drvsilla

If you haven't already voted in this week's Idol poll, I could really use your support! My online identity is separate from my real life, so other than our kids, I can only get votes from readers and my friends-list. And I'm lagging behind right now. :(

My outdoor Xmas lights were supposed to be delivered yesterday, and they still aren't here! What gives, Amazon? They aren't even listed as "out for delivery." I only have so much time to get them up, and it's supposed to rain this entire coming week, which could complicate things. We DID get a tree yesterday, so I'm about to start decorating it. I bought replacement heart lights for the Silvestri ones we had for so many years (lost to the fire), and I'm hoping they'll look okay. Lost our vintage "bubble-lights" too, plus the cheap-looking backup set. They were one of HalfshellHusband's favorites.

Speaking of HSH, I spent some time yesterday with my company's benefits center and Kaiser trying to straighten out why I've gotten two notices saying his insurance is ending. He should still be covered by my office (and is), but he's also turning 70 this month AND Trump's sycophants have screwed Medicare users, so there are three different reasons why dropped/altered coverage could be a thing. In theory, this is a form letter Kaiser sends out because the calendar year is ending. So, why didn't I get one then? Current state: things should be good. We'll see. :O

Portfolio
Idol Wheel Of Chaos | Week 17, #1

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We're down to just five writers for Idol: Wheel Of Chaos now. This week, we're writing a portfolio that centers on five key components: our favorite story we've written, our favorite story by another author, a letter to an author from earlier this season, and stories for the prompts 6 7 and Banner year.

Choosing favorites is always hard! For my own stories, I wrote a lot of humor this season, but also some drabbles, two poems, a couple of entries with pathos, and a horror story. I considered choosing the acronym fun-fest (Going BATty), the caustic self-help guide (A New Man), the baking witch (Cursecraft), The Three Trolls from last week (Piplet!), or the souful Little Metal Hearts. But I think my best story was unlike all the others. It was a classic, timeless sort of tale with a tinge of bittersweetness. It was hardly read, because I was poisoned that week and it wasn't included in the poll, but it's the one I'm proudest of.

My favorite of my stories: Here Be Dragons

Weighing other authors' stories was just as hard. There were so many I really liked this season. From week 1, the Quality entries by bleodswean and static_abyss really stood out. rayaso's week 2 War Of The Words (the evils of ChatGPT) was a riot, as was flipflop_diva's Week 11 beleagured aliens story. serpentinejacaranda's Week 6 dreamlike political satire (Affliction In The Form Of A Question) really stuck with me, as did xeena's Blair Witch Idol Meta and l0lita's hard-hitting zombie apocalypse story. But the one I finally picked used a difficult prompt and featured a great child's voice and very real drama disguised as fiction. It was both beautifully written and painfully true.

My favorite other-author's story: inkstainedfingertip's Week 5 Toi, Toi, Toi

Next, we were to write a letter to a former contestant from the Wheel of Chaos season. There were so many to choose from: static_abyss (never here as long as I would like), bleodswean (such talent, and such a great Idol supporter), rayaso (so funny, week after week), alycewilson (talent and soulfulness all in one). I couldn't choose inkstainedfingertips because I'd picked him for my favorite other-author entry, plus he's still in the competition. So, I chose one of my overall favorites from this season AND last season (Idol Mini). She was the author whose season this was to lose, I thought, and apparently so did others because she was taken out by a targeted elimination vote after Week 10:

My letter to xeena

And finally, there were two entries to write for specific prompts:

6 7

Banner year

I hope you've enjoyed my portfolio, and the range of offerings it provided! If so, please vote for it here.

Childhood Treasures
Idol Wheel of Chaos | Week 17, #3 | 1424 words
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It was never a time capsule, no matter what Bobby Lockerby said. It was a memory-box, where Jake kept souvenirs and other special things.

Jake was 6, almost 7, when he started collecting those things. It all started with a pretty little red rock he found down by the creek one day.
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There was a four-leaf clover, dried and flattened, and the ticket stubs from the first ballgame Jake ever went to with his Dad. There was a trilobite fossil, a squashed souvenir penny from a trip to Disney World when Jake was eight, and a Kingfisher feather as blue as the sky.

Jake kept all of them in a metal Superman lunchbox in his closet, with Jake's–Keep Out! written on the top. The note was mainly for Jake's younger brother Eddie, who had no respect for privacy. Mom said it was because Eddie was only five, but all Jake knew was that he didn't want some little pipsqueak pawing through his stuff.

It was a miracle Jake ever had time to find any of the cool stuff he did. It seemed like Eddie was always there, following him everywhere he went: "Whatcha doing?"

Sometimes, Jake just wanted to explore quietly on his own. You saw more of what went on that way– animals weren't so afraid of you, and nobody was there to distract you. A little brother with non-stop talking was just about the biggest distraction there was.

And when he wasn't out exploring, Jake would rather be playing with Bobby Lockerby or one of his other friends.

"Mommmmm," Jake would moan. "Why can't Eddie go bother someone else?"( Read more... )

If you enjoyed this story, please vote for my Portfolio here!