The Rules

Welcome to Write in the Thick of It!

This writing challenge is open to everyone, regardless of whether you own blog or not.

To keep things simple for me, (Redneck Diva, the moderator of this thing) I have opted to just use my regular email address for story submissions.

Here are The Rules:

* Each challenge has a list of words and all of The Words must be used in your story. I mean, no one is going to hunt you down or come knockin' on your door at 3am if you don't, but the point of The Words is for you to find a creative way to work them into your story. It's a writing challenge, for Pete's sake. Work The Words into the title, the plot, the characters, etc, just so you include them all.

* The Words list consists of anywhere from 5 to 8 words. The words are random and don't have to be remotely related to each other. They don't have to be common, everyday words, but they do have to be actual words.

* The winner of each challenge picks The Words for the next challenge.

* There is no set genre for the stories. Mystery, horror, romance, general nothingness, whatever.

* Keep things relatively clean. No gratuitous sex, violence, drugs and all that stuff. Use your discretion as far as cuss words go - if your story is full of cussin' for the sake of cussin', well, that ain't right. The occasional "damn" and other like words is okay because, well, they're just fun, aren't they?

* There is a set time limit for each challenge. Most should be around a week or two from the announcing of the words to the submission of all entries.

* On the deadline date, all submissions that have been sent to me via email are considered entered in the challenge. All stories will be posted individually on this blog which has been set up for this writing challenge only. It may take me a day or two to post the stories, but once they are posted, the voting is considered open. The stories will be public and you will be given credit for your writing. Comments will be left open so that readers can well....comment. If things get nasty I will shut them down.

* Voting will done via a poll site of my choosing (which hasn't been chosen yet...)

* The winner of each challenge is voted upon by you, the reader. If you submit a story you can vote as well, but not for yourself.


This blog is the hub of all of the activity. Stories are posted here, voting is done here, etc. Bookmark it, share it, use it often. Tell your friends! Tell your enemies! Heck, tell your momma.

Now, WRITE!