Prompt the Muse #20 - Wednesday Speculative Writing Prompt

Image: NASA - Galaxy collision

Two species in separate galaxies learn that their galaxies are colliding and combining.  One sees this as an opportunity - new star birth will take place, revitalizing the galaxies.  The other sees this as a tragedy - the event will release a great deal of harmful radiation, and destroy many existing systems.  Take the point of view of an ambassador of one of these civilizations, and in 200 words try to explain to the other civilization why yours feels the way it does about this cosmic event.

Image Credit:  NASA Hubble Space Telescope

SFPA Poetry Contest - Winners Posted and Lessons Learned

Art: Vermeer - The Astronomer

As I noted in a previous post, I have been involved with a poetry contest with the Science Fiction Poetry Association.  The winners of that contest (SFPA New Poets Contest - The Art of Poetry) were posted tonight over on their forum.  (You have to be logged into the forum there to see the contest topic.) And I am happy both with the outcome and with the process in general.

This was the first time I helped to run a contest of this nature, and I learned a great deal.  My 'lessons learned' included a few ideas for how I might run similar contests in the future, and how to improve my own submissions to contests.

As for submitting to contests, I am surprised that there are people who still do not read the submission guidelines and follow the directions.  Contests get too many entries for the coordinators to try track down author information, or to decide how to deal with submissions that are over word/line count, etc., without seeming draconian.  No one wants to eliminate a submission because the author did not follow a simple guideline, but why should authors who did follow the rules not be given higher consideration?  There are no easy answers, and so basically, just follow the rules, no matter how strange they may seem.  I have always paid a lot of attention to the guidelines when I have submitted my writing for consideration, but this is still a lesson I'm going to take to heart with my own work.

Running the contest on a forum was a great way to make submitting easier on everyone.  Authors did not have to worry if their email was received, since they could see their submission on the site exactly as the judges did.  Judges did not have to have their email boxes inundated with mail, and have the associated worry about something getting missed.  It also meant there was a central location to ask and answer questions, and to post the winners.  My only regret is that we did not get more submissions - we had just over fifty.  I'll admit I was hoping for about a hundred.  So I need to learn how to do a better job of getting the word out, keeping interest up, and otherwise making the contest look like it is worth an author's time to submit.

And at the last, I was surprised to be surprised at how much time it took out of my life to do this relatively simple thing.  It isn't exactly hard to run a contest, there are simply a lot of steps.  I came up with the idea, proposed it to the society, helped come up with a theme and strategy, then read all the submissions, and handed my list of finalists to the officers for their final choices.  I also notified the winners and am collecting the information to get awards sent on to them.  I knew it would be time consuming, and yet was still surprised, especially with how long it took to read and rank fifty poems.  It was a very good thing we had a theme - five specific pieces of art - to center the writing.  This made the reading much easier, since everything was relatively focused.  Still, it was both fun and frustrating to try to judge such diverse works of writing.

And I've said this before, but perhaps I can get back to concentrating on some writing of my own, now.  Although this contest was a very fun way to procrastinate, and I imagine if given the opportunity, I'd volunteer as a judge for the very next writing contest that comes around.

Pax,
Bryce

Image Credit: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jan_Vermeer_-_The_Astronomer.JPG

Prompt the Muse #19 - Speculative Writing Prompt

Image: NASA - Oil Slick

We imagine that most sentient life will have an impact, large or small, on the planets upon which they reside. Imagine a species has caused an ecological disaster. Take 200 words and outline the situation. What is the nature of the disaster? Does the species care or even notice? Why? What solution or remedy do they use to correct the damage, if any?

Image Credit: NASA Aqua Satellite Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image of Gulf Coast oil slick.

Create Your Own Writing Retreat - Finding a First Priority

Image: 'Man Writing' by Photos8.com

After two months of dealing with distractions, I am trying to get myself back into my writing routine. Perhaps you've had this problem, too, where other issues seem much more pressing than your allotted writing time, and you allow yourself to be drawn off to deal with them. I've gotten out of my writing habit the last few weeks, distracted by stuff that looks like writing, but really isn't: dealing with the SFPA poetry contest, going through old files of ancient stories, keeping my weekly prompts here on my blog, and other 'administrative' tasks. It is all important to me, and related to writing, but actual writing time has fallen way, way down.

To recharge myself, I decided to 'send' myself on a writing retreat. (And no, I'm not in some amazing natural setting, putting pen to paper during a sunset, gazing out at the water ... but you work with what you have.) My spouse had to attend a conference, and I chose to go along and use the time out of my usual environment to concentrate on getting back into more of a writing habit. (And hopefully finally finish that novel that has been crying for attention since April.)

Part of my agenda is to write at least a short post every day this week here on One Writer's Mind. As you know, my usual strategy is to post one or two long posts, and then a writing prompt. (Or post nothing but writing prompts for weeks, apparently ...)

Going about planning a writing retreat turned out to be an interesting process. My first issue, and the one I chose to blog about today, was that of choosing my main goal. What did I hope to accomplish by the end of the week? I have five days where I can devote several hours to writing, editing, re-reading, crafting, background research, or anything I need to do. An amazing luxury. So how do I get the most out of it?

I decided I should define a first priority, the way to say "if you accomplish this you can claim 100% mission success." My need to reestablish more of a routine was pretty clear. So while I figured that I needed to set several specific writing goals, the first and foremost was simply to say I would write for two solid hours each day. No editing in that time, no re-reading, no research. Two hours of writing. I often end up getting diverted with all those other important tasks, and simply do not get the words down on the 'page' each day that I need to get down.

Have you sent yourself on a retreat? Did you make a primary goal? How did you decide what you wanted to accomplish more than anything else?

Thanks for reading - now back to making the day's writing goal.

Pax

Image Credit: 'Man Writing' by Photos8.com via Creative Commons and Flikr

Prompt the Muse #18 - Wednesday Speculative Writing Prompt

Image: Textile Art

Symbols are very important to all aspects of human society. Your characters live on another planet, or deep in the past, or in an alternate universe.  Their existence is different from ours.  They must choose five symbols from their everyday lives to use in an important work of art.  What symbols do they choose, and why?  Write your ideas in 150 words.

Image Credit:  Bright textile from Wikimedia Commons

Prompt the Muse #17 - Wednesday Speculative Writing Prompt

Art: Planet collision

You need to write a paragraph where two characters have a great impact on one another.  They have never met, and do not meet in the paragraph, either.  What happens that allows these two characters to have such an effect on one another?  Write the paragraph in 150 words, either as an outline of your ideas, or as you would put it in a story.

Image Credit:  Impact from NASA JPL - Caltech on Wikimedia Commons

Prompt the Muse #16 - Wednesday Speculative Writing Prompt

Art: Mirror with Candle

Consider the means whereby writers create a mood in a scene.  For this prompt you need to create a sinister mood in 200 words.  Steer clear of any obvious words such as: evil, malicious, horrifying, dangerous, dark, scary, etc.  Try to create the mood by describing the setting as creatively as possible.

Image Credit:  Skull Mirror from Wikimedia Commons

Prompt the Muse #15 - Wednesday Speculative Writing Prompt

Image:  Blue Fractal

Humans use many different tools to determine their position and direction, such as a compass and satellite systems. Your characters have been stranded on a planet where there is no advanced technology, and no metal. What means do they use to determine their position and direction? Feel free to consider what early humans might have done, or call on magic or supernatural means. Write your ideas in 200 words.

Image Credit:  Kompas from Wikimedia Commons

Prompt the Muse #14 - Wednesday Speculative Writing Prompt

Image:  Many Galaxies Colliding

Your characters take a journey from one galaxy to another. They do not use a mechanical or technological means (i.e. no star ships, warp gates, etc.) They do not use magic. How do they travel? What is the journey like? Write your idea in 200 words.

Image Credit:  NASA