People's Choice Featured Writer announced. Challenge No 34, Friday March 23 - She Wears My Ring and breaking news...

Hi all! And a warm welcome to our new followers!

Thanks for your People's Choice votes for RFWer's prompt, I Love You Because. The votes were much lower than anticipated but two writers received two votes each so we are happy to announce a tie for Featured Writer - Nancy Williams and Joy Campbell. Thank you to those who voted and congratulations to Nancy and Joy. Now members, you really understand what a difficult, no, really impossible task choosing a winner is.

When I conducted a poll some months back, the overwhelming reason writers submitted to RFW was to improve their craft. No one likes to judge entries (including yourselves it seems!) as it is not really comparing apples with apples. We value the diverse group we have become - novice writers, unpublished writers, poets, authors presenting extracts from WIPs and at times published books and those who write a fresh piece especially for the challenge. All of these are legitimate modes of entry, as long as all entries respond to the prompt. But it is really impossible to judge fairly. 

So how do you feel about not having FW or RU from now on, or only occasionally when we all write in the same genre for a special challenge? Non poets can try their hand at poetry and poets will get the opportunity to write prose. It would extend us all; perhaps we'll find talent we didn't know we had! Of course this would only be a limited event... We need your thoughts on this...Perhaps She Wears My Ring will be the last time we choose a FW and RU...

And the critique question. Don't forget this prickly one. Unless someone specifically asks for a full critique, just leave general feedback, highlighting the positive.

 I have to say excellent work everyone for your creative wide-ranging use of the prompt for I Love You Because. Awesome entries all. 

Now before I move onto our next prompt, I need to tell you that this is our last challenge until May 4.

After much deliberation, I have decided to close RFW for the month of April as this is A-Z Challenge time. Love it or hate it, this blogoverse challenge makes it pretty pointless to post if you're not in it. Already over 1,000 bloggers have signed up and hundreds who aren't accepting the challenge to post every day in April have been announcing on their blogs that they won't be posting in April as they know they'll be writing to themselves, well, not altogether, but close enough!

I, and some other RFW members will be participating in the April challenge. I won't have time to be posting prompts or writing to them, or reading entries, so thought it would be best to simply shut down the challenges for the month. That only means 2 prompts won't be happening. I'm adding the May 4 prompt to the end of this post so you can start imagining stories and poems to fit. 

When RFW re-opens on the 4th May, there will be some tweaking of the guidelines. There will be many other exciting changes as well, so stay tuned! You'll be so glad you did. And this is another chance for you to tell me any ideas you have for our writing group. I hope to receive some emails during April with your suggestions.

So, to our final challenge for the first trimester of 2012 -

The second prompt in our song series is 'She Wears My Ring.' Now this romantic song was recorded by many big names. Once again - Elvis Presley, then we have Roy Orbison et al, but my favourite recording is by Australia's own Elvis or Chuck Berry, Johnny O'Keefe, who rocked the Aussie song world in the '60s.

Here are the lyrics by the Bryants.

She Wears My Ring

She wears my ring to show the world
That she belongs to me
She wears my ring to tell the world
She's mine eternally
With loving care
I placed it on her finger
To show my love
For all the world to see


This tiny ring is a token
Of tender emotion
And in this pool of love
That's as deep as the ocean
She swears to wear it
With eternal devotion
That's why I sing
Because she wears my ring

Awesome lyrics. Once again, use this prompt however you wish, but we are looking for a story/poem that encapsulates the lyrics in some way. And the words: 'She wears my ring...' must be within the text.

Have fun with this prompt.



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And here is a sneak peek at the Response to Image prompt for our return on May 4th. Just study this picture and see where the story takes you.

• You must respond to the stimulus in some way.
• From the image, choose who will be your viewpoint character.
• Place your character/s in one of the following settings:

              * a nightclub

              * last day of high school/college

              * at a carnival/festival

              * a private party

              * an exotic island

              * audition for a part in the latest Romeo + Juliet production

              * a combination of two or more of the above settings...

Get your thinking caps on for this one. You have over 5 weeks to produce your best copy. I thought about raising the word limit to 600 words for this one. What do you think?

As always, I encourage you to leave a comment here or email me with your responses to issues raised in posts. Please know that your input is most valuable in the decision-making process. My email: den.covey@gmail.com

Denise (L'Aussie)