2011--The Year Everything Changed

For me, at least.  2011 was a year of flux, of upheaval, more internal than external.  It was a breaking point of sorts--I realized life is too short to live it any other way than how we want to.

Sounds irresponsible, doesn't it?  You imagine me (or you) vegging out on the couch, stuffing ourselves with greasy chips and creamy dips (I crave salty, not sweet, but feel free to substitute the chips for--oh, I don't know, chocolate truffles?), binging on reality TV and bad Lifetime movies (that's probably an oxymoron, isn't it?).  And that's not what I mean at all.

Clarity of Night

I just realized I completely forgot to link the Clarity of Night contest to this blog...  I cannot believe I did that.  I was overwhelmed, true; first by the sheer raw talent of the 102 entries -- seriously, these people can write!  And second, by the fact that my own entry received an honorable mention (an HONORABLE mention... MY entry!  Un-freakin-believable), and I was apparently inducted into the Forties club (for high punctuation in the readers' choice voting).  So, yes, I was flabbergasted and in shock for a whole five days, until today I suddenly thought, "wait a minute...".

Please forgive this incredibly careless oversight, and take a jump-click over to Jason's Clarity of Night blog.  If you want to read my very humble and undeserving entry, click here (or find entry #97 in the index of the Elemental contest post), and please check out some of the other entries.  For those ADD'ers out there, know that the word limit on this contest was 250 words.  That's, like... not even a page.  You can read a page, right?  Believe me, these are worth it:

Here are some of my favorites:

No One Would Catch Fire, by D. Biswas
The True Story of How Casey Tillson Became A Vegan, by Wendy Russ
Your Mother, by Francis Tan
The Answer, by Kilian Conor (this one has a line that I love... "I am bone and meat interlaced for breath to speak your name..."  How unearthily beautifl is that!)
Bait, by Richard Levangie (an awesome awesome awesome story!)
The Wall, by Peter Davidson (3rd-place winner!)
Golem, by Loren Eaton (2nd-place winner AND Readers' Choice!)
RIF, by Darby Krenshaw (1st-place winner - wonderful story!)

Hope you enjoy them as much as I did!