November Writing Theme Choices for The Great BR Fishing & Wishing Contest : )

The November writing theme choices — with the exception of the last two — are inspired by BR issues #17 and #18.

Note: For further creative inspiration, if you'd like to read the pieces used for the theme choices, you can find them here:

“Watching Fire,” by Mary Wakayama

“Nostalgia,” by Ty Pak

So I decided fo cut back on da number of theme choices for dis month — just fo make um little bit easier on A. Soyama : ) Here da 18 Novembah choices:

Theme #1:           Fire
Theme #2:           Run like hell
Theme #3:           Teach him/her a lesson
Theme #4:           Firecrackers
Theme #5:           Stand up like a man
Theme #6:           I couldn't stand waiting
Theme #7:           Hiding
Theme #8:           Punishment
Theme #9:           Nostalgia
Theme #10:           A hard bargain
Theme #11:           Recognition
Theme #12:           A chain of events beyond my control
Theme #13:           Odd stories
Theme #14:           The only friend I could trust
Theme #15:           Putting it off as long as I could
Theme #16:           Destiny

Theme #17:           I never knew my mother was ____________________.
(Why? 'Cuz — das why. You knew A. Soyama wen use all 20 of the October themes in her October entry? Right on! This one is to honor her past contest entries.)

An what da heck: Theme #18: Thanksgiving

For any of you who don't like to make choices, lemme help you out again this month. Your assignment is Theme #8.

For everyone else, pick one theme — or all EIGHTEEN if you'd like that challenge : ) — and write your entry accordingly.

Here are the rules for The Great BR Fishing & Wishing 100 – 100 Contest:

1. You can submit one entry per month. All entries must be posted on the Bamboo Shoots page of the BRP site between November 1 and November 30 at 2:00 p.m. HST. Rignt on, yeah? Finish up on Wednesday, enjoy the weekend.

2. The entries — prose, poetry, or plays — must be between 100 WORDS minimum and 100 LINES maximum. Sound familiar? It's a cross between the 100-word short-short story contest and the 100-line submission maximum for the upcoming 100th issue of BAMBOO RIDGE.

If you plan to approach the 100 line maximum, please draft your work following the original submission guidelines: double-spaced with 1” margins, using 12 pt. Times New Roman.

If you want to do paragraph indentations, put the            — no spaces — in front of the line you want to indent five spaces.

Don't forget to click the “Great BR Fishing & Wishing 100 – 100 Contest” button for your entry.

3. Every entry must have a title, and that title does NOT count against either the word total or the line total.

4. In the section below the title where it says

A blurb about your piece or a good quote from your piece:

You MUST include your word count. For example:

Title: Dress To Impress

A blurb about your piece or a good quote from your piece: 832 words

Body: In the beginning I loved tight jeans on anyone but me . . . blah blah blah . . . blah blah blah. So in the end, it all came down to a pair of very loose black shorts.

5. Winners will be announced with all possible BR speed after 2:00 p.m. HST, November 30, and will win Bamboo Bucks credit to spend in the BRP online bookstore.

6. Don't forget that 29 entries from July 2010 through June 2011 were selected for publication in the upcoming landmark 100th issue of BAMBOO RIDGE. So you never know. Your piece might be published in a future issue of BAMBOO RIDGE : )

Good luck and keep on writing!

By participating in the Bamboo Shoots community, you agree to the following rules:

1. We reserve the right to remove content that promotes hate or gratuitous violence. Be respectful and courteous to others.
2. All contest challenge entries must be submitted by the designated
3. Enter as many times as you like using a trigger/prompt (this page).
4. Contest Challenge entries can be prose (including short stories, nonfiction essays, or whatever you write), poetry, or plays -- or any type of hybrid writing you dream up.
5. Every entry must have a title -- unless you choose to enter a haiku, in which case you can simply enter the word haiku in the title section.
6. All content/entries should be original work. You retain ownership of your entries; however, we may ask to use them elsewhere on the site or on social media to help promote Bamboo Ridge and/or the Bamboo Shoots online writing community.
7. Winners will be announced with all possible speed after the end of each month. Winners receive 10 Bamboo Bucks credit to spend in the BRP online bookstore. Bamboo Bucks have no monetary value outside of the online store.
8. Entries may also be selected for publication in the regular Bamboo Ridge Journal. If your piece is chosen, the editors will contact you via the email address on file.
9. Please note that you need not enter the contest challenge in order to post on Bamboo Shoots. You may post other writing if you choose. We welcome that here:  Click this link to go to Shoot da Breeze.