Scribefarm WRITING Contest:

This is our last reminder! Only one week left. Submissions are due at the end of the month of January. Please submit entries to Scribefarm@gmail.com.

Please read the posted rules for the contest below!

THE PICTURE PROMPT CAN BE FOUND HERE
http://scribefarm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=598&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

1) Who may Participate

This contest is open to members of Scribefarm, as well as our affiliated site, Fictionpost.com. You MUST be a registered member of either Scribefarm or Fictionpost to participate.

2) The Contest Prompt

Participants will be asked to create a piece of fiction—either prose or poetry—that best reflects the image selected by SF staff. Members are asked to look at the image (located at the bottom of these instructions) and create either a poem or prose fiction piece, that either reflects the theme of the image or tells a story based on the image.

3) Contest Rules

The following is a list of the limitations and rules placed on this contest:

You may only submit ONE piece of work. If you choose to submit a work of prose, you may not submit a poem. Rules stand vise versa.

IF you choose to write a POEM, you must create a piece with NO MORE THAN 600 WORDS. Your piece should reflect the theme of the image, or tell a brief story surrounding the image. If you do not stay within these bounds, your piece will not be considered.

IF you choose to write a piece of PROSE FICTION, you must create a piece with no less than 2,000 words, and no more than 3,000 (8 to 12 pages double spaced). Your piece should reflect the theme of the image, or tell a brief story surrounding the image. If you do not stay within these bounds, your piece will not be considered.

4) Submission Deadline

Participants will have 1 month to create and submit their work, starting on Tuesday the 1st of January, 2008, and ending on Thursday the 31th of January, 2008.

5) How/what to Submit

Please send all your submissions to scribefarm@gmail.com. You will be sent a PM from the Admin indicating that your piece has been confirmed. Please submit your work in either a MS Word document, or PDF format. Though we know that not everyone uses these tools, we are trying to avoid formatting problems, proper indents and such. If this is a problem, please contact a site staff member.

6) PRIZE

Similar to our first contest, two winners will be chosen. One winner will represent the prose entries, and one will represent the poetry entries. These two people will have their works collected and saved by ScribeFarm Staff. Depending on the length it takes to accumulate enough submissions, the Scribefarm staff will put together a BOOK THAT WILL BE PUBLISHED on Lulu.com. This book will be available for download entirely free of cost. You will also have the opportunity to purchase a made-to-order PRINTED, REAL book with your work inside.

This book will be available to the Lulu.com database, and will offer further exposure of your work. If you so choose, you may ask to have your piece removed from the final publication. We feel that this is an excellent opportunity for members to expose their work, participate in a contest, and meet new people.

In the future, some ScribeFarm contests will offer cash prizes. All transactions, at that point will be made through PayPal.

Muses

I’ve noticed, as I’m sure many of you fellow writers have in your craft, one tends to write in the style of whatever you may be reading. It’s interesting how much this affects me, and how much I dislike it. For quite some time, I was hooked on a particular author. Several years ago, I decided that I would put forth a great effort to read all the works by him. I soon participated in the well know writing contest National Novel Writing Month. I wrote in the familiar style, and found that I hated it; hated it so much that it put writing off for me for almost two years.

I think it’s taken me some time to find the proper book to find my inspiration again, but I believe I’ve done so. I started reading it a few weeks ago, and felt the surge of creativity again. It was something I haven’t felt in quite some time: the actual desire to write, not just the guilt of not writing. I sat down a week ago, after work, and began to write. It was the same story that I had started six months prior. Somehow, though, the words came easier, faster, more efficient. I think this has something to do with the book that I was reading.

Some call it a muse; I don’t believe this was one. I believe muses are people, real people that inspire you to write. They are humans that for some reason or another, tap your inner mental state, tickle your interest, and arouse you to make action. There are millions of muses walking the world as we speak. And, one of the most interesting things I’ve thought about in a while, is that rarely do these people know they are actual muses. So do, but most don’t. They don’t realize the impact that they have on others. I happen to live with one of my muses, which works well for me. The downside, however, is that I can’t write with my muse nearby. It’s strange how a muse, for me, must be distant, yet hold mental power over me.

Again, something to think about. Who is your muse? Do you have more than one? What does he or she look like? What do they wear? Why do you find them so attractive?

 

It’s her again

I’ve often wonder what controls our bodies seemingly predetermined conception of attraction. More simply said, why is it that I seem to be more attracted to dark haired women than I do lighter? Further, I wonder if this attraction can be changed over time, or by will. Here’s the reason that I comment on this:

Many times over, in many different stories that I’ve worked on, the same character seems to make an appearance. I’m not sure if it’s because I enjoy the character, or if it’s something more than that. No, I don’t call her by the same name each time, nor does she always say the same sorts of things; however, I do notice that I always use this person, with a nearly ritualistic introduction of her features.

I wonder, does this have something to do with my own personal attractions? Is it because I find women with dark hair attractive that more often than not, my characters have those same attributes? If this is not the case, then perhaps I have an attachment to this character, and need to force myself to complete a work in which she appears. Perhaps it is because I’ve never completed anything with her that I feel I need to continue visiting with her each time I start something new.

Or perhaps it’s because I find myself attracted to those sorts of women: girly girls with dark hair and the same damn white dress. Is this romantic, or obsession? It’s a fine line, perhaps, and an interesting concept that I like to think about. I feel the need, or desire to start a new creative piece, and already, she is the first character I can see clearly in my mind. And just as before, she stars second to the lead character, not first. How do I combat this? Do I force the change? Do I exclude her from my writing? If so:

Can we do this in real life? Can we change those things we find most attractive about the people we see? Is it fair to assume that I can teach myself to dislike girly girls who wear dresses, heeled shoes, and have dark hair? I’ve dated inside that circle before, and it’s ended badly on a few occasions, so that doesn’t seem to be the solution.

However…what do I do if I don’t want to get rid of this person, this character?

Return: Scribefarm.com

As it appears, I’ve spent a rather long time away from this blog. And for that, I feel very bad, as it was a representation of my way to escape a rather limited blog I once had. Now, I feel like I should return to it, as my thoughts on writing have returned, and I’d again like to explore what I might be able to create.

In the meantime, I’ve worked on several projects. With regret, however, almost all have been left unfinished. Even a novel of which I outlined and had great plans fell to the side of my attention, though I really couldn’t explain why. I feel guilty that this has happened, both in terms of my creative writing, and my analytical writing here on blogs such as this.

About the only project that I have created, and continued to work on is my writing forum, of which nearly 100 members have joined. I came to the realization that this was a project I wanted to work on when searching for information regarding publication. I find it difficult to find just what I was looking for, and found more often than not that finding people who had just “done” what I was looking for proved to be better. For this reason, I decided to start my own web forum.

www.scribefarm.com

So far, people have shared their NaNoWriMo entries, hundreds of poetry pieces, and several members have even participated in a writing contest I designed. It makes me feel good that these people make the decision to come back on almost a daily basis to see what’s going on, what’s been posted. I only wish that there was more content, for I fear that those members who have joined will only stay for a certain length of time if no new content comes. And I don’t want this to be another project left on the side.

I’m tired of projects left on the side. And I feel bad now that I see, on a daily basis, more and more people completing good works of art. It makes me feel like I’ve neglected a very important part of me. It brings attention to the fact that I’ve neglected this site for so long, and how important it was during that part of my life. Here’s to hoping, right?

Refresh

I was thinking earlier about my life and how it would relate to a soundtrack. Films rely so heavily on soundtracks to bring out the visual emotion portrayed on screen. It makes me wonder what sort of songs would be playing if someone were watching my life. Would they be classical pieces? Would they be powerful, hostile pieces? Would they have lyrics?

No, I don’t think they would.

Another question to pose is this: would they be the same song over and over again? I ask this because my lifestyle right now is somewhat repetitive. I wake up and go to work. I come home and have dinner. What happens after that varies from night to night, but a substantial portion of my life is based on repetition. Are we repetitious beings by nature or by necessity?

I would hope nature. I believe, though, it’s necessity.

I do have some variation coming up here pretty soon. It being the end of May, I’ve reached the deadline I’ve placed on waiting for a room mate to surface. I now have 10 weeks to decide what the best course of action is. Though I do have a room mate potentially lined up, I refuse to rest on the subject until I know for sure that the lease is signed. What this means for me: 10 weeks of countdown to either a new room mate, or a forced move.

I hope to have a new room mate, and not to have to move.

Should I be doing more with my time? I was asked this question a few days ago. I later asked myself the same thing, and came to the answer: not unless you want to. I think the great fear is that we will all reach our old age, look back and regret that we didn’t spend our younger years doing “more.” I think I already do quite a bit, even though I sometimes feel like it isn’t very much. Being out of school makes me feel as if I am not doing as much as I used to; but that isn’t true. Be it work, or school, both are full time events in life that take up both physical and mental time. I have been saying recently that I don’t have a lot to do. I think I need to rephrase that.

Maybe something like this: I feel I should do something that isn’t work related.

I guess something will come. Already I feel as if I’ve done something today by writing here. It’s been a long time since I’ve written here, and just like a new notebook, I feel I’ve lost my trust with this place. That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but I feel like this is the first step into getting back to writing here.

“How am I not myself?”

Rebecca, a character of mine, seems to find her way into a lot of writing. Though the character goes by many names—sometimes Samantha, sometimes Adrienne—the same attributes seem to find their way into her mannerisms, her desires, her dialogue, and her actions. I find it interesting that a writer can be so attached to a character, and yet sometimes struggle to create it when writing. This, of course, can translate to those that don’t write as well. Think of all the times you’ve fallen asleep and dreamed about people you’ve never met, places you’ve never been, images you’ve never seen. And yet, if you wake up and are able to remember the images, we still struggle to describe them. Though these ‘dream’ people are familiar to us—as familiar as our best friends are to us now—we can never give them full credit or do them the justice we would be able to with the faces we see on a day to day basis.

I sometimes catch myself watching other people, trying to figure out why they cause me to stop and look, why they attract me (not necessarily in a sexual sense, but in a mental sense). I find that every now and then, if I see some woman walking in heeled shoes, I’m reminded of my character Rebecca—or was it Adrienne—and how it seems that I always write those damned black shoes into the story. It’s strange how simple movements can stir these ideas, these faux memories that lead us to believe we’re being reminded of something as usual as our own body. This, too, I think can be found in writing, and in a development of a character in a story.

The question then begs, who is this character, and why is there such a desire to understand him or her? Some argue that characters, or even these people in dreams, are actually reflections of the self, or deeply seeded desires surfacing. Of course, you can dip deep into the realm of Freud’s analysis, but as it’s generally accepted that he was wrong on many things, it might be fair to say that he was wrong here. But I wonder, what part of Samantha—or was it Jaeda—represent in me? There was a time in my life that I would begin to work heavily to understand the possible connection between these characters and myself. But today, I take a much different—and might I add, a much more enjoyable—approach to understanding this concept.

To quote one of the greatest movies written, I say that “We covet what we see.” And as a writer, or someone who spends lots of time thinking about people, we tend to become attached to the things, the places, the people that we see often in our minds, or even in reality. Love—perhaps one of the greatest debated topics of all time—can be described as an addiction of the mind to those, or that, closest to us on a regular basis. We love the things we have around us; we desire to be comforted by them; we desire to have them care for us; we desire them to be us. Perhaps the characters that writers conceive have some connection to this theory. Perhaps characters are nothing more than addictions of the mind: drugs that satisfy us with the mere image of their faces, the sounds of their voices, the representation of their actions, and the concepts of their thoughts.

And to think, most people wouldn’t think to call creative people ego-maniacs…

 

 

I Look Forward to Spring

I’ve been working somewhat hard to get several specific goals completed. The main of which I speak is the creation and operation of the Metropolis Theatre. For several months now, I’ve been doing research, and creating little pieces of papers with numbers and summaries of the potential value each item could have. Of course, several things have fallen to the wayside and with each passing day, there is more doubt that things will not turn out as I had originally planned. And I’m not saying that that is specifically a bad thing.

A few days ago, I decided to email one of the potential land lords, and inform him that I am no longer interested in his location. I wrote my letter very professionally (using that wonderful English degree I have) and made sure that I detailed the reasons why I decided his location was not the best for me. Several days have passed, and I have not heard from him at all. I wonder if he’s upset. It really shouldn’t matter if he is; this is my project now, and I must make the proper decisions to protect myself. Any business person should know that. I do, and I’m not even a business person.

I’ve had a few days now where I don’t even think about doing research. I can’t say that a day goes by without me thinking at least once about the theatre; quite the opposite. I always think about it at least once a day. But the past few days, after getting home from work, I relaxed, and didn’t even bother to open my bad (where the notebook for the theatre is.) I’ve been watching television, reading a book, or even playing some computer games. My mind has taken me somewhere else, after these months, and I am enjoying the break. I’ve even been somewhat inspired to write a bit again. Unfortunately, I can’t imagine what I’d write. No one’s eyes of judgment are harsher than my own.  Is this change happening because I have backed away from my grand push for the theatre?

Or is it because spring is coming closer, and there’s no way I could argue that spring isn’t my favorite season. I love spring: not because of the flowers or the smells, or the warmth. The cool air coupled with strong storms, and dark greens tickle my interest. I could easily sit and stare out a window for hours if it were raining, and the grass was a dark green, the color of the ocean on a stormy day. Perhaps it is the break in the clouds, and the coming of spring that brings me the inspiration to read, and to want to write. Perhaps it is LOST that has brought me the desire to create a story. It seems that each time the show begins, or I have the itch to watch an episode from the first season, I get the feeling of wanting to write, wanting to create characters that people desire to read about. Maybe it’s because I have the desire to know as much as I can about a person that I constantly want to create stories to supplement what I don’t quite know yet.

On an unrelated topic, I’ve been thinking about the direction of my family. It seems that the majority of my family is in transition. My mother and her restaurant have been in constant flux for the past 6 months, and once again, it seems that once again her restaurant may sell. It’s hard to tell what will happen if the sale actually goes through. Will my mother open a bakery closer to her house? Will it be successful? My brother’s lease ends soon, and he will be forced to decide to either stay in his home town, and continue to attend a local community college, or make the move to Columbia at some point, and begin the battle again with the state University. The decision is not simply community versus state college. He will move away fron his friends, from his mother and father, away from his job, and return to a place where he found difficulty finding friends, finding a support group, and a more difficult curiculum. And finally, my father, who must soon make the decision of whether he is to retire soon. Many may argue that this is a simple decision to be made, but the more I think about it, the more I can understand the fear of it. What does one do with 15 years and no job to go to? Downstairs where I work, a man named Duane comes in three or four times a week. He is retired, but still comes because he most likely has nothing better to do. What, in this case, will my father do with his time?

And again, in the distance, there’s my little hill, with my little flag, sort of watching from the horizon.

I look forward to spring.

A story of Nations

I feel as if I’m passing through some interesting times at the moment. I say passing because I sometimes feel that I’m out of the loop when it comes to big things going on with my family. Recently my brother has started school again, and is making his steps for rejoining the flagship university come true. Of course, to do this required somewhat of a large fight to ensue between the two. Of all the family relationships that exist at the moment, I think it’s fair to say that my brother has endured quite a bit of the storm of fights.

I remember not six months ago having a huge battle/debate with my mother about the state of my employment and the direction that I was—or rather what she believed me to be—heading. I debated with her, making claim that there was nothing that would ever really please me in terms of employment. I claimed that office life was going to slowly destroy my will to do anything, and that I feared ending up like several people I know (who have worked in the office sector most of their life.) She disagreed; I disagreed: so is the nature of the debate.

But that wasn’t that harsh of a fight. I got over it, and she got over it, and that was that. Though most of my fights and frustrations coming from my family are based on emotional responses, I can easily say that in the grand scheme of things, I’ve kept on the peripheral of the storm for quite some time.

But I’m not quite sure how much longer that’s going to last. It seems to me that tensions are rising and waning in a very similar pattern. The problem, however, is the fact that the amplitude of our symbolic Sin curve seems to be increasing. With frustrations growing because of problems existing with my mother’s business, and deals having to be made to insure financial security for my brother, it seems to me that there could be quite the mess out there some time in the future.

Three warring nations all somewhat unwilling to budge, all located somewhat close to each other.

And a distance away, another flag with walls somewhat untouched. I’m not sure how I feel about this. Occasionally the random catapult fire fragments and graces out here, but rarely is there anything to report.

And why is it so simple for me to speak about my family members in terms of warring nations? Why is it so simple to call them nations, with flags, and standards, and grounds that they each are unwilling (including myself) to give up? Is my family honestly a grand simile of a continent at war? If that’s the case, what’s the battle over? Turf? Gold? Power to rule?

If any of those three are true, why is it that I care so little for all three reasons? Much like Pavlov’s dog, I was told over and over again that I would go to college, and that I would never have to worry about such things. I would never have the burden to have to pay for it so long as one or both of my parents could supply it. For years, both my brother and I were told this, and thus began to trust the fact that we could rely on it.

This same thing is happening now, only the subject has changed. Now we are made to feel guilty when we are forced to go to our parents for help. I feel guilty for asking anything of my father, and feel bad when I do from my mother (simply because it is such a hardship on her.)

As a nation so far removed from the situation at hand, and as a nation so removed from standard conversation, and a nation so distanced in terms of diplomacy, why would anyone want to press for continued relationship?

Family, of course, is the answer.

I wonder if they feel the same way.

Bill the Boatsman

Let’s see what I can do with this post. It’s been some time since I’ve actually tried to post some of my real thoughts on this forum. I’m not quite sure where the animosity came from; perhaps I just began to feel as if there really wasn’t a point to share stuff here anymore. I used to spend hours of my day trying to think of what I was going to write. I remember making each post, and waiting for the comments, hoping that it would start some sort of debate. Now, it just doesn’t seem as if that happens anymore. What happened to that? Was it really just a fad that only a few of us still continue? Did Myspace really destroy the world? It’s quite possible that these things are true. It is also possible that I just don’t have that much to say at this time. Of course, as I’ve always stated, and will further point out by lengthening this sentence to almost comical length, I can always find something to write about.

They’ve given me a raise here at Whitten Hall. I’m now making an extra grand a year. I do appreciate that, and I look forward to spending those extra thousand dollars on things that I will need in the coming year. But it makes me think: what’s the purpose of this raise? Why did I make mention when they were designing my permanent position, that they give me some sort of raise? If I do open a theater on September 1^st, 2007, what will all this fighting be for? Will my constant thoughts on a masters degree make me feel guilty for leaving such an opportunity if I am given the chance to leave the position with the University of Missouri? I remember almost 18 months ago, talking to my mother, and explaining to her why the Hall Coordinator job with the University of Missouri was such a great option. It would afford me a chance to get a masters degree, and ‘find a better job.’ 

But what is the better job? Am I just trying to go into a higher education to again prolong my entering into the rest of my work career? It’s hard to tell someone that you don’t really care what you’re doing, or where you work, so long as you have a good time and are able to afford the things you want in life. I want a family, and I want a decent home. I’m not sure that there’s more in life that would satisfy me more. Maybe some time when I’m able, or skilled enough, film making will become an option for me. Perhaps I was never really good at it, and that I just really like movies. Maybe the written word is really where my talents lie. Of course, as we all know, this doesn’t put money in my greedy pocket or food in my sometimes empty belly. Where does that leave me on a Friday night with my high speed connection?

For those of you that don’t know, for some time now I’ve been considering starting a theater here in the city of Columbia. Reid and I have been working on the details and researching what it takes to start a business. We would show older movies (Indiana Jones / 12 Angry Men, 1956) and serve food items, beer, liquor, and wine. But am I ready to enter into the service world? Take what I do right now…how is it that much different? I answer the phones, and direct people to the information they want. Or simply said, people come to me for something they want, and seeing as though they’ve paid for it (taxes) I am able to send them to where the answer is. Both positions have their similarities. One seems to have a lot more work associated with it. I wonder if I’m being overly cautious (with Reid) in efforts to escape hard work. Does that make me lazy? 

I came to Columbia 5 years ago on the dollar of my parents. In that time, I’ve earned a degree, founded and presided over a student organization, presided over a community service organization, graduated with a bachelors degree, rented an apartment, got a steady job (after that failed idea of substitute teaching), paid every bill on time, regardless of how low on money I’ve been, not once asked for a loan from my parents to support myself, and how hold a benefit eligible position with the University of Missouri. Have I done so poorly? Yes, there are friends of mine that have gone far off colleges, paid thousands of dollars, hold masters degrees, and are working for respected companies. To the best of what I can say, I believe they are doing the things they want to be doing. Is that much different than what I’m doing?

If I were to start a theater, and come to the point where I was able to manage with Reid, and not have to work like a peon, will that bring me the happiness that I am looking for? I think the better way to say that is: will it bring me the financial slack I want to start the things that matter to me. I don’t need money to write. I need money to eat, and support the things I want to support. I think that if I can do this, it doesn’t really matter what I do to make it. Right?

Would it not be awesome to own a theater? Would it not be awesome to become a staple of the Columbia community? Would it not be awesome to become something people enjoy and desire? The question I’ve been asked, and have asked of myself is this: where does that leave me in ten years with my high speed connection on a Friday night? Does owning a business really help you in your future employment search? Of course, were YouTube designers thinking to themselves: will this help me find a job in a year?

The business came to them, and now, they don’t have to work another day in their lives.

I don’t think that same fortune is going to come to me. Please don’t feel as if I’m making rash decisions here that will lead to a year of hellish overworked days and depressing nights. I’d rather be shown that this won’t work, than to go in on a whim, and experience it first hand. But there is something about starting my own idea, and pressing it, selling it, and experiencing it, that draws me to it. I assume this sort of draw exists across everyone. Be it having children, to writing a novel, to creating the cure for cancer, each person has something that brings them to the start of the next day; I guess it’s just a matter of doing it, and seeing what happens when that day comes.

That’s a little too optimistic of a statement for me to end there. It’s a hard decision: one of the harder ones I will have to make. Do I walk into a situation where I will be forced to serve people food, and clean up after them on the chance, be it greater or less than 50% that things will work out to my vision. I’ve always thought of myself as the reincarnation of a sailor in the 1700s. Though my vertigo grounds me, I’ve always felt as if being on the horizon of the sea a location most desired. Is heading out to sea in a fishing vessel that different than opening a theater? I’m trying to catch something, make a profit off of it. And quite frankly, day to day, I would never be able to tell you if the waters were plentiful.

Slate

I think I’ve figured out why I am pressing so hard to make my current position a real one. As much as I don’t really want to say this, my current position has turned into something very similar to when I used to work in a grocery store. Though going into work each day was something I hated, hate doing, for some reason, going into the store was never a big problem for me. I was surrounded by people that wanted to see me, and it got to the point where I could challenge authority with good humor. I was able to go in each day and slack a little without having to hide it. It became something we were all into, rather than boss asking someone of lower ‘rank’ to do it. I think I’ve achieved that here. It seems to me that there are so many people in this building that have come to enjoy my presence, it would actually be sad for them if I were to move on. Now, I certainly can’t let that influence my decisions of where I plan to be in the months, years to come. But I think it’s important to realize and take notice of the things that have come to be here in this office.

I sat, today, in the conference room with twenty of the staff members. They were all quiet as I told the story of how I started the MU Film Club, and how it was really designed to attract women of similar interests. I told them of how it failed, and how Cullen actually met someone that way, and that I felt passed up. I told them that we continued the effort even when we had graduated. I told them of how I held out and hoped that I was going to find someone. And then, I told them how I met Kathleen. They loved this story. Ellen said she loved stories of young love. I pulled out my wallet and we passed around pictures. 6 months ago, I couldn’t have done that. But I can now. I can work on the things that I want to, I can help out where I want to, and I can talk to the people that I want to. My hope now is that I am able to stay until something better, something leading will take way.

And I need to make sure that I work on the goals that I have set forth. I know that I don’t like my screenplay idea. But I am trying my hardest to finish it. I’ve had ideas for stories, books, paintings, anything that I feel I can do, but it seems that I’ve been trying to keep it all back because I know that I’ll get distracted if I do. Every now and then, something creeps out of me,  and I somewhat lose my way on whatever it was that I was working on. Is this a flaw? I’m just not sure. Either way, I think I need to make sure that I continue my creative work. I’ve been told that I’m a creative person, and on occasion, I’ve been told that I’m a good writer. It doesn’t happen as often now as it used to, but still, should that keep me from doing more? We’ll see.