At least this time I'm selfish about it.
For the first time in my writerly life, I entered a writing contest.† Brother told me a couple of years ago that I should, and I've been following a particular outfit for awhile, thinking someday it would be fun to enter.‡
[SUMMARY: I am a complex and deliberate creature.@]
NYC Midnight sponsors Tweet Me a Story, a contest wherein entrants tell a story in 140 characters or less.§
There were¶ twenty groups in the first round, each consisting of about 26 people. Each group got a word which had to be used in the story, unaltered.# Each group member could submit up to three stories for consideration.
That particular round ended on December 8.
Then the panel of esteemed judges†† deliberated and picked 25 stories out of each group.
[SUMMARY: The suspense builds...]
From here, the top voted story in each group will go to the final round, along with four stories chosen by said panel of esteemed judges, for a total of 100 contestants in the final round.
They are now open for voting on the first round.‡‡
The final round will also be open to voting,§§ and the top voted story will receive $100, plus a story chosen by our now-familiar panel of esteemed judges will receive $100.¶¶
As it turns out,## all three of my entries in the first round made the judges' cut and now we're up for voting.
[SUMMARY: TA-DAAAAAAAA!]
So, y'know, if you find my words worthy, I'd be delighted for your vote.%
Should you wish to tell all your family and friends that all you want for Chrismakwanzakuh is for your dear old AntiM to go to the Tweet Me a Story gold medal round, that'd be cool too.†††
†FOOTNOTE (crossed): Well, except for the literary magazine in college. I should probably mention -- both in the interest of full disclosure and under the auspices of blowing my own horn -- that I flat out won that one. They gave me 100 unexpected dollars, then promptly took it away for library fees.
‡FOOTNOTE (double-crossed): Sometimes it takes me time to deliberate about important stuff.
@FOOTNOTE (atted): I can hear you laughing.
§FOOTNOTE (swerved): Duh.
¶FOOTNOTE (paragraphed): Note the clever and subtle application of past tense to let you know where we are in this saga. That's why I'm the big rock star writer I am today -- subtlety and cleverness.
#FOOTNOTE (pounded): If the word is penguin, you can't make it penguins or penguin's, for instance.
††FOOTNOTE (ddouble-ccrossed): I believe that is the exact term used on the NYC Midnight website. I've come to think of them as The Panel of Esteemed Judges in a big, echo-y god voice.
‡‡FOOTNOTE (doubble-crossssed): All that foreshadowing from the first sentence is coming home to roost. Damn, I have a knack for this literary device stuff.
§§FOOTNOTE (what goes around...): So we may come back to this in a couple of weeks.
¶¶FOOTNOTE (kaching kaching): I know it doesn't sound like much, but that's some fine vodka or cashmere. Maybe a little of both. And this time, there are no library fees to be deducted.
##FOOTNOTE (pounding the subtle into your head): Did you notice the subtle again? And the humble? It's a big ol' whack in the head of subtle and humble.
†††FOOTNOTE (holy cats, that's a lot of cross to bear): That's me, Group 17, word: "witness." You have until, say, January 4 at midnight eastern time.
‡‡‡FOOTNOTE (the path to sainthood is bumpy): Turns out saints are not above stuffing the ballot box.
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