Wordsmoker

In last week’s Micro-Fiction Roundup, our host, Chillbear Latrigue, informed us of the culture significance of the number 25 and the milestone that was the 25th entry in this, the Micro-Fiction Roundup series.  For me, however, 26 carries a deeper significance.  I’m 26 years old.  I was born on the 26th of December.  2 + 6 = 8, which, when you turn the number on it’s side, becomes the symbol for infinity, and that, although pretty damn nerdy, is pretty damn cool.   And not to get all numerological and conspiracy theorist on ya (anyone else see the sneak preview of Rubicon last Sunday?), but when you subtract 16, another significant number, from 26, you get the amount of entries in last week’s roundup.  Here’s the recap:

• IrishBreakfast — “It’ll Be Fine”
• Marshmueller — “Cuckoo For Cocoa Puffs”
• Swifter — “The Aftermath”
• Shelwood — An untitled piece involving pills and voices going away and other sweet, candy coatings.
• Chillbear Latrigue — “Suburban Paranoia”
• MilitantRubberDucky — “Tinfoil Hat”
• Geodejane — “Exclamation Point Crazy!”
• Geodejane — “Cobwebs”
• Shelwood — An untitled piece involving psychosis and paranoia and suicidal yet smug voices in the head.
• LilQuacker — An untitled piece I think could be called ‘Salad Bar S&M’

So that thing I said about the number 16 being significant or whatever?  I have no idea what I’m talking about.  Who does know what they’re talking about is Militant Rubber Ducky, last week’s winner and therefore decider of this last contest.  Here’s the breakdown:

“After much deliberation, I have chosen Shelwood‘s second piece (the one she edited). Am I allowed to do that, pick one that was edited after submission to make the word count? I hope so, because it just happened. I love that it shows that not every thought you have is your own, and to be careful which one you listen to. I was very pleased with all the submissions; they made it damned hard to decide! Second place goes to Marshmueller for depicting that roller coaster of crazy we all go on. Third goes to Swifter; mixing righteous renegade justice and crazy know-it-all bums residentially challenged people made for a great read. So there you have it; I’m going back to bed.”

Congratulations, Shelwood!  The winning submission was 91 words long, and not to get all numerological and conspiracy theorist on you again, but 9 – 1 = 8, and the number 8, which I pointed out previously, when turned on it’s side becomes the symbol for infinity.  Significance!  Here’s the winning entry:

They are hypercritical, like my thoughts are a blog and they are the commenters. Every little thing I do, I do wrong in their eyes. Eat too much, sleep too much, don’t keep my apartment tidy enough, don’t dress right. When I take a shower, they scream. They make the dogs in the neighborhood insult me too. Luckily, I am a very defiant person. When it crossed my mind that I could just kill myself to make it stop, they all said, “Fantastic.” So I knew that was a bad idea.

Shelwood’s winning entry is rife with all the elements of crazy.  Were schizophrenia a product which one desired, then this entry could easily be a commercial for that product, with twice the caffeine and now in diet.  The entry has everything you’d want in a schizophrenia commercial: blogging; shower-screams; suicidal smugness; defiance; and dog-walking.  It is this last item of commercialism that inspires our new theme – It Happened While Walking The Dog: Conversations and/or Events overheard or witnessed or engaged in by you while either walking your dog or someone else involved in the story was walking theirs and yet the dog being walked doesn’t necessarily have to be real because maybe it’s a metaphor for something else in your story. Don’t let the long theme fool you, it’s really quite simple.  Your entry can essentially be anything you’d like, so long as a dog or dog like characteristic is mentioned, or maybe you could write a story you think is really great but doesn’t necessarily have anything dog related, and then just title the piece “Doberman,” or “The Great Dane.”  You see where I’m going with this.  Observe!:

The Rules:

• Your entry must be 101 words or less; if you choose to title your piece, the title will not count against your 101; there is no limit on the amount of entries you can submit.
• The deadline will be Sunday night at midnight. This will give the judge 48 hours to submit his or her selection to me by Tuesday night at midnight.
• If I don’t receive the judge’s selection by one of the established methods (e-mail, Wordsmoker messaging or Facebook private messaging) I will be forced to make the selection so as not to delay the next week’s competition.
• The winner of Micro-Fiction Roundup automatically assumes the responsibility of judging the next week’s competition. Obviously that person can still submit writing, but can’t pick himself or herself as the winner. Otherwise we could end up with some sort of ridiculous perpetual judge situation.
• In the interest of keeping tradition, I will try to select themes based upon the previous week’s submissions when possible.

Shelwood, you’re the decider for this 26th contest.  Chillbear Latrigue will again be your host next week, so make sure to get your decision to him by whatever means necessary, although I hear he prefers to get them in a locked attaché case that you drop off at a predetermined and inconspicuous location.  Or facebook.  That works too.

Yes, Micro-Fictioners, get those creative leashes and collars out and take your short fiction for a walk around the Wordsmoker block!  And don’t hate me for the terrible puns.