Month: November 2019

Greatfather Oak

Posted on by

Greatfather Oak is live at a nature-themed site call Words for the Wild.

The story was partially inspired by this huge oak tree I have in my field.  It must be a couple of hundred years old and is far larger than anything close by.  I'll try to find a picture of it to update this post with later.

Much like the oak in the story, I believe when this part of my property was farmed years ago, the tree was probably just to big to bother cutting down, so it was left and farmed around.  When we purchased the property, I started to clear space around it, but have left the smaller offspring to surround this majestic tree and create a small grove.

When I look up as this force of nature that has lived many generations in human context, I think about all the things trees like this would have 'seen' over their own lifetimes.  It made for great foundation for the piece.

Enjoy!

On to Challenge 3! (NYC Midnight Results)

Posted on by

So, uh, this happened earlier in the week...

Rounds 1 and 2 combined score got me the win in my group and onto challenge 3.  I've very excited, but now I'm in the midst of writing for this round and knowing that everyone I'm currently grouped with was in the top 5 from their previous groups.

Time to separate the wheat from the chaff I guess.

My prompts for the 3rd challenge are Drama/A Strawberry Field/A Tote Bag.  Not too bad.  I already have a draft out to the FFM group for some feedback.  We'll see how it goes.  It probably goes without saying that I want to move on to the finals, but I have to admit, I was very happy to make it this far.  Last year, I missed this same cut by just one point (coming in 6th place for challenge 1 & 2).  So to have a year pass and see my work improve to the point where I took the top spot is very gratifying.

Ok, now back to editing and revising...