13 Reasons Why Writing And I Are Meant To be (and apologies for not having any Literary Idol entries for you this month)

I am terribly sorry. My time has been lapped up by geography and anthropology readings this month and I wasn't able to spread the word of the "Ode" Challenge around as much as I would have liked. There are, alas, no entries for you to vote on today. I will do my best to spread the word of the next challenge with a little more zeal (who wants to pass general ed classes anyway?) and hope to have some fabulous stories for you to choose from in March. Today I will substitute with my own "ode" of sorts to writing.


13 Reasons Why Writing and I Are Meant To Be

13) I'm a project junkie. I love to see my efforts start out as something small and keep growing, slowly until finishing it is all I can think about and it completely absorbs me.

12) I enjoy spending long hours by myself (wait! Come back! Not that long)

11) The calming sensation of pen on paper

10) I garble words when I speak. Writing lets me take the time to choose the right ones

9) The buzz I get when my plot points start clicking into place, all the little pieces coming together in a whole that makes sense. Man o Man, there isn't anything better than that.

8) I daydream too much for any other job

7) I love doing research

6) Pretending to be inside so many different heads helps me to understand people better

5) Pretending to be inside so many heads helps me to understand myself better

4) I must completely absorb every detail of my experiences in case I need to recreate them on the page

3) I must seek out new experiences to absorb

2) All my heroes are writers. They transport me to other worlds, show me things I could never imagine, and teach me things I never thought I would need to know. They comfort me when I am sick and give me strength to face the impossible. They are a friend when I am lonely even though I have never met them. They crowd my mind with ideas and I can not help but want to become one of them.

1) Writing is the closest to making love with a book I can get

Writing and I are made for each other. I don't care how good Accounting looks in a tux or what kind of new haircut Real Estate has. Writing is the only career for me.

Literary Idol Challenge: The Ode

People like love stories. Happy ones. Sad ones. It doesn't matter. We like the passion that overcomes reason and the feeling of conection between two people (or maybe that's just me). Romeo and Juliet. Tristan and Isolde. Ron and Hermione. Samuel Vimes and Lady Sybil (my personal favorite.) Literature is infested with couples. And here we are, two weeks away from the fated day celebrating that higher level of being called 'Love'. But what other relationships can be charactorized with that kind of passion and dedication? A father for his son? A painter for his art? A farmer for his land?

For this month's challenge I ask you to write a story that focuses on the love and passion for something or someone. An ode.

The word range is 50-1,000 words. (Altered this month because I will allow poetry for this challenge.)

Traditional couple love stories are, of course, just fine, but remember that there are other kinds of love that make people just as crazy. I'd like to see at least one or two of those.

Send your entry to:

featherzines@yahoo.com

and come back February 14th to vote on your favorite entry.

(For complete rules to Literary Idol go HERE)

Happy writing. May your words be laced with love and inspiration.