Reader’s Choice Contest Entry: The Golden Thread by J. E. Lillie
We received so many submissions for our recent writing contest (a short piece incorporating a symbol) that we had trouble selecting a winner. Therefore we’re running another contest for those who entered, this time a reader’s choice award. Between June 3- June 15 we will publish all of our favorite qualified entries received and open voting to the public, who will be able to select a reader’s choice winner for this contest. Those who are entered in the contest may encourage their family, friends and readers to vote for them.
Reader’s Choice Voting will be open from June 16th – 22nd. The entry with the most votes will win the contest.
Here is The Golden Thread by J. E. Lillie
The Golden Thread
by J. E. Lillie
James fingered the spool of golden thread in his pocket and thought “I’m not like them. I could never be like them.”
He found himself wondering about things like fate and DNA and wondered what role, if any, those things played in his course. He remembered the game he and his brothers played as little boys dropping spools of thread down the circular stairwell to see whose would go the farthest. James was the master of the game Somehow he could make his spool unwind down all three flights and into the parlor. Once it had rolled as far as the piano and his mother had told him, “That’s just like life. We create nothing really. Our only job is to follow the thread to its end and bring it all back together.”
His father had said “Pick up this mess. Why can’t you be more like your brothers?”
His brothers, whose spools had only made it to the first landing, said “Yeah James, why can’t you be more like us?”
If only James had been able to make his life about thread perhaps things would have been easier, but as a tailor he had been a colossal failure. Erratic hemlines and uneven inseams had eventually forced his father to let him go.
“You aren’t without prospects.” His mother had said that night as he packed his bags. She placed the gold thread and his sheet music atop his clothes before hugging him one last time.
James eyed the shabby velvet curtains and dusted the collar of his suit jacket.
“Follow the thread.” He muttered.
James kissed the precious spool, placed it back in his pocket and took the stage to play for the conservatory.
Reader’s Choice Contest Entry: The Perfect Masterpiece by Deb Maciorowski
We received so many submissions for our recent writing contest (a short piece incorporating a symbol) that we had trouble selecting a winner. Therefore we’re running another contest for those who entered, this time a reader’s choice award. Between June 3- June 15 we will publish all of our favorite qualified entries received and open voting to the public, who will be able to select a reader’s choice winner for this contest. Those who are entered in the contest may encourage their family, friends and readers to vote for them.
Reader’s Choice Voting will be open from June 16th – 22nd. The entry with the most votes will win the contest.
Here is The Perfect Masterpiece by Deb Maciorowski
The Perfect Masterpiece
The anticipation of seeing the perfect masterpiece arrive is indescribable! I often wonder who will see it first or will we all see it at the same time? There is no way to know until it arrives. Maybe it will come to us but we will not know unless we are constantly watching. Will it be when I’m working or perhaps when I’m sleeping? I sure hope I don’t miss it. Oh, please, Lord, don’t let me be too busy that I can’t stop and watch a while. I don’t want to be known as a “Martha”.
You know what would be nice? If I was walking through the park and someone said, ‘Look, there! Have you ever seen such a beautiful blanket of colors draped across the sky?’ Imagine the magnificent sight my eyes would behold on that day. To visualize the spectrum of purple and blues blended together throughout the snow white clouds; could it be the most perfect masterpiece ever brushed? Look, there! To the sky, the King of Heaven riding in on the tsunami of Glory! Vanished in the blink of an eye; Hallelujah!
Reader’s Choice Contest Entry: Colie Jean Higgins
We received so many good submissions for our recent writing contest (a short piece incorporating a symbol) that we had trouble selecting a winner. Therefore we’re running another contest for those who entered, this time a reader’s choice award. Between June 3- June 15 we will publish all of our favorite qualified entries received and open voting to the public, who will be able to select a reader’s choice winner for this contest. Those who are entered in the contest may encourage their family, friends and readers to vote for them.
Reader’s Choice Voting will be open from June 16th – 22nd. The entry with the most votes will win the contest.
Here is an untitled work by Colie Jean Higgins
Staring at a pitch black sky full of nothing but silver twinkling dots, when a single streak emerges from the beautiful display. It appears to be nothing more than a glimpse, a flash streaming into the abyss; so quick it can missed in the blink of an eye. Goose bumps cover our flesh as we ask ourselves what that mysterious flash is. It’s name is a shooting star, but it symbolizes far more. It is a symbol of the unknown, of wishes and dreams, of people we have loved and lost, as well as those we still have. Our minds wander aimlessly with curiosity and dreams as we make a wish upon this shooting star, being careful not to share it. Could that flash in the sky symbolize another form of life demonstrating their presence by astrological means? Could it be lost loved ones enjoying their freedom and flying through the dark, tempting sky as we all wish we could? We will never know because this symbol arises far more questions than answers, far more unknown than known. Along with these questions comes dreams, wishes and reminders that there is far more out there than what we know as “normal.”
Reader’s Choice Contest Entry: The Circle by Charlotte Dorais
We received so many submissions for our recent writing contest (a short piece incorporating a symbol) that we had trouble selecting a winner. Therefore we’re running another contest for those who entered, this time a reader’s choice award. Between June 3- June 15 we will publish all of our favorite qualified entries received and open voting to the public, who will be able to select a reader’s choice winner for this contest. Those who are entered in the contest may encourage their family, friends and readers to vote for them.
Reader’s Choice Voting will be open from June 16th – 22nd. The entry with the most votes will win the contest.
Here is The Circle by Charlotte Dorais
The Circle
The circular driveway of the house we were viewing brought to mind my home I grew up in. Our home set at the end of a very long driveway. The driveways length distanced us from the street noise but made entering and leaving difficult. My dad was a great driver, who had no difficulty backing in or out, but my mother’s driving skills showed less promise.
My dad would not let us tease mom about her driving though. He believed in building people up and encouraging people and he loved my mother deeply. Moms driving skills were a joke between us kids. Whenever she was getting ready to take the car my siblings and I would run out and move all our bikes and toys to the back of the house knowing they would be safe. My oldest brother would offer to back the car out or turn it around for her and generally she would refuse until several tries and failures later she would give in.
One day while we were all away mom decided she would teach herself to back up the car. No one knows how long it took her to do it, but it appeared to go very well until she got to the street and backed out in front of a truck which struck her car and caused major damage to both vehicles. Dad made the decision to build a circular driveway in front of the house for her that day.
He taught us what real love was by the example of how he loved mom. That circular driveway represented his love for her and circular driveways remind me of that love. We learned how God loves us by the example our parents showed in loving each other and us. And the circle represents that.
Reader’s Choice Contest Entry: Lifelines by Aya Gosh
We received so many submissions for our recent writing contest (a short piece incorporating a symbol) that we had trouble selecting a winner. Therefore we’re running another contest for those who entered, this time a reader’s choice award. Between June 3- June 15 we will publish all of our favorite qualified entries received and open voting to the public, who will be able to select a reader’s choice winner for this contest. Those who are entered in the contest may encourage their family, friends and readers to vote for them.
Reader’s Choice Voting will be open from June 16th – 22nd. The entry with the most votes will win the contest.
Here is Lifelines by Aya Gosh
LIFELINES
Ethel wiped the sweat from her forehead. It was still months to summer but the air was still. Her studio was quiet and it was unsettling. Looking out the window, the cars and people looked tiny in the shimmering sea of gray concrete.
Ethel missed the chaos and excitement of work. She gave her best, prioritizing her career over everything else, even love. She lost her love more than a year ago and her work and position a month ago. The former was expected and she prepared for the loss. The latter caught her by surprise, totally unexpected, leaving her adrift in nowhere land.
She checked her email several times a day and still no reply mail or notice from the dozens of work she applied to. She checked her phone on the hour, every hour; made sure that the signal and power are in full. And still nothing. Not even from former co-workers, friends and family.
She scoured through job sights and company websites. She re-wrote, revised and tailored her resume accordingly. She thumbed through favorite books and magazines. Still the hours crawled by. Hours into days and days into weeks and weeks into months. The heat did not let up. The quiet was still unsettling. The din from down the street was muted. A message now and then but of no significance. ‘How much longer?’ Ethel thought.
She stared at the computer screen. Another try, another message to send, another attempt at a lifeline.
Reader’s Choice Contest Entry: Confusion by Indira Mukhopadhyay
We received so many submissions for our recent writing contest (a short piece incorporating a symbol) that we had trouble selecting a winner. Therefore we’re running another contest for those who entered, this time a reader’s choice award. Between June 3- June 15 we will publish all of our favorite qualified entries received and open voting to the public, who will be able to select a reader’s choice winner for this contest. Those who are entered in the contest may encourage their family, friends and readers to vote for them.
Reader’s Choice Voting will be open from June 16th – 22nd. The entry with the most votes will win the contest.
Here is Confusion by Indira Mukhopadhyay
CONFUSION
On my way to morning walk
I met a centipede
walking leisurely in the park
I asked him
“Which foot you move first”
He stopped in his way
Thought but could not decide
I moved on
leaving him there
Searching for an answer.
While coming back
I saw it still there ,
Scratching its head
I asked it what is the matter dear
he said
I was walking before without doubt and confusion
Now I cannot decide
Which foot to move first
And this is the cause
Of my strife.
It eyed me with disgust and said
“Some people
Can not take a right move themselves
but are busy in creating
A lot of tensions
in others life.”
Reader’s Choice Contest Entry: Nathanael by Benjamin Nelson
We received so many submissions for our recent writing contest (a short piece incorporating a symbol) that we had trouble selecting a winner. Therefore we’re running another contest for those who entered, this time a reader’s choice award. Between June 3- June 15 we will publish all of our favorite qualified entries received and open voting to the public, who will be able to select a reader’s choice winner for this contest. Those who are entered in the contest may encourage their family, friends and readers to vote for them.
Reader’s Choice Voting will be open from June 16th – 22nd. The entry with the most votes will win the contest.
Here is Nathanael by Benjamin Nelson
“Do you have to say everything that comes into that tiny brain, Nate?”
I’m not sure I can tell you how many times I have heard that. Mom, dad, especially my brother Philip, they’re all tired of my constant response: “But it’s the truth.”
Yet today truth betrayed me. It nearly cost me dearly. I came right up to a crossroad and almost turned away from Truth, deep Truth.
I had a sense of expectation as I pondered the scriptures before dawn this morning. It was too warm to sleep so I sat beneath the fig tree and mulled over the words of the prophet Isaiah. Who was this One crushed for our iniquities, poured out to death, bearing the sins of many? Who was this lamb, silent before His accusers? Would Messiah ever come?
Little did I know that today was the day I would meet Him. Today, if my ‘truth’ did not keep me from considering this man from Galilee, I would take up my cross and follow this lamb.
“We’ve found Messiah – the Nazarene, Jesus.” Philip’s words seemed like a bad joke. Nazareth? Not Bethlehem? Can’t be. I was ready to dismiss the whole matter. “What possible good can come out of that compromised, worthless city?”
“Come and see” and he was off – running.
Here was my crossroad – yet I was still unaware of how important these next few moments would be.
I followed without conviction.
As I approached, this Nazarene spoke the words that would alter my path forever.
“Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”
As I sat and pondered this lamb, He saw me there?
Surely this is the Messiah.
Today I take up the cross – His cross and follow this lamb.
Announcing Editors’ Pick for Winner of our Symbol Writing Contest
Congratulations to JE Lillie, winner of Rose Hall Media’s recent writing contest.
The Golden Thread
by J. E. Lillie
James fingered the spool of golden thread in his pocket and thought “I’m not like them. I could never be like them.”
He found himself wondering about things like fate and DNA and wondered what role, if any, those things played in his course. He remembered the game he and his brothers played as little boys dropping spools of thread down the circular stairwell to see whose would go the farthest. James was the master of the game Somehow he could make his spool unwind down all three flights and into the parlor. Once it had rolled as far as the piano and his mother had told him, “That’s just like life. We create nothing really. Our only job is to follow the thread to its end and bring it all back together.”
His father had said “Pick up this mess. Why can’t you be more like your brothers?”
His brothers, whose spools had only made it to the first landing, said “Yeah James, why can’t you be more like us?”
If only James had been able to make his life about thread perhaps things would have been easier, but as a tailor he had been a colossal failure. Erratic hemlines and uneven inseams had eventually forced his father to let him go.
“You aren’t without prospects.” His mother had said that night as he packed his bags. She placed the gold thread and his sheet music atop his clothes before hugging him one last time.
James eyed the shabby velvet curtains and dusted the collar of his suit jacket.
“Follow the thread.” He muttered.
James kissed the precious spool, placed it back in his pocket and took the stage to play for the conservatory.
Writing a standout nonfiction book: do a competitive title analysis.
Do you want your book to stand out from the crowd?
Nina Amir, author of The Author Training Manual, explains that “your book should seek to fill a clearly identified need (or gap) in the market and have a unique selling proposition that other titles cannot match.”
In order to stand out, you first need to know your book’s category. Then you should research which competitive and complementary titles are available and discover how your book compares to yours, as well as how the other authors’ expertise and experiences compare to yours.
To learn to write a competitive title analysis, click here.
Clicking will take you to Jane Friedman’s blog, where she helps authors & publishers flourish in the digital age.
Rose Hall Media Company 