DISCUSSION THREAD -- 300 Word Writing Challenge #48 (January 2023)

[mosaix]

Many thanks for the mentions / shortlists to @johnnyjet, @Christine Wheelwright, @sule, @BT Jones, @AnRoinnUltra, @THX1138, @paranoid marvin, @Luiglin, @Cat's Cradle and @Jo Zebedee.

A special thanks to @JS Wiig, @Phyrebrat, @Peter V and @Ursa major for the votes.

That's ten mentions / shortlists and four votes. So near and yet so far.

I was driven nuts by my story this month. It's only when I tried to write the thing that I realised the multiple paradoxes involved in time travel and just how complex it can get and I decided to introduce an element of humour hoping, I suppose, that it would hide the impossibility of the whole thing. As always, a day after I posted I thought of an even better version but, in reality, I'm happy with the votes and shortlists that the story gleaned.

For those that couldn't relate my story to the picture: from above, I imagined that the layout of the laundry could be interpreted as a blueprint of a prison with cells and corridors etc.

Apologies to @Wayne Mack who I omitted to thank for my fifth vote.

 

[BigJ]

@BigJ -- I didn't get any of that absurd/Camus stuff! I saw it as the poor woman having a kind of mental breakdown at the neverending workload in some kind of prison, and then making the choice to survive and continue and endure despite the horror of her predicament -- the only weapon she had against her captors.

I mean, you take away the philosophical fluff and you've basically got it down. I did make a conscious decision to try to write about existentialism/absurdism without explicitly mentioning existence, knowing that might make it a little obtuse for anyone who didn't get the reference in the title. I'm never sure if something I'm alluding to is clear enough, or if the connections only exist in my head.

Though, if you're writing something absurd, and nobody gets it, does that mean you succeeded?

I have just had a cataract removed, and am waiting to have the other eye done, and the combination of one eye that works, but doesn't match my glasses, and the other eye with the right correction factor but shatterinths image in a thousand directions has made the world, and particularly reading in it, extremely strange. I only just managed to organise my short list and vote within the time limit. There was no hope of my actually writing an entry. In another couple of months I should have two working eyes, and matching spectacles, butuntil then I'm trying for the February 75, and probably not the anonymous.

How fitting that the only vote my attempt at absurdist fiction got was from someone for whom reading is currently "extremely strange"!

Seriously, though, I wish you a full and complication-free recovery. The eyes have an incredible capacity to heal, but eye issues are no fun (I've dealt with a recurrent corneal erosion and I wouldn't wish it on anyone).

 

[BT Jones]

Many congrats to Her Majesty @The Judge for a consummate (dare I even say 'imperious') victory. Many thanks to @Luiglin for the precious vote, and for @Shyrka and @Parson for the mentions (and, in Parson's case, for introducing the heathen that I am to Horatio Alger, or whom I had not previously heard!)

I enjoyed this round. The diversity of images offered up for the photo 300 is a recurring treat. I like to think it keeps everyone suitably on their toes, creatively speaking.

Saying that, I still reverted to my usual shtick: projected real world scenarios in a future setting, which, whilst enjoyable for me, I feel the broader chrons community might feel to be too gritty and unimaginative. (But, given my favourite movie of all time is Children of Men, this probably stands to reason).

 

[Cat's Cradle]

Belated Congratulations! to The Judge. Excellent story, and an impressive victory.

Congratulations, too, to Jo Zebedee for a solid second-place finish, and to everyone who entered... a terrific Challenge of stories, CC

 

[Daysman]

Very very belated congratulations @The Judge !!!

No entry from me this time around and bearly made the vote!

Have a great weekend!

D

 

[AnRoinnUltra]

Belated congratulations @The Judge , not to jump on the bandwagon but I had my eye on 'The shirt on Your Back' too. Great work. And another reason never to wear a shirt

 

[otaylor]

Very belated congratulations @The Judge! And thanks to my two kind votes @elvet and @THX1138.
As my first entry I just wanted to jump right in and write down what popped into my head on seeing the picture, but I was so impressed with the quality of everyone's writing. Very hard to make up a list and vote, which I then did stealthily. A true luddite, I'm finding navigating between the stories and finding the voting link etc time consuming, but next time I'll keep a closer eye, and also explain my votes at the time, now it's too late to remember my thoughts

 

[paranoid marvin]

Very belated congratulations @The Judge! And thanks to my two kind votes @elvet and @THX1138.
As my first entry I just wanted to jump right in and write down what popped into my head on seeing the picture, but I was so impressed with the quality of everyone's writing. Very hard to make up a list and vote, which I then did stealthily. A true luddite, I'm finding navigating between the stories and finding the voting link etc time consuming, but next time I'll keep a closer eye, and also explain my votes at the time, now it's too late to remember my thoughts

Welcome to the Challenges. I've just reread your entry, and it was very good for a first go (doubly so if if was written 'off the cuff'). Whether you realise it or not, a couple of votes not a bad with some shortlistings/mentions is never a bad result, and your creativity is taking you to the right places.

 

[The Judge]

As my first entry I just wanted to jump right in and write down what popped into my head on seeing the picture,

That's what an awful lot of us still do, so don't worry about that!

A true luddite, I'm finding navigating between the stories and finding the voting link etc time consuming, but next time I'll keep a closer eye,

If it's of help to know how someone else deals with it, I read the stories as they come in, more or less, and then when it comes to the time to vote, I have two separate tabs open, one with the Challenge entries, one with the Discussion thread. I then start a reply on the Discussion thread and as I go through re-reading the stories I note down there and then on the draft post which I want to shortlist, so by the time I've finished re-reading them all the list is drawn up. (In theory, anyway. Sometimes I go through again to check, and frequently I have to re-read some in order to prune the list to bring it down to a manageable level!) When I've finally made up my mind where my votes are going I also write those down in the draft post, and only then do I click to go through to the poll and vote. (Since I tend not to go into the Discussion thread once voting has started, I also read through that, liking posts that mention me, and making my list of thanks as I go.)

and also explain my votes at the time, now it's too late to remember my thoughts

Don't worry, some old-timers prefer to stealth vote, and others might note their votes on the Discussion thread but without saying why -- when I make comments I find that the hardest and most time-consuming part of the voting!

 

[Parson]

@The Judge --- It only took me 8 years to discover that two tab trick. (sigh!) But it really does speed the process.

 

[Peter V]

Many congratulations @ The Judge for an emphatic and deserved win. It was the one story I absolutely knew had to receive one of my votes. For the rest, it was very difficult to separate at least half a dozen entries and I apologise for stealth voting. At least for the 300's I try and give some thoughts behind my choices but have struggled the find free time to do it justice.

Going into the last couple of days I had one vote and one mention, which would be close to my worst performance in a 300 (maybe even my worst). In all honesty, I quite liked my effort (believe me, this is not always the case), so was feeling somewhat disheartened and a little perplexed - mainly I was wondering how I had missed the mark so badly on this occasion. Then I received a couple more mentions and another two votes - including one from the esteemed Jo Zeberdee and sorry folks, for me that counts as two (or maybe three because it was her favourite)

So thank you very much @ Christine Wheelwright, @ Elckerlyc and @ The Judge for your kind mentions and a big thank you to @ Starbeast, @ Jo Zebedee and @ M. Robert Gibson for your votes

In case anyone was wondering what was going on, my protagonist, an alien shapeshifting bounty hunter was hunting what he thought was a human criminal (a hitman to be precise) but which turned out to be a fellow alien shapeshifter and being such, was able to turn the tables. Maybe I lost marks for the language!

At this time I cannot see me entering the 75 as I am utterly devoid of inspiration.

 

[Phyrebrat]

I was just writing a pm to a fellow member and mentioned the 300 and realised I've not posted my thanks here.

Very very grateful for the mentions and especially the votes from @mosaix @The Judge @BigJ @Elckerlyc @JS Wiig and Monsieur le @Swank. Apologies for not replying sooner.

It was a surprise to get more than one or two votes as I thought my entry would be too lyrical (or whatever the word is), for most tastes, and wondered if people would click what it was about; if I'd been too oblique.

But for some reason when I saw the pic (which I didn't like, BTW, @HareBrain, next time more pike, or b-wing starfighters, please) all I could think of was the Malaysian Airlines 370 tragedy a few years back. I saw images of people's clothes rolling in the surf like a washing machine, and making the waves a patchwork of all different colours. I do like to use a reframing context in pretty much all my flash so this was no different.

I didn't know about the Inmarsat thing though, which was the name of the satellites that helped with the recovery search for MH370, but I didn't want to use the plane name MH370 as it seemed callous, so I made one up.

Thanks for the fish, guys

 

[HareBrain]

which I didn't like, BTW, @HareBrain, next time more pike

That's really ungrateful -- one of those washing tanks has three tench in it, just for you. I didn't realise you were so specific about fish species.

 

[Phyrebrat]

I zoomed in and found this! My most humble apologies

 

[Luiglin]

That's really ungrateful -- one of those washing tanks has three tench in it, just for you. I didn't realise you were so specific about fish species.

I'll not stay silent while folks start carping on with fish puns again.

 

[Parson]

I'd guess you are a piker than.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

You all should know your plaice better

 

[Peter V]

Sorry, I'm porpoisely ignoring any marine theme

 

[Parson]

Why? we are having a whale of a time.

 

[Luiglin]

Hopefully, no one else will mussel in on the action