December Challenge and Prompt up!

This month has been incredibly active in terms of writing, and that's not even touching on the holidays and all the events that tend to occur in the last month of the year.

SKoW offered a prompt for Christmas, the My True Love Gave To Me prompt. You had to take the Twelve Days of Christmas song, and write a short drabble (300 words or less) incorporating each item, without involving any holidays other than birthdays. It's the first time I've ever written something like that, and it was much harder than I'd been anticipating. After trying, unsuccessfully, to type out the drabbles on the computer, I ended up switching to a notebook and pen. I found it easier to stick to the 300 or less word count on paper, where my writing was bigger and took up more space, than on the keyboard, where the paragraphs were so small. When I finally was able to get the writing under control, it only took me two days to complete the piece, but it took me a week and a half to get to that point. I was just relieved it was completed, and I was able to submit. Score one for me, completing a prompt and submitting it! Winners haven't been announced yet, but I'm hopeful for some time after the New Year. Will I win? Most likely not. But hey, I'll get my story posted on another website, for people to click on and view! Networking baby, networking!

TWA also issued a challenge this month, something that was unique and instantly caught my attention. Members of the community submitted anonymous wishes to the moderator, who then posted a list that people who wished to, could choose from to draft a one shot story. The story had to be between 3 and 6 thousand words, and some how revolve around the wish. The one I ended up with was: to dance with the stars again. At first, I'd been super excited about it. How cool would it be to write a story about dancing with the stars?? And then, for some reason, all my inspiration just...poof! vanished. I had a basic premise - a boy who has lost his spark, a girl who dances with the stars, and a night of fantasy - but I couldn't get the words to mesh together right. The first draft took a horribly dark spin, the second was lighter but wouldn't stretch out to cover the 3k minimum, and the third just sort of fizzled and died. Finally, Monday - which was the deadline, after having been extended twice - I sat down, and forced myself to write it out. I just typed and typed and didn't stop to worry about plot continuity, or common phrasing. I ended up with a decent piece at just shy of 3.5k words, and while I wasn't ecstatic with it, I was definitely okay enough with it to post to the comm. It's received four different reviews, all praising it. Color me astonished!

Writing this month has been very, very difficult. I haven't touched a piece of my own literary work, and surprisingly, I'm okay with that. I've done work on the website, started playing with banners, and successfully submitted two different pieces of work for a specific idea/challenge/prompt, with a deadline. Not too shabby!

Banners!

Score! After drooling after everyone else's banners, and wistfully thinking...man wouldn't it be sweet to have banners for my stuff...it's finally happened! I tracked down a website that lets me create banners using images, with different font types, colors, graphics, the list continues. I now have banners! Wicked awesome images to better display and advertise all my stuff. Sweetness!

Welcome!

At long last, it is here! As promised, here is the new blog. The premium source to find out what's going on in the world of Rainbow Spork, Grok, and I, your illustrious OverLady. Welcome!

To cover some basic info:

What - when appropriate, updates will be posted here on story postings, submissions, challenge/prompt announcements, and complete/wip stories.

When - every Saturday, at a minimum, there will be a blog update. If the occasion calls for it though, a blog will be posted!

Who - this is all pretty much OverLady/me, so it'll be a lot more raw and unedited.

Why - because sometimes, it's nice to just vent. Heh. ^_^

Comments are thrown open to any and all, so feel free to post something if you have a specific question. Also, if I'm being horribly slow with updates, please by all means nudge me into action with a swift kick. Goodness knows at some point I'll probably need it.

Until my next post, happy writing!

Signing off,
OverLady
(aka, Z)