Some Thoughts on Recent Challenges
Moments of Silence; Epic Beginnings; Overboard; L*pogram
Moment of Silence
You can read more about this challenge here:
I liked this one. I don't think I was very good at it, but I had fun, so I'm sure Mr Rogers would be proud or something.
My entries
drumroll - the charged, usually silent moment before a kiss
when the nagging stops - did she leave, or did he kill her? We may never know.
on the importance of communication - few things hurt more than someone you love shutting you out. I wanted to do a one word per line poem, and a poem about silence seemed like the perfect opportunity to try.
Shout outs
There were 865 entries to this one. I know for a fact I missed a lot of them. Even just counting my very favourites out of the ones I did see, there are too many to list all of them. Here are a few, anyway! I've generally avoided ones that placed, or were picked for Top Story.
The Hush by Castidhe
scalpel by Poppy
knotty girl by Daniel K
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Epic Beginnings
Here's the link to the challenge if you haven't seen it yet:
There were 400 entries to this one. Of course I didn't read all 400, but of the ones I did read, no two were alike. They were all different and interesting. I am subscribed to some pretty cool, imaginative people.
I found this more tricky than I expected. I read the prompt and I thought, "cool, that should be easy" and it wasn't. I think it was more tricky than the Moment of Silence one. Which is really saying something, because poetry is not my wheelhouse and I usually prefer fiction.
My entries
Advanced Potion Making - this one is about a kid making "potions" in the bath. Pretty sure we all did that!
The Steak is Always Perfect - this one is about a self-caged superhero who has shut themselves away to avoid hurting more people. Sorry it's a bit of a bummer!
My New Talent (wtf) - about someone who wakes up with the wrong memories. Law enforcement are keen to channel (exploit? experiment with?) this ability.
Shout outs
The Weaver by Rachel Deeming
Jayne Interstellar by Novel Allen
The Inebriator by Lamar Wiggins
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Overboard
Here's the obligatory link:
I wrote these in reverse chronological order, but it occurs to me I also managed to do it in ascending order of difficulty. The Plank came out a little easier, but The Guest hated me and pummelled the crap out of me. I was relieved when I missed the deadline four billion times, and every time they extended it, I sat in the shower hugging my knees and crying.
I wonder if others found this one just as tricky. There were only 276 entries, so maybe?
My entries
Shout outs
the pirate and the swamp monster by Heather Hubler
Early in the Morning by Hannah Moore
Jones by Donna Fox
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L*pogram
Linky linky:
This one was nowhere near as difficult to yank out of me as The Guest. In fact I found it relatively easy, only to have it pointed out to me (after the deadline) that I'd missed a couple of stray i's. Oh, well! It was kind of fun, even if the topic was a bit unsettling. (It's fiction, but Munchausen by proxy is real and scary.)
I wonder how many of the 178 entries successfully avoided the letter i, and how many messed up like me?
My entries entry
Shout outs
Curse Ned! by D. J. Reddall
Damsel Fly Gossamer by John Cox
+
Thank you for reading, and happy birthday, if it is in fact your birthday. If it's not, well, there's no helping some people.
About the Creator
L.C. Schäfer
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Summer Leaves (grab it while it's gorgeous)
Never so naked as I am on a page
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I'm not a writer! I've just had too much coffee!
Sometimes writes under S.E.Holz
Reader insights
Nice work
Very well written. Keep up the good work!
Top insight
Heartfelt and relatable
The story invoked strong personal emotions
Keep reading
More stories from L.C. Schäfer and writers in Writers and other communities.
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By L.C. SchäferExclusive • about a month ago
Comments (22)
Nice article. I found the l*program challenge horribly difficult lol. I entered one piece and had to correct stray I’s about five times (at least). 🤣
Thanks for the shout-out L.C. I really liked Jayne. Kudos on your placement on Leaderboard.
Sounds interesting, a great sum-up and an eye opening insight for other challenges. Kudos for being honorable.
Congratulations for your Honorable Mention 🎉🎉🥳
Thank you for letting us in on what you found particularly difficult, it helps us to connect with you. I myself probably would’ve struggled with some of those challenges if I were a V+ member and even if I were to do some for the fun of it. Thank you for the links, they were convenient.
Loved the recap and shout outs!!! Congratulations on the Leaderboard Honerable Mentions!!!❤️❤️💕
What a great idea to write about. Yes, there are so many talented people and well written stories, very hard for the average person to place or even be read. I liked your choices and plan on reading the ones I missed. Congratulations on your placement
Thanks for inviting me down this rabbit hole of a read… most enjoyable 💖
I'm really loving the image of you wincing after reading the third "Only 14 hours left..." email for the Overboard challenge, lmao. It's the hidden cost that we never get to see when Vocal decides they don't have enough entries (I guess that's why they kept doing that?)
Interesting overviews. I really couldn't summon any interest in the L*pogram challenge. Overboard was kind of a wash, too. I had a few ideas, but they all sounded pretty much the same in my head. I had a pretty good romp with Moment of Silence, and enjoyed reading a lot of the entries. Epic Beginnings got me one Top Story and there were some some really unique responses to that one. Thanks for the recap and for pointing out some good reads!
Out of them all, I think the Overboard challenge was my favourite of the latest crop of challenges. Certainly, it fit most comfortably into what I typically write. Always a pleasure to read your thoughts on all these LC!
I like how you’ve been doing recaps on what you thought of each challenge- it’s quite nice to see a creator’s perspective of them. “ I read the prompt and I thought, "cool, that should be easy" and it wasn't.” Yup! I thought this prompt would be simple and I’d have a bunch of ideas but I kinda blanked. Ended up not submitting anything! And also found the Overboard one trickier than it felt it should have been 🤷♂️
Ooh, thank you for the shout out! Unusually, I enjoyed the acrostic least this time.
This was a great idea to do! Thank you so much for the shout out
I love how you bring perspective to the challenges and how challenging you found them. Also, thank you for the shout out. Very kind!
I've been too Whammied to write anything over nine lines recently, and I find I enjoy the challenges much more when I don't enter them. But of course I'll keep entering. Say, how do you know how many entries were submitted to a particular challenge?
I really liked what you did here :) A wonderful way to showcase your own work and boost other creators, win-win. Thank you for featuring one of mine!
Thanks for the gracious shout out, L.C.; challenges do make the "publish or perish" pledge easier to honor!
I appreciate your fairer view of the challenges. I have given up more or less as I worked long hours and days on the l*program challenge and realised it caused me stress not pleasure. I don't think I will enter more. I enjoy reading the entries however. Thank you for the head's up on missed stories to read!
I really liked your recap of these challenges and your picks (some of which I originally missed). Well done.
I love these recaps/thought pieces. Thank you so much for the shout out!
Wonderful. Thanks for the recommendations. I'd read most, but found a couple of missed.