WOW! Women On Writing Flash Fiction Contest Winners!


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Wow! Magazine Fall 2008 Contest






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This season we had an open prompt. Our only guidelines were that the entries be fiction with a minimum of 250 words, and a maximum of 500 words. So, enjoy the creativity and diversity!

   

Thanks to our Guest Judge:

Literary Agent, Elise Capron

WOW! was honored to have Guest Judge, Elise Capron, choose our Summer season’s top winners. Thank you, Elise, for sharing your time and efforts to make these contestants’ dreams come true.

To share your thanks, please visit her website, Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency, www.dijkstraagency.com, and email her personally.

Elise Capron is an agent with the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency, an agency known for establishing and guiding the careers of critically acclaimed fiction and nonfiction authors, including Amy Tan, Lisa See, Maxine Hong Kingston, Chitra Divakaruni, Kate White, Diane Mott Davidson, Luis Urrea, Janell Cannon, and many others. The Los Angeles Times dubbed the Dijkstra Agency "the most powerful literary agency on the West Coast" and, in its 25+ years, the agency has developed a reputation for discovering new talent and representing quality work with commercial potential.

Elise has been with the Dijkstra Agency since 2003. In addition to her own agenting, she assists Sandra Dijkstra and handles first serial sales. She specializes in debut fiction, character-driven literary and offbeat fiction, and short story collections. She is also interested in selected nonfiction if it has a literary edge. She hopes to find fiction with unforgettable writing, terrific narrative voice/tone, and great characters. Elise loves novels with an unusual or eccentric edge, and is drawn to stories she has never heard before. She hopes to work with writers who are professional, have a realistic sense of the market, and who are getting their work published regularly in literary magazines.

Some of Elise’s recent and soon-to-be-published books include Jonathon Keats’ The Book of the Unknown: Tales of the Thirty-Six (Random House), Ali Liebegott’s The IHOP Papers (Carroll & Graf), Peter Plate’s Soon the Rest Will Fall (Seven Stories Press), and Whitney LylesParty Games (Simon Pulse) and First Comes Love (Berkley).

Find out more about Elise by reading her interview on WOW! Women On Writing: https://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/7-20questionselisecapron.php

   

Special Note to Contestants:

We want to thank each and every one of you for sharing your wonderful stories with our guest judges this season. We know it takes a lot to hit the send button! While we’d love to give every contestant a prize, just for your writing efforts, that wouldn’t be much of a competition! One of the hardest things we do after a contest ends is to confirm that someone didn’t place in the winners’ circle. But, believe it when we say every one of you is a true winner.

Every writer has been a gracious participant through the whole process, from the beginning of one season to the next. We’ve written emails to authors, agents, and publicists who have donated books to our contest, and we’ve shared our delight regarding the true sportsmanship among our contestants. It doesn’t matter if it’s one writer who placed or another who tried but didn’t; all writers are courteous, professional, and wonderful extensions of WOW! Women On Writing’s team. Writers’ stories and e-mails fill us with enthusiasm.

Kudos to all writers who entered, whether you won or not, you’re still a winner for participating.

***

To recap our current process, we have a roundtable of 4-7 judges who blindly score equally formatted submissions based on: Subject, Content, Technical, and Overall Impression (Style). That’s the first step of the process. If a contestant scores well on the first round, she (or he) receives an e-mail notification that she passed the initial judging phase. The second round judging averages out scores and narrows down the top 35 entries. From this point, our guest judge helps to determine the First, Second, and Third Place Winners, followed by the Runners Up.

As with any contest, judging so many talented writers is not a simple process. With blind judging, all contestants start from the same point, no matter the skill level, experience, or writing credentials. It’s the writer’s story and voice that shines through, along with the originality, powerful and clear writing, and the writer’s heart.

***

We’ve enjoyed reading your stories, each and every one of them. The WOW! Women On Writing judges take time to read them all. We recognize names of previous contestants, writers familiar with our style. We enjoy getting to know you through your writing and e-mailing. Remember that each one of you is a champion in our book. We hope that you continue to enter so we can watch you grow as writers and storytellers, because each season is a rebirth of opportunity.

Now on to the winners!

Drum roll please....

1st Place:  Sarah Mian
Halifax, Nova Scotia, CANADA
Congratulations Sarah!

Sarah’s Bio:

Sarah Mian has been a writing junkie since childhood. To support her habit she has worked, among other jobs, as a film extra, waitress, substitute teacher, and currently as an exhibit custodian who ships and receives evidence in a crime lab. She has been published in numerous journals and anthologies, including The Vagrant Revue of New Fiction and The New Quarterly. Her co-written play, 'Creatures of the Moment' was produced by Metamorphic Theatre.

Sarah has written her way across Canada, living on Vancouver Island in the west, Toronto in the middle and Newfoundland in the east. She also spent nine months abroad to see how the other half lives before returning home to Nova Scotia where the waves break on all sides and everyone says 'thank you'.  She lives with her boyfriend, Leo, who can't sing but is a damn fine kisser.

Printable View


English as a Second Language

 

ichi

In Japan I wore satin shoes with paper-thin soles, slept in the afternoon behind still curtains. I forgot I had a talented sister, a dog, an ugly middle name. I couldn't recall addresses so I deposited blank postcards in the mail. I wrote notes to my parents on my wrist and washed them down the sink. Evenings I spent perched like a centrepiece amongst scantily-clad dishes, drank sake until bright dragons flew around the rooms. The men's faces smeared to a blurry streak: all except one.

ni

The flight home: hours of punctuated regret, stabbing the seat with my nails and frequent, bloody trips to the toilet. As the plane descended, I saw my reflection in the cool metal clasp of my seatbelt at the same moment I glimpsed it in the window pane. Bad omen, my lover would say. If he was next to me.

san

Remember (a voice whispers) sakura, heibi, the postman on his bicycle, the fireworks? Remember (it urges) his smooth hands on your thighs, the cars whining past the blinds, headlights swinging through the crack, your love unraveling like a bolt of red silk. You cast of your petals like dance. (Sobbing) You turned round and ripe.

When I awake, the wind is breathing hard on the grass and cups rattle vacantly in the white kitchen.

shi

There is a wilting cherry tree in the yard outside. The therapist follows my stare. In Japan, I tell her, the cherry blossom represents the warrior who dies too soon. She writes this down. I have condemned my words to classroom flip-charts, consent forms, scented paper, to drainpipes that empty into a vast ocean. Now this woman wants to imprison the few sentences I have left in a metal cabinet. Every time she slides the drawer open, I hear screaming: our first language.

Outside the office I stand in front of the tree. There is one small hardened fruit left on the naked branch. It is the size of a seven week old embryo. When I touch it, it gently falls into my palm. I open my mouth, swallow, wait to feel it in my belly.

I wonder if my letter is still unopened, sitting in my lover's lap.

***

What Amy Won:

  • $200.00 Cash Prize
  • Publication of winning story on WOW-WomenOnWriting.com website
  • A WOW! and Sponsors Prize Pack
  • A Year’s Subscription to Premium-Green Markets
  • Interview on WOW!’s blog The Muffin
2nd Place:  Emily Howson
Lancaster, Ohio
Congratulations Emily!

Emily’s Bio:

Emily Howson is a senior at the University of Dayton, the home of humor writer Erma Bombeck. She has been devoted to reading since she was a little girl, but she only recently began to take writing seriously. She finds her storytelling voice in her family—a combination of her grandmother’s approachable charm, her grandfather’s bluster, her mother’s gushing excitement, and her father’s bizarre sense of humor. Her work with professors Stephen Wilhoit and Joseph Pici has nurtured and pruned her abilities. She is interning as an editor with Just Business, Inc. in Dayton, OH, helping to produce performing arts publications. Right now, Emily’s life is full and crazy and wonderful, and she’s spending every moment she can with her roommates and her boyfriend of five years.

Most recently, her stories have appeared in Orpheus, University of Dayton’s literary magazine, and The St. Anthony Messenger. She is currently attempting to create a novel for young adults. Emily will graduate in May 2009 with degrees in English and Psychology, and she hopes to pursue a life writing, reading, and editing.

Printable View


Jenny

A bra probably don't speak a thousand words, but I've seen a lot of bras in my day. They speak a few. Jenny always wore a red bra, real tiny with a bunch of lace. Man, what a picture. She drove a red car too. One of those convertibles in fire-engine, lipstick-on-your-collar red. She worked at her dad's office, answered phones for him and his old man lawyer buddies. Hated her job, she said. That's why she liked to hang out with me. She'd say, "Clark, you're a genuine guy. You don't care about impressing anyone. That's why I like you, Clark. Just a real genuine guy."

I guess I couldn't have been that great though, because we didn't see each other all that much. About once a month she'd call me up, come over and show me that bra of hers. Afterwards, we'd order pizza and she'd tell me about which parts of her life she hated the most. But then she went and got engaged. Won herself a nice ring from a man her dad played golf with. And the best part, she said, was that she wouldn't have to answer the phones anymore. But she also couldn't come over anymore. Except maybe when she got to feeling really crappy, she said.

So I didn't ever see her after that. I started hanging out with a girl who wears white cotton and works at Denny's. She likes to work because she's saving up for the two of us to get a place together. Sometimes, when it's dark and the two of us are moving together, I think about Jenny and her red bra. I think of how it could have been with me and her, if maybe I played golf and knew a bunch of lawyers.

But I think things worked out for the best, because sitting in Denny's one morning I read that she went to get gas for that little car and got shot all to hell by some dumbass trying to rob the place. Real sad. No more red-hot car, no more red-hot bra. Too bad, though, ya know? Because I really did like that girl.

***

What Emily Won:

  • $150.00 Cash Prize
  • Publication of winning story on WOW-WomenOnWriting.com website
  • A WOW! and Sponsors Prize Pack
  • A Year’s Subscription to Premium-Green Markets
  • Interview on WOW!’s blog The Muffin
3rd Place:  Amy Perry
St. Charles, Missouri
Congratulations Amy!

Amy’s Bio:

Amy Perry is a graduate student of Sociology at the University of Missouri - St. Louis, with a bachelor's degree in Psychology. She is the mother of three cats: Sing, Neko and Stark. Although her work has been printed several times in UMSL publications, she is relatively new to the world of published work. Her submission to the WOW! Summer Flash Fiction Contest was inspired by a trip to Japan over the summer, where she had the good fortune to visit both Tokyo and Osaka and observe the differences first hand (both were fantastic, but Osaka remains her favorite). The narrator of her entry, Shigekazu, is a recurring character of hers.

Printable View


Ueno

The last night I spent in Tokyo, I spent it under open stars. My vision wasn’t bordered by concrete, brick and neon signs but by trees and sky. Even so, it stank. A mid-July heat carried on well past the time the sun went down; bodies that had sweat and suffered under its relentless oppression clustered together in small groups. Not for warmth or for protection, but to tell stories, pass along food, and relate world worn philosophies on the nature of life.

Some of the homeless in Ueno were career bums, some had just hit a rough patch, and not a few, myself included, were teenage runaways waiting for a ride out or a firm hand ushering them back in. Then there were the drug dealers and junkies, but concrete categories of them and us, a sense of pride, mistrust, kept the two groups from intermingling.

That entire night, not one person in the park ventured to talk to me save one, an old man whose features were like weathered rock. He sat next to me, a cigarette held between thin pressed lips, gazed, pondered, and spoke.

“You look halfway between here ‘n there, where ya headed?”

“West,” I told him, “Osaka.”

“Hrmph.” His mouth twisted; the cigarette lost its perch and tumbled to dwindle its life out among dead, dry leaves. The man made no attempts to retrieve it. “Whole ‘nother ballgame down there, ya sure?”

“I have friends there.”

He glanced down at the entirety of my worldly possessions shoved into one schoolbag and nodded. “You runnin’ from a girl?”

“From my mother,” I conceded.

“Aww, that ain’t good. And for what? She make you do your homework?”

“She loves her boyfriend too much.”

“And you not enough?”

“I never wanted it anyway. None of it.”

“You’re too young to understand. Mother and son, that’s a special bond.”

My gaze dropped to watch the ghost wisp of smoke curling from the dying cigarette. One good gust of wind would have scattered it to ashes and embers. “It’s kind of like,” I said slowly, “kind of like trees.”

“Oh?” I felt his gaze fix onto me.

“A tree comes from the seed of another tree, but it doesn’t need it to tell it how to grow. It owes it no loyalties, in the end they’re both competing for the same earth and air.”

Out came a condescending laugh, his head pitched back, teeth, gums and tongue exposed. “That may be true, but a tree’s only ever gonna be a tree.”

He reached out to pat my knee with a firm hand. “Hope you find what you’re lookin’ for in Osaka, and maybe a girl too.” He got to his feet and began to shuffle walk away. “‘Cos until you’re married, you won’t get it. Maybe not ‘til you gotta kid of your own.”

He left me in silence, with the drifting tide of cicada calls. Alone in my thoughts, my last night in Tokyo.

***

What Amy Won:

  • $100.00 Cash Prize
  • Publication of winning story on WOW-WomenOnWriting.com website
  • A WOW! and Sponsors Prize Pack
  • A Year’s Subscription to Premium-Green Markets
  • Interview on WOW!’s blog The Muffin

THANK YOU TO OUR CONTEST SPONSORS:

It is the sincere desire of our sponsors that each writer will keep his or her focus. Be wholesouled, and never give up. Because here’s your proof that there are many, many people who want to see you succeed. Please show your support by visiting the sponsors’ websites, and when you receive your prize-packs, be sure to email them and send a thank you, or write a review on Amazon to show your appreciation.

Sponsors (In no particular order):
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Melitta

https://www.melitta.com

For 100 years, Melitta has dedicated itself to providing the ultimate coffee experience with its premium line of gourmet coffees, coffee filters, and high quality coffeemakers, bringing European Indulgence to everyday life.

Single Serve Pod Machines
Join the revolution. Melitta’s coffee pod brewer gives you the ultimate cup of coffee in just seconds. This high pressure machine is both stylish and convenient to use. Brews the ultimate cup of coffee or tea in less than sixty seconds with no messy clean-up.

Coffee Pods
Melitta Premium Coffee Pods contain only 100% High Grown Arabica Coffee. Unlike other pods on the market, Melitta’s Pods are individually foil wrapped to ensure the ultimate in freshness. They also contain 30% more coffee for a fuller, richer cup of coffee. Melitta’s pods come in a wide range of flavors and fit virtually all single serve pod machines on the market. Enjoy.

Note:  A special thank you goes to Megan Danner, of Brock Communications, Inc., for making this happen. Thanks, Megan!

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Hachette Book Group USA

https://www.hachettebookgroupusa.com

Hachette Book Group USA is a leading US trade publisher headquartered in New York, and owned by Hachette Livre, the second largest publisher in the world. In one year, HBGUSA publishes approximately 450 adult books, 150 young adult and children’s books, and 60 audio book titles. In 2007, the company had a record 82 books on the New York Times bestseller list, with 20 of them ranked #1. In addition to selling and distributing its own imprints, HBG distributes publishing lines for Chronicle Books, Microsoft Learning, Arcade, Time Inc. Home Entertainment, Harry N. Abrams, InnovativeKids, Phaidon Press, Filipacchi Publishing, Kensington, MQ Publications, Strictly By The Book, Weinstein Books and Gildan Media.

The mission of the Hachette Book Group is to publish great books well.

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The Gifted Gabaldón Sisters

By Lorraine López

Having lost their mother in early childhood, the Gabaldón sisters consider Fermina, their elderly Pueblo housekeeper, their surrogate Grandmother. The mysterious Fermina love the girls as if they are her own, and promises to endow each with a "special gift" to be received upon her death.

Mindful of the old woman's mystical ways, the sisters believe Fermina's gifts, bestowed based on their natural talents, magically enhance their lives. The oldest sister, Bette Davis Gabaldón, always teased for telling tales, believes her gift is the power to persuade anyone, no matter how outlandish her story. Loretta Young, who often prefers pets to people, assumes her gift is the ability to heal animals. Tough-talking tomboy, Rita Hayworth believes her gift is the ability to curse her enemies. And finally, Sophia Loren, the baby of the family, is sure her ability to make people laugh is her legacy.

As the four girls grow into women they discover that Fermina's gifts come with complicated strings, and what once seemed simple can confuse over time. Together they learn the truth about their mysterious caretaker, her legacy, and the family secret that was nearly lost forever in the New Mexican desert.

About the author:  Lorraine López is an Assistant Professor of English in the Creative Writing Program at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. She won the 2003 Independent Publishers Book Award for Multicultural Fiction, awarded by the Jenkins Group, for Soy la Avon Lady and other Stories. The same work also won the 2003 Latino Book Award for Short Stories, awarded by the Latino Literary Hall of Fame. In 2001, López was awarded the Inaugural Miguel Marmol Prize for Fiction, selected by Sandra Cisneros and awarded by Curbstone Press, for a first book-length work of fiction of a Latino/a writer.

https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/books_9780446699211.htm

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Get Positively Beautiful

By Carmindy

According to a recent study, only 2% of women describe themselves as 'beautiful.' The media instructs women how to 'look ten years younger,' 'cover up wrinkles,' or 'get fuller, plumper lips.' And even makeup products play off womens' insecurities, promising to conceal perceived flaws, define cheekbones, or make eyelashes fuller and longer. The underlying message? That there's something inherently wrong with the way women look and that they have to spend time, money, and energy keeping up with all the ways they should 'fix' themselves.

In GET POSITIVELY BEAUTIFUL, makeup artist Carmindy from TLC's hit program What Not to Wear shows you how to change your mindset from negative fault-finding to a positive beauty philosphy. You learn how to find and focus on your best features and how to combat negative thoughts about your appearance. Carmindy demonstrates easy makeup techniques for eyes, brows, lashes, lips, cheeks, and skin, and how to adapt looks to different weather conditions and 'beauty moods.'

About the author:  Every week, millions of viewers count on Carmindy to teach them about the latest makeup tips and tricks on TLC's hit show "What Not to Wear." Her unique vision of empowering women through lip gloss has created an army of followers looking for ways to erase insecurities and enhance their natural beauty. Carmindy teaches women not only how to choose their best feature to focus on but also how to see only the positive and celebrate who they truly are.

Since her Southern California childhood, Carmindy has dreamed of traveling the world doing makeup and meeting inspiring people. Through hard work and an unstoppable attitude, she's made that dream a reality. She's painted faces in the studios of Paris, on the beaches of Brazil, and on the streets of Havana. She's lived in Los Angeles, Milan, Miami, and now makes her home with her husband, Javier, in New York, where she has established herself as a top fashion makeup artist and a natural beauty revolutionary.

Carmindy's work can be seen on the editorial pages of leading magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Elle, InStyle, O, Essence, Self, Lucky, Seventeen, Marie Claire, and Glamour. Her commercial clients include Sally Hansen, Maybelline, Sephora, Clairol, Matrix, Avon, Aveeno, CoverGirl, Almay, Bath and Body Works, Crest Whitestrips, and Q-tips. She is the author of two fabulous beauty books titled The 5 Minute Face and Get Positively Beautiful. She has co-created a natural line of cosmetics called Sally Hansen Natural Beauty inspired by Carmindy available in drugstores nationwide.

Visit Carmindy’s websites:
https://www.carmindy.com
https://www.dailymakeover.com

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Note:  A special thank you goes to Miriam Parker, of Hachette Book Group USA, for introducing us to two fabulous authors! I can’t wait to read these. Thanks, Miriam!

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Queen of the Road
The True Tale of 47 States, 22,000 Miles, 200 Shoes, 2 Cats, 1 Poodle, a Husband, and a Bus with a Will of Its Own

By Doreen Orion

"A Charles Kuralt-Albert Brooks-style romp where they meet up with nudists, robbers and more. Required Reading." - New York Post

"Beneath its fun and frothy exterior, you'll find in this wild ride across America's highways and byways a lovely portrait of a marriage that treats its ups and downs with humor and grace." - Elle Magazine

A charming, insightful and - most important - hilarious book that evokes the best of Bill Bryson and David Sedaris, but spotlights the unique voice of a gifted memoirist. - Jonathan Kellerman, New York Times Bestselling Novelist

"Queen of the Road is basically what would happen if you took me, gave me a modicum of maturity and a better education, and then tricked me into living on a (very nice) bus with my husband and pets for a year. I loved this book and I love this author." - Jen Lancaster, bestselling author of Bright Lights, Big Ass, Bitter is the New Black and Such a Pretty Fat

A pampered Long Island princess hits the road in a converted bus with her wilderness-loving husband, travels the country for one year, and brings it all hilariously to life in this offbeat and romantic memoir.

Doreen and Tim are married psychiatrists with a twist: She’s a self-proclaimed Long Island princess, grouchy couch potato, and shoe addict. He's an affable, though driven, outdoorsman. When Tim suggests “chucking it all” to travel cross-country in a converted bus, Doreen asks, “Why can’t you be like a normal husband in a midlife crisis and have an affair or buy a Corvette?” But she soon shocks them both, agreeing to set forth with their sixty-pound dog, two querulous cats—and no agenda—in a 340-square-foot bus.

Queen of the Road is Doreen’s offbeat and romantic tale about refusing to settle; about choosing the unconventional road with all the misadventures it brings (fire, flood, armed robbery, and finding themselves in a nudist RV park, to name just a few). The marvelous places they visit and delightful people they encounter have a life-changing effect on all the travelers, as Doreen grows to appreciate the simple life, Tim mellows, and even the pets pull together. Best of all, readers get to go along for the ride through forty-seven states in this often hilarious and always entertaining memoir, in which a boisterous marriage of polar opposites becomes stronger than ever.

About the author:  Doreen Orion is a triple-boarded psychiatrist and award-winning author. She has lectured throughout the United States, and been interviewed in major national media (Larry King Live, 48 Hours, Good Morning America and People magazine, to name a few). In spite of all this, Doreen considers her greatest accomplishment to be that her bus was featured as the centerfold for Bus Conversions magazine, thus fulfilling a life-long ambition of being a Miss September.

Visit Doreen Orion’s website:  https://www.queenoftheroadthebook.com

Note:  Thank you Doreen for donating your fabulous book, and signed bookplates, to our women writers/readers!

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Prosperity is Now: Success and Enrichment Coaching
(1/2 Hour Coaching Sessions)

https://www.prosperityisnow.com

Donna McAlister, a single parent of a teenager and a care taker of an elderly parent, has been applying the Principles of Prosperity and the Law of Attraction for several years now.

My journey started when I was working in a dead end job and I wanted a way out. I began to look for ways in which I could find happiness as well as become more successful and prosperous in order to have a more enriching life.

Through the use of social networking, I was introduced to the prosperity principles along with the law of attraction and began to put them into practice to begin to makeover my mind in regards to way that I thought about the ways things were.

As a result of taking the initiative to complete my own mind makeover. I have began to see the results of aligning my goals and objectives with enjoying a more successful and enriching life. Giving me the opportunity to move from a dead end job to an entrepreneur.

~ Donna McAlister
Chief Executive Coach
Success Can Be Yours!

Note:  Thank you Donna for donating your time to help our women writers/readers!

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Breach of Trust

By Kimber Chin

When a business secret is shared, can love survive?

When You Play With The Best…

For years, Anne James has played a dangerous game, secretly manipulating venture capitalist Philippe Lamont into financing her clients. She knew there would be a price to pay for her arrogance. That price, she thought, was three months of negotiated torture as his sexy Girl Friday.

…The Stakes Are High

Anne was wrong. In Philippe’s fast paced world of start up investing, the lines between business and personal blur. One misstep, one misplaced confidence, and Anne could lose her heart, her business, and her life.

Visit Kimber Chin’s website:  https://businessromance.com

Note:  Thank you Kimber for donating your ebook to our women writers/readers!

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Postcards & Pearls
Life Lessons from Solo Moments on the Road

By Gina Greenlee

Journey with Gina Greenlee and other women travelers as they share 118 "postcards" filled with life lessons learned while traveling on their own. Whether they drove to New Jersey, hopped a freighter to Bora Bora, or biked across Alaska, women from age 20 to 72 discover the joy of honoring their own rhythms, the confidence of knowing they can take care of themselves and the reward of making lasting life changes. Let "Postcards and Pearls: Life Lessons from Solo Moments on the Road" inspire a journey of your own - toward the best life you can imagine. Newly expanded with bonus features - Author Interview and Readers Guide.

 

Visit Gina Greenlee’s website:  https://www.ginagreenlee.com

Note:  Thank you Gina for sharing your inspirational book—filled with journeys and stories from women around the globe—with our women writers/readers!

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SpinVox

https://www.spinvox.com

SpinVox captures spoken messages and cleverly converts them into text. It then delivers your message to a destination of your choice – inbox, blog, wall or space. Right in the moment. Giving you the power to Speak Freely.

The SpinVox service for mobile phones automatically converts voice messages into text.  With SpinVox, you can read your voicemails faster and whenever it suits you, update your blog and social networking pages just by speaking into the phone, speak a message and “blast” it to multiple recipients as text or speak a message and have it delivered as an email reminder.

“What we say, and how we say it, is a wonderful and powerful thing.”

Note:  A special thank you goes to Joanna Riedi, of MSR Communications, LLC, for making this happen. Thanks, Joanna!

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GrammarBook.com

https://www.grammarbook.com

GrammarBook.com: English grammar, punctuation, and capitalization rules, examples, interactive quizzes with answers and explanations, weekly e-newsletter, contests, and more. Perfect for writers, editors, teachers, and students. Find the entire contents of Jane Straus’s bestselling The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation here.

Gift Certificate: One Year Membership to GrammarBook.com Access to the Membership-Only Quizzes on the most popular English usage site on the Internet! One-year membership to Grammarbook.com English Usage Quizzes. Hundreds of online, downloadable, reproducible, instantly scored quizzes with explanations.

Note:  A special thank you goes to Jane Straus for her generous donation of a prize that any writer would love. Thanks, Jane!

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RUNNERS UP (In no particular order):

Congratulations to the runners-up! It was very close, and these stories are excellent in every way. Enjoy each one’s story!

Click on their entries to read:

Doing Time by Madeline Mora-Summonte, Sarasota, Florida

Howard and Helen Play House by James Tipton, Chapala, Jalisco, MEXICO

Before by Emily Rinkema, Westford, Vermont

Quarter Life by Gayle Carline, Placentia, California

Junk and Mothballs by Beth Cato, Buckeye, Arizona

Greta in the Driver’s Seat by Amber Frangos, Somerset, Kentucky

As if I Could Forget by Doris E. Wright, Homer, New York

What the Runners Up Won:

  • Publication of winning story on WOW-WomenOnWriting.com website
  • A Prize Pack from WOW! and Sponsors
  • A Year’s Subscription to Premium-Green Markets
  • Interview on WOW!’s blog The Muffin

HONORABLE MENTIONS (In no particular order):

Congratulations to our Summer Contest Honorable Mentions!
Your stories stood out and are excellent in every way.

Playing Bridge  by Johnna Stein, Johns Creek, Georgia

Alaskan Run  by Eleanor Austin, Stone Mountain, Georgia

Memories  by Brenda Zirkle, New Market, Virginia

Possessions  by Diane Hoover, Colorado Springs, Colorado

Paternity’s Nature  by Laura Salamy, Franklin, Massachusetts

A Bus Called Freedom  by Julie Momyer, Wauseon, Ohio

The Gift of Sombreuill  by Debbie Dillon, Camarillo, California

The House Holds Its Breath  by Madeline Mora-Summonte, Sarasota, Florida

Sex and Money  by Janice Ryan Hall, Pensacola, Florida

Little Gray Dress  by Carrie Hannah, Jonesboro, Arizona

The Hyenas and the Gnus: A Fable Dedicated to the Female Approach  by Tammy Lansford Walters, Riverside, California

Maxi Pads...with Wings  by August Johnson, Los Angeles, California

Bikini Blues  by Julie Momyer, Wauseon, Ohio

Air Snatchers  by Terri Johnson, Morganton, North Carolina

The Death of a Child  by Richard Gibney, Baldoyle, Dublin, IRELAND

What the Honorable Mentions Won:

  • A WOW! Prize Pack

IN CLOSING:

This brings our Summer 2008 Flash Fiction Contest officially to a close. Although we’re not able to send a special prize to every contestant, we will always give our heartfelt thanks for your participation and contribution, and for your part in making WOW! all that it can be. Each one of you has found the courage to enter, and that is a remarkable accomplishment in itself. We’re looking forward to receiving your entries for our next contest. Best of luck, and write on!

Check out the latest Contest:

https://www.wow-womenonwriting.com/contest.php


 

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