Part 2 - Challenge! Presidents' Day International

[kia]

First, if you are just joining us, this is part two of the Presidents’ Day International challenge. Please head on over to Part One to read up on this challenge, and check out the champion gift I will be awarding with the completion of Part Two. Also, please check and read the very important Rules & Uglies (disclaimers) post, as well.

On to Part Two, and the heart of this challenge!

We need new practice sentences!

We want to improve our penmanship, and we want to learn new scripts, and the best way to do this is by practice. We practice over and over, perfecting our hands at writing. Practice sentences using the words and letter combinations that trip us up and drive us nuts help us with this goal.

However, as fond as I am of President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address or a sonnet by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, I want a practice sentence that really makes me work at moving my pen across the page for better writing. I also want such a practice sentence to be unique and interesting, as well as challenging, even if it is not the most logical or grammatically correct. I want a story practice sentence. Actually, I want a variety of story practice sentences. And, so begins this final stage of the challenge.


Your entry:

Using as many words from the word list as you are able, and incorporating some of the difficult letter combinations we’ve gathered where you are able, please create for us all a new practice sentence.

Your sentence must also tell some kind of story.

Your sentence doesn’t have to be perfect, but it should be something that you would want to use for practice for yourself, as well. Pick out those words and nasty letter combinations that drive you nuts to try and write, and use your creativity to tell us all a little story.


You do not have to use all the words in the list – that would make one seriously long writing session, and I don’t want anyone to end up with carpel tunnel as a result.

You do not have to use only the words in the list, of course we need a few connectors and flow additions, and other words you feel fit the difficult words criteria, too.

Do use a little bit of punctuation now and again – commas and semicolons – as we need a pause once in a while to let ourselves catch up and to let our hands rest a moment. There will be no punctuation police, but give us the pause to think, digest and enjoy while we practice.

No grammar police, either, just do your best in the name of fun.

What about length? Well, long enough to get some good practice out of a fun little story, but let’s keep it to about a half a page (US letter size) or less, and think double spaced as if you were hand writing the sentence. A little over or under, no worries, but we want to be reasonable and keep it a length that will hold our attention as well as our practice. Everyone's handwriting varies, I know that, so I won't be saying you must have so many words or lines or that kind of thing. Go with your instinct and fair reason.

What about hand writing the sentence? Honestly, I would not only like to see your typed version posted for legibility, but I would also like to see a snapshot of your own hand written version posted with it as well. I won’t make that a requirement, but we are here for practice, and I think it would add much to the challenge for us to actually use our story sentences.

I will not be judging the entries by penmanship. The entries are going to be there to help us all improve.

I will be looking for the use of difficult words and for creativity, but also for a little bit of practicality. Not only do I want to be able to use the sentence for penmanship practice, but some others – and you – may want to, as well. Don’t aim for total frustration, aim for a bit of challenging fun.

I will review all the practice sentence entries submitted by midnight, Mountain Daylight Time in the US (I’m in Colorado on the map), on Monday morning, February 17, 2014 – Presidents’ Day in the US, for the challenge champion. There will be only one champion, who will receive the challenge gift (see part one for gift details).

In the evening of February 17, 2014, hopefully by 6:00 p.m., MDT in the US, I plan to post the name of the winning entry.

For that last bit of inspiration, here is the full practice sentence that started it all back in 2008:

Disturbed by his colleagues' lack of enthusiasm, again and again the Egyptian astrophysicist visiting the observatory in Mississippi analyzed the multi-part transcription of telecommunications from the Galileo probe for the minimum of errors and maximum of syzygy, murmuring nervously over the unerring interference from the unnerving rumble of the mummers' minivan in the nunnery next door as a neighboring Afghani analyst coughed lightly while weighing his thoughts over straightening a spaghetti-code-laden program designed for intergalactic exploration blighted by oversight before getting his prized midnight snack of yoghurt and doughnuts from the equipment room icebox.

(See what I mean about punctuation?)

So, please champion my cause, post your entries, and above all, have fun!