Monday 30 April 2018

#WEPFF - The Road Less Traveled challenge winners! And we've added a new category!


Hi all ye who pass by...
Despite it being the A-Z Challenge , 20 hardy souls took up the Road Less Traveled Challenge and entertained, inspired and made us cry. Thank you all!
Before I get to the fun part, did you catch the WEP team's collaborative post for the A-Z challenge? It was so fun, bouncing off each other's stories to create an on-going story with a road sign as our prompt. If you haven't read it, go HERE. We'd love to hear what you think!

The reading part of a WEP challenge is easy for the team, even if we have to go back several times for a re-read. Then comes the hard part. Choosing 3 outstanding entries. Often the writers who make the final cut tugged at us and stood out above the rest. Now that there's 4 of us on the team to have this discussion, coming to a final decision should be easier, but how we respond to writing is SO subjective. What floats one's boat, sinks another's.

So after much to-ing and fro-ing, we came up with a shortlist. On this list we had in no particular order:

L.G. Keltner with her inspiring SPEECH.
Desk49 with his personal POETRY.
Carrie Golden with her heart-rending MEMOIR.
Michael di Gesu with his super-fun MEMOIR.
Elephant's Child with her awe-inspiring TRAVEL post.

Kalpanaa with her tribute to Indira Ghandi.

Right from the start, when the team came up with the idea of a Road Less Traveled, I LOVED it. This idea could take you anywhere. It resulted in some deep responses. Isn't that really the point of writing? To garner an emotional response in our readers. Here at WEP, we like being emotionally involved and that is what we were. 
Here is a quick run through of the entries, excepting your hosts':

Pat Garcia – Engaging, emotional as always. Pat's heroine was someone with insecurities most of us could sympathise with. 
Carrie Golden – reminded us that forgiving yourself is often the hardest thing to do in life.
Christopher Scott introduced us to his speculative fiction, 'Raypunk' and told a gripping tale where readers asked for more. 
L G Keltner – a new genre, L.G. wrote an inspirational speech aimed at graduating students
Pat Hatt – delivered with great panache another of his dark, nasty and extremely clever tales
Kalpanaa – through beautiful images, Kalpanaa reminded us of that inspirational lady, Indira Ghandi. 
DG Hudson– took us to Outpost Station #6, The Far Reaches, a riveting episode of sci-fi.  
Jo-ke Ojo– wrote a short, sharp poem that showed a woman fed up with waiting around...who could forget? - '...he came, she left, dinner was over.'   
Desk 49 – wrote poetically of fragments of his life…nostalgia, pathos, hope...
Elephant's Child - Whoa, a  trip to Antarctica, made more personal by her family's negative response to her once-in-a-lifetime-trip.
J Lenni Dorner – the plot thickened in an on-going flash for the A - Z which fitted with the April WEP prompt. 
Tyrean A Martinson - Literally had us clinging to the edge, as she explored flight...
Donna McNichol - showed us what it can be like - this coming home.
Roland Yeomans – through the Ghost of Carl Sagan, Roland bathed us in mystery. 
Michael di Gesu - introduced us to the memoir of Kay Hickman, written in such a way, the words bounced off the page.
Deborah Drucker – showed us that loneliness can take us down a dark path. 

And now to the announcements:


THE WINNER OF THE

2018 WEP APRIL CHALLENGE

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED

is

Congratulations Michael!

With its peek into a chapter from his coming memoir on the life of Kay Hickman, Michael dazzled us. Please accept the winner's badge, Michael, and show it in your sidebar with a link to your story. 


An Amazon Gift Card of $10 will be winging your way shortly.

***

THE RUNNER UP OF THE

2018 WEP APRIL CHALLENGE

IS


Carrie's memoir on forgiveness was an inspiration to us all. Thank you for sharing with us, Carrie. Please display the badge on your blog with a link to your post.

Congratulations Carrie!


***


THE ENCOURAGEMENT AWARD FOR THE

2018 WEP APRIL CHALLENGE GOES TO

Elephant's Child


Elephant's Child, we loved your free verse with the title, Antarctica, and the beautiful original photographs which accompanied your entry. Please accept the badge and display it on your blog with a link to your entry.
Congratulations Elephant's Child!


***
BREAKING NEWS! This month we have a new category which will be awarded at the team's discretion. 

All prospective winners are vetted for their comments before they are awarded a prize. 

Why? Because we need your comments. This is a supportive writing community where each person is valued.

There are a handful of very strong commenters, on the other hand, so this award is created especially for them. 

For the inaugural Commenting Champion Award, issued in April for the Road Less Traveled prompt, we acknowledge Desk49. He not only visits everyone, he comments in poetic form which takes real talent. 



Thank you, Ellis, Desk49. Please accept the badge and display on your blog to inspire all who come by!

And as always, we thank our team member, Olga Godim, for the time and creativity she puts into our winners' badges. 

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WINNERS!


A NEW TIMEZONE: In future challenges, WEP will post to EST (East Coast USA) time. Check the clock at the top. Please post your entry on or before the challenge date according to the clock. The linky will close at midnight at EST on the given date. This will enable the team to read, discuss and decide on winners within a shorter timeframe. Thanks!

Please comment on as many posts as you can, as stated in our submission form - - READ other entries, giving feedback as requested
And if you find you can't comment on a post, due to blogspot or WP difficulties, advise one of the team or leave a comment on the WEP current post. Try to set up your comment system so it's easy to comment!

Thanks, everyone, for joining us in APRIL. We appreciate each and every one of you. 

Our next Challenge will be in JUNE – UNRAVELED YARN! 
So what's it going to be? A tall story? An evil knitting lady/man plotting someone's demise (okay, Yolanda, this is for you!) Whatever pops into your mind, go with it!



On the Challenges Page you’ll find the prompt schedule for the year and further inspiration for the next prompt.


Be sure to return to read the winner’s guest post in a couple of weeks!

We'd love if you'd Tweet one of these:

#WEPFF The Road Less Traveled Winners announced. @DeniseCCovey &@YolandaRenee https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2018/05/wepff-road-less-traveled-challenge.html #amwriting #flashfiction

Celebrate with Michael di Gesu  first place winner #WEPFF The Road Less Traveled Challenge @DeniseCCovey  @YolandaRenee https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2018/05/wepff-road-less-traveled-challenge.html #amwriting #flashfiction

The #WEPFF writers are all winners! @DeniseCCovey & @YolandaRenee https://writeeditpublishnow.blogspot.com/2018/05/wepff-road-less-traveled-challenge.html #amwriting #flashfiction


Please click the social media buttons to share this post if you'd be so kind!

Your Hosts…
Denise – Renée – Nilanjana – Olga

37 comments:

  1. Congrats to the winners. A nice new spiffy comment award too.

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  2. Oh my goodness...congrats to all the winners. I have to admit that both Michael's story and Elephant's words were two of my favorites! Way to go, folks!!! Looking forward to the next challenge, now that A-Z is done. (phew)

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    1. Glad you approve Donna. Always hard to choose.

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  3. Huge congratulations to all the winners. And participants. And organisers. This is a lovely supportive space. Thank you all so much.

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    1. Lovely to have you writing for us again Sue. Thanks.

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  4. Congratulations to all winners! The entries were outstanding for this prompt, so much creativity! - very rewarding to read, personally.

    Reciprocal commenting and critiquing is the 'glue' that binds our community together. The strong commenters deserve recognition and applause. Congrats, Desk49!

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  5. Thank you so much Ladies of the WEP! I am THRILLED and so is KIM!!!! (Mommy Kay's daughter). And... Congrats to Carrie Ann, Elephants Child, and ELLIS for his incredible comments!

    So glad you had a wonderful laugh with Mommy Kay, and trust me my words weren't the only thing BOUNCING off the page. LOL.... Mommy Kay bounced every where she went!

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    1. We were thrilled with your entry Michael. Glad Kim was chuffed too! Hope we get more!

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    2. Oh.... you certainly will! I have LOTS and LOTS of fun chapters that I can share if the prompt calls for it. Let me know if you'd like to read the finished product!

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  6. Congrats to Michael, Carrie and Elephant's Child and Desk49!!
    The variety of responses keeps me reading and writing. Well done to all participants as well. I do like the commenter award because the diligence shown by some commenters takes a lot of extra effort as well. To compose a comment after reading a story that might show the writer a different view, or just to let them know what they did well. It's valuable for the writers, no matter who wins. Great idea, ladies!

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    1. Glad you like the idea of the comments award DG. Thanks.

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  7. Congratulations, Michael, Carrie, Sue, and Ellis! Great work all of you!

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    1. Thank you, Renee! SO glad you like my new WIP!

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  8. Good Morning and congratulations to Michael, Carrie, Elephant's Child and Desk49. I enjoyed reading your posts.

    To the WEP team: I think it is magnificent that you've added a new category. I, for one, take the time to really get into what another WEPPER is writing and give back how it resonated within me. So I find this new category super. Keep up the good work team! You're doing an excellent job.
    Shalom aleichem,
    Pat G

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    1. Thanks so much Pat. Your kind words mean so much.

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    2. I agree with you Pat... the WEP is amazing and so is the new award!

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  9. Congratulations to the winners! Great job everyone!

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  10. Congrats to Michael,Sue, and Ellis! You all did awesome! :-)

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  11. Congratulations to all the winners who contributed an interesting diversity of stories and poems.

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  12. Congrats Winners. And especially congrats to all who took the time and effort to post, and comment. I sometimes find the comments as interesting as the posts, lol. Sometimes.

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    1. The comments say so much and well worth the read.

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    2. So agree with you, Donna! I find the different ways people react to the same piece absolutely fascinating.

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  13. Congratulations to all the winners. The two monthly interval between posts appears to work quite well. A big thank you to Denise, Nila, Olga and Renee for being such fantastic hosts.

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    1. Heh Jo-ke. Can’t imagine going back to weekly, fortnightly or monthly. Lovely having you back.

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  14. Congratulations, Micheal and Carrie Ann!

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  15. Hi, Olga! I can see why you weren't getting much fiction writing done in the past few months! I wasn't expecting to find this welcoming space when I visited. What a lovely and supportive post and blog! Thanks to you, Denise, Nilanjana, and Renée!

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    1. Hello Fundy Blue! Thanks for your kind words. We welcome new writers, so feel free to join us in June or beyond.

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  16. Thank you so much for appreciating my post. I was hard put to it to find an A to Z post that would fit in with the theme and just didn't have the creative energy to write a post for the prompt. Congratulations to the winners. I love the idea of a commenter's badge because commenting on someone's blog is a generous gesture and something not everyone on the blogosphere bothers with. Also, your collaborative piece was FABULOUS.

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    1. Thanks Kalpanaa. I'm glad you liked the collaborative post. And we so appreciated you posting during the A-Z.

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  17. What a great lineup! Hurray for all who entered and congrats to those who won. I'll have to get around and read all of the entries.

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  18. Wow! Congrats to the winners! Looking forward to giving the June challenge a try!

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    1. Looking forward to seeing you in June Laura. Welcome!

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