Third Annual Alliteration Contest

What's alliteration?
Slim Summerville slowly sauntered seaward. Several sailors suddenly seeing Slim's subconscious surroundings, slyly stole Slim's shorts, socks, shoes, shirt. Suddenly, sleepless songbirds sang silly songs singularly seeking secure streets showing serenity. 
I think you get idea. My dad penned the first two sentences for an assignment as a schoolboy many years ago. I added the last sentence to stretch it further. In his honor, I'm holding a contest for participants to practice this writing exercise. Not all words have to start with the same letter, but a similar sound somewhere is required. If you're tricky, the sound might come in the middle with vowels, or a consonant at the end. Play with it, have fun. Then send yours in for a chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card.

Because it is often hard to choose a winner, this year I am setting the contest up through Rafflecopter. It will be easy, but there will be extra points for those who put in extra effort. Only two things are required: 1) Follow my blog and 2) Submit your original alliteration (maximum of 2 permitted). Why not give it a try? The winner will be announced February 24th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tips To Keep Going and Contest Reminder

Slim Summerville slowly sauntered seaward. Several sailors suddenly seeing Slim's subconscious surroundings slyly stole Slim's shorts, socks, shoes, shirt.
Can you beat this? Submit your entry for the Second Annual Alliteration Contest. Check out last week's post below for the rules and enter today!

I want to share with you a tiling project that took much longer to complete than anticipated. It was hard, yet satisfying work because progress was visible. I pushed myself to finish through less than top-notch health because I had a deadline. It needed to be completed before going out of state.

 

Obviously the first photo shows that more time needs to be spent before completion. What if my motivation to finish is lacking? I could give several excuses but it won't change the fact that the shower is not usable until completed. 

Sometimes writers get frustrated or feel their project is taking too long? On top of that are revisions and waiting for reader's feedback. Will all the effort be worth it? I can't answer that question for anyone but myself, but I can share a few things I've learned:

1. Start with a project that is exciting to you. It moves the process along much better. 
2. Any project worth doing is worth doing well, to the best of your ability. It leaves the fewest regrets.
3. Goals and deadlines do help us achieve. So does a support group. Use whatever devise/reward system that spurs you on.
4. Expect a few delays or bumps in the road. There's a learning curve to first projects. It took me an extra year to get my manuscript in shape. Worth it since I ended up with a finished product that made me even more proud.
5. Breaks are necessary but use them wisely. Energy spent on a secondary project or something totally different can rejuvenate but watch that length of time where it gets harder and harder to see the motivation of project number one. Some do better to plow on through without sidetracks. Learn how you work best.
6. End results are fulfilling and satisfying. Follow up with any last cleanup and sendoffs, then celebrate! When the project is over, move on to the next.

What's your motivation to keep going?

Announcing My Second Annual Alliteration Contest

It's that time of year again, folks. We're beating the winter doldrums with a contest by sparking your creativity in new ways. The contest was inspired by an alliteration assignment given to my dad in the 8th Grade. His father helped him with it and I have added to it--a three-generation effort! Are you game? Okay, here's the game in one word: Alliteration. It's a sound mechanism where you keep the same sound going within, say, a sentence. The easiest way to do this is to start most words with the same letter. Like, she sells seashells by the seashore. It gets one's attention but can be annoying when overused. Subtly is best, unless your entering THIS CONTEST! 

A deeper level of alliteration may show up in prose and poetry. A writer may go for similar vowel sounds in the middle of a string of words or complete that rhyme with ending consonants. Used sparingly, a reader is often impressed when the tool is noticed. In this simple sentence: Could you find enough good wood to make a fire?, 'good' and 'wood' get noticed, but they also echoed the sound of 'could'.

THE RULES: (They're really easy!)
1. You must be a follower of my blog to enter. Just click on the Follow This Blog tab on the sidebar and complete.
2. Tell a mini-story using alliteration. Hint: The best stories have a beginning, middle, and end or feel complete. Use any type of alliteration you desire.
3. Words and subject matter should be free from vulgarity and suitable for public reading or they will be disqualified. Entries must be in English.
4. I reserve the right to reprint on this blog any submission I desire, giving credit to the author. The rights to your work remain yours. The work must be the sole effort of the entrant.
5. Entries or questions about the contest should be sent to:
renaemackley@gmail.com 
by Friday noon EST on February 8, 2013. Include your name, e-mail, and a title for your entry.
6. The GRAND PRIZE winner will be my opinion of the submission that most closely represents the inspiration of this contest as shared below. In other words, the longest story with the fewest non-alliteration words. Other submissions that I might love (they inspire, surprise, elicit humor or other emotions) will receive recognition from this blog in future posts and may or may not also receive a prize. I reserve the right to enlist other judges if the volume of submissions becomes more than I can handle.
7. Prizes. The grand prize winner will receive their choice of an Amazon or Barnes & Noble Gift Card of not less than $10. This value and other prizes may be increased depending on the number of entries received and other prizes that could be donated. (I'm still working on that.) 
Winners will be announced beginning Monday February 11, 2013.
8. Have fun with it! That's the name of the game, James.

My 90-something father still quotes this today:
Slim Summerville slowly sauntered seaward. Several sailors suddenly seeing Slim's subconscious surroundings slyly stole Slim's shorts, socks, shoes, shirt.
Suddenly, sleepless songbirds sang silly songs singularly seeking secure streets showing serenity. 

Book Review and Alliteration Entry

For the next five weeks I will be posting entries to my alliteration contest one at a time, along with my regular post. So look for Matthew Tandy's great submission below. First, I have a book review for anyone interested in learning to make better decisions for their financial future. In other words, this book is for adults of all ages.

The 124 page book is RetirementQuest: Make Better Decisions by John Hauserman. The back cover states the book's purpose as showing how to get unbiased advice and avoiding costly mistakes."If you want to build a secure financial future, this is the book that will help show you how." I agree that this novice-friendly book is an aid and covers these purposes, but not meant to be all inclusive. It is a good starting place.
Mr. Hauserman begins by pointing out how there is a greater need for financial planning to meet one's goals than ever before. People live longer now and investments needs a vigilant eye. Mr. Hauserman goes through information step-by-step with understandable examples and explained graphs or charts. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to read this book, though for me, it did take a quiet atmosphere and slow reading to absorb the information. The book is orderly and logical with certain points bolded or highlighted with a side bar for emphasis.
The introductory chapters gave me the feel of relevance for most reader's situations. I found the section toward the end where history affected spending trends and philosophies especially interesting. Some of the middle made me want to turn investing over into the hands of one more competent. This acceptable avenue could find you seeking Hauserman's or another's services or at least checking out the free interactive financial map on his website. Books like this one are important to read because ultimately, we are all responsible for our own financial decisions.
If you would like to order a copy of this book, go to: http://www.amazon.com/RetirementQuest-Better-Decisions-John-Hauserman/dp/0983021708/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327988186&sr=8-1  You can also visit the author's website here:  http://retirementquest.com/home.aspx
     Check last week's post or scroll down for the winning entry to my alliteration contest. Here's another great submission by Matthew Tandy:
Two tanned tee tolling Tandy's tangoed tremulously towards tight tightropes taped to towers. Taking time, teetering, tottering, teasing, together to topward tiers. Tonight, tangoing Tandy's Tatianna, Thomas, tempered terrifying, terminal tittering, toes turned tactically, teeth terrific, talking tall tales, tender truths, tavern tales.  

Alliteration Contest Entries and Winner!

This Alliteration Contest was full of fun, fantastic features to make your Monday meaningful. Entries included (in order of appearance):

The misadventures of Melanie Martineau who munched on mildewed macaroni (ew!) by Melissa Cunningham

Matthew Tandy’s two tanned tightrope tango-ers that teetered topward

Audacious alligators with artistic animal arms by Wendy Swore

Lisa Asanuma’s wicked, wild, witty witches with their wily wares

Carolyn Frank’s book review for the story She Sells Sea Shells (whose sappy sequels should stay secret)

Silly Sally Smith and her sloppy sweet shop whose snacks spawned sporadic seizures by Shelly Brown.

Talk about a mouthful! And an earful.

All the stories made some kind of sense, stretched vocabulary skills, and some didn’t have a single non-alliteration filler word. They did an excellent job! (Two thumbs up/clapping) While I hoped for 10 entries to make judging worthwhile, I’m still going to award a sweet snack of Idle Isle Toffee Balls to none other than (drumroll):

Shelly Brown!

Her entry not only made me laugh, was the longest at over 100 words, but told a story with a beginning, middle, and end. I am impressed! I’ll soon share Shelly’s submission:

Silly Sally Smith sells sixty sloppy sweet snacks. Sally savvily serves sweet snacks side by side Samuel Stonehenge's Salad, Sandwich, and Salsa Shop. Saucy Samuel Stonehenge says salads, sandwiches, and salsa support sturdy sustenance and Sally Smith's sweet snacks spawn sporadic seizures. Sally Smith saw Samuel Stonehenge's sentiments as short-sighted speculation and sassily said so. Samuel Stondehenge was smitten by Sally Smith's strong, snappy, spirited slant. "She's smart," Samuel surmised. Suspisious, Sally sulked to the sweet snack shop sullenly. Silently, Samuel slinked into the sweet snack shop, said 'sorry' with a sunflower spray, shopped- scoring seven sticky sweet snacks, stole a smile, smirked self-satisfied, and split. Sally seemed softened to Samuel's sumptuous salads, satisfactory sandwiches, and spicy salsa, and seemingly someday might settle for Samuel's spousal schemes. Someday.

Alliteration Aptitude Contest - Say What?

Ready for some fun? Let's beat the winter blues and play around with words, or should I say letters. It's purely a fun exercise that just might stretch your vocabulary. We could make it a CONTEST if ten or more willingly participate. All you have to do is put together a sentence or string of sentences that start with the same letter and make sense. Readers hear the same sound over and over. Other uses of alliteration can be found with vowels or syllables that sound alike, but we'll concentrate on the easiest method--the first letter.
The following example is one my dad and his dad made up together for a high school assignment way back when. He memorized it and randomly repeats it .
   Slim Summerville slowly sauntered seaward. Several sailors  suddenly seeing Slim's subconscious surroundings slyly stole Slim's shorts, socks, shoes, shirt.
Pretty cool, eh? I decided to add on to it with:
  Suddenly, sleepless songbirds sang silly songs singularly seeking secure streets showing serenity.
My dad and grandfather came up with 19 words. I added a dozen more for a total of 31! Can you beat that? Can you make me laugh or groan? Let's set up some Contest Rules:
1. Make sure you are a follower on my blog. Standard stuff.
2. Put together a sentence or more that makes sense using first letter alliteration. Filler words are okay but they don't count. Be willing to let me post my favorites on my blog Monday January 30. Don't forget to come back to read them!
3. Send your name and entry to renaemackley@gmail.com by Saturday January 28, 2012 at 10 PM Mountain Standard Time.
4. If there are at least ten entries, I will publish the longest, funniest, worst, etc. of my choice. The overall Grand Prize winner will receive a prize--possibly something to do with quality chocolate.
So tell your friends and have fun with it! I can't wait to read them!