#RomanticFridayWriters Featured Writer and Runner Up announced. And...RFW enters the #AtoZChallenge

We have returned to announce the Featured Writer, the Runner Up and the People's Choice Encouragement Award.

You read both Donna's and Denise's critiques of the eligible writers in Wednesday's post. (If you missed it, it's the post below this one). We wondered if you would guess who we'd be choosing!

Without further ado, both Donna and I have chosen Adura as the RU this week for her sensuous poem entitled, She Wears My Ring. Congratulations Adura. Your poem rocked!

For FW we both chose Madeleine Maddocks for her heartfelt romantic story of an elderly couple. It was a beautifully written vignette, well deserving of the FW title.

And the People's Choice goes to...Anna and ahem, Denise! Isn't that lovely! I was hoping for a last-minute vote to even the tie, but it didn't happen. So Anna and I will post our Encouragement Awards on our blogs. Thank you, lovely people!

If you want to refresh yourself by reading any of the winning entries, go to the She Wears My Ring post below.

We noted the comments regarding having a separate competition for poetry and prose and yes, that is one of our motivations to stop the one-size-fits-all judging. Bear with us till May...

MORE NEWS!

I've previously said that RFW would be closing for the month of April as the A - Z Challenge was taking place and everyone would be too busy writing posts or reading them. However, I had an epiphany yesterday and decided instead of pulling down the blinds, I'm going to throw them open! 

RFW has entered the A - Z Challenge! 

There are several positive benefits:

• We will gain more exposure for our group, something that many of you want to see.
• Some visitors may follow RFW and become members in the future.
• Flash fiction will be promoted.
• Any RFW member taking part will possibly receive visits from commenters.

So, I took the train back to the city yesterday and while on the train I wrote 10 little stories, up to 'J'. Didn't take long, but I'm a crazy, quick writer - just give me an opening letter, sentence and my 'pantser' is away, writing the story for me. How about you? Does it take you long to pen a story/poem? (What slows me down is the editing, then more editing, then even more...)

Anyway, my challenge to you, dear members and followers:

Do you want to join this challenge with me? If so, you can write flash fiction from approx. 50 (called a Dribble - 100 (called a Drabble) - 200 words on any theme, hopefully, but not necessarily, with a romantic element, and email it to me for posting. I'll post the occasional 400 + word story so that's okay too! I'll need editorial rights so I can tweak it to fit the letter and fix up any little typos, tenses, grammar and punctuation if I should find any, perish the thought. If you send in a story, write a few words about yourself so I can post this under your story with your blog link. And send another picture if you want, otherwise I'll nab the picture you have when you joined as a member...

If you've already written a story in the past and would like to offer it for publication during the challenge, please send it along. We can post more than one each day if you offer up a surfeit of riches! 

To post to the A - Z I'm using the first word of the story as the letter of the month, so there's no theme for the entries. For example for A, the beginning of the story goes like this -" '...and that's the way it happened,' he said..."

I hope you like the idea of RFW stepping out into the bigger blogoverse and getting ourselves known just that much more. Remember, if you want to post an old story or write a new one or two or ten, please email me at den.covey@gmail.com. Also, if you have any more questions about it, please ask. 

Hope to see you visiting during April - every day except Sunday (challenge begins the first Sunday as it's the 1st April) even if you don't want any of your stories posted.

Don't forget, we reconvene for our challenges on Tuesday May 1st. There will be new guidelines and other changes. Our May 4 prompt is going ahead on the first Friday. This one can be up to 600 words, (an epic poem?) but there are guidelines to follow...

I see some of you have signed up for the A - Z Challenge yourselves. Leave your name below if you have so I can visit you!

Have a great April!

Denise (L'Aussie)

Featured Writer for Challenge No 32 for Friday Feb 24 - The Perfect 9.5. A critique of each entry. And Challenge No 33, 'I Love You Because...'

It's that time of the week again! It was great to have our usual amount of entries for such a difficult prompt. 

I confess I struggled for weeks thinking about this one, but I finally got an idea and my story grew from there. Thank you everyone who commented favourably on my hot little passionate flamenco dance number, especially for those who thought I could/should be the Featured Writer. I like to hear that, but I'm not in the competition.  

Like most of our 400 word stories and poems, there is room to extend my story. I find it helpful to read the comments then take my story away and improve/extend on it, as I plan to e-publish a book of my flash fiction before the year is out, and they can be any word count under 1,000. 

If I manage to work out the e-pub system, I'll also be asking for your best stories to be considered for a Romantic Friday Writers e-book, and looking for a tres clever arty person to design our cover.

And thank you everyone for making the time to visit more stories/poems this week.

No glitches this week that I know of, just some imaginative treatment of the prompt. Not surprisingly sport (including dancing) was featured, as for this numbers game we often think of competitions.

Now, apologies for the length of this post. I want to demonstrate to you how thoroughly your stories are considered for FW and RU. 

I colluded with Donna Hole again this week. Donna does a lot of critiquing for her fellow blogger/writers so I respect her expertise. She read every story/poem and sent me her ruminations. This week I'm going to reveal Donna's summations, then give her her head with the decisions. I think she deserves this after all her hard work.

Over to you, Donna...

Ms Queenly has a great sniping story of competition, and I liked that the love interest stood in the sidelines to encourage her through the difficult task of admitting faults.

 - Roland's characters are flawed by nature; the excerpt didn't show a distinct flaw that showed devotion despite the flaw.  They state they love each other and that is all there is to the relationship, at least in this excerpt.

 - Andy's poetry is a celebration of women.  There is no specific "relationship" there; women are loved because they are women.

 - Denise's setting and dancers were exquisite.  Based to set the heartbeat, the sweat of exertion, the love of a man for a talented beauty.  I can see passion igniting at the end of the night.  An excellent emotive vignette, a flash fiction worthy of publication for its heart and passion.

 - Anna's story of sibling love was beautiful, and I hope she develops that into at least a flash fiction piece; it would take very little tweaking to evoke more passion. But again, they are together because they are siblings and already share a bond.

 - Nancy's blind date really captured me.  I loved it.  But it was in all essence, a perfect date.

 - Weissdorn was truly inspired.  I loved how she showed a relationship building around the sporting event.  Phillipe was perfect for her, I could really see why that relationship would work.  But, the 9.5 was for the competition, not the relationship.

 - Linda's "gossipy" take was so much fun.  I about p***d my pants laughing at the twisted ending.  I liked how the imperfections of the showcased relationship were witnessed by an outside party.  Made it that much more juicy.  But what I was looking for in this excerpt wasn't there at the end: why would the wife stay with a such a lout?

 ** Laura's love letters were funny and heartfelt.  I could see myself as this wife, frustrated but not at all ready to give up.  What is love without conflict to make up :)  And his response had me crying with joy that he took it all in stride, and eloquently blew kisses back at her.  Truly, who could resist such a strong relationship?  

 * Adura's about tore my heart in two.  And I liked the almost flat, matter-of-fact voice of the narrator.  I wasn't sure how to leave feedback to Adura; but if the paragraphs had been rearranged just a little so the story did not start in flashback, but followed from meeting, to dating and uncertainty, to his untimely death just when they were getting comfortable, this would have been even more powerful.

*** Janu's was poignantly nostalgic; it captured the essence of lifetime commitment, from both perspectives.  She loved him by caring for his needs while he loved her by providing for their family and future.  Then the tables turned, and he loved her by repaying all her care and selflessness.  This was a complete history of love, endurance, and sacrifice.

 So there we have it. I may/may not have chosen the same two winners but it is so difficult to decide.You may/may not agree with Donna's POV, so I'd ask you to have your say next challenge - (only if you read ALL the entries.) Please leave in the comments who you think should be FW or the RU for the prompt. I'm giving you notice so you can think about this while you read next week.

So after much rumination, the runner up this week is Adura Ojo! Congratulations on your prose Adura. Please display the harlot on your blog!

FW this week is Janu. I don't know how you were affected by Janu's poem this week, but it had a great impact on me, more so when an email from Janu revealed this is a true story. 

SO NOW TO OUR NEXT SERIES OF PROMPTS!

For the next few prompts, I'm going to do a song series. All prompts will be titles of songs (there's no copyright on song titles.) Starting with 'I Love You Because...'

What do Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and Jim Reeves have in common? They all recorded 'I Love You Because...' I like all versions, but the one I recognise is the Jim Reeves version from the '60s. Go to youtube and listen to each if you want further inspiration for this prompt. I think these words really suggest poetry to me. I might have a go at some more prosetry or I may stick to prose. I think the prompt speaks for itself and shouldn't need further suggestions...

FURTHER SPECIFIC GUIDELINES FOR ENTRIES - THESE MUST BE PRESENT TO BE CONSIDERED A FW or RU: 

The words 'I Love You Because...' must feature in the poem/prose at some point - be as imaginative as you wish with this. It doesn't necessarily have to be in first person (I know some writers hate first person, I'm sure I don't know why.) Make it whatever person you wish. Just write us a lovely poem or story. Don't forget to include a romantic element...hmmm, can't wait to get started...

L'Aussie Denise

Featured Writer - Challenge No 30 - Learning to dance when it's over...Update on next two posts!

Hello fellow RFWers!

The entries this week were full of life and hope. I loved reading them all and am doing the judging alone this week as I wanted Donna in the mix with her online dating story, well, it was a lot more than that!

I always find it terribly hard to choose winners and this week was no exception as even though there were only 10 entries the quality was high. Going back for multiple readings was no chore.

I know not everyone gets around to read all the entries, so I'll give everyone a shout out here and perhaps if you haven't read some, you'll take the time to pop on over, read and say hello. We all crave encouragement, don't we?

So, in no particular order:

• Janu's poem, 'No Regrets' was powerful with her message of 'I learn to walk, then dance.' I loved 'After the night is a promise of a New Dawn.' Janu has just started writing for us and was the recipient of the Encouragement Award last week.
• Roland went over the word limit, rebel that he is, but his 'Danse Mardi Gras' was gripping, as is all of Roland's work. Captain Sam has Mellori back in his arms at the haunted jazz club in New Orleans. Alice is flowing by in a black sleek dress with a tango slit (tango was a popular dance this week!). She was surely 'dressed to kill.'
• Anna's entry was an endearing sweet piece. The message was that love is eternal and who can argue with that in any language? Anna received many complimentary comments on her prose. Considering Anna is Swedish we are all amazed at her swift improvement in writing in English.
• Donna gave us something different this week, with her (or Brenda's) foray into online dating. That's what a lot of people do nowadays 'after the dance is over' so very up to the minute. Donna portrayed Brenda's anguish, indecision and uncertainty throughout the piece. I hope Donna works on this story as there's a lot more I'd like to read about.
• Laura melted me this week with her hot chilli-chocolate tango and her killer last line - 'It seems that a broken heart dances the perfect tango.' Wow! Laura received several in-depth comments and suggestions to make a great story even better. 
• Kiru touched a chord with her extract from her new book, A Valentine Challenge with her two endearing characters Kaisie and Michael. She raised the issue of family estrangement which many of us could relate to. Families need that central character to be the 'glue' but when that 'glue' is no longer there, how do families co-exist?
• Adura had us all amazed with her 'Auto Tango' poem. Adura said in a comment - "Auto Tango" is probably one of the most technically difficult poems I've ever written. Each stanza is linked - starts with seven syllables which reduces until it becomes one and then it starts with seven all over again and repeats the process until one word at the end of the last stanza." It was high energy poetry reflecting the tango as a high-energy dance - the stanzas dance within the poem.
• Scherherazade delivered romance, conflict...then murder! Pow! She caught us all! What an ending! I'm still not sure whose severed head was left lying at the end of the story, so I'm hoping there's a follow up to this! What's going to happen at the cabin?
• Andy's 'Like a Harlot' was quite different from what we've come to expect from Andy, and that's great. Mix it up friends! Surprise us! This vision in Andy's poem becomes 'like a dying flower she withered before my eyes.' His last line was full of humor - 'Perhaps tomorrow I will try Ballroom Dancing instead.' 
• Well I guess I should mention mine...I loved writing this positive piece about a woman who's been downtrodden but is finding her feet again. Love the idea of belly dancing. Not that I've ever tried it, so a bit of research went into the story and it must have convinced those who read/commented. Ah, I love the reality of hope!
  

So you can understand my problem in choosing a winner. I want to award you all. You are all superstars!

This week I'd like to award Anna the Encouragement Award again for the vast improvement you are making in your English, Anna. We all loved your story. I'm excited to see what you're going to write in the future. You just get better and better.

Runner Up? I loved Janu's 'No Regrets.' Beautifully crafted, beautiful heart-felt message - walk, then dance.

Featured Writer? Oh, I'm torn. I had to keep going back and forth between so many of you but I couldn't settle on just one. I'm awarding the accolade to Adura for 'Auto Tango' and Laura for her heart-breaking story of the broken hearted still able to tango. 

So if you didn't get awarded this week, I hope writing is reward enough. The bar was raised this week and I hope we can keep producing such high-quality entries.

Thank you!

Now on to the next two challenges!

Apologies to those of you who had already taken the badge for the next challenge (9.5) and posted it on your blog. That was tremendous and I'd love it if more of you would do that so we can spread the word. But I had the wrong date on it - forgot momentarily that it's not weekly any more, lol! I'd also overlooked the fact that it's Valentine Day on February 14th, and our next challenge is just before that. I thought The Long, Cool Aphrodisiac would be more fitting if any of you lean towards a Valentine Day's type story/poem. 

So members and friends, take the two badges and post them on your site and spread the word for our next two challenges. Don't forget to check the Challenge page for that little bit extra to get you thinking...

Welcome to new followers and members. I hope you will throw aside the curtain and join us! We want to read your stories or poetry!

Happy writing!

Denise (l'Aussie)

Featured Writer for Challenge No 29 for Friday Dec 13 - New Year's Resolution.

STOP PRESS! Because I was going away I organised the judging on Monday so therefore two late entries were not in the lineup. Sorry Maddy and Kiru, but I'm sure you'll understand! Thanks so much for your late entries. I'm not going to be able to read them for a few days...

Hi fellow writers!

I was surprised at the low number of entries this week but thank you for all who were able to take the time and share with us. I'm so glad we had Janu pen her passionate poem, Dream On, or otherwise the only poetry you would have had was from me.

As always I was touched by the entries. Roland's paranormal take on the theme was unique as usual, Anna's diary entry format was lovely, Francine spoke through one of her Regency characters, Christina, and Donna apologetically presented us with Josh and his Corona. Great tales (for which she needed not apologize.)

I asked Donna to help judge this week as it is a difficult task for one person. As usually happens, both judges chose the same people. By now you'll realise I haven't mentioned Joy or Laura, so it's just a matter of who is what.

Laura gets a prize this week for her stories on resolutions, chocolate and thighs...and Bob being sweet. A lovely mix. So Laura, we applaud your story and ask that you take the Runner Up badge this week and post it on your blog if you wish!

Featured Writer this week is the uber talented Joy Campbell. Publishing all those books has indeed made her a sharp writer and I'm sure if you read it, you loved the snippet with Celeste and her sister building bridges and sharing pregnancy philosophies. Thanks for sharing with us again Joy. I hope you'll take the badge again!

This week I'd also like to award the Encouragement Award to Janu for her wonderful poem. Please take the badge, Janu, and post it on your site.

So dear RomanticFridayWriters, I for one have already written my story for Jules' prompt - Dance...as it intrigued me so much. I hope you can spread the word so we can have many more entries on Friday January 27.

Have a great week of writing!

Meanwhile I'm having my first holiday of 2012, flying right across Australia from the East Coast to the West Coast (over 5 hours). After a few days in Perth and a cruise to Rottnest Island, we'll (hubs and I) be driving to Margaret River, where this ex-surfie town has reinvented itself as an organic paradise of vineyards and premium wines. Hmm. Just as well I made no New Year's Resolutions about wine!

Cheers!

Denise (L'Aussie)

Featured Writer - Challenge No 27 - Sparkle!

Hello everyone! No doubt due to Christmas preparations our entries were down this challenge. Some have told me that they won't be able to post til the New Year, but I'll be keeping RFWer operational for those of us who are getting back into the swing of it!

Thanks to each and every one of you for your entries this week. Glad to see such powerful poetry packing a punch again! All entries so different but each so unique for our Sparkle theme.

A warm welcome back to Ruth. It was great to be reading about Stewart again. An excellent snippet. I'm sure we all enjoyed reading Anna's unique entry, complete with personal photos of her charming children. Simran wrote a heart-warming story whereas Francine entertained us with her twisted fairy tale. Roland managed to weave some more sparkle into his characters Victor and Alice while I had a smile on my face the whole time I was writing my Christmas Lights story.

So you've probably worked out by now that I can't help going with our powerful poets this week. All three stole the show with their sparkly imagery.

Tie for Runner Up. Andy, whose 'words are like music on a battlefield' is our first Runner Up, and Adura's poem which was inspirational as she penned a poem based on a real-life experience of keeping the spark alive, shares second place with Andy. Congratulations to Andy and Adura for such wonderful words this week. Both contained that romantic element.

Our Featured Writer this week could be none other than Heaven whose poetry, or prosetry as Adura called it, absolutely sparkled with romance and tragedy. Her Christmas Star poem blew me away with its story of deep love and 'hope...fluttering, sparkling in his chest.' So a big round of applause to Heaven! Her poem can be found on the Featured Writer page. I see two other people as well as myself have voted for Heaven as FW this week.

Please keep those poems/stories coming each fortnight.

Looking forward to reading about those Ties That Bind on December 30. By then your fingers should be twitching to get back to writing.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Denise (L'Aussie)

My little Christmas tree at my apartment. 
A much bigger one awaits at the beach. 

Featured Writer - Challenge No 26 - Response to Image - The House in the Snow

Hi all! Great to be back and writing stories/poems for RFWer isn't it? Just finished my second sweep in quest of a winner for Featured Writer. I heartily plead with you if you have not disallowed 'Word Verification' please help your readers out by getting rid of it. It really serves no purpose other than to slow down your speedy commenters.

Welcome to our new followers. I hope you tippy toed around and read some entries and gained enough confidence to join us for our theme Sparkle! on December 16. I'm polishing my baubles in readiness!

I'm trialling a poll this week. It may be a bit of a dud as I didn't get the word around early enough, but I hope to poll you all on your choices in future. I know it's tempting to just vote for yourself, and that's okay if you really think yours was the best story. To overcome that I've been researching different polls and found one where we can have two votes. The Blogger Poll is very basic - allows one or multiple! (Postscript: Yes, a bit of a dud as only half voted when I went to air and no doubt some self votes there).

So, to our entries this week. The image conjured up largely atmospheric pieces. It was great reading the many and varied descriptions, along with misty characters. Thank you all so much for hours of reading pleasure. Being an Aussie from Queensland in the north/east of Oz, snow is strictly reserved for trips to Europe in the northern winter, of which I've had a few. Even been in a blizzard from Brussels to Luxembourg. Will never forget that! Magical! Whoops, sidetracked. Most of you are quite familiar with snow, especially at Christmas.

As always, it was terribly difficult to narrow down the wonderful entries to two sparkling ones. Most entries had atmosphere, great characters, some romance, some nostalgia, er, and some ghostly apparitions.


I must give an honourable mention to Anna, whose story this week was so great. Anna, participating in RFWer has improved your writing remarkably. I'd be enchanted if you took the Encouragement Award again this week for your sweet and mystical story of Jakob and Jenny.

Now to runner up. Maybe because it resonated with me with the idea of experiencing a different kind of Christmas, yet hot and steamy in the cold clime. I loved the sensual goodness of Kerrin Hearfield's Snowed In. Congratulations Kerrin for a wonderful response to image. Please take the Runner Up badge for your blog.

Featured Writer this week goes to a traditional story of mistletoe, the heart-rending yet heart-warming story of two lost souls finding each other. Yes, Nancy William's story of Jane and Martin touched me. Nancy is a fine writer and her story zoomed to the top of my chart. Nancy, please take the Featured Writer badge for your blog. I'll be adding your story to our Featured Writer page.

I thought the quality was very good this week, maybe because there was more time to think about our stories/poems. I won't forget Adura's 'misled toes' for awhile, or Li's poignant story of homecoming, the romance of a place. We saw Andy speak with a somewhat different edgy voice this week with his cruel lover. And Donna's creepy ghost story will have me looking over my shoulder should I be renting a Christmas Cottage, lol. Everyone, you are such a great group of writers. I can't mention you all, heck, why not - Marsha, your story enchanted me, Roland, loved your Inn at the End of the World, Ballerina's Smile, a beautiful sensuous poem, Francine, as always your historical romance sweeps me away and I quite liked my little girl and her Dada. There were many potential winners this week! Can't wait to see you Sparkle!

Have a great writing week.

Looking forward to your entries for Sparkle! on December 16!

Denise (L'Aussie)

Featured Writer - Challenge No 25 - Haunting! And what's happening at Romantic Friday Writers. New Challenge December 2!

This post has to be long, so I've divided it into sections with our blood rose. 

Haunting! was a great challenge to have around Halloween. A warm welcome to 7 new participants - sHoNA, Simran, Deniz, Priyanka, The Solitary Writer, Leo and Michael. I hope if you haven't already, you'll join our membership and post on a regular basis. Please read the Submissions Page then sign up using the Linky in the sidebar. It's free and it puts you in the running to receive awards. Thanks to those of you who publicised the theme and invited your blogger friends to join us.

The stories and poems were entertaining as always, and it made a change to have a dash of blood and paranormal amongst the mix. Most of your offerings maintained some element of romance which is sometimes a bit harder to do when you go a-haunting.

Due to gremlins at work we had to relocate RFWers here. The old site has been practically demolished. All that's left is the 91 Followers, most of whom haven't yet joined this site (well, I just checked and now this has been removed so I cannot contact the rest of our members!) If you haven't joined this site, please do or you'll miss updates!

The biggest change around RFWer is that Francine Howarth, my co-co-ordinator has already relinquished admin duties but will be submitting to themes as other commitments allow. In recent months Francine's writing projects have really taken off which is so exciting.

Francine, thank you for sacrificing so much of your time in helping me get RFWer operational. Your input has been invaluable. You put the site together, saw to the interior decorating features (you know where to find great stuff!) and wrestled with me as we tried to discover the best ways to run our burgeoning group.

Francine and I took turns in coming up with themes each week. She was the one filling the sidebar with the theme and adding stimulus to the Challenges Page and so many other tasks. She ran the group single handedly while I jaunted around overseas for a month and she didn't have an easy time of it with critiquing blues happening that were never resolved satisfactorily due to my absence.

So Francine, please accept this bunch of roses from me and those at RFWer who will miss your jaunty presence. RFWer would not be as successful today if not for you, so my Pommy friend, it's been great working with you and I wish you every success in your e-publishing career and in traditional publishing.

RUNNER UP, FEATURED WRITER

As usual it was excruciating to have to choose a Featured Writer and Runner Up this week. It's taken up to three readings to make a decision.

There are many writers who need an honourable mention - Nancy for taking us on a Zombie Crawl with Tod, who manages to find romance, Marsha who treated us with an excerpt of Anson's life of bondage to the witchy Zandra, Deniz' sweet, yet spooky tale of Devran, Andy's Unknown Spirit...so many good stories. I can't mention them all! We are blessed at Romantic Friday Writers. But I had to choose...

So, ta dah! There were so many different things happening this week, but reading Adura's prose rather than poetry was an unexpected treat. Thank you Adura, our Runner Up this week, for prose as soulful as your poetry. Didn't we all enjoy Grandma and Grandpa's waltz?! The Runner Up badge is yours to display on your blog.

Our Featured Writer for the Haunting theme must go this week to Madeleine for her Bewitching Hour. Who wasn't shaken to the core by Madeleine's carefully-crafted tale of Jack and Rosie? As Francine said in comments - 'stunning, simply stunning...' It was a heart-breaker, yet oozing with romance. Congratulations Madeleine. There is a special badge this week to display on your blog. I loved the image for Haunting so much I didn't want to say goodbye.

So everyone, I hope you agree with my choices. Huge applause to our winners this week.

WHERE DO RFWers GO FROM HERE?

You may have noticed that RFWer will be on hiatus until December. What this means is that I need time to regroup, as well as time to participate in NaNoWriMo, which I find very beneficial. Are you in? I have plenty of on-going themes waiting in the wings for RFWer, but don't have the time to be writing/reading/posting etc...

From now on I'll be running RFWer alone. It's a huge task, yet lots of fun. However, looking at the long-term, I feel weekly posts are too much for me to sustain if  I want to achieve other writing goals. I want RFWer to continue, so this is what I've come up with:

• For a trial period, at least until the end of this year, Romantic Friday Writers will become a monthly, rather than weekly blogfest. There may be special themes from time to time as well.
• There will usually be guest posts on Wednesday each week during November, so check in. I'm asking guests to give us tips on writing flash fiction and romance. 
• Because we only have to write one story or poem monthly, the word limit can be upped to make it 400-600 words temporarily. You can of course submit 200 words if you so choose!
• The challenges will be broadened - to include response to a photo, an image, or you might be given phrases to begin your story with. There may or may not always be a theme. 

OUR FIRST MONTHLY CHALLENGE:

Here's our first challenge - responding to an image. Christmas is big at our house, but I know not everyone celebrates, or celebrates this holiday in different ways. So rather than making a Christmas blogfest, I'm giving you the opportunity to respond to this image in whatever way you wish - it reeks of a ghostly romantic tale to me, or we could have a 'lost in the woods' poem or story, or it could be a Christmas story (obviously not an Aussie Christmas!) Over to you! Stun us with your masterpiece. You have a whole month to write your piece, and you have extra words to play with. Don't forget we are Romantic Friday Writers.

How about posting the challenge on your blog? All the more fun to read.

I'll be looking forward to reading your December stories.

Let's get writing people!

• I'd appreciate any comments/suggestions on this post. 

Denise (L'Aussie)

(I'll be adding the First Monthly Challenge section to our Challenge page.