Okay, where is everyone?

They're all deligently writing. Such is life.

Hello, Folks - sorry for being incommunicado, but life has interfered.

Shall we hold the voting open a few more days? There are only 5 votes logged in so far - Let's give it until the end of the week.

READ - REVIEW - REPEAT - and VOTE!

Hello, Friends,

Since there have been no new votes added in the past five days, it is time to declare the winner...

Congratulations to augie.toaste! 'Womba' is the winner of the September competition!

Thanks, and well done, writers!

Noice! Thanks everyone who wrote, read, and voted. I'm hoping to be more active on the forums in the story writing section this year and next.

Hello, Labyrinthians!

Well, it's that time again. Before I put up the last prompt of the year, I want to thank you all for being amazing writers, commentators, and friends. This last prompt of 2016 marks the conclusion of two years as the Contest Moderator, and I am very pleased to be handing the baton to augie.toaste for 2017.

By the time we finish the December contest, we'll have worked through the logistics, and will have any changes to the schedule or rules ready to post. I want to thank you all for a great 2015-2016 run - we have put together some amazing work, my friends!

For the love of words,

Liz

It is time...

* whoa, something ate the entire middle of this post! Let me fix that...

December 2016 Prompt:

FLASH FICTION CHALLENGE!!!

Write a 500 word Flash Fiction

Inspired by Wikipedia's Random Article Generator.

Directions: Go to Wikipedia, find the Random Article generator on the left hand side, and click on it. Note the article, and click again until you have three different articles. Using the topic or subject matter to inspire you, write a 500 word Flash Fiction.

Entries accepted from Thursday, December 1st, to Saturday, December 31st 2016.

*my copied rules section appears to be corrupted. I'll re-post after I get to work...

Liz

CONTEST RULES

1. Submissions must be in the 3000 500 word range this month only!

2. Submissions must be relevant to the current prompt.

3. Submissions must be acceptable to fit the T rating.

4. All Forum members are urged to enter, and are encouraged to invite other writers to submit their work

5. Entries are accepted from the first day of the month of the contest up until midnight, Central Standard Time, on the cut-off date. Voting will not open until after the cut-off.

6. Read ALL entries before voting.

7. Any Forum Member can vote, even if they are not entering the competition.

8. Contestants shall vote for their own entry.

9. The voting spread will be published in the Writing Contest thread, and the winner will be given a turn in the Spotlight for a story of their choice.

10. All Contestant entrants must Review the winner's Spotlight story.

11. State the writing prompt in your story in an Author's Note or in the summary. Also in the summary, state that this is a Labyrinth writing contest and specify the month & year.

12. At the end of the contest, all entries will be added to the Community Labyrinthos.

Entrants are encouraged, but not required, to review the other entries as a courtesy to their peers.

AND READ EACH ENTRY BEFORE YOU VOTE!

Entries accepted from Thursday, December 1st until Saturday, December 31st. Send the link to your entry in a PM to TanteLiz.

Hello, Labyrinthians!

Well, it's been a hell of a month. I hope you are all well, and finding the time to write - it can be very therapeutic.

My December entry is up and ready. Anyone else?

Go to Wikipedia, hit the Random Article link on the left, and generate three articles. Pick one to inspire you!

I haven't wrapped mine up quite yet, and I'm going to attempt to wrap all three together. XD

Just posted mine!

I did the same.

Ah, and immediately there are a bajillion mistakes I need to fix. Sigh.

I, also, have posted a story, though I'll admit straight up I was only able to work one of my random articles into it.

I tried to work in all three, but only managed to work out one of them. However, I at least finished a story for once!

You can find it here, The Song of the Rose.

I'm working on fine tuning my NaNoWrMn project this month...Maybe next time.

Good job, writing buddies! Let's have a strong finish to the year.

The next one's not until February right?

I've got us on a strict monthly writing schedule for at least the first half of the next year, so there technically *is* a prompt for January, though still running it by Tante.

I hope to kick off on January 1st, but is that going to be too confusing?

Hello, Labyrinthians!

I don't think it's too confusing, Augie - go ahead and post your prompt as soon as you have it ready.

So far, we have four entries for the December 16th contest that ends New Year's Eve. Does anyone else have one in the works? This one will have a strict cut-off, since I'm handing over to Augie. He has a great list of prompts in mind for the coming year - you'll love it!

Ping me as soon as you can if you still plan to enter.

- Liz

January Writing Challenge: The Kick-Off Challenge

Good morning boys and girls and manatees! Welcome to 2017! If you're wondering how I can be so chipper first thing in the morning after a new years eve, my secret is Very Strong Tea and Not Having a Life.

While I have the mike, I want to take the opportunity to thank our dearest Tante Liz for stepping up to be the Contest Moderator in 2015 so that our happy band of writing buddies could continue and grow. Her dedication and hard work is without *contest*. So, thank you Liz. Without you, we would have petered out.

The aim is to go monthly again with the writing challenges, with each challenge aimed at developing an aspect of storytelling. I understand that not everyone will enter every month because, well, life happens, but it really is a lot of fun and there's also the warm and fuzzies of looking back at what you've written over the years.

Spotlight hasn't been operational since 2015, so I'm thinking of doing something a bit special: a very short run print anthology of all the winning entries in 2017 sent out early next year to winners who want to participate.

Now, before this becomes a sorry case of TLDR, let's kick off.

Prompt:

Sometimes the hardest part of writing is getting started, so this month's prompt is about making a start. Use one of the following three lines to kick off you story:

- The arrow was supposed to hit the apple.

- There was only one day left.

- Nothing stayed hidden forever.

Play with the tense. Expand the fragments. Make it your own.

Rules:

1. Submissions must be 3000 words or less.

2. Submissions must be relevant to the current prompt.

3. Submissions must be acceptable to fit the T rating.

4. All Forum members are urged to enter, and are encouraged to invite other writers to submit their work.

5. Entries are accepted from the first day of the month of the contest up until midnight, Central Standard Time, on the cut-off date. Voting will be open for one week after the cut-off.

6. Read ALL entries before voting.

7. Any Forum Member can vote, even if they are not entering the competition.

8. Contestants cannot vote for their own entry.

9. The voting spread will be published in the Writing Contest thread, and the winner may agree to have their story included in a short run anthology.

10. State the writing prompt in your story in an Author's Note or in the summary. Also in the summary, state that this is a Labyrinth writing contest.

11. At the end of the contest, all entries will be added to the Community Labyrinthos.

Entrants are encouraged, but not required, to review the other entries as a courtesy to their peers.

AND READ EACH ENTRY BEFORE YOU VOTE!

Entries accepted 1st January 2017 - 31 January 2017. Send the link to your entry in a PM to TanteLiz.

*surfaces briefly* I heard my name mentioned. Why is 2017 all spinny? *bubbly sinking noise*

Good morning, my dearest Labyrinthians, and welcome to 2017!!!

I have thoroughly enjoyed being your contest taskmistress moderator for the past two years, and am grateful for the opportunity to learn and grow. With that, and with no further entries received as of the turning of the year, it is time...

Announcing the Entries for the

December 2016 Prompt

Post-NaNoWriMo Flash Fiction Challenge!

Entries in order received:

Welcome to Subway - TanteLiz

Venom - augie.toaste

Swords to Ploughshares - T.Rasa

An Intro - The Song of the Rose - Hikitsune-Red

Poll will be up in a minute - READ READ READ READ and VOTE!!!

With love from Your Tante!

You have TWO MORE DAYS to read and vote!!!

Congratulations to Augie and T.Rasa - for our December 2016 contest, we have a tie!

Excellent work as always, Labyrinthians - everyone hard at their January entries?

Try not to break anything too expensive...

I promise nothing. :-)

Great job everyone, and thanks! Looking forward to watching everyone challenge themselves this year with Augie's, uh, challenges.

And now, Augs: En garde!

Congrats to both of you, Augie, Rasa! The stories this time around were very enjoyable. Can't wait to see this year's!