Archives
January
The first Motivational Challenge will begin at 12:00 AM on January 24, 2005 and will end at 11:59 PM on January 29, 2005.
Challenge Goal: Photograph, draw, paint or sculpt 26 items, each beginning with a different letter in the alphabet. This may seem simple but the catch is that you want to have as many unique items as possible. Be as creative as possible so that no one else will have the same items as you do. If enough people participate, there will be a first and second prize awarded to those with the most original list of items.
When choosing which items to have for each letter of the alphabet, please stick to "what" it is. Please do not make up phrases or use names of people or places. Also we would appreciate it if you did not use any vulgar or obscene photos. This site is for everyone and we do not accept X-rated submissions.
February
The second set of Motivational Challenges officially begin at 12:00 AM on February 1, 2005 and will end at 11:59 PM on February 28, 2005.
Challenge Goal: Be among the daring few to accept the challenge to write 30,000 words in 28 days (or less).
Super Challenge Goal: Be one of the more daring participants to accept the challenge to write 60,000 words in 28 days (or less).
These challenges are for you to see if you can push yourself to reach the goal. There are no physical prizes awarded by this site (at the present time) BUT your finished work will be a reward in itself!
There are no limitations for what you may write but please don't write the same meaningless words multiple times just to say you reached the goal. You should start a new work, rather than working on something you almost have completed - that would defeat the purpose of signing up.
Examples of the types of works you might want to explore for these challenges are:
Novel / novella
Collection of short stories
Book of Poetry
Collection of songs
Comic books
A mixture of any or all of the above
Or anything else you can think of!
Spring 2005
The Challenge for this Spring will run from:
March 14 through May 14.
Due to numerous requests, the deadline has been extended from April 30 to May 14. Anyone interested in doing the Spring Challenge can still find the list at the side of this page.
Super Challenge:
The goal is to create a story of at least 10,000 words by 11:59 pm on August 15. This may seem easy at first but there are a few catches.
The genre of the story is entirely up to you. The goal is to see if you can come up with an original story using 8 of the 10 items from the list below:
1. A Homeless Person
2. A 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle
3. A Book of Poetry
4. A Mythical Sword
5. A Deserted
6. A Space Satellite
7. A Bag of Popcorn
8. A Clogged Waterfall
9. A Unicycle
10. 3 Handicapped Mice (you choose their affliction)
(The list for the Summer Challenge was provided by "The Jay")
You may be thinking it will be easy to mention all of these things in a story but that is not the goal. Here's the catch: the 8 items you choose to use for your story MUST be key figures or play an important role in the plot. Of course you can add your own wacky characters and places into the story but 8 from the list must be included.
Mini-Challenges:
1) Follow the same guidelines as above except your story has to be a minimum of 5,000 words using 5 of the 10 words in the list as key figures or play an important role in the plot.
2) Follow the same premise as above except you have to create a poem (or poems) using 3 of the words in the list as important aspects in the poem.
3) Using all 10 words from the list, create a drawing using all the images to tell a strange story. All images will be black and white in the printed version of the book. The e-book can have color. No words are necessary and the image may appear to be a collage "showing" your tale.
Note: Of course you may submit more than one challenge and you can even create a story or poem and then have a drawing to go with it. If you'd like someone at Red Fox Creations to do the drawing for you, you may contact jennfox@mywordsmyway.com for more information. Please put Art Request in the subject line.
Now that you have the challenge, go ahead and have fun! You can send your completed work to challenge@mywordsmyway.com for judging. Please put in the Subject Line: Summer Submission.
There is no fee to enter the challenge and hopefully if there are enough participants we will be able to put together a nice-sized book with all of the entries.
Since there are no fees to enter the challenge, My Words My Way and Red Fox Creations will not be able to pay you for any submissions but your work remains YOUR work - you retain all copyrights and credits will be given in the book. There will also be an optional Biography Page section for each author to submit his/her information to be included in the collection for free.
The book will be published through LuLu Press, Inc. (www.lulu.com). We are hoping that this collection will be edited and ready to publish by September 1st so we will not be accepting submissions after 11:59 pm on August 15. Once the winning entries are selected, authors will be notified by email and will be given the link to purchase a copy of the book at LuLu.
Advertise:
If you are not interested in doing the challenge but you would like to advertise in the back (or front) of this collection, please send an email to ads@mywordsmyway.com for more information with Advertise as the subject line. If you are accepting the challenge and will be submitting an entry and you would like additional space to advertise (after completing the Biography Page) you may also send an email to ads@mywordsmyway.com or mention the request for ad space in the submission to challenge@mywordsmyway.com .
Thank you for your interest - we look forward to reading your stories!
If you have any questions about this Challenge, please email: jennfox@mywordsmyway.com and put Challenge in the Subject line
