The Pressure Of The Weekend Intensifies

And how is your weekend going? Remember, you have one more day to cram it all in, to get out there and do something, one more opportunity to create meaningfull conversation around the water cooler... You know... I have never discussed anything around a water cooler. I get the water, I move on. Am I living right? Is conversation more meaningful around a water source?

I have however uttered/taken in lots of gibberish at the coffeepot. Yes, I am a tongue flutterer.... but then most people seem to be, so maybe that's no huge confession.

So far, I haven't lived up to the weekend challenge. This does not surprise me. I would have attended the wine/cheese pairing lecture... but it was cancelled due to illness... and I should have gone to a race, but I cracked open a case of procrastination instead. I should have blogged Friday, but I watched the second half of "The Family Stone" and spent the rest of the night filling in the first half of the movie. It was exhausting yet oddly exhiliarating.

I did run tonight. I ran like a 98 year old, but oh well, at least that's one stat for the weekend. And hopefully it'll bode well for a race next weekend.

I may sneak off to Anderson on Sunday and see "The Atonement." I wish I could say I was excited about the Oscar movies, about seeing everything that's been nominated, but I keep going down the list... blood, blood, blood, more gore. Does Daniel Day Lewis choose his roles according to how many body parts he's allowed to scatter? And "No Country For Old Men" sounds like a splatter fest too. I think I'll go see Atonement and root for it... if there is an Oscars ceremony. Sigh. Bring the writers back!

There is a 3pm showing of "The Seagull" in Greenville on Sunday, but I doubt I can make that.... real life and all of that. Maybe next time, Anton...

I found an interesting writing opportunity and the deadline is looming... (I did spend some of my Saturday working toward this so, hey, I'm not a total slacker!)

BINNACLE 5TH ANNUAL ULTRA-SHORT CONTEST - Deadline: Feb. 15, 2008. No entry fee. Fiction, Please submit original poetry, short fiction, short short fiction, creative non-fiction, as well as photography and other works of visual art, both color and black and white. 150 Words Max. Poetry, 16 Lines Max. Submit to editor: ummbinnacle@maine.edu Prizes To $150, URL: http://www.umm.maine.edu/faculty/necastro/binnacle/ Click on submission guidelines.

The Binnacle will sponsor its Fourth International Ultra-Short Competition in the 2007-2008 academic year. We are looking for poetry of sixteen lines or less and prose works of 150 words or less. All submissions should be made via email to ummbinnacle@maine.edu. Please include the work in the body of the email message, if possible. If you would like to send it via attachment, we prefer ,doc, .txt, or rtf files. A minimum of $300 in cash prizes will be awarded, with a minumum prize of $50. Please submit no more than two works total, prose and/or poetry. When you submit your work, please be sure to include your postal address as well as a thirty-five to fifty word self-description.

There is no submission fee. Deadline for submission is February 15, 2008.) Notifications will be made around May 15, 2008. Because of the volume of submissions, we are not always able to send notifications to all works that have not made the cut. To gain news about the winners and those who will be included in the edition, please keep checking our website. Look especially on the Updates page.


Hey you teens! Here's an opportunity to make some moolah with last week's homework assignment. Dig through your book bag and smooth out the edges of that wadded-up essay, and send it off!

Learning Through History magazine is a bi-monthly history publication for readers in middle thru high school. We are accepting submissions for the Nazi Germany issue through February 20, 2008. Here are just a few of the many topics that would be of interest - we also encourage writers to submit manuscripts and queries on other possible topic(s) that are related to the issue theme.

For this issue, we are interested in articles on the Nazi German state itself versus WWII specific articles (battles, etc.)

The Rise of the Nazi Party, Night of the Long Knives, Reichstag Fire, 1936 Olympics
Nuremberg Laws,The Hitler Youth, Goebbels and the Propaganda Ministry
Hitler's Henchmen (Goring, Himmler) , Lebensraum , The Gestapo
Dachau: The First Concentration Camp , The Munich Agreement, The Anschluss
Kirche, Kinder, Kuchen: Women in Nazi Germany , The End: Third Reich in Ruins

Learning Through History pays $75 per non-fiction articles of 1000-1200 words, plus a complimentary issue in which your work appears. We also accept arts and crafts project submissions. Please see the freelance guidelines section of our website for complete details on how to submit to our magazine at http://www.learningthroughhistory.com/


I had to laugh when I saw this competition. I was able to come up with 3 contenders immediately... that's nothing to brag about, is it? I wasn't going to submit because of the embarassment of being successful... but a) I'll probably fail, which means... er... oh let's not go there... and b) oh why not... what's a little... more humiliation? I would hate to run out of everpresent ooze.

LANDLESS PLAY COMPETITION! "SO BAD, IT'S GOOD!" We are looking for a play to produce in June, 2008, that fits our theme, "So Bad, It's Good." How you interpret this is up to you: Is it the play? The subject of the play? The theme of the play? What the theme is about? The playwright? Etc.? Etc.? If you've got a play in your computer or in the back of a drawer or in the back of your mind and you know it is perfect for Landless (that is, so bad it's good!) then we'd like to see it, read it, and consider it or a full-scale production! And we are talking the best director, actors, and set that no-budget can buy, and a completely mounted late-night show in the Adams-Morgan neighborhood of the Nation's Capital. We will have a distinguished panel of judges: primarily, our fans via voting on our Web site, make the selection. What do we want? Your play, say 45-90 minutes in runtime. Include with it a synopsis of the play, suitable for posting on our Web site (we will ask our fans to read these synopses, along with a short bit of dialogue from your play, and vote on what they'd love to see performed, so make this synopsis appealing), and a little bit about yourself (contact information, biography, etc.) When do we want it? On or before February 14, 2007 (Valentine's Day!). So, if there is some writing to be done, what are you waiting for? Where do we want it? Email to shakespeare@landlesstheatrecompany.org, or contact at this address for other arrangements. What's in it for you? A full-scale production by one of the District of Columbia's premiere professional fringe theater companies, see www.landlesstheatrecompany.org for information. Important Dates: 14 February 2008 Deadline for submission 31 March 2008 Notification of the judges' decision 13 June 2008 So Bad, It's Good World Premiere!

And that's it for Saturday night. Go forth and make something out of your Sunday!