Winner, ‘Earth’ Challenge, and More..

Congratulations to Robin Rhyner, winner of the ‘earth’ challenge with the reflective mystery of Tracery.

Robin wins a copy of Self-Editing for Fiction Writers : How to Edit Yourself Into Print by Renni Browne and Dave King.

Many thanks to all who entered this round. Also to our guest judge, Robyne Young, a writer and communicator with more than 30 years of experience in media, marketing and communications. She is also a talented fiction writer and has coordinated three ‘Write Around the Murray’ festivals. (For more about Robyne and her fiction work, visit her blog, Robyne with an ‘e’.)

Robyne was given only the titles and text of each entry, without author names, and agreed not to read the posted versions so was not aware of ‘likes’ or comments.

Here are her comments on Tracery:

This beautiful piece had me hooked from the first sentence and its ethereal tone was successfully carried throughout its length. We know so much about this man from the way he approaches his garden and the implements he used, but the story also opens so many possibilities to us. Who is the girl? A daughter? A granddaughter? Where is she now? There is the sense of the presence of a rosary in the phrases that speak of the circularity of life and death. The story’s conclusion is very satisfying.

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The Next Challenge

The next round of the 500-word challenge is now open and the new theme is ‘breath’.

Write up to 500 words around the theme and send them to waxings.blog@gmail.com by midnight, 23 August 2011 (AWST, GMT+8) for a chance to win The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers by Christopher Vogler.

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Latest Waxings

We have two new short fiction works: Citizen Pain, by Mark Cunningham, and Being Audrey Hepburn, by our most recent guest judge of the 500-word challenge, Robyne Young. Challenge winner, Robin Rhyner has also submitted the poem, Whoever You’ll Be.

All three would appreciate your constructive feedback. As always, I look forward to reading and posting your words.

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Opportunities for Writers

• CAL Scribe Fiction Prize 2012 – unpublished manuscripts for Australian authors 35 and over. Winner receives $15,000 and a book contract from Scribe Publications. Deadline: 31 August 2011.
• Conflux Short Story Competition – Up to 2000 words on the Conflux 7 Convention theme ‘From Here to There’. Deadline: 29 July 2011.
• National Year of Reading 2012 Short Story Competition – Up to 3000 words on the theme ‘It’s Never Too Late to Learn to Read’. Prizes: 12 x $3000 for published writers, 9 x $1000 for unpublished writers. Deadline: 5 August 2011.

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