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*Balloonb**Balloong**Balloonr* January 2025 Contest Open for entries!! *Balloonr**Balloonb**Balloonb*

                                                 

It's easy to enter.
         *BulletG* Choose one of three prompts
         *BulletG* Write a story of 3000 words or less that uses the prompt
         *BulletG* Enter the story
         *BulletG* Win *Cool* fame, *Treasure* fortune, and *TrophyB* honor.
                                                 

Prizes include up to 50K GPS, awardicons, and merit badges.
                                                 

You can choose from the following three prompts:
         *Bulletv* your story involves horror or supernatural elements; OR
         *Bulletv* your story uses the words ethereal, numinous, and glimmer; OR
         *Bulletv* your protagonist is either delusional or dissociative.
                                                 

The contest accepts only ten entries, so reserve your place early.
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Tales Shown, Not Told Contest Open in new Window. (E)
A short story contest from the Crosstimbers Author Association.
#2300358 by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈 Author IconMail Icon

                                                 
  •   7 comments
I, on the other hand, don't think I am delusional. As I was saying to Muhammed Ali the other day while we were enjoying a pinot noir in a nice little French Restaurant in Buenos Aires, "My life is pretty boring." And then I went and won the Monaco Grand Prix on a skateboard after accepting my Nobel Prize for Penguin Eradication.

So, really, I am not sure I could write delusional.
I don't see anyone asking me if I know anything about delusions.


Anyway, Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈, I have a question about entering your contest. The survey questions seem to be aimed at people who are already deep into writing their story. Do you accept surveys from people who like your prompt, have a concept of a story, and would like to give it a whirl?
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🐕GeminiGem🎁 Author Icon - I have no problem with you reserving a place in the contest before actually writing a story. I do need at least a link to the file where you PLAN to write a story. It's been years since I've had ten people enter the contest, so it's not like you'd be taking away a slot someone else could use if you decide not to actually write your story.
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Oklahoma Science FIction Writers meets on Friday, so of course I baked a cake.
Jan25 OSFW

It had perfect corners, but I smudged them when I put the snowflakces on it. It's a "confetti cake" since the cake itself has confetti sprinkles scattered in the batter.
  •   2 comments
Nice cake. ^_^
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Contest Banner
*Balloonb**Balloong**Balloonr* January 2025 Contest Open for entries!! *Balloonr**Balloonb**Balloonb*

                                                 

It's easy to enter.
         *BulletG* Choose one of three prompts
         *BulletG* Write a story of 3000 words or less that uses the prompt
         *BulletG* Enter the story
         *BulletG* Win *Cool* fame, *Treasure* fortune, and *TrophyB* honor.
                                                 

Prizes include up to 50K GPS, awardicons, and merit badges.
                                                 

You can choose from the following three prompts:
         *Bulletv* your story involves horror or supernatural elements; OR
         *Bulletv* your story uses the words ethereal, numinous, and glimmer; OR
         *Bulletv* your protagonist is either delusional or dissociative.
                                                 

The contest accepts only ten entries, so reserve your place early.
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SURVEY
Tales Shown, Not Told Contest Open in new Window. (E)
A short story contest from the Crosstimbers Author Association.
#2300358 by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈 Author IconMail Icon

                                                 
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It *snowed* today, turning Mr. Gene's marvelous backyard into the Ninth Circle of...cold...
Snowy Backyard
  •   1 comment
We don't even have snow right now out here, although we have freezing fog, which makes hoarfrost. Your snow is beautiful--stay warm!!
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Contest Banner
*Balloonb**Balloong**Balloonr* January 2025 Contest Open for entries!! *Balloonr**Balloonb**Balloonb*

                                                 

It's easy to enter.
         *BulletG* Choose one of three prompts
         *BulletG* Write a story of 3000 words or less that uses the prompt
         *BulletG* Enter the story
         *BulletG* Win *Cool* fame, *Treasure* fortune, and *TrophyB* honor.
                                                 

Prizes include up to 50K GPS, awardicons, and merit badges.
                                                 

You can choose from the following three prompts:
         *Bulletv* your story involves horror or supernatural elements; OR
         *Bulletv* your story uses the words ethereal, numinous, and glimmer; OR
         *Bulletv* your protagonist is either delusional or dissociative.
                                                 

The contest accepts only ten entries, so reserve your place early.
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SURVEY
Tales Shown, Not Told Contest Open in new Window. (E)
A short story contest from the Crosstimbers Author Association.
#2300358 by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈 Author IconMail Icon

                                                 
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Mathematical Best Wishes
to one and all during this holiday season

Happy Holidays in Mathematics
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Instead of being, you know, productive, I spent today in the kitchen baking a cake for my writing group's holiday party tomorrow. It's a black walnut cake with butter cream cheese frosting.
Black Walnut Cake
  •   9 comments
Ooooh wow! Coming over immediately *Pthb*
You're an artist.*Clap* *Hungry*
Looks productive, Max you are a multitalented person.
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Fiddling with Photoshop this morning instead of being, you know, productive. I made a new site logo for the Tales from the Crosstimbers website.

Tales from the Crosstimbers site icon  Open in new Window.
Clicking links to the open call page

  •   2 comments
Love it!
Nice! Not sure if you've ever tinkered with Canva? I've really appreciated how user-friendly and easy it is, though admittedly I'm a klutz when it comes to Photoshop.
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Tales from the Crosstimbers is open for submissions for the Spring, 2025 issue, due out in March of 2025. We're eager to read your speculative fiction of less than 2500 words. Payment is at least $10 and up to $25 per story based on word count.

Writing.Com members and yet-to-be published authors are especially invited to submit.

Contact information and more details on the links below.
Link to publication: https://theCrosstimbers.online
Link to open call: https://thecrosstimbers.online/open-call/
Link to submission guidelines: https://thecrosstimbers.online/submission-requirements/
Spring Issue Tales from the Crosstimbers
  •   5 comments
Pretty awesome Max. Into the library world as a publisher. Website is very professional. Best of luck. I will have to give it a shot.
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Damon Nomad Author Icon - Website is a time sink, but fun, too. Every so often I need to feed the analytic side. Since I don't prove theorems any more, I write computer code.

I'm like Gene Kelley, except he's gotta dance and I've gotta code.
Damon Nomad Author Icon - sorry…literary world….looks like auto fill did me in.
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Edited
The winter issue of Tales from the Crosstimbers released today! It includes at least one story from a writing.com member.
Crosstimbers Cover  Open in new Window.



  •   1 comment
Congratulations!!
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Continuing to mess with Creative.Microsoft.com. I wanted an image of events in the first chapter of the linked novel--two runaway teens witness a mysterious airplane dumping something in the desert. I wasn't happy with images where I asked for a 'blue Saturn" in the sky. They all looked really crappy, with HUGE planets with off-center rings. So I left out the request for a blue Saturn used the daytime image it gave me, and used Photoshop to put in a Saturn I'd previously created with Photoshop. Additional Photoshop tweaks included changing the left-hand guy's hair to blonde, using a day-to-night filter, bluring the Saturn and putting a glow around it, and replacing the sky with an AI-generated sky.

This is turning into an enormous time sink.
Image generated by Creative.Microsoft.Com.  Moonlight and blue Saturn added via Photoshop.
  •   4 comments
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I keep fiddling with it...
Sounds like AI isn't quite ready for real work, or at least anything complex. Humans may still be better doing it. *Wink*
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Wordsmitty ✍️ Author Icon - Humans are certainly better at it. I can't draw, though, so this is better than I'd ever be able to do. I'm sure the publisher will have a real artist draw a great cover for this book...assuming I (a) get around to submitting it; and (b) find a publihsher.
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One of my few attempts at a microfiction. It's HARD writing a story that's only 227 words.

https://medium.com/@mathguytulsa/sweetwater-oklahoma-9bf72867ee0c
  •   7 comments
Just don't use Nowhere Oklahoma because that actually exists too. LOL Oklahoma definitely has some interesting town names. I live in Oklahoma City and grew up here in Oklahoma. You can find a lot of interesting stories and places about this state.
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I changed the town to Bathsheba. That's a ghost town with an interesting history...it was founded for women, and men were banned from the place. Even male livestock were banned...might make another story...
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I changed this yet again, to Lone Star, Oklahoma. "Lone Star" was a town in SE Oklahoma that was inundated by Wister Lake.
https://www.ghosttowns.com/states/ok/lonestar.html
It seemed better to use a ghost town for the name, and this one doesn't have much in the way of connoatations. Bathsheba's unique history potentially complicates this otherwise simple story.
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I've spent the last couple of days posting some shorter fiction to Medium.com. This is a place where--apparently--you can get paid for your fiction, based on the number and duration of views. It's too early to assess how effective this might be--if anyone else has experience with this site, I'd be interested in learning about it. My "portfolio" on the site is at https://medium.com/@mathguytulsa
  •   7 comments
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Elycia Lee ☮ Happy 2025! Author Icon - Stripe does the 1099s for them, too, so it's less paperwork.
I did try Medium, but didn't work for me. I wasn't posting fiction, but more essay-type articles, though, so that could have been an issue.

Then I had the issue that the Australian Tax Office considers Stripe a dodgy payment system, and getting paid here proved impossible.

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It's recently come to my attention that people may not be aware of the Crosstimbers Novel Workshop or how to join it.
 
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Crosstimbers Novel Workshop Application Open in new Window. (E)
Crosstimbers Novel Workshop Application
#2309742 by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈 Author IconMail Icon

If you have a novel-in-progress and want to exchange reviews with other novelists, this is the place for you. Note that this a place to exchange peer reviews, so you're expected to give reviews as well as get them.

There's also a forum for short fiction:
 
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Join the Short Fiction Roundtable Open in new Window. (E)
Join the Short Fiction Roundtable
#2321423 by Max Griffin 🏳️‍🌈 Author IconMail Icon
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Local writing group met last night. I read "The FrogsOpen in new Window.; they said they liked it. I believed them when they said they liked the carrot cake I brought to the meeting--there was only one piece left because I told them to save one for Mr. Gene.

Carrot Cake


Cake is three 8" layers, with cream cheese frosting, a butterscotch drip, and candied carrot curls on top. The curls were kind of a disappointment, both in appearance and taste. Don't think I'll do them again.
  •   3 comments

         Wish I was in your Writing Group!
Shall you EVER need a hetero wife (for whatever reason!)... here, here! (Nah, Mr. Gene won't need to worry. *ThumbsUpGreen*)
I love the carrots. Very fall-esque *Carrot*
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Printed from https://writing.com/main/profile/notebook/mathguy