 Contests & Activities: June 07, 2023 Issue [#12006] |
This week: It's All About the Participation Edited by: Leger~  
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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~
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It's All About Participation
We're all busy throughout the summer season, but this is the perfect time to experiment with your voice and style. Or try a different genre. The daily contests afford lots of opportunities. If the prompts inspire, make it a goal to try a new way to write. Sometimes it can inspire a whole new direction of inspiration. Even if it's not for a contest, give new things a try.
Try poetry. "Poetry Forms" can be incredibly inspirational. Twisting words to fit a form can be a big challenge. Even if you feel you're not terribly good with poems, it's a fun exercise to try. You might have a poet inside!
Daily contests usually ask for word counts of 2000 words or less or a certain number of poetry lines. Personally, I consider those short or flash fiction and enjoy playing with the prompt and creating a story or image for my readers.
When hosting a (US) summer contest, remember a lot of people are on vacation and may need extra time to write their entries. Make sure your rules are concise and easy to read. I remember doing some writing on my tablet while lounging at the beach.
Even if you're not able to dedicate time to writing, perhaps some words of encouragement or reviews would be kind. Also, check in on the Newsfeed and participate there. Or click the Writing.com link in the left column and click Account Anniversaries to send some birthday wishes to fellow members.
So if you're having a busy summer season, please spend a moment and enjoy everything WDC has to offer.
As always, Write On!
This month's question: What new things are you going to try this summer? Send in your answer below!  Editors love feedback!
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Quote Prompt for June 2023:
"A million dreams are keeping me awake."
-- Pasek & Paul, from The Greatest Showman
Welcome to ACRO*BATICS! As you may know, an acronym is a sequence of letters formed from the initial letters of a group of words. For example, in the case of a SWAT team, SWAT stands for Special Weapons And Tactics. In this game, however, you work in the opposite direction: I will provide a series of letters that will serve as an acronym, and your mission is to offer the most creative answer to the question of what that acronym represents.
The aim of the group is to help each other improve our fantasy story and poetry writing.
If so, this is the writing challenge for you. Your mission is to write a story based on the prompt in fewer than 690 words, that is either romance, erotica or a combination of the two genres.
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What stirs the soul of humanity more than a Redemption?
Note: This is a realistic-fiction contest; your entry should include no elements of fantasy.
Follow the picture prompt, write the most engaging opening line(s).
Raffle for exclusive Merit Badges and Awards.
Buy tickets for any one of the items listed on this page for yourself or a friend.
A new prompt will be posted every day in the forum at the bottom of this page at approximately 11:00 pm WDC time. (Eastern US time). The prompt will have the date of the next day, the day it is due. After the prompt is posted,you'll have about 24 hours to post your entry.
Carlos is very tired, but he's having trouble falling asleep. So, he's turned to counting sheep! Every raffle ticket purchased represents one sheep that Carlos counts as he tries to drift off to slumber. When Carlos finally falls asleep (JUNE 30, 2023 at 11:59pm WDC Time), virtual dice will be rolled for the tickets purchased. The holder of the drawn ticket number wins!
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Summer shall be just around the corner soon, which means that you shall soon be seeing things that have to do with summer, such as picnics, barbecues, trips to the beach, the amusement parks, etc. But one of those wonderful things about summer is having a nice, ice-cold glass of lemonade! And this brings us to this word search-How many words can you find that have been anagrammed from the word "Lemonade"? Good luck!
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This month's question: This month's question: What new things are you going to try this summer? Send in your answer below! Editors love feedback!
Last month's "Contests & Activities Newsletter (May 10, 2023)" question: What kind of ideas do you store up for future use?
bryanmchunter: Questions for my Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? interactive story. I recently finished the storyline for Buster Bunny from Tiny Toon Adventures and started a storyline for Carl Casagrande from The Casagrandes. "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" [E]
kriselda: I'm working on my first book right now, but have already started saving up ideas for my second one, if I ever get that far. Finishing one would be a huge deal for me, so I'm kind of surprised I'm getting ideas for a 2nd one, but I think my brain is just in overdrive right now...
Bilal Latif  : Anything that doesn't fit into the latest story. Most ideas eventually find a home.
D. Reed Whittaker  : Somewhat like Steven King I let life give me ideas. I don't write them down but let them gestate internally. If they are any good, they will be there when I need them.
TheBusmanPoet  : I don't. When something comes to me then I deal with it in my writing when the time comes.
jackson : I have a storehouse. My life.
oldgreywolf on wheels  : Ones worth writing down. The catch is that they sometimes have to bludgeon me about the head and shoulders several times before I write them down.
According to the 50% Rule of Thumb: The average person forgets 50% of what they learn while learning it; they forget 50% of the remainder over the next two weeks, giving them a permanent retention rate of 25%.
As instructors, we got around that by using the "tell 'em three times" method, followed by a short written test or a practical exercise, followed by a pop quiz a day or two (or three) later. Later, they had to get the government standard of 70% to pass the phase test. (Yes, I'm aware of the duplicate wording. I hope it confuses you.)
I take it for granted that a vast majority of us in WdC keep a writer's journal or equivalent, thus increasing the permanent retention percentage. (Another theory is that everything is stored somewhere in memory, which is non-linear, so use of the journal would then be a means of increased recovery. I don't know which theory is more accurate, as long as one or both keep working.)
Your question is answered.
tj-Merry Mischief Maker  : Hopefully just the good ones.
Mousethyme  : I have a book of prompts I'm keeping. I also have a file of snippets of stories I call "pieces of string too small to save". Then I still have notes in other books. Plus I'm adding to these almost every day.
Nobody’s Home  : I jot down small details about a person's mannerisms or speech that might be interesting in a future character. Sometimes I make notes about an odd dialogue I might overhear. I'm a bird person, so my favorite thing is when I see new birds interacting with each other, to note their behavior or fantasize about how they might be communicating – both conspecifically and heterospecifically. Someday I might write a fantasy book about bird society. 
JasperAK : I d/l all sorts of articles about things that interest me to use as prompts. To use any article, I ask a three part question when I read an interesting headline. For example:
From Science Alert: You Won't Believe What Scientists Found in an Ancient Roman Ruin.
1. What do I think the article will mention? How about a sword made from a meteorite?
2. What does the article mention? Renaissance Medical Waste dumped in a cistern to help prevent the spread of disease.
3. What would make the article even more interesting? Not medical waste--the glass flasks were fire bombs and acid used to destroy something that used the cistern as a lair.
From these thoughts flow all sorts of questions that I need to write a story to answer.
Arsuit : I have a notebook on a nightstand near my bed, and a file cabinet of folders of some ideas that made it to the outline stage. One day I'll have a completed book.
elephantsealer  : I keep thinking or most probably I keep wondering whether I should try and do mystery????????
Finder101 : I write things down on napkins or the back of scraps of paper so I don't forget. Every thought is a seed.
SAD Holiday Potato : I’ve always wanted to write a “Steampunk” fiction piece with a strong female lead.
S : All of them.
Siobhan Falen : Playing a bit off the prompt question, but I use those prompt contest entries as ideas for later stories. They either grow into chapter novels or are developed more for longer short stories (if that makes sense). I also have google pages full of links and information that I just found fascinating didn't want to lose.
Also, your writing cracked me up. For years now, I've felt like my creativity was dried up and it was breaking my heart. Then back in February, we went to Las Vegas (Check out Lost Spirits Distillery and Meow Wolf if you have the chance). I had my laptop out on the way there and the dam just broke. I've been writing so much all the time since. I can't explain it though I have theories, but seriously, best vacation ever. It has birthed a writing monster!
Gaby  : My WdC To-Do List is ridiculous! I don't need more ideas because they pop up at random. Enjoy Vegas! The heat, not so much.
Beholden  : What kind of an idea do I store? Mostly I write them straight away before they can hide or lose their appeal. On those rare occasions when I have more than one idea, I might store one while writing the other. Ideas are not so common that they need storing, in my opinion. I've even begun to search other sites for prompts - not that they're much help, to be honest.
What I do store is names. If I think of an interesting name, it goes in my little file of monikers. Names attract characters and they bring their stories with them.
Thanks to everyone for your helpful replies! Leger~
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