Just when I thought I had the perfect contest prompt word that no one would ever guess, yup, along comes Lisa Bodenheim at 8:13am (let's just remember that's 73 MINUTES after the post went up) who guessed my secret, special, sure to bewilder prompt: forti.
So, the fourth prompt word is forti, brought to you by Megan V.
Are you keeping track?
Just to up the tormenting stakes, here's the prize for Contest #100
Some of you have suggested some strange new twists to the contest but we're not going down that road. The loopier the rules, the loopier the results. It's like playing poker with weird wild cards. It doesn't test your skill so much as your luck, and frankly, I like to read good writing, not crazypants stuff. Although, some of your crazypants stuff has been damn fine work.
All this to say: the usual rules will apply. There's one judge (me). The contest will be open the usual amount of time, BUT it might take me longer to read and post the results.
As to WHEN it will open, that's not settled yet.
Questions?
Fire away.
39 comments:
Cool prize! Even for out-of-country folks?
What beautiful maps! I can't wait for the big day.
I really have no rational explanation why this makes me so very happy, but it does.
Cheers to the Queen! *lifts mug*
Just popping in to throw down a gauntlet. I challenge ye' all to "forti" forti.
BJ Prizes can be sent internationally IF you live in a country that Book Depository will ship to.
I already have the prize so I feel better for the so not going to win because I am so not Steve Forti.
I got Curious Maps for my nephew and then had to have one for myself. It's the most fascinating thing ever and makes a fine prompt for story ideas.
This is a great prize and worthy of the Reef's A Game.
*those maps, sigh* I'm dreaming of a wriii...ting map
Wow. I guessed right? Woo hoo. And congrats Megan V for creating that winsome comment! And congrats Steve for...having the last name Forti.
ohoh, the Jaw themed song just slashed all over the White Christmas theme I had.
The 5th word is still missing.
Oh, swoon. I can't stand all the fabulousness. Lennon, I second your "Cheers to the Queen"...!
It just so happens I'm a map freak, and I can't stop looking at these. I'm currently floating around in Character Sea (in my writing life), right there between the land of Children and Young Adult.
And Forti as a prompt? Outstanding. Steve, You have to be smiling.
OT: A quick and heartfelt "Thank you" to everyone for your thoughtful sympathy regarding the loss of our little Kirby. I was/am overwhelmed by your kindness.
Onward!
This is going to be so fabulous!
Ok, I'm giddy over here. Lot of pressure on me this time, I suppose :)
Seriously, though. This is awesome. You all rock.
Forti!
A tip of the hat to Megan V and Lisa Bodenheim.
Contest #100 is going to be a doozy. Are we up for the challenge?
As Atticus Finch said, "It's when you know that you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do." (Thank you to Mrs. Bixby's Last Day for the timely reminder).
ps - the prize looks amazing!
When I asked what my 25-year-old nephew wanted for Christmas in 2015, my brother said he wanted ”something cool.” So I bought him the Curious Maps book and a large magnifying glass (very helpful in studying the maps). My nephew didn’t think it was as “cool” as I did.
As to the contest, I'm a little disappointed "hundred" didn't make the list of prompt words.
Joseph Snoe there's still one more prompt to choose; you never know!
I love that book so much.
It's a drizzly, cat sneeze day here, perfect weather for writing. Somehow, even with me wasting so much time here I got in 1,200 words yesterday. I didn't say they were good words, but you can't fix nothingness.
Oooooh. I live in Canada. Book Depository ships here. Niiiiice!
For those who want to check, here's Book Depository's list of places they deliver to.
Claire - I loved Ms. Bixby's Last Day. Thanks for bringing up that memory.
Regarding the 100th contest, if it's on April 1, I have a suspicion we might get five entirely different prompt words while Janet cackles with glee and shouts APRIL FOOL!
But in case that doesn't happen, I guess I'll need to start forti-ing my contest entry. I'll need all the time I can get.
Ooh, good word. I was holding my breath it wasn't syndrome or incredibles. FORTI. Yep, that one is a good one to play with. And how funny it will be for Steve to read his name in every single entry. Surreal?
Two hour rainy drive ahead of me to visit some special people, so Happy Sunday to everyone!
Fortitude, Lowe, fortitude...
I need that book like burning. I love maps; the more unusual, the better.
My current favourite: Transit Maps of the World. The cover map knocks me out.
Awww... I thought the multiple judges/multiple prizes idea was good, and would be helpful and encouraging. I forgot. Confounding and tormenting is the order of the day. ;)
Lovely prize. I echo the congratulations to Steve for having a last name. Should we offer congratulations to your parents, too? And maybe your ancestors? There's a Roman general somewhere back in the mists of time named Marcus Lucius Magnus Forti fist-pumping "ita vero!!" ;)
For tis I, who swooneth over such a map as this!
(great word to play with - love it!)
Shout outs to Megan for the way she used it and to Lisa for guessing!
And a big THANK YOU to QOTKU for restoring sanity (somewhat) to the way this thing was headed - phew! This proves you CAN steer something equivalent to the Titanic.
No, don't torment us anymore. No, no.
Stay that evikl cackle.
Colin, I think we can thank my ancestors, although I'm not sure it fully offsets the years of "yes, like the number, but with an "i"." Or that one year I was "Twenty" because the scouts already knew my older brother. The rarely used "Eleventy" was a good one, though.
"Questions? Fire away," She says.
1) Is the buzz about the next possible prompt word, "fake news"?
2) Will the real prompt words will be a secret until Friday: APRIL FOOLS DAY?!?
3) What IS the last prompt word?
_______
My thoughts:
• Her Sharkiness might just choose some really long words in all of those 89 comments:
platypus, anthropomorphic, hooptedoodle, mmMmm, syndrome, Haagen-Dazs, Tutankhamen, algorithms, or avalanche
.... and all are difficult to Forti.
• Short words are for amateurs: we are anything but amateurs here on the reef:
poodle, gaze, fix, slim, bleat, kale, get, it, I...
... and all are very easy to Forti.
• Made up words are easy to ascribe any definition to...like a blank tile in Scrabble:
purrban, mmMmm, Hooptedoodle, padowan, Haagen-Dazs (also a made-up word), kippled, AMoHPS,
hokey-pokey...
... and might be easy to Forti with another made up word such as: hooptefortihaagen-kippledokey
• Since the prize is for a Marvelous Map Monograph, our QOTKU could merely choose the places that were mentioned in all those cat comments and miscellaneous musings such as:
London, France, Central Park, Padre Island, Russia, Japan, Philippines, Texas, Boston, Cincinnati, Brazil, England, Home Depot, Portlandia, Baltimore...
...and of course, the famous island of Forti, located in the Dune Sea of Carkoon.
Perhaps I am overthinking this.
I am giving myself a headache and I need an Irish coffee...
...in a big Forti mug.
sigh
Oh what a gorgeous prize! I'm waiting with bated breath for the contest to be posted.
At the library, the circulation desk the staff works at (not the very front counter ,but in that room), is a table topped with a map pattern. To my disappointment, none of them seem to say "here be dragons" anywhere, but I haven't had the time to go over every inch of it.
I'm nigh-inexpressively relieved. Had our Glorious Leader chosen kippled, anthropomorphic, or--Goddess help us all--AMoHPS, I would have had no choice but to participate in the contest. I don't do well with tight word limits. I write paragraphs--heck, single sentences--that exceed 100 words.
So, unless Her Toothiness finds a way to blame me for the "quintus"sential word, I can, should I so desire, resign from the contest with a clear conscience.
All I can say right now is that I REALLY want that book and it might be enough to tempt me from my writing lair of definitely not short/pithy/particularly witty works.
Ah, torment, let me count the ways:
Give the last prompt now and not say when the contest is. That way we can second, third, fourth and fifth guess ourselves.
Give the last prompt and when the contest opens don't give the prompts. Then those people, like me, will have to spend days digging out those prompts before pulling out those last two nose hairs.
Give the last prompt and the date. Open the contest for the first fifteen minutes of each hour, only open it for six hours or any other variation.
I still like Kale for the fifth prompt.
I bought that book when 'the tormentor' mentioned it last year. It is beyond awesome. Just because I already own it does not mean I won't enter. BUT you do want that book.
I feel like a horse at a gate pawing at the dirt, unsure when the horns are going to go off...
If only I had something to fortify me.
Ooh, we wants it, we needs it. Must have the precious...
I know I can receive the book 'cause Book Depository pretty much has a direct line to my house.
I reckon no matter how much her Sharkliness tries to scare us off, everyone is going to enter the 100th. Miss Janet is going to have a daunting task whittling down the entries to a handful of finalists. That's when it will be our turn to cackle. Mwahahahaha.
Oh, what a fabulous prize! WANT.
Forti is a great choice. I can work with forti. Yep, it'll fit.
Why, yes, I have been composing bits and pieces of not-a-story (because mine are never-a-story) as words are revealed. I'm sure I'm not alone in doing that. It's been a long time since I followed the NCAA basketball tournament, but I've been sitting here [tormented!] wondering which word is going to break my bracket, er, mess up my not-a-story. I'm sure it'll be the fifth one.
I didn't even think of doing the contest on April Fool's Day until y'all mentioned it!
*cackle*
Aw geez. Now we're in for it. *quivers*
Today was a craptastic day for a number of reasons, but I just spent the past hour going through yesterday and today's post and comments, and, man, y'all know how to make a person smile when they really don't want to. I love this place.
Nothing to add here. Just an abundance of gratitude.
Heh. Just imagine all the April Fool's jokes we could play in return.
Not that any of us would *do* that.
Much.
*feels less tormented*
Kate Higgins: When I read your post with the blank scrabble tile, I thought that would be sublime for the 100th. Get the five prompt words and you have to insert a blank space somewhere within one of the five prompt word. (Adding whichever letter that would work...from a mild consonant to a irritable vowel.) That would combine the Forti-aspect of blending words with a nod to April fools day.
"Reservations desk, how may I help you."
"Petterson, party of one, for the last freighter to Carkoon."
"Yes sir, I have it right here, you're listed as steerage."
"Rats!"
"Yes, there will be quite a few. Enjoy your trip, and thank you for choosing Carkoon Freight and Taxidermy."
Ooo!OOO!OOO! I want that book!!
Can't wait!
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