Today was the big day that
Jason announced all the winners for his flash fiction contest. I am so sad to say I did not win... not a place anyway. Philosophically speaking, I won in other ways. I met lots of new writer-bloggy friends, I tried something new, I came up with a new idea for my next novel, and I read over 40 positive comments for my contest entry (well, some were my replies...). Thank you so much for all of your supportive comments. They meant so much to me.
So the winners are...1st Place--
SARAH HINA,
And Miles to Go Before She Sleeps (#27) Prize: $25 Amazon gift certificate, 8 x 10 print of the "Running Wind" photograph (inscribed by Jason Evans)
2nd Place--
SEAN FERRELL,
Reversal (#56) Prize: $20 Amazon gift certificate
3rd Place--
JOSH VOGT,
Time is a Road (#49) Prize: $15 Amazon gift certificate
4th Place--
PAUL LIADIS,
Ar'n Man (#39) Prize: $10 Amazon gift certificate
5th Place--JEFF B,
You Can't Get There from Here (#61) Prize: $5 Amazon gift certificate
Honorable Mention--
CHARLES GRAMLICH,
Precious Cargo (#1)
Honorable Mention--SCOTT SIMPSON,
Blurred Vision (#6)
Honorable Mention--
POSOLXSTVO,
Anywhere But Here (#19)
Honorable Mention--
SCOTT ELLIS,
Freebird (#32)
Honorable Mention--
AERIN,
Dreamland Eyes (#62)
READERS' CHOICE AWARD:Readers' Choice...
CHARLES GRAMLICH,
Precious Cargo (#1) Prize: $15 Amazon gift certificate, 8 x 10 print of the "Running Wind" photograph (inscribed by Jason Evans)
1st Runner-Up--SARAH HINA,
And Miles to Go Before She Sleeps (#27)
2nd Runner-Up--JOSH VOGT,
Time is a Road (#49)
Congratulations everyone! This was an awesome adventure with lots of talented writers.
Last Week's Writing Buddy Goals...
Last week, one of my goals was to write an outline from page 85 to the end. I am happy to say all I have left is the second half of the last chapter to complete and I feel fan-tas-tic! I really do. Who knew an outline could be such a freeing experience? Not me! I am always,
down with outlines, let your story come organically. Well, not that I tell others what their process should be, but I feel most of the time, that is the best process for me... up until a certain point, that is.
What I learned is, I can do that for the first draft up until about the second half of the middle. I can throw out all the foreshadowing and seeding and laying the ground work in an organic, free, no-outline, kind of way. But, then I hit a point in the story where all of that needs to be tied up in a neat little bow and resolved. It is at this point that an outline needs to be written. In fact, it was downright mandatory. And now that I've written one, I really do feel unclouded.
What was Learned During my Writing Buddy Discussion...Today, Cathy and I conferred... (sorry, just had to use that word - don't know why...) and I would say the unifying theme for both of us was all about something I recently read in Eckhart Tolle's book, The Power of Now. (I actually posted more about this subject
here.) I think we both discovered that we are using the
thinking brain while we both need to use what Tolle calls the
unthinking brain.
Cathy and I were talking about, how right now, in our careers as writers, we don't feel, or at least I don't feel I have any control over this process. We likened it to exercising. When you don't exercise for a while, you are rusty and out of shape and it takes a while to get "into" it. So ,we both are on a mission on how to be able to control slipping out of the
thinking brain and into what I would like to call instead, the
artist brain (you know - that trance-like state you get into during a really good writing session).
I would like to open a discussion here... How do you get into that trance-like state where the writing just flows and you are not intentionally thinking, or analyzing what you are writing? The words just pour out of you and you are more like a passenger on a ride. Have you been able to master going between these two states when you need to? How do you engage that
artist brain and tell the
thinking brain it is time to quiet down?
Goals for this Week...
- complete outline (I am on the last chapter)
- go through all my notes of things I had seeded and foreshadowed and make sure they are all resolved in my outline notes.
- WRITE
- WRITE
- WRITE
- (unrelated to writing) I am in the process of refinishing my daughter's old dresser. My dad and step mom just gave one of my daughters all this great furniture for her bedroom. But now her old dresser sticks out like a sore thumb. So far I have sanded it down to the natural wood. Next, I have to paint it black, then apply a thin coat of crackle, then white paint, then pink accents, then new knobs.
Those are my goals for this week. Wish me luck! And happy writing to all of you!
