Re-entry: what can I say? It has been…interesting.
It’s good to be home, though, and we're now in the routine of a new school year. It is awfully quiet at the Perkins Corral once 8:15 rolls around each morning. By then, Patrick has gone to his office and five of the six kids are a half-mile away at our tiny but fabulous school. Here’s a quick status report on the older five:
- Daniel loves all things kindergarten.
- Tess likes her third grade teacher, who is new to the school but seems like a keeper so far.
- Hope is navigating the treacherous waters of fifth grade as serenely as a French swan.
- James is savoring being at the top of the middle school heap, knowing well that next year’s high school debut is not that far off.
- Christian is a Junior (pardon me as I shudder with the faint horror that word still evokes in me) and is coping well with A/P classes and the idea that dating and driving privileges are only weeks away (pardon me as I shudder again, much more profoundly this time).
And Anne and I? We’re adjusting to the lonnnnnng stretches of quiet time. Since school started, Anne’s naps have been nearly twice as long as usual; if this continues, I may well have three or four solid hours of alone time each and every day, unprecedented riches that I plan to spend writing, writing, writing.
But enough about us. You, my faithful and patient readers, are waiting for the results of the August contests. Without further ado:
Je Mange France! #1, for which contestants submitted their favorite made-up words. Let me just say here that I am so glad that I passed the judging buck to others, since there’s no way I could have chosen just one. I loved many of your submissions and have already started using them in regular conversation. My illustrious panel has come through, though, and the winner is:
“Failtastic,” submitted by Charrette!
Je Mange France! #2, the “speed dating” challenge, as Whitney so aptly put it. I numbered the entries, then went to random.org and generated a random number. The winner is:
Eowyn!
Je Mange France! #3, in which contestants wrote 50-word stories inspired by a photo of young Christian dressed up like Jack Sparrow. My illustrious panel loved all the stories and had a difficult time settling on their favorite, but finally I can announce that the winner is:
“Black Bart” by TC!
Honorable mentions go to, well, everyone, but I must say that Tyler’s spectacular (but disqualified-due-to-length) poem is pretty swoonworthy.
Thank you to ALL commenters in the month of August. It was very cheering to read your words once we got home. And huge thanks to my darling Brillig, who posted the contests each Monday.
I’m contemplating posting a summary of our trip to France in a few installments. Are you at all interested? I can't imagine that you would be. But maybe I'm wrong. Let me know.
Finally, here’s a piece of news that has caused me much rejoicing in the past few days: I sold my short story “Fugue” to an anthology! How satisfying it is to find a home for that story after so many rejections. The bonus is that will appear in print; my short stories have so far been published only on the web. "Fugue," a dark fantasy story about a the supernatural misadventures of a young piano teacher, will appear in the third volume of Candlelight, edited by Jonathan Schlosser. I’ll post publication details as soon as I get them, since I know you'll all want your very own copy. :D
That’s it for now, folks. TC and Eowyn, please email me your addresses and I’ll send you your prizes (Charrette, I still have your address). Hearty congratulations to all!
Monday, November 16, 2009 at 12:39PM 
