Winner for the Christmas Writer’s Challenge!

After 635 votes and over 2,000 reads we have our winner!!!! 

Congratulations to the winner of the Christmas Writer’s Challenge, Vanessa Wright!!!!

To read the winning story, click here. Vanessa Wright’s biography, and other information on how to learn more about this author, will be displayed in the next few days.

I’m so proud of every one of these entries. You all did such a great job putting your minds into your work. David and I will go through the remaining entries and choose our favorites to display on the site permanently. The results of those will be displayed in the next few days.

Due to Christmas holidays we will all be a bit busy, but keep your eyes open for our next Writer’s Challenge for Valentines!! This time, it will be poetry only. 🙂 I hope you guys are ready!!! 

A Different Christmas Story by Gary E. Weller

It is supposed to be about family. All of the stories have these amazing families. The classic, ‘A Christmas Carol,’ even ends with a family, two in fact, that have come together because of the magical change caused by the Christmas Spirits and a man understanding

that he was an asshole. Christmas was supposed to be about seeing the change in people. The stories are about seeing what they can do when they reach deep inside and look at themselves. It was about sharing and developing that penultimate bonding of the

AFTER 2,000 YEARS: Memories and Reflections on Christmas by Michael Grace

­­­­­­My date of birth roughly coincides with the Advent season. But I neither remember my first birthday, which I am told was quite grand, nor my first Christmas. What I do remember is that in my early years, Christmas meant the following

Over the Years

Firstly, there was the setting up of the Christmas tree. I was never good at it, and mostly it was my father and brothers who unwound, raised, and decorated it. This was accompanied by Christmas songs (Boney M, Charlotte Church, and Josh Groban etc.),

A Christmas Tradition By Tanya Miranda

A Christmas Tradition

By Tanya Miranda

Alicia straightens her black veiled cap as it hovers above the rims of her silvery eyebrows. It slides forward with every precarious step down the sparkling walkway. The pins are not keeping it in place.

“Be careful Alicia, there’s ice everywhere. The town cleaned up the snow, but this cold

No More Christmases by Martin Conterez

“I’ll be home for Christmas Mom.”

“Oh Mark that’s wonderful news. I’m so happy to hear that. It’ll be great to have you around. It’s been way too long. Oh I should start calling people. Everybody will want to see you. Your sister will be home too, did you know that? I bet I can get your Aunt Kay and Uncle Roger to have dinner too. Maybe we could go to church that following Sunday? What do you think? Who else can we get together with?”

“Mom slow down. I just want to see a few friends and spend some time with you. Nothing big, do you hear me? Don’t make any large plans. I really just want to go surfing with Josh and eat lots of carne asada burritos. I don’t want this to be a big deal. Can you just keep i

A Desiccated Christmas by Vanessa Wright

Sweat was running down his back in rivulets and pooled in his underwear. Christmas in the Southern hemisphere at an awesome 37 degrees, dressed in a red velvet suit, white beard, tasselled hat and black boots. He surveyed the manically shopping populace from his fake golden throne.  The true spirit of Christmas was painted on their faces in garish colours as they rushed to and fro. Santa Claus was his name and boosting sales his

Working Holiday by Rusty Rimes

“Man it’s cold out here, I think my ass is frozen to this crate.”

“Yeah Tony I know what you mean. You’d think with all the money these bastards make, they could at least put up a heater or two in this warehouse for us.”

“Yeah, you’re right Bill. Especially this time of year, when they really roll in the dough, with all that Christmas shipping crap.”

Apple Crumble by MJB Saunders

I wasn’t positive or noticeably enthusiastic this day, although I felt as though I should have been, just because I was still alive. My fingers were shaking with cold and my nose was running like a dripping tap. I couldn’t take my mind off the dog in the garage, the howling and the loneliness echoed through the space between my ears. I struggled to imagine the conditions inside. I would normally sleep through the day on a day like this, but the dog

Pixie Dust, Boots and Reindeer by Linzé Brandon

Accolade sat back in the chair and parked her motorbike boots on the desk. Eye-balling the fresh vodka martini with a grin, she relaxed and took an appreciative sip.

“‘Twas the night before Christmas,” she quoted and settled her shoulders back, “and I am going to get rip roaring drunk.”

Pursing her lips, she held up the glass and toasted her boots. “My wish for Christmas this

Christmas Writer’s Challenge

This Challenge is a Theme Exercise.  We want to challenge not only your creativity and writing skills, but your idea formulation.

The Theme is Christmas!

You can write in any style, genre or voice as long as it complies with the rules below.  Think outside the box.  Look at Christmas from the viewpoint of other cultures, nationalities and religions, in situ or displaced.  How does it affect a person’s fellowship, charity, isolation and depression?  What are the implications of Faith juxtaposed to commercialism?  Examine the battle ground for political and cultural bias.  Do the myths and legends of Christmas add to or detract from the acculturation of society?  And finally consider your story from an unusual perspective, a pet, a homeless person in a mission, an orphan, the guy dressed as Santa at the mall, or a pickpocket / criminal looking to exploit the season.
All we ask is that it pertains to Christmas.

Deadline: Midnight of December 15, 2013 EST

**REQUIREMENTS**

-Each participant is responsible for his/her own edits.
-Minimum word count is 2,000. Maximum is 4,000.
-Entries must be submitted to davidandadrianna@yahoo.com
-Any entries submitted via Post or thread will not be included in the Challenge.
-Voting will take place December 16, 2013 to December 20, 2013.
-Everyone submits their own work.

**Voting**

-Voting will be open to the public. All votes will be tallied through ‘’Likes’’ and Ratings.

 **Winner & Prizes**

-There will be 1 winner chosen by the public by popular vote.
-Winner will receive his/her own copy of one of the following books listed at the bottom. Winner chooses.
-Winning entry displayed in the Writer’s Gallery with a photo and short bio of the author.

 **Editors Favorites**

-There will be up to four others chosen by your hosts, David Kent and Adrianna Joleigh. (The number of choices depends on how many entries there are.) These chosen few will be shown in the Galleries showcase along with photograph of the author and a short bio, sharing a link to their sites, etc.

Click here for a list of the available prizes