writer friend of mine mentioned that some contest have so many entrants that the best story in the lot has little to no real chance of winning. Her implication was that a good story would likely win, but probably not your story. I think, given the relatively short 800-word max, 500 entrants and a full month, the judge (or judges) should have ample time to read all submissions.
Crunching the numbers that's a max of 400,000 words or 1600 pages, assuming that everyone wrote the max, that everyone followed the contest guidelines, that everyone remembered the contest was being held. Subtract from that a certain number of stories that can be scrapped due to obviously poor writing. There's no telling how many pages remain, but it seems a manageable task at that point, even by a committed individual.
The cool thing is that I can still submit the story to publications whether I win or not.
The same folks who brought you the A Dark and Stormy Night contest held a similar A Dark Moment Contest at the San Antonio Writers Guild meeting on Thursday wherein contestants have a single page in which to relate a dark moment. Think, as the contest official illustrated, of the men in the crow's nest of the Titanic at the moment they realize they're going to hit the iceberg or think of Custer at the moment he realizes just how many Indians he's up against.
Stories were posted around the room without mention of the real authors' names. Authors were asked to add a fake name. All SAWG members were allowed to read and vote for one favorite. The story with the most votes at the end of the evening receives...drumroll...$10.
That sounds like a small sum, but we've been promised the bill will be crisp at least.
My wonderful filthy story, "Cochran's Navy Skirt," came up one place short in the 2010 NYC Midnight Short Story Challenge.
This is another NYC Midnight event (the 2010 Short Story Challenge) so the way it works is similar to other contests of theirs I've entered. Entrants are divided into smaller, more manageable groups. Each group is given a genre and a "thing" to revolve the plot around. My group was given Comedy as the genre and A Gang as its thing. There are about 660 of us starting out in 30 groups so there's no lack of competition.
I admit it. I sputtered out in the last two stages of the 2009 NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Short Story Championships. I finished 26th overall with 56 points total. The winner, earning 50 points for her final story soared to 111 points, prestige and a healthy cash prize. Congratulations to her. It's a long comittment, this contest. And I fully expect I'll participate in it next year.
I think I overwrote in the last two months. Whereas I should have been making progress on my longer works when I wasn't involved with a contest weekend, I succumbed to editing the contest stories, so for nearly 4 months, I never enjoyed the necessary distance from them that I should have allowed myself. By the end of the contest I was so tired of these obviously prompted stories, only half of which I truly had a solid handle on.
Goodish news from the 
Sometimes events converge. We call these coincidences, accidents, chance meetings, any number of names. Sometimes these convergences lead to bad days; sometimes they lead to opportunity. The jury is still out as to a] whether I will experience such a convergence this coming weekend and b] in what category it will fall.
Woo hoo! My story based on the prompt fantasy/wating room/lobster won 3rd place in Round 1.5 of the NYC Midnight 2009 Creative Flash Fiction Writing Championship. I guess the judges weren't turned off by a single-minded farting dwarf. This bodes well for my future in the competition.
It's only Wednesday but I'm way excited about this coming weekend.
I've been trying to pinpoint what made the prompt so difficult for me and I've decided it was the setting. I have never enjoyed fairs or circuses or the atmosphere that surrounds them but I have had fun writing about setting I wouldn't enjoy being in. The difficulty that, in a circus setting the weird is completely expected, so making something odd happen there loses its contrast with the normal. Go to a creepy or weird place and, of course, weird stuff will happen. What I enjoy is going to the safest places, the commonest places, and have hell break loose.
Shawn Edgell, aka Motke Dapp, of ICG Link fame just placed in the top ten in this year's 
The bad luck of it is my older son has a crit North of Austin and it's Father's Day. The latter wouldn't be a factor is my younger boy were a bit older, but he's still just young enough that those sorts of holidays still carry some weight.
The 24-hour writing contest that
The cast iron pot was blackened and warped, but had provided years of delicious concoctions. Movement caught her eye through the cracked window. She turned her head, but saw only red, orange, yellow and brown leaves racing by in the fierce wind. She shivered as cold air leaked through the window's cracks, and leaned down to stoke the fire.