Cool!

As a teenager I walked past this house hundreds of times, but I don't remember it at all.  Still, here we are, my husband, my three grown daughters and I, staying in this house, now a bed and breakfast, in Riverton, NJ. 

We have just arrived after a 6 1/2 hour car ride from Albany, NY. The traffic was terrible once we got into New Jersey but traveling through Princeton and surrounding towns was such a surreal experience that it was worth the delays we decide. 

We are here for only one night because my sister, Brenda, has died and her funeral will take place one block south of this amazing house.  The funeral home is only four blocks down the street from the house where Brenda and I lived as teenagers, and I doubt either of us ever expected to stay overnight again in this town full of memories for us.  

I reflect upon how each of us lived a different life in this beautiful town on the Delaware River and how on this day each of us is going to leave this town.  I will be able to return of my own free will, and Brenda will never see any town again.

And the internet rears its ugly head again.  You try to have a civilized discussion that considers both sides of the argument and the opposition, rather than maintain a level of dignity, resorts to name calling, personal attacks and failed attempts at repartee.  Pedantic?  Sometimes that's necessary to state a case.  Infantile?  Looking at the comments from some of those rallying around Spartacus, I would agree

Class?  I'm afraid I must, once more, disagree.

Enjoy your back-patting shows of solidarity, I'm up out this bitch.

Well said WNH.  @SQ - you funny.  @MD blah blah blah blah blah. @PH Look around you, inspiration is everywhere - sorry but that's my only suggestion; it's what I do in moments like that, and I can usually find something.

You got class bitch.  (May I call you bitch?)  I do mean that in the best possible sense - in case anyone feels the need to define Merriam-Webster's suggestions of several "true senses" of the word.

@WN - good for you sweetie - I agree onehundredthousand million percent, I am new here too,  but have noticed who the blowhards .... mmmm blowhard ... ahem, are.

Thank you WN.  I am not without some savvy; I have long drawn my own conclusion as to certain involvement here and as to why that might be – which will remain private.  I am done commenting here, as it appears the debate is indeed becoming infantile and pedantic.

Until the next challenge …

Maggie, I know you are quite new here, but some people just love to argue every little thing, even if it means conjuring up an opposing view or dissecting and taking every little word out of context, just like they did with the word ‘travel’ here, which is OBVIOUSLY intended to mean travel in the sense that you and others have pointed out.  I find Massdaddy’s comments here to be simply here for that very purpose - to argue under a thin cloak of politeness for whatever reason- and I might add, a load of piffle as well as having insulted many a writer here indirectly a couple of times.  But then one just needs to look at the forums to see that he is an authority on absolutely everything.  Don’t respond; he will always find a last word and is simply trying to engage you in a back and forth.  If you had said that the rules were meant to be broken, he would have disagreed with that too, I am absolutely sure of that.

Well I believe that is exactly what I said.  It is not I defending my comments here, simply clarifying them as some have misinterpreted their intent, obvious by the messages addressed to me, but thank you for pointing that out anyway.  I find your knowledge of what subject matter people might find to be considered interesting writing incredibly knowledgeable though, as I do your statement that 200 stories about this would be the same if they had chosen to write about 'my' kind of travel.   But regardless of your obvious personal insight into these matters, as I said, it wasn't just worldwide travel I meant, I think even you might agree that everyone, and I mean everyone, has taken some kind of a trip at least once in their lives - even if it is just to the corner store.

Maggie, there's no need to justify your opinion or belief, they're yours and they're as valid as you believe them to be.  It's also really unnecessary to be so defensive over them.  The only reason I referenced the definitions of 'travel' was to support my case for open interpretation of the challenge criteria, not to shoot down yours or anyone else's.  Bottom line, you and others thought the criteria clearly meant a story of travel by its 'typical' definition; I and others did not.  We disagree, we state our cases, nobody changes their opinion, we move on.  Status quo is maintained.

My point was merely that those stating emphatically what the intent of the challenge was, and that anyone whose entry was not in the vein of that intent was disregarding the rules, were basing their statement on the assumption that WeBook and/or AerialJuggler's intent was the same as theirs.  Personally, I believe that the challenge criteria was deliberately worded with the intention of leaving the interpretation of 'a character traveling somewhere' open to the imagniation of the writer... but it's entirely possible that I could be totally wrong.

As far as the worldwide travel, I think that the reason there's not many entries of that kind here is because there is a large YA contingent here that either has not done much in the way of traveling or just doesn't find that interesting writing.  That leaves it up to the older crowd, such as myself, and again, there's only a subsection of that group that finds stories of that nature interesting.

... leaving the office, the car ... from the place they arrived at  whatever ... not just home ... before anyone picks up on that! :-P

Sorry correction, not just worldwide travel - which would have been nice and interesting for me yes -  but I did of course mean a trip somewhere, anywhere that entailed leaving home to go to another location for whatever purpose.

@Leah, no I won't hate your entry, I don't hate any.  Lest my point be missed, I said that I enjoyed the more unconventional takes on occasion in these projects, but that I wished more had been about worldwide travel here - which, as I said, I FOR ONE, fully believe was intended here - whether others believe that or not or feel it necessary to point out what other meaning the word 'travel' has.  Given the context in which it was used in this criteria, I believe it was intended only ONE way.  I am sure I will enjoy reading yours as I have others who didn't ... well let's just say ... take that route.

Well personally I enjoy these debates.  I love the fact that some people have the courage to bring them up in the first place.  I think in the meantime, it keeps things interesting here, and I am glad to see that the various contributors to it kept it civil - without personal attacks - this time.  That is what any site like this is supposed to be like; good old fashioned opinions which don't have to raise blood pressure.  I have my own views, which I have stated, and I enjoy reading other people's that are not afraid to speak the truth.  There is some educational value in all.

I've read through a lot of the subs and all that I've read has had something to do with traveling. Everything from a scared kid from his room to his parents all the way to someone traveling through a desert.

I had so many ideas for this challenge and just couldn't put them to paper. Usually writing relieves the stress in my life but it seems this time around I was just jammed up. Thoughts were there and I just couldn't get them out. It never works if you try and force the words and that's what I was doing this time. Hence... No sub.
 
ANY SUGGESTIONS to get me back to writing?

Everyone has valid points, but is it really worth raising blood pressure over? Webook is what it is, it's not changing, and I'm done getting upset about it (like I used to). I have accepted that I'll never win these challenges with my writing style, and I quit caring about it months ago. I enter because I enjoy writing and getting feedback.

And my writer's retreat was awesome! Can't wait for my SCBWI conference in Nashville. If anyone's going, shoot me a line. I'll be glad to remove my monkey mask and meet you in person. --Just don't knife me if I ticked you off.  ;-)

No, on that one you are absolutely correct.  Whatever home-grown or plug-in applet is being used for word counting, it's certainly not the most accurate counter in the world.

That said, sometimes the word counts are so off that there's no way that the problem is with the counter.

The crux of the issue, however, is that the challenges are being posted in exactly the same project system that the WeBook community uses for their own writings.  Because this allows for all writing styles from poetry to whole novel chapters, it does not limit the word or character count like the PageToFame submission system does.  Therefore the responsibility is placed upon the writer to note and remember that there is a word count limit and to use the (faulty) WeBook word count or their own (not as faulty but still prone to error) manual counting.

Being new, I will not get into the argument about the rules, etc. regarding whether each piece is truly about "travel." However, it seems ludicrous to me that with technology the way it is, that these entries with over 200 words are displayed at all for consideration.

I mean, "travel" is up for interpretation but 200-word limit seems to me to be very concrete.

But I am new so maybe I do not understand......

Cheers

Oh lord, I'm staying out of this one!!!LOL
Maggie you'll hate my entry!!!lol How have you been btw?? Did you enter this one? I've been layinig low so I've not looked at any of the entries.

And Shana was your writer's retreat fun??

I agree that rules, as they are laid out, are rules and should be followed.  However, that does not mean that license cannot be taken with them.  As I said before, the direction in which that challenge criteria takes one person's imagination may not be the same as yours, just as the direction your imagination takes may not marry with what WeBook or AerialJuggler had envisioned.

The rule of this particular challenge is "a short scene that includes a character traveling somewhere".  Perhaps I've missed the submissions that have absolutely no reference to a character traveling, I'll confess that I have not reviewed them all, but so far every one that I have looked over has referenced a character traveling somewhere.

All nerd rage as to the comprehension abilities of those who disagree with you aside, nobody is suggesting that taking the challenge concept along a less-worn track is "clever avant garde writing".  You say yourself, poet, that the challenge's loose criteria opens it up to all manner of travel scenarios.  Where our opinion differs is where you suggest travel "in the true sense".  Merriam-Webster suggests several "true senses" of the word travel so to me, if the submission contains a character and they are traveling somewhere in a fashion that meets one of those definitions then it becomes up to WeBook to determine whether it is inventive manipulation of the criteria or blatant disregard.

Well, I think that traveling 27 feet can be as much of a feat as traveling 27 miles or for 27 days can be... All depends on your personal viewpoint, so I'll take my license on the matter, thanks!

Can't help myself, I have to have a little tickle here as well...

There is a lot of reference in the feedback on story's about how a 'Journey' and 'Travel' are different. I would just like to point out that although this may be true I also believe that you cannot 'Travel' without going on a 'Journey', mental, emotional or otherwise. I am sure there are a few exceptions to this rule but I can't think of them right now.

This makes sense to me, is anyone else picking up what I'm putting down?

I could just be in my own little world, which is rather awesome by the way.

 : ) Happy writing everyone, just enjoy whatever it is you write.

Rules are rules, even for fun comps like this.  What does it teach the new writer if we suggest that they might take licence with them?  They would be thrown out of competitions with substantial prizes for disregarding them on more serious platforms.  The new writer here (and there are many) is in the early stages of coming into this strange writing world, and if they are being taught here to write just what they please and with very loose, or no, connection at all to the subject matter, then they will be sadly disappointed.  If the rules are not going to be observed then there is no point to them.

I think it is absolutely the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard to suggest that if the rules were followed here that the result would be 200 stories exactly the same.  Give people more credit.  I myself can think of many travel stories, all different, without even trying, I am sure the collective members here would come up with completely original stories - even as they managed to do in the Dear John - where one might have expected them to have been similar.  The debacle of the Liar Challenge, and the semi plagiarised winning entry is a perfect example of rule breaking, both by the 'winner' of that, and the judging itself.  Hardly surprising therefore, that 'some here' advocate rule breaking.

Given the fact that Webook suggest travel could be anywhere from home to the corner store, beautiful lands, a hijack as well as the amount of ways to travel; car, bike, plane, sea vessels, , skateboard even, transport terminals, villages, towns, cities, countries, sights, architecture, the result would be a cornucopia of stories that actually related to some form of travel in the true sense.  It was that one common denominating factor that was the point of this.  To go so off course is not clever avant garde writing at all, it is a blatant disregard.  Its not a matter of differing visions.  It is a matter of having a vision set within the boundaries of the rubric.  That's what makes a challenge a challenge.  There are thousands of projects here to write what you want within, but here, there is supposed to be an underlying them, and that, whether you argue it to the hilt or not, anyone can see, is simply travel.  Too much for 'some here' to comprehend obviously.  These are supposed to concentrate on certain areas of our writing, to improve our skills, it's not a free for all like some try to suggest - that's what the rest of WeBook is for. 

So in case you didn't get it - tighten the rules with a frigging spanner, and make us adhere to them, you might just find people are all different anyway.  You might just find that you are actually being challenged.  You might just be surprised what you come up with.

$3.95 - Much ado about nothing.

Well said Mass Daddy

I think perhaps there's a little bit much being asked from what is intended to be a fun writing excercise.  This is not a $1,000 prize up for grabs every month it's a PageToFame coupon for the top three, current value $10 a piece.

I've seen a few comments below expressing disappointment that many of the submissions were not of the kind that they were expecting.  Suppose for a moment that what you were expecting is completely different from what WeBook expected or even, to be fair to the suggester, AerialJuggler expected.  Are they wrong because their vision of what they were asking for differs from yours?  Would you feel cheated because you had misinterpreted the intent of the contest?

As far as rules, just how strict on the criteria do you want to get?  Too loose and the imaginations run riot, too tight and you have 200 versions of the exact same story and it just comes down to who wrote it with the fewest grammatical errors. 

We're writers, we're creative and challenges like these are intended to provide an outlet for that creativity, not suppress it with tight rules that this story must be about travel of a conventional nature and involve some kind of experience with an exotic land.  You know what you'll get then?  Riding on horseback through the enchanted forests of the Ne'bailuvian elves. 

If we weren't creative there would be no need for rules.  The fact that we are means that we will always find a way to bend them to our will.

honeysuckle ...that's what the smell was...heavy, pungent wafting on the breeze through the windows on Ki-lees Mazda pu.   It was another insanely warm perfect late summer night in Massachusetts.   The bullfrogs were croaking, the crickets were chirping....  Ki-lee was half hanging out the window, driving home from work...its so hot.  She took the corners with the speed of someone familiar with the road...she should be, she had been driving it for six years since moving out west...out of the city.  12:29, just about time for her favorite radio show...john and jeff on 969...simulcast out of California...I love these guys......gosh its hot...I should be home soon, its always cooler at home.....gosh that  smell is pretty...the frogs are always louder down here along the river...another commercial.....this ride is boring...the lines are so mesmerizing...Ki-lee shifted in her seat, her thigh sticking to the seat waking her from what ever hypnotic affect the lines have..white line fever they call it....omg what is that light ? what is that fucking light...omg.....Ki-lee slammed on the breaks...her tiny pickup squealing and violently jerking from side to side.  where did it go? where is the fucking light...whats going on..whats happening? Ki-lee stared at her dashboard...the clock said 1
;04.

A writer is one who writes...these here small projects, these challenges allow us to do just very that. Whether the writer is penning a novel and writing these scenes on the side, rufueling the creativeness within, or is a short story author etc. I can understand if the topic of the project is Basketball and you write about a flirtatcious lawn mower than that is off the track indeed... now you may create an American teenager named 'Sam' and Sam may be the captain of the team, or he may be trying out for the team...Sam may be watching a game of basketball on tv...or his perception of life to him, may play as a game of basketball...always being thrown around, backwards and forwards, obstacles always in his path...and all he wants is to get the girl of his dreams to notice him, and through his actions he always has the hoop, or his desired goal in life in his mind. Now let's say the topic is 'A call to someone' you may have a middle aged woman named 'Sarah.' Sarah may pick up the phone to call her sister, or to report a robbery in progress. Sarah may see a work friend across the road and so calls out. Sarah may be on the path to straightening her life out after a long romance with drugs, so she writes a book hoping to make an impact, a call out of hope to those who wish to live again. A call out to the lord of heaven in prayer, a calling out in her dreams....now let's say the topic, on the very off chance is 'The travel scene challenge' are Greg and Adam going to push their broken down car through the outback, are they flying through the air on a plane...is Adam an old man travelling in his mind back to his youth down memory lane? Or is Greg flying on the wings of a dream?  Whether in the physical state or not, this here all depends on the writers perception. 

- Tobias Bathory

I guess I better put my 2 cents in as well, why not?

I too feel the competition has silently left the building. Prompts are great and all, but there's very little "challenge" to them. If I wanted mere promts, there are websites that provide a new one everyday. I also have my own project, "Prompt Me," That provides prompts every week for anyone who needs a little motivation to write something.

However, a competition usually entails rules, strict word counts, boundaries, thought provoking task, etc, and these "challenges" have lost that somewhere along the line. They started out great. I really had to think about what I was writing and usually had to make a whole new piece to enter into them. Now, I just pick up something old, spruce it up, or blindly write for 10 minutes and PRESTO! here's my entry. it gets me writing for a bit, but I don't feel like I was challenged.

I know there was a lot of controversy surrounding those kind of entries, but what GOOD challenge doesn't have controversies. At least people are talking, fighting for something! Now, it's just pleasant congratualtions, perfect happy endings. Where's the fun in that. Let's get crackin again, bring some life to this joint! I'm gonna go and suggest some real competition ideas in the new forum! Hopefully, I will see some of everyone elses suggestions as well.

Anyway, here's my entry...Of course, I will give FEEDBACK for FEEDBACK :)

http://www.webook.com/submission.aspx?p=65627b8041d34440ba57d0a9abe8b22a&st=800d25a2fd2346aa9efd9e8f8da58dc2

Good Luck to everyone and Happy Writing!

I am new to this site and this is my first submission. Any criticism, good or bad, is welcome.

Greetings All,
I'm a newbie to WeBook, or anywhere for that matter in terms of writing. I have just written my first creative blurb since high school and invite you to read and comment on it.

It has been Christened "The Inaugural Step to Gaia".

I believe its only fitting for me to get my first rant out of the way, so here goes:

Surely the word limit (if one exists for a project) should be fixed according to this site. I think the webmasters are partly to blame, as you shouldn't be able to submit a piece if it is even a word above the limit, however drafts could be longer.

The prickly topic of on / off topic writing is certainly worth a mention. It doesn't take a genius to see this project is intended for the traditional, physical form of travelling. If everyone stuck to this then scripts would be more comparable, and I'd assume more straightforward to mark.

Upon reading the criterion, there is room to take a walk on the wild side. "So why not?" some might say. And I might agree. Let's not forget, good people, that this is a writers' website hence it is home to wordplay and the very playground of imagination. Hence if a chink in the rules is left open to interpretation then we can safely assume this will be split asunder as a matter of course.

Solution: Split the "travel" projects, one for the physical form of travel and the other for the nonconformists. Simples!

Now I'm beginning to understand what you are saying Maggie.

Speaking of Webook, I don't think they closed the cheating challenge yet. I think they might have forgotten about it, completely. :O

Maggie,
 I read your comments and I agree with you whole heartedly. I tried to make my sub about traveling threw the desert while keeping it unique. I hope I did ok. I truly hope that nobody really down rated your sub because you gave your opinion. That would be complete childish bitchieness! I know I don't have to tell you that your sub is amazing and stands on it's own. Keep telling it like it is! If people can't handle it then they should get out of the writing world, or at least not try to get published. Because if they can't take your criticism they'll never be able to hand editors, publishers and agents; Oh My!

Thank you for your comments everyone.  @WN that was very nice of you to say.  I do like to think that I can bring some advice to young writers here; it is the only reason I am here. @SP your entry here is a shining example of what I would like to see more of throughout here in this comp.  I've said my piece, MA eloquently said that and more.  Hopefully someone listens.

I think the problem here is in how WeBook treats the challenges versus how we would like them to treat the challenges.

I completely understand the frustration here.  Lord, do I understand!  I spouted more than a few tirades after the Liar Challenge (and it was a while in coming, not only because of the one challenge), thought of entering the Dear John, and finally said, “screw it”.  Then I took a month away from here. 

Coming back to these “challenges,” I had to accept that until WeBook gets serious about them, I can’t expect everyone else to, either.  THEY decide the winners.  So, why should everyone adhere to a bunch of rules that WeBook clearly avoids making and enforcing?  Even if writers do, they won’t get any more consideration than the ones who don’t.  That has been proven.  Even something as simple as staying within the word count does not matter to some of the writers or to WeBook—also proven.  If word count really mattered—as I am well aware it does on other sites (don’t even try going one word over for other contests!)—WeBook would adhere to one standard count system and expect everyone else to do so.  Then, any entries over the count would be disqualified for not meeting the specification. 

But many of us know these things.  Many of us know these things but take advantage of the leniency here that is not granted on other sites.  Many of us hold different standards to our writing than this site does, and we get upset because we are in conflict.  Still, many of us do not care one way or the other and will write what we want regardless.  I get it from every angle.  But again, WeBook decides the winners.  If they prove, time and again with their winning selections, that it does not give you any better chances of winning by narrowing their parameters or abiding by the ones they present then it does not matter how we interpret their rules.  They pick what they like, the end. 

I think WeBook took a rather, oh let’s say, pusillanimous route after the Liar Challenge when they said that they would start simply offering prompts instead of “guidelines and rules” to the challenges.  Going back to the comments after the Liar Writing Challenge Results, on July 15, 2010, WeBook said in its post, “…we use our best judgment to offer recommendations that we feel will help authors complete the challenge to the best of their ability.”  People apparently wrote better material outside of those “recommendations” than WeBook anticipated and they were awarded.  The problem was in the communication between WeBook and its members.  They apologized, and the solution?  In the same post, WeBook wrote, “In the future, we will offer a simple prompt and a word limit, and then give everyone the freedom to explore the possible responses for themselves.”  The solution was not to create rules that asked writers to work within a set of criteria toward a goal or outcome, but to get rid of the rules so that no one could gripe that people weren’t following them.  Well, it hasn’t stopped the griping.  All it did get rid of was the point of calling these contests “challenges”.

I digress slightly.  My point . . . yes, my point is that unless (or hopefully, until) WeBook decides to change their mind regarding rules, recommendations, guidelines, and prompts—which are NOT wholly synonymous with one another—then we have, by their leave, the right to interpret these prompts for the so-called challenges.  It is not the way I wish it were, but it is the way it is.  And unless WeBook members are granted the authority to decide who wins the challenges, then we really can’t ask other writers to adhere to the way we think or desire the challenges ought to be.

We really need to quit getting on the case of the authors, and start petitioning the authority.

Hear hear.  Rules rool.  I am with you too Maggie.  People can argue all they want about what the criterion say, but any intelligent person can interpret them for what they are supposed to be. Yes, I like it when people stray too, but only on occasion, it becomes tedious otherwise.
May I also say, getting off point, that your contributions here are a shining example to us all and your reviews are simply stunning and genuine.  Anyone can see that you are not self serving and that they are offered as lessons.  I for one am glad you are here sharing your skill, and have the balls to say it as it is.  It's what's needed.  It will be interesting to see if after the sub Going Home, how many will now be about travel.

I'd like to chip in that I support Maggie's comments.  I have spent my life travelling the globe, I often write stories about my adventures; I was therefore very much looking forward to reading other people's takes and perception on culture and actual travel experiences here.  I have to admit that I was slightly disappointed that few have been - that I have come across anyway.  I am also with M A Granse; rules are way better;  those themselves should not be left open to interpretation - and I seem to remember reading more comments than not about that on the blog during the controversy.  Comps need them; they are necessary I believe.  But I also don't believe that the rubric here does invite open interpretation - the intent was clearly to have us physically make a trip somewhere.

Its not about grasping it; I don't want simple, what I am trying to say is that I wish more were actually about travel in the real sense of the word.  The most of which I have read is not.  I can certainly grasp everything that is being written in these subs.  People are trying to be so out of the box here, that in actual fact in this instance, they are all in it.  The out of the box ones here are those actually to do with travelling.  There might as well be no rules here, given the wide range of off topic subs.  I am all for imagination, but I think sometimes it goes without saying that while you should always try and be unique, you can go overboard with straying from the original intent and trying to be clever.  That only amounts to word play. 

I don't care what anyone says, the fact that the rubric states the scope is up to the writer shouldn't mean that they can go off topic - and in this case, too many have to make this a competition about travel as was intended. 

If I remember correctly, which M A Granse alludes to, this issue has only arisen because of the way the liar challenge was misjudged and certain justifications made about those that 'won'.  A competition is a competition, it should have strict rules.  These stories should be about travel, nothing else - you can still make it as weird and original as you want, but they should be about travel - in the true sense.  If these were sent off in writing to judges in any other comp, they would fail for not having met the criterion set.  Don't get me wrong, I appreciate fun ones, unusual takes on these comps, my point is that there are too many of them here.  It seems to me that people are so focused on being smart, that they can't see that they are not adhering to the rules that are set.

Thank you to all who went in and downrated my sub for my comments here btw - sometimes this place reminds me of the girls boarding school I went to when I was eight - but you see, the thing is, I really could care less that you do that; stars mean nothing to me, MY work is proven - if you can't see good advice for what it is my dears, and need to get some satisfaction from doing such things, then you are very sad little people.  Thankfully there are those here that are adult enough to enter a discussion without being bitches.

Well Maggie I get you; some of the subs are a bit out there, and it's hard for a simpleton like me to grasp, but still I'd let them go at it if thats their interest. Yes, a more realistic approach at the challenge would be easier to grasp but well I like the challenge of trying to interpret some pieces no matter how hard I pull my hair trying to do so. lol

"The scope, type, and length of the journey is completely up to the author..."

If WeBook is not going to set specific rules for these challenges AND follow those rules to the letter, then the challenges are open to interpretation.  I would prefer rules, since these are challenges for prizes, and I think the more specific the parameters, the more of a challenge they present.  But, we've all seen how WeBook handles "rules."

So, since they merely give us guidelines, treat them as guidelines.  I will say however, that the one fairly consistent rule is word count, and it would be nice if at least THAT were not up for interpretation. 

On that note, dear WEBOOK, why don't you just make everyone adhere to the word count ON THE SITE so there would not be any discrepancies?

I meant of course, writer, and not reader, in my last comment.

Okay at the risk of being completely slammed, but I think someone needs to say it, so I really don't care.  While I have not read all by any means, or commented on all that I HAVE read, I think many people are taking this whole open interpretation, out of the box thing, just a bit too far.  Yes there are some clever ways in these subs to suggest some form of travel, that don't actually entail travel in the expected sense, and that is all well and good, but what is disappointing to me is that I have come across very few that actually describe exotic lands or being in transit in the true sense, or any kind of foreign encounter.   That, surely, was what was intended for this project.  You can still be inventive, outside the box with a story within these parameters.  Sometimes it is what it is people - take us overseas why don't ya?  I for one don't think travel is only a few steps (sometimes within the confines of one building here, or simply visiting someone) - even if the reader has tried hard to make it seem to be a journey.  It is at least a bus trip with something happening along the way that pertains to the travel experience.  Love me or hate me, but that's how I see this.

Check out my entry The LaGrange Point.  To read synopses and excerpts of my other stuff go to http://mikearsuaga.weebly.com.

*advertising myself*

'How did everything go so wrong'? Riley thought to herself as she put down the phone. She can't believe in this very moment her friendship is gone. I wish I can seek comfort in Jack, but he's the source of the betrayal. It pained her so that the two most important people in her life is gone. All Riley wanted to do is curl up in a ball, and fade away.....
Then it hits her! Enough of being a victim, happiness is the best revenge. A random trip is the best medicine. Kiev, Ukraine - the first place that popped in her mind as she booked her ticket. As she excited jumped in her taxi with the clothes on her back, she was so excited to re-visit the place she went on a mini business trip. Her mind raced as she thought of the shops, good food and pleasant people. 'My russian should be sufficient to get by', if not I'm sure  there will be plenty of hot guys willing to help out'.
Oh yes, Riley smiles, let the adventure begin!

How did this all happen to me? Riley thought as she put down the phone. 'We were such good friends, yet one bad decision destroyed it!' She wanted to contact Jeff, pouring her heart out to him, but she can't - he's the reason of the mess.The pain of the betrayal is just too much. 'All I want to do is crawl into a ball, lay on the couch and die!'
She screamed. Then it hits her. Why should
 I sulk? I'm the victim - and the victim
always gets revenge......
Riley spontanously decides to book a trip to
anywhere..then it hits her - Kiev, Ukraine.
She went there once as her job as a
 Publicist and completely fell in love with it.
Excitedly jumping into a taxi, she cared less
 of the thousands she just spent for the ticket, just the sight of the shops, the
glorious smell of

I wrote  'Down the Line' give it a once over or even a twice over. Please.
Thankies.

I'd love yall to read my story!!!-rapturing with wretchedness:)
thanxxxx:)

A woman who wanted to see the world.  A dream of hers since as long as she could remember. The day had arrived.  Packaged bags and on the road.  A decision made without hesitation for her.  But nothing but  lip service from family and friends.  But she had to follow her heart.  Not wanting to have regrets for the rest of her life.  Melissa would travel to all fifty states.  Hawaii was the first beautiful state she visited.  She was in awe as soon as she departed the plane.  The intrigue of the islands went beyond anything she could have imagined.  A trip of a life time.  But  when she met a guy her trip was about to change from magical to horrifying.  She was being followed everwhere she went.  She could not go anywhere without him being there.  Every move of hers he seemed to know.  Melissa was frightened.  The police could not do anything since he never approached but was always in sight.  Fearing for her life she made plans to leave the island earlier than she had planned.  Breathing a sigh of relief she would be boarding the plane to escape.  She layed back her head ready to close her eyes when she looked up and he was standing next to her.

Guys: Read Transcendental Travel. I'm not saying that just because I wrote it or anything.

Also, I'm liking how people are thinking outside of the box.