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Printed from https://writing.com/main/newsletters/action/archives/id/11767
Contests & Activities: January 18, 2023 Issue [#11767]




 This week: Love Is In The Air
  Edited by: Leger~ Author IconMail Icon
                             More Newsletters By This Editor  Open in new Window.

Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter

The purpose of this newsletter is to highlight some of the current contests and activities on the site, help educate members on how to host contests and activities, and provide clues to submit quality entries to contests. Write to me if you'd like something in particular covered.

This week's Contests and Activities Editor
Leger~ Author Icon


Word from our sponsor

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Letter from the editor


Love Is In The Air


Valentine's Day and the season of love are just around the corner. Before you know it, all the hearts, flowers, and champagne will be in the st....wait...it's already in the stores. *Angry* Anyway, next month will bring all the love stories and contests to the site. Are you ready?

If you've thought about having an activity or contest for Valentine's, now is the time to prepare. Set up your forum and check your gift point stash and see what you can offer for prizes. If you need judges for the contest, start recruiting now. This way people can block in time on their schedule to give you a hand.

If you typically enter contests in the love genre, think about what you might write. Obviously, you won't know all the details until the contest starts, but think about a plot or characters to have on hand to get started. Perhaps you liked a minor character in one of your past stories and you'd like to give them a story of their own. Or you might want to outline a date-gone-wrong story and be prepared.

Give some thought to the language of romance. Write down some phrases you typically use in romance stories and try to come up with some fresh ideas. It's important to shy away from cliche and overused phrases. How many ways can a person propose? My uncle taped an engagement ring to the inside of a frisbee and tossed it to his girl. And she threw it back. So he threw it again. And she threw it back. I'll let you imagine the rest of the scene.

I'm suggesting you be prepared, the love fest is on its way. Enjoy, and Write On!


This month's question: Do you have evergreen characters you like to drop into stories? Send in your answer below! *Down* Editors love feedback!


Editor's Picks

         January Site Contest
 
SURVEY
Dear Me: Official WDC Contest Open in new Window. (E)
What are *your* goals for the new year? Think it over, write a letter and win big prizes!
#597313 by Writing.Com Support Author IconMail Icon

Give it a shot!

FORUM
The Writer's Cramp Open in new Window. (13+)
Write the best poem or story in 24 hours or less and win 10K GPS!
#333655 by Sophurky Author IconMail Icon

Win even bigger prizes during Cramp's Birthday week!

FORUM
The Soundtrack of Your Life Open in new Window. (18+)
Every February, you're invited to chronicle the music that has influenced your life!
#1970896 by Jeff Author IconMail Icon

Inspire yourself with music! This contest allows catch-up days before the end.

StAG Firebox - Closed for judging! Open in new Window. (13+)
Steampunk fiction competition
#1781446 by Beck Firing back up! Author IconMail Icon

End January 30

FORUM
The Weekly Quickie Contest Open in new Window. (18+)
Can you excite in 969 words? Romance+ Contest. -Closed for NaNoWriMo
#1355442 by Dawn Embers Author IconMail Icon

Prompt for January 15 - 21: The non-dating web site hookup. It's common for people to find love in many different places. There are even some love stories from this site where people met online here before developing a romantic relationship. Write a story where someone finds love on a web site that isn't geared towards romance.

FORUM
Question of the Day! Open in new Window. (18+)
Come answer a question, share a laugh, encourage one another, and bring me a coffee!
#2142667 by Lilli ๐Ÿงฟ โ˜• Author IconMail Icon

Excerpt: A place to answer daily questions and spark conversations.

 
CROSSWORD
Diabetes Awareness Open in new Window. (E)
Diabetes Awareness Month
#2284724 by AmyJo-Thankful in heart Author IconMail Icon

Excerpt: I have diabetes, as do some of my friends. It can be insidious.

 
CROSSWORD
Japan, The Land of the Rising Sun Open in new Window. (E)
A puzzle to work and learn more about Japan, an island nation in the Pacific
#2141755 by Jeannie Author IconMail Icon

Excerpt: Want to know more about Japan? If so, come join me and see if you can finish this puzzle

 Invalid Item Open in new Window.
This item number is not valid.
#2288099 by Not Available.

Excerpt: Well, it is now 2023; I am thinking that this could be a colorful year; so for my very first new word search of the new year, I have this one question: How many words can you find that have been anagrammed from the word of the name of a company that provides color for motion pictures? Well, you know what I am talking about-TECHNICOLOR! Good Luck!

 
QUIZ
Spring Flowers Quiz Open in new Window. (E)
Spring flowers brighten up a fading winter. Do you know your flowers?
#2269603 by StephBee Author IconMail Icon

Excerpt: Here's a little quiz to invite you to get to know some spring flowers.


 
Submit an item for consideration in this newsletter!
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Word from Writing.Com

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Ask & Answer


This month's question: Do you have evergreen characters you like to drop into stories? Send in your answer below! *Down* Editors love feedback!

Last month's "Contests & Activities Newsletter (December 21, 2022)Open in new Window. question: Do you save incomplete work to use later?


oldgreywolf on wheels Author Icon: Yes. Marginally edited (and unedited) story drafts; unfinished stories; edited & polished, plus draft worldbuilding; notes 'n' ideas; and non-decipherable scribbles.

A writing journal, whether pen 'n' paper or verbalizing into your phone's memory (for you newer to the idea), is invaluable down the path(s) you tread.

And listen to someone who lived with their boots in the mud if you want a different perspective.

Pumpkin Spice Sox Author Icon: Unfortunately most of what I have saved are unfinished works.

Penelope Moonbeam Author Icon: I have many notebooks with bits and pieces of things I have heard and seen.

flash Author Icon: Not really. I've been writing stories from start to finish.

Serena Blade Author IconMail Icon: yes i do. they are stories that are not completed for a reason. the bigger picture is in the making.

s Author Icon: Yes.
Sometimes I don't know enough to continue, sometimes I made a wrong turn, sometimes the story has no end in sight. I have well over 500 incomplete pieces. My longest time between starting something and reusing it has been about 25 years.

My mantra has always been never throw anything away when it comes to writing. You bever know when it might come back to life. It is something I tell beginner writers when I am teaching or mentoring them. Never throw anything away - you never know when it could come in handy later.

Madelyn Gobble Gobble Stone Author Icon: Yes. There are pieces that I have gone back to read that I can't remember it was me writing them. Some of them, I cringe and think - wow, look at how far I've come from then! Others, I think this is really good, I would buy this if I found it at a bookstore. It encourages me and inspires me to come back and finish it.

D. Reed Whittaker Author Icon: Sure, working on an article now which has been sitting on the shelf just waiting for this moment. Waste not, want not.

Nostrum Author Icon: Indeed.
Most of the time, I see them to rework those ideas into new stories. Perhaps they didn't work at first, at that story, but they somehow resurface in a later work, and checking it out helps me give it new life while solving something I might have in that new story. Very rarely I continue it, though, but that's because I prefer to see things to their conclusion. I feel bad about incomplete stories, for one.

~Lifelessons~ Author Icon: I keep it for a while but if I keep seeing it and nothing moves me forward, it's out.

N.A Miller Author Icon: Yes... If I think it's not going anywhere and yet it has potential for something else. I slap a "to be continued" on it or put it aside in my files to be used (all or pieces of) for something else.

tj-turkey-jobble-jobble-hard-J Author Icon: I do save some incomplete works to use later. Do I use them later? Usually not, that's why they're incomplete.

Crystal Dragon Author Icon: 100% :)

LJ Apollo Author Icon: Yes you have to.
Ideas are not stories but are the beginning Of what could be, I love Steven approach, Sometimes you have to let the stories write themselves Or be Better prepared To connect our readers To the world we want to represent.

Starling Author Icon: I have a file in my files on Google drive which has several papers of various lengths which can be used later. They are all incomplete works.

Spirit~Fall๐Ÿ๐Ÿ‚ Writer Author Icon: Holy ๐Ÿ™„ cow ๐Ÿฎ! Yes so much I have written over past journal's then years online. Most of books ๐Ÿ“š all gone ( about 75 lost to the storms of life) online still gathering up shards of my words, from blogs, multiple Facebook accounts ( public and private!) Will be interesting ๐Ÿค” to see what's waiting ๐Ÿ™€๐Ÿ˜Ž๐ŸŽถ.
To fit in the slot's here!๐Ÿ’œ๐Ÿ’—๐Ÿ•ฏ๏ธ

lynn avalon Author Icon: all of it. often, different bits from unfinished works get sewn together (along with new bits, of course) in order to create a finished piece

TheBusmanPoet Author Icon: Yes I do.

THANKFUL SONALI Library Class! Author Icon: Yes!

Mouse says gobble gobble Author Icon: If it wasn't for incomplete work, I would have nothing saved. _-_

keyisfake Author Icon: Dido! I will never throw words I wrote away.

Osirantinous Author Icon: Yep, sure. I might pick up a piece I dropped a decade ago and carry on as if I've never stopped. And I pulled out of a contest recently but I'm actually still writing to it (not officially), because I wanted to see where the story ended.

Over all my writing life there's only ever been a handful of things I've really gotten rid of (and probably only a handful of things that I've ever actually finished. Ha ha.)

Bob Author Icon: Incomplete files is the way I beat writer's block. I may have half dozen different stories working. When I get locked up on one, I just close it down and move to another and the juices begin flowing immediately.

Thanks to everyone for your responses, it's very much appreciated!

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