Okay, we’re changing it up for the July writing contest : )

Aha! Tell me you were expecting that you could write a haiku, 100-word, or 1000-word piece this month. That I’d list a bunch of themes. You were thinking that, right? Okay. Sorry. No. I’m not doing that.

This month we’re going to try something different. Below you will find ten sentences. Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, will be to use one of these sentences as the opening sentence of a 100-word piece. This piece will be the start of a longer story — you are writing the beginning of that story. I consulted with the judges, and they think this is yet another spectacularly brilliant idea thought up by someone other than me : (

The first sentence will not count against your word total, but make sure to add only and EXACTLY 100 more words to it. Keep in mind that you are writing just the opening to the story.

Now without further ado, here are the ten sentences from which you can choose:

It was a dark and stormy night — nah nah nah. Just kidding. The first one is

The night was moist — nah nah nah. Just kidding again. The first one actually is

1. “You kidding, uh?”

2. And this was supposed to cure something?

3. I’d already told them.

4. “You started it.”

5. That’s the way it goes.

6. “So what da buggah said?”

7. I have nothing to hide.

8. When you wish for something hard enough, you just might get it.

9. He took like forevahs fo make up his mind.

10. “This is very important.”

Okay, that’s good for now. Remember, you are writing the beginning of a story. The opening sentence you choose does not count toward your 100 words. Good writing to everyone.

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.