DISCUSSION THREAD -- December 2022 -- 75 Word Writing Challenge

No shortlist from me. Too many good ones, and even those which weren't my choice in fiction*, were full of good ideas, and well-written.

So, my vote went to @Shyrka, with his interesting and wryly humorous take on Panspermia, orchestrated by omnipotent being unknown.

*I am a believer that art is always subjective, so don't t try to be overly objective unless I really need to be.
 
Determined to post my shortlist this month instead of just stealthing.

Lots of stories I liked this month but couldn’t include a lot of them because the theme was not really there (my criteria for this kind of thing is if I take the use of the word or word’s concept out of the story, does the story fall apart, so to my mind, simply using the word drift wasn’t enough).

So, my list, top 3* and vote

Big J*

Reiver33

Peter V*

VB

Starbeast

Monozero*

Elker
 
A wide range of stories this month, though as ever some I didn't understand and a fair few I didn't think hit the theme. Still enough left for me to have to be choosy in creating a short shortlist though, and here it is:
​
Astro Pen -- The Loneliest Visitor​
BigJ -- Accidents Happen​
Elckerlyc -- The Flood​
JSWiig -- Space Between​
Mon0Zer0 -- Memory Full​
mosaix -- Finally, A Purpose in Life​
reiver22 -- Served Cold​
Shyrka -- Panspermia​
​
After a great deal of cogitating, I went with Elckerlyc's tale of survivors, adrift both physically and mentally.

Many plastic garbage patch thanks (in a good way!) for the much-appreciated mentions/shortlistings Victoria, BTJ, MRG, ARU, CC, Hugh and johnnyjet. Oh, and Great Drifting thanks for the delicious ninja vote, Luiglin!


AnRoinnUltra said:
Lucy in the sea with plastic by @The Judge I thought it was near perfect prose. A tiny thing held it off getting the vote -the word 'so' in the last line. Not sure why, just seemed like GP1897ΔΣ wouldn't feel the need to explain.
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Ha! It wasn't there originally, and I worried that the last line needed the connection, so I added it. Then took it out. Then put it back in. Then took it out again. This continued for some time before I decided it had to stay. Dammit!
 
Congratulations @mosaix well done sir!

---------

My own story was seeded by my own experience. When I was in seminary a "financial planner" came to talk to the Seniors about finances and taxes. One of the little known parts of the American tax code is that pastors can opt out of Social Security. This is not an insignificant thing because Social Security counts pastors as "self employed" so we pay the whole load (presently about 15%), rather than as in most jobs where you are an employee and for Income tax purposes we are counted as "employees," the employer pays half the social security tax. To opt out you have to be able to sign a statement that says that you believe that it would be wrong for you as a religious leader to receive money from the government. --- I think the idea is that it would be a kind of conflict of interests to be serving the church and being paid by the government. --- Anyway, the financial planner had the idea that we should opt out of Social Security and invest the money we would save. (The pitch was more complex but this gets at the gist of it.) When I indicated that I could not sign such a statement honestly he said something like this to me. "They are not really asking if you are opposed to receiving money from the government. It's a systems question. What they are really asking is whether you want to be part of Social Security or not. You get my drift?"

So when I started thinking about "drift" that conversation came up front and center. I was so grateful for the likes I received. I didn't really expect any votes because I felt that the story lacked something, I didn't know how to fix it. And I didn't want to write another one.
 
Parson said:
Congratulations @mosaix well done sir!

---------

My own story was seeded by my own experience. When I was in seminary a "financial planner" came to talk to the Seniors about finances and taxes. One of the little known parts of the American tax code is that pastors can opt out of Social Security. This is not an insignificant thing because Social Security counts pastors as "self employed" so we pay the whole load (presently about 15%), rather than as in most jobs where you are an employee and for Income tax purposes we are counted as "employees," the employer pays half the social security tax. To opt out you have to be able to sign a statement that says that you believe that it would be wrong for you as a religious leader to receive money from the government. --- I think the idea is that it would be a kind of conflict of interests to be serving the church and being paid by the government. --- Anyway, the financial planner had the idea that we should opt out of Social Security and invest the money we would save. (The pitch was more complex but this gets at the gist of it.) When I indicated that I could not sign such a statement honestly he said something like this to me. "They are not really asking if you are opposed to receiving money from the government. It's a systems question. What they are really asking is whether you want to be part of Social Security or not. You get my drift?"

So when I started thinking about "drift" that conversation came up front and center. I was so grateful for the likes I received. I didn't really expect any votes because I felt that the story lacked something, I didn't know how to fix it. And I didn't want to write another one.
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You know Parson, sometimes you just have to say it.:)
 
Congratulations on the victory @mosaix!

For my own story, huge thanks for votes from @Shyrka, @Peter V, @Elckerlyc and @AnRoinnUltra (I haven't actually read Ray Bradbury's Kaleidoscope, I'll add that to the to-do list). Huge thanks as well for listings/mentions/whatnot from @BT Jones (glad to hear your impromptu adventure ended with a Christmas family meal, that's arguably the best part of the day), @M. Robert Gibson, @sule, @THX1138, @Cat's Cradle, @Hugh, @johnnyjet, @Phyrebrat, @The Judge, @Daysman and @chrispenycate, and as always thanks to @Parson and @Victoria Silverwolf for the time and effort in posting positive commentary on everyone's stories.

Phew, think that's everybody. Four votes and a plethora of mentions is a very good month for me, I'll take it.

Parson said:
Lots of stories here and as usual lots of despair. Hope seems to be a story that isn't often told.
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Just for you, I'll make an effort to be positive in my story in January.
 
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