Thank you to everyone who took the time to read and vote. Your feedback is important. It is as important as sales of a book, of likes on Instagram and laughter at Words Out Loud.
Congratulations to Johanna Botman for her win with Entry #4! Johanna polled more than half of the votes.
It’s time to put your mind to the task of choosing only 99 words to create a story.
The prompt for this month is “Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin …” Which 99 words will you choose to follow these?
You have a maximum of 99 words after the ones that I gave you, ok?
Here are the entries. Voting buttons are below the submissions. Which one is your favourite?
Entry # 1 – A Holiday from Hell
‘Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin…’
‘I saw Beatrice recently – she told me of a horrifying experience she had while on holiday.
She was driving around New Zealand in a new hire car and came across a one-way underpass. She pulled up behind a huge transport truck waiting for the green light.
Suddenly, the truck starting backing into her. She couldn’t get the gear into reverse! Screaming, seeing the bonnet crashing towards her, the truck suddenly stopped!
She scrambled out as the guy leapt from the cabin.’
‘What happened then?’ my friend exclaimed, eyes wide.
I took a deep breath, ‘well, it just got worse…….’
Entry # 2 – The Surprise Ending
“Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin.”
The wrinkle of the latex gloves feel strange. Not as bad as the cold hard metal of a speculum though. It’s becoming my new normal, this invasion. This head-down, legs-open kind of transaction. The only part of me that’s interesting is the bit the baby comes out of. But I guess that’s always been the most interesting part of a woman.
“Do you want me to do a stretch and sweep while I’m down here?”
“Not today, Doc.”
You’d think he could look me in the eye while he offers the surprise ending to my internal exam.
Entry # 3 – Before the Year Ends
Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin..
It was years of unanswered prayers before you came back into my life and now I think of you every night when I go to sleep and every morning when I wake up.
Reaching my hand across to the empty side of the bed you once occupied.
I know you’ve been in other beds since then, I’m not throwing stones so have I.
But they left me feeling emptier than our bed is now.
So this is why not for the first time I’m laying it all on the line and asking you once more to be my wife.
Entry # 4 – The Winning Poem
Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin. But I reckon you won’t believe me when I tell you about my poem.
It was dark night. I was alone. The bus was late. I was the only passenger and, as I sat at the back, I looked out beyond my reflection.
There was the poem, impressed into the glass. I read it and I cried. It was written for me, about me. When I tried to touch them, the words morphed and faded.
I had to memorise what I could, I transcribed it later at home and entered it in the competition.
Entries must be in by midnight Wednesday 24th October 2018. Voting will open soon after and close at 11.59pm on Tuesday 30th. Winner announced at the Members Night on 31st October 2018.
Conditions of entry
Your entry must:
- Be in 12 point Times New Roman font
- Have single line spacing
- Have a title
- Include the author’s name
- Include the word count, not including the title
- Be submitted as a Word.doc, or .docx file (PDF files lose all formatting in their transition)
- You must be a current member of Ballarat Writers.
Submit entries to: competitions@ballaratwriters.com
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