Snowed In

Thanks to the extreme winter conditions down here in Atlanta, my daily life has come to a near standstill for days.  The kids are still home from school today, but hubby has left for work for the first time all week.  I don't know about you, but when the whole family is home, regardless of the day of the week, my brain goes into weekend mode.

I haven't been online for longer than five minutes since last Friday.  I look forward to reading some blogs today!

As for my own blog, I will keep this short with just a couple updates.

First, I have a new email account which will replace the one I have been using [heftynicki(at)writing(dot)com] for all my writerly correspondences.  The writing dot com email account will not close and I check it several times a day, so no worries if you contact me through that site.  But my new, "professional" email account will now be:  NicoleDucleroir(at)gmail(dot)com.

Second, today begins my favorite creative writing contest of all time!  It's epic, because it tests both your creativity and your endurance.  It's called the 15 For 15 Contest, and it is hosted by a member of Writing.com.  (The contest is full, but if you're interested in playing along in future rounds, it usually runs once every six months.  You have to be a member of the site, which is free.  Details HERE.)

The contest moderator posts a new picture prompt every morning.  Contestants are challenged to write something: a piece of flash fiction, a poem, song lyrics, a vignette, a dialog-only scene -- anything, based on the photo, and post their work in the contest forum.  The biggest challenge?  You are only allowed to write for 15 minutes.  (We follow the honor system, but most of us are serious writers who love rising to this challenge.)  Here's why it's a test of endurance:  The contest lasts 15 days, hence the title "15 For 15."  Believe me, into the second week your muse gets very tired!

As you can imagine, even the best typers can only type so fast.  I'm around 90 words per minute, when I'm on a serious writing high, so my longest entries are around 1300 words.  Many are much shorter, depending on the level of my inspiration.  I'll post my entries here -- probably.  We'll see...

Lastly, although I really dig this blog template, there are a lot of things I don't like about it (narrow post field, only two columns, heavy use of olive green, lack of tabs...)  I know, I know -- I'm the worst kind of fickle creative type out there!  I'm definitely going to change my layout, again.  Bear with me.  I'm a Libra; I need beautiful, calm, organized surroundings, even in my cyber-life.  (I knew you'd understand :D)

I'm off to contemplate the first 15 For 15 prompt, and to enjoy the last days of the snow.  Supposed to get above freezing on Saturday.  (The kids have their fingers crossed for no school again tomorrow.  If that happens, throwing in two weekends and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday, they will have had 10 straight days without school.  That's a lot of lost creative/computer time for me.)  Since 49 states had snow this week, I assume you have been walking around in my shoes too.  Hang in there!