Fear of Writing Contest

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Lessons In Stalking was recently offered as the prize for a short-short story writing contest on a website called Fear of Writing. I was a contest winner on the site years ago and I remember h0w thrilled I was to have won something writing related. The site's founder, Milli Thornton, and I have stayed in touch over the years. So when Milli posted a writing prompt around the theme "It's Raining Cats & Dogs," and asked if I would donate one of my books as a prize and be a judge, I jumped on it.

It was fun reading through the final entries. What I love about Milli's contests are that she bases the winning entry on creativity and originality. Unless there's a tie, little attention is paid to spelling, grammar, punctuation. Sounds like it goes against all rules of writing, right? But her goal is to make writing fun and accessible and to take the "I must be perfect in order to write" fear away from would-be writers. It was a completely different experience to judge entries just based on "fun" writing that appeared in their stories.

To see the winning entry and the author's reaction (which is quite humorous), go here: http://fearofwriting.icontact.com/archives/killer-rain/posts/contest-winner-more-tips-on-successful-contest-entries.html.

Also, if you know any budding writers blocked by fear, I highly recommend Milli's book "The Fear of Writing." It makes a great gift!

Congratulations to Giselle Hurley, the winner of the contest! Your book is on its way. Enjoy!

Cheers,

Dena

People I'd Like To See Shot

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People I'd like to see shot include the land-tresspassing morons who decided to put a deer stand up on our mountain property. A deer stand! Do you own this land? No. Do you have permission to be on this land? No. Are you in possession of a 2nd grade education which might enable you to read and comprehend the NO TRESPASSING signs we have posted on the property? Apparently not. How very sad for you.

Blair was walking the property boundary today, reapplying old ribbon that had fallen down when he noticed the deer stand. We're calling the sheriff's office tomorrow to see what we can do. We want to rip it down but have no idea if we'd be considered stealing others property even though it's on our land.

Blair is nice enough to want to put up a sign that says, "Your deer stand is available for pickup at this number."  Another reason his place in line at the pearly gates will be far, far ahead of mine. I'll be in the rear with people who pick up cigarette butts and fling them back in the faces of those who tossed them on the ground in the first place. (It's a dream of mine.) It's okay. I thrive among my people.

Cheers,

Dena

Bionic Cat

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Blair and I got sucked into watching the premiere episode of the new “Bionic Woman” last night. And by “sucked in” I mean it didn’t occur to either of us to turn off the TV or move off the couch. But that’s okay. I was a fan of the original 70’s show so I was curious to see what the new series cooked up.

Other than keeping the main character’s name “Jamie Summers” and having her be bionic, the two series have little in common. Not that the new series in bad. In fact, after it aired Blair commented that it wasn’t anywhere near as cheesy as the original.

“Yes, but the original had the bionic sound,” I said. “Remember the ‘ne-ne-ne-ne-ne-ne” synthesizer music that accompanied any bionic action? You’re not really bionic unless you have the sound.”

We were heading back to the bedroom at this time and Lucy darted across the hall in front of us. “Bionic cat!” I shouted. “Ne-ne-ne-ne-ne-ne.”

That’s all it took. We were rolling. “Bionic cat chasing kibbles – ne-ne-ne-ne-ne-ne.” “Bionic cat taking out the screen door – ne-ne-ne-ne-ne-ne.” “Bionic cat leaping onto the bed – ne-ne-ne-ne-ne-ne.”

(As you can see, we’re easily amused. It’s the foundation of our marriage.)

Then Blair suggested bionic cat sound. “Mrow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow.” Lucy wandered into the room. “Are you bionic cat?” Blair asked her.

“Mow-ow-ow,” said Lucy, sending us into further hysterics.

We calmed down when I pointed out that everything about our cats could be bionic and it probably still wouldn’t make much of a difference. They’d lie around and be as fat and lazy as ever.

A fat bionic cat. There’s a thought to keep you awake a night.