The 1111 Writing Contest - What magic can you create with only 1111 characters?! - Week 3 - 'Change' [TOP PRIZE 3 STEEM + Runner up Prizes!! Winners from Week 2 Announced!]

in #contest7 years ago

The 11 Writing Contest Week 3.jpg

Welcome to the most 1337 writing contest on Steemit!


Hey all!!

So, as many of you know I’m new here at Steemit. Some of you may have started to ‘get to know me a little’… which is great… that’s exactly what I’m here for 😀

I love Steemit. I’ve only been here a month but, that whole time I’ve been so excited by it’s potential, and so inspired by the people I’ve found here and the content they are creating.

I’m always asking the question - ‘How can I contribute more?’…

The Inspiration.


I’m very much into numerology and feel like the Universe often chooses the time and numbers to talk to me in life, and 11:11 is one I often see.

Then it struck me.

One of my favorite parts about Steemit is all the amazing contests that people run… and so I thought...

Why not contribute to that part of the platform myself??!?

SO WELCOME!!!

To the 1111 Writing Contest - Week 3 - Prompt - 'Change'


Each contest will introduce a new prompt. Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to take that prompt and do something with it, the only limitation being the character count - which of course - is 1111 characters in total (and this includes spaces!)

There are no rules apart from this - you must not go over 1111 characters and you can be under by a maximum of 11, making 1100 characters the minimum acceptable for an entry - and this would include any title you may give your piece if you choose to.

Apart from that, it’s totally open. You do not have to reference the prompt but it must be clear that your writing was inspired by it. It doesn’t have to rhyme or have rhythm, or be a poem, or a song, or a story… absolutely any creation based on this prompt will be counted for entry. Be creative!

However - there are things to consider.

We’re all winners here - But if you REALLY wanna win then...


I will be the judge of this contest as it begins and there will be certain things that might make me more likely to choose you as a winner.

These include -

  1. Degree of wisdom / positivity / useful knowledge / inspiration for others in the post.
  2. Any posts that are exactly 1111 characters with spaces (and include other numbers i.e. 333 words)
  3. Creativeness of approach.
  4. Level of interaction with other submissions and participants of the contest (i.e. commenting and good feedback given to others will be noticed).
  5. Feeling generated inside when I read it and relevance of any extra content that is added into the entry itself.
  6. Sense of how ‘free-flowy’ the piece was - If it feels like the writing was written with a
    free-write mentality this will gain extra points in my eyes - I like stuff that is spontaneous and you can feel that within the writing!

Do the things ya gotta do…

In order to participate -

  1. Please post your submissions in the comments of this post.
  2. Please upvote and resteem this post - the more people that get involved the higher the prizes will become. (Not necessary for entry but highly appreciated)
  3. Please follow me and stay in touch with future 1111 contests (planned to be weekly).
  4. Please tag any friends who you know like to write and would enjoy this!
  5. If you would like to put your submission into your own post that contains a link to THIS post and you win the contest - you will win 1 BONUS STEEM. There are no requirements for hash tags. [If you do this please also still post your submission into the comments here.]
  6. DEADLINE for submissions will be on Sundays, at 11:11 PM GMT. So for this first contest, please ensure your submission is with me by 11:11 PM GMT on Sunday 11th March (ooooh look at that! 11’s everywhere!)

The Concept of the Contest.

So when I got struck with the idea for this I instantly knew it was gonna produce gold. I feel that when people get focused on that number, 1111, that they are going to get inspired to come out with some beautiful pieces of writing - short, sharp but infinitely powerful.

I also wanted to create a contest that people could enter quickly. I encourage a ‘free-writing’ style and not to think about what your writing in the moment too much - Try as much as possible to just let it flow. Editing and tweaking can always be done after to polish it! But this is not a requirement - Please write in whatever way feels best to you for you to produce the best result.

I believe in good wages - so if you win this contest and only spent let's say 11 minutes writing your 1111 characters, and you win 4 STEEM with the bonus, that equates to a wage of around £60 per hour… Not bad for having fun with a bit of writing ay! 😉

Apart from the one prompt which is just there for inspiration and a little direction, I wanted this contest to be as open as possible - so please feel free to take this on any tangents you wish. There are really no other rules to the writing aspect apart from using the prompt as some sort of inspiration or guide for your piece.

Time to take the loot!

So what's up for grabs then booty seekers?! Well, we have the following -

TOP PRIZE - 3 SBD
3 Runner Up Prizes - 0.33 SBD
1 Bonus SBD on offer - For anyone that POSTS their writing on their blog with a link to THIS CONTEST POST and then wins the competition that week. New Rules - To qualify for the bonus steem you must also Resteem and Upvote this post.

TOTAL PRIZE POOL - 5 SBD!

Prizes may be tweaked over the weeks as we see how this contest goes. When I can afford it, I will increase the prize amount and the number of winners to make this more exciting for people.

1111 Writing Contest WEEK 2 WINNERS ANNOUNCED!!

So! Another week of plenty of beautiful entries... thank you all that participated!

I am please to announced the winners for week 2!

Claiming top prize for his beautiful piece about reunion - @stevenwood has taken this weeks first prize. His entry can be found below -




An ethereal light dances in the periphery of my vision what can it be, I wonder, but can form no real decision Is this the moment told to me, by an angel in the past? Could it be I'm homeward bound and out of pain at last?

Am I prepared to journey back to the place from whence we hail?
When, once, to cling onto my life, I'd have fought with tooth and nail
But now I'm so much older, I'm weaker now you see
A life lived well behind me, leaves me eager and ready

I'm coming home my Darling, I will see you once again
The years have made me love you more, but always I had pain
Our happy life together, by one shot, it was cut short
But now the time will soon be here, again, you'll be my port

Its not like how they tell you, 'bout life flashing by your eyes
All I see are the happy times, and each one draws more sighs
For the hours almost here now, rapt anticipation grows
A wondrous sound beside me and a soothing golden glow

My ailments forgotten my rapture is here, I notice, not, the pain
A majestic harps crescendo, like sunshine after rain
The site before my eyes, I can't believe it's true
I am being led back home by YOU




The runner up prizes of 0.33 SBD will go to the following three writers (in no particular order) -

  1. @eaglespirit for her intriguing fantasy story that left me asking questions about what happens next! A great read and I suggest you read HERE
  2. @tygertyger for her piece about the loss of hope and the feleing of 'not-belongingness' - A touching and thought-provoking read! Why don't you read it HERE
  3. @jemzem for sharing with us ways in which we can actively try to produce heaven right here on Earth - A lovely read - Do check it out HERE

    Special mention goes to all entrants for gracing us with your presence here... Although we can't all be winners, you are all still winners just for entering and sharing your beautiful writings with us... Thank you SO MUCH for your participation. I hope you enjoyed writing for this contest and will continue to do so. Please tell any friends you think would enjoy writing for this!

So! See below the screenshot for confirmation of payments 😃

Screenshot 2018-03-25 18.27.43.png

1111 WRITING CONTEST - WEEK 3 Prompt - ‘Change’

So the prompt for Week 3 is - ’Change’

Please use that in any way you feel to inspire or spark your writing of 1111 characters (including spaces) and let’s see what happens here!

Each week I will write for the contest too - Here is my writing for this weeks prompt 'Change'-

Things change.
Nothing ever stays the same.
Planets shift.
Stars align.
Winds blow,
Tectonic plates flow.
Around the sun,
We go
We go.
So often we wish things wouldn't change.
We love it so much we never want it to re-arrange.
But,
Well...
That's just not how life works.
We get stuck in maintenance mode,
Forgetting the need to create,
Then naturally what follows next,
Is your dreams begin to disintegrate.
Because the dream you had of it...
Lasting Forever,
Is a dream that can never come true,
No matter how clever,
Or sly,
Or cunning,
You can face the music,
Or you can keep on running.
But if you run there's really nowhere to hide,
Because the scenery will rush on by,
As you continue on this ride.
It's always changing,
Always flowing,
Yet always on the right track,
To where it should be going.
There's really no way that you can go the wrong direction,
Because as you shift,
and tilt,
and turn,
it's displayed through your reflection.
Introspection will lead you to inner truth -
That no matter what you do,
Change will ensue.
Change is in you.
So accept change.
Embrace it.
Make it your friend.
And know that
Everything Changes
In the end.

^^ 1111 Characters and 22 Lines - Bo ya!

Measured using Online Character Counter




So... I THINK I have covered everything. Please help me to support this contest by upvoting, resteeming and passing the good news around… This is a really quick, fun, accessible and inspiring contest for many to enter and test their writing skills…. So help me in getting more people involved and even more tightly knitting this beautiful writing community together.

Sending Love Always…
In All Ways.
Hart Floe Poet
<3

Sort:  

@moneyinfant this didn't make your daily list. spank spanks

miss you MI.

love,
eagle

Dear @hartfloe,

Here is my official entry:

Change.

Respectfully submitted,

@eaglespirit

PS. Sorry I went a little light/dark on this one.

This is so good... Please record it!
I love it!

Great work and thanks so much for taking part again and come out with this gold! Legend!

With Love
Hart Floe Poet

Yay!!! Thank you so much for the vote of confidence. :')

Oh man...THANKYOU!

I am quite new to writing, although I have always had this weird thing, even from being at school, I can sit with a pen and paper for 30 minutes...NOTHING!

Then suddenly BAM!...Thoughts start falling from my head and hit the page with, (shockingly to me) an actual semblence of order.

I put my heart into my poetry and to win was amazing, some acknowledgement is humbling and incredibly self affirming.

MASSIVE congratulations to everybody else who took part, the spectacular words written could have stretched to the moon and back DISCLAIMER...not a scientifically viable statistic ;)

Epic love and best wishes going forward and entering this week using the prompt CHANGE.

Thankyou so much, My semi Guatemalan travelbunny friend.

images courtesy of the AWESOMETASTICAL Pixabay.

1111 AND 22 words....

The Floe is strong with this young Padawan!

The gauntlet has been duly thrown. Nice job as ever man :)

"Introspection will lead you to inner truth"

Nicely incorporated, great truth!

Take great care, hope the UK is not proving too bland :)

Wow! You are really great at this @stevenwood! Your winning entry for the reunion prompt was very beautiful too :)

Yeah he did a greta job right! I'm sure I am right.. aligning people with this number 1111 is inspiring them in different ways... tuning into a new vibration...

Loving it!

Congrats @stevenwood and I look forward to reading your writing on Change this week ;)

With Love
Hart Floe Poet

Yes he did. I was checking out his other posts too, looks like a really good quality writer, if you ask me!!!

Wow! Thank you so much! I didn't expect to win after reading other entries. Thank you and congrats to all the winners. 😊

My pleasure thanks so much for your entry! I'm having so much fun here :D

With Love
Hart Floe Poet

thank you for the runner up! congrats to all the winners.

Congrats @eaglespirit. I love your piece about heaven. It sounds so real. I had a spiritual encounter before one time of seeing God's throne too. Your writing brings me back to that! Thanks!

Thank you Happy!! Ah so you’ve been there! It wouldn’t surprise me, you remind me of an angel :)

Haha such sweet words from you, eagle!! :) see you around!

Seee yazzzzzz

It's my pleasure... really loved your entry so much... and your one this week is even more amazing!! Great work... love it :)

With Love
Hart Floe Poet

Yay! I'm so happy you loved it and I am really honored. :)

Happy day ¡ Here my participation
I hope you like it.

Ah! of course the dream doesn't have expiration date.
what reason we'd have then to boldly face the fate?

Yes, I wonder the same, how to continue without waiting for it to be fulfilled ...?

Yes!! Love this. It was very visual and I could see the family sat there chatting away.

Mr. Durr sounds like a bit of a miserable bugger though!

These lines brought it all together for me

For what we expect may or may not be due or come true.
We will not know our fate until our fate has played through.

Really nice work as always.

Thank you for your submission! You are awesome.

With Love
Hart Floe Poet

Ahahaha Miss Derr, one of the child is Miss Derr which sounds like Mister.
Please don't tell me all the children are boys.

My Entry

Really enjoyed reading this, it raised a lot of questions in my head...

...I started to wish the constraint was 11111 characters so i could find out more.

Cool piece :)

I got pre-apocalyptic vibes . Quite a thrilling theme.

Hey! Thank you so much for another entry.

I read it a few times. Firstly - I love the flow of it, the use of language, the way it takes you from one place to the next. However - I really wish I knew what it was about. As you'll know from my writings - they are all usually pretty straight forward and easy to understand - am I being stupid and it's blatantly obvious what its all about... or am I just not looking hard enough!

Would love you to shine some light on it for me, my eye-sight isn't so good ;)

Thank you once again!

With Love
Hart Floe Poet

I deliberately wrote it so that it breaks open hidden stuff in the reader. What causes the " Change" will be different for every person reading it ...that was the whole purpose LOL ...now you made me reveal it ;) but basically what it is is change itself ...

Congratulations to the winners and all the other participants of this contest

Thank you for taking part, get involved this week too, I look forward to seeing what you have to say inspired by 'Change'

With Love
Hart Floe Poet

Great entry my friend! I love seeing where you went with the prompt. In a different direction! So many valid questions and ponderings - ones that we all eventually come across in life I think!

Thank you for this insightful and thoughtful piece <3

With Love
Hart Floe Poet

Congratulations to the winners!!!

Thanks so much for writing for this and please get involved for next weeks... It was hard but if there was a 4th winner it would have been you I tell you that!

Thanks for participating :)

With Love
Hart Floe Poet

Hi @hartfloe. It is my first time participating your contest. I find it very interesting so thought I could give it a try, even though my English isn't too great. At times like this, I wish I know more words, haha.

Here's my entry:
https://steemit.com/challenge/@happycrazycon/change-something-inevitable-in-life

I admire the winning entries which really are great writers!

Oh yeah, I noticed the deadline for the prompt, change is stated as 11th March, is that a mistake or am I really too late?

You aren’t late, it’s a typo 😛

Yay!!!! @eaglespirit, thanks for letting me know. I was guessing too because he has just announced the winners, Hehe.

Sure thing! Anytime happy :)

It's a really epic entry... wonderful work!

With Love
Hart Floe Poet

PS yes oops sorry for the typo! You weren't late at all :)

With Love
Hart Floe Poet

Heheh I am glad you liked it @hartfloe. I didn't expect that it could be good enough to others besides me WOW-ing at what I produced on that day. Haha.

WOW! The story of a life...

Just so you know I am right at that mid-life crisis stage you mentioned :)

Enjoyable, pacy read, thankyou :)

Damn.. you went deep with this one! Again... so many valid points raised.

School builds us up
The search for a job makes us hunters
Jobs make us very fierce cats
Protecting job and benefits alike
Calm and collected, we become leaders and role models
Nurturing and nourishing the next line
Then retire and miss the days when we labored

So true - we often don't enjoy the moment... THIS MOMENT - and then when it passes we look back and wish we'd made the most of it - FURTHER REMOVING US once again from the present moment -

The only moment we'll ever have.

Great piece and thank you for your entry!

With Love
Hart Floe Poet

@moneyinfant has added your contest to the list Steemit Writing Contests: Issue #62. The list is updated on a daily basis and your contest will remain on the list until its expiration - there's nothing you need to do.

The list was created to save writers the excessive amount of time spent searching through the #contest tag for writing contests. Now they can just come to the list each day, see new contests and use their time doing what they love - writing.

If you'd like to help spread the word about the Steemit Writing Contest List I'd really appreciate a resteem, but it certainly isn't necessary. The project is simply meant to help writers save time and contest creators attract more contestants.

P.S. If you know of any contests I've missed I'd love to hear about them. Thanks!

thanks so much as always my friend... resteemed!

With Love
Hart Floe Poet

My pleasure as always. Thanks to you for all you do!

https://steemit.com/contest/@abrahamcera/into-the-mirror

That is my entry sir. Hope you like it. And the things hidden there. ;) Cheers.

Best read with a jumping heartbeat.

Breathy and rapid, man you covered ground with this one.

(at this part I jumped back to your page, because I wanted to mention something about the line with shindig haha)

BUT
I actually clicked through to a post you wrote about your "journey"...

You are a freakin' hero! and yes you are Badass!

My thoughts are with you, keep fighting, keep writing, keep sharing, my friend.

What about the word shindig? Hahahhaa I'm happy that you like it. Have you noticed the number of lines in every stanza. I've also hyperlinked this post in that poem. Hahahaha. We're all heroes in our own stories.

Ohh! Kicking it with the 11 line stanzas, huh?

Somebody is gettin' competitive hahaha. Nice touch!

If you win we can have a shindig ;)

Yup Brother we are all heroes within our own epics, and one great quality is to not be defined by certain aspects of our life, we are far more than a label, a description, a diagnosis.

Way happy to have crossed paths with you, your writing makes me smile :)

Yeah. Most people drop their jaws when I tell them that I'm a kidney disease patient. Hahahaha. You love the word shindig, huh? Hahahahaha

It shocked me, yes, but I say it a little differently...You are not a CKD patient, that is something that is happening to you!

You are a cool, smart, funny guy with a big smile who just happens to have this thing going on in his life. It isn't who you are...I know that you know this, but I just wanted to make the distinction, so you realise that is not how I would ever describe you...

OK...I will level with you...The word shindig is a really old word here in the UK like a Grandparent would say...

"Are you having a shindig for your birthday?"

When a younger person would say party. But I hear some "hipsters" have started using it again. But the word always makes me laugh, it is a crazy word, I love it!

So thankYOU for using it in your awesome piece and making me think of it again.

Have fun and hope it's a great day Bro :)

Thank you for those kind words. Youre right. I shouldnt be putting the I-am-a-kidney-disease-patient label on myself. Thank you bro.

Really? In college, there was an event called shindig. Apparently, it's a party. From then, I just loved the word. UK? I wanna go there hahahahhaa. I love UK citizens. Super cool, sophisticated, good looking, and smart. I just love Europe, generally. Thats why i feel sad every time I hear bad stuff about europe.

Very nice peace brother! and If I hadn't have seen this I wouldn't necessarily have noticed that it was arranged into 11 line stanzas... very swish!

It's a great piece that saddens me because I think most of England are stuck in these shit jobs they hate, depressed, not realising that this isn't the way it has to be.

It's a well articulated reflection of modern day slavery - or at least that's what I took from it!

I really appreciate you participating and hope you had fun with it... winners to be announced!

With Love
Hart Floe Poet

Yeah. Not just from England. But almost everywhere. Sometimes people become a slave of time and social norms. And it saddens me. Aside from that, what Im trying to say in the poem are the following: (a) millenials being branded as the lazy generation, the misfits. Its kinda true, in some instances, which would explain the line "But earning". Suggesting that we know that we're irresponsible sometimes but we still do it anyway. (B) depression is like an epidemic in every country. Because of labels and social norms. Thats why most teenagers try to do stuff like drugs, cigarettes, sexing, drinking, social media, etc. (represented by the mirror). We are happy in the mirror. These are okay as long as we don't spend too much time inside the mirror. Because if we do, side effects might happen. This euphoria of sins are temporary though. So time will come that we will be vulnerable again to the harshness of the world. And we will come back to the mirror. Depressed. Busted.

If not limited by the number of characters, I might have included the death of the guy.

OOH! So many questions, this is something I talk about a lot...

When a friend is sad that a job comes to an end, or they need to move to a new home because their landlord is selling their home, I always tell them...

"This could be the greatest thing ever to happen to you, you just can't see it yet"

So yes you are right, change is not good, change is not bad, change is just...change

cool read, thankyou :)

That's an amazing advice you give to your friends. Right, you just can't see it yet. When certain things happen and you connect the dots, then you'll begin to see.

Thank you for great comment!

Exactly, my friend!

We need to learn to see the invisible possibilities. Or at-least to know that just because something is not real yet, you can't see it, does not mean it will never be.

Good luck, I hope you have a truly wonderful journey :)

I'm glad that we're like-minded about this topic :)

You too, have a wondrous journey, Steem on! :D

Awesome thank you for coming back my friend and submitting this quality piece!

It raises a lot of valid questions!

For me all change is good, because if I put the label 'bad' on it, then that's my experience of it.

yet change is inevitable and I believe all change leads to you where you actually are supposed to be!

Amazing writing and thanks so much for participating my friend <3

With Love
Hart Floe Poet

Hey @hartfloe, I din't know you organized contests.
Here is my entry. It is 1111 characters and 222 words. Hi everyone, write to me if you have feedbacks.

Really nice piece and especially good work with the 1111 characters and 222 words... very nice!

Are you still in contact with the person, or is this entirely fictional. Would love to know more!

Thank you so much for your entry! It has a lot of depth and think it merits a few read-overs to get into those depths.

Wonderful stuff!

With Love
Hart Floe Poet

I really appreciate the feedback. Only fictional detail is the sharing of pizza pie. He ate most of it and I ended up paying for it because of his distress. I have met him once since then and he seems better off than when I wrote this poem but it could easily be a calm before the storm. It was just as intense for me to ask how he was doing.

Interesting... I love to find these things out! Thanks again for being part of it :)

Keep up the great work man!

With Love
Hart Floe Poet

Wow, a meeting that caused reason to ponder.

The depth and weights of the years can be deep and heavy indeed.

I loved how you explored the depth of these feelings.

Good job :)

As I said I saw myself in him. I ,too have a knack to overthink but, I prefer to let things out than have them build up hence, the poem. Thanks for your feedback.

I wake up in the same old bed, the same old sheets they cover my head.
I wake up in the same old house, the same old street, this neighborhood's dead.
And I think about the times we shared, and you were mine before I turned things bad.
Oh man! I loved you so, but I never understand just what I had.

So I brush my teeth, wash my face, walk downstairs.
Last nights drink, still swishing round my head, feels like my brain's being attacked by bears.
Once again you creep into my thoughts, I still can't believe how I let you go.
You were the sunshine in my day, it seems you were the muse to my creative flow.

I really don't know how I can go on, everything that happens now just feels so wrong.
It was my fault, oh this I can confess, but you leaving causes me emotional stress.
If you came back, would I be the same? I was too busy for you and now I feel the shame.
Would I worship you like you deserve? the answers that I find in me, they start to unnerve.

I think I've learned some things about myself.
I only ever thought about myself.
11:11 says the clock...I feel so strange.
Feels like the time that I need to change!

Thank God for character counting tools!

Sorry I left it late this week, I had no clue the deadline was so close and my life has been crazy

1111 on the button of course haha :)

This is a little less traditional than last weeks entry and needs to be read with a little flow, I felt it was more like a song (which, maybe gives me an idea...LoL)

SUPER MASSIVE GOOD LUCK TO ALL ENTRANTS :D

**

Images courtesy of the AWESOMETASTICAL Pixabay.

Amazing work brother... Really love this piece.

Know that everything happens for a reason. Don't look back or you won't be able to see your way forward.

I agree.. it's time for a change!

11:11 says so ;)

Amazing work as usual bud!

With Love
Hart Floe Poet

Wow, @stevenwood you are nailing it again! It sounds quite sad, but it makes sense!

Thankyou so much...

You are a great addition to this group, like a smiley, happy, encouraging breath of fresh air!

REALLY happy to have you here :)

Maybe @eaglespirit is right, maybe youare an angel :)

Oh snaps, people really do lurk 😝🤣😝

LOL!

Ever-lurking, ever-present.

The problem I have is that when I start talking and commenting...I cannot shut up haha :)

I have commented on almost nothing here this week (crazy busy) and simply knew I had to spend some time commenting on people work for this week change

Hahahaha thank you @stevenwood for the warm welcome!

@eaglespirit has been very kind to call me an angel. Hopefully, you don't see the other side of me :P

Haha! We all have many sides so it is all good :)

OH wow! LOL "the other side! Hee hee
I couldn't upvote your poem for some reason it just kept clocking wahhh

This is my entry with the title CHANGE YOURSELF FIRST
https://steemit.com/contest/@timlee/change-yourself-first

Very very nice piece! And it's so true...

You can blame your circumstances all day long but... it's YOU that needs to make the change if things aren't right!

Thank you so much for entering with this important piece. I hope you enjoyed writing for this!

Winners announced later today!

With Love
Hart Floe Poet

Awesome point, well made...

Do not expect everything to change and make way for you, If i remember rightly

Ghandi said...

"you must be the change you want to see in the world"

I probably didn't remember the quote exactly right, but I agree with the principle wholeheartedly.

If you want a happier world, be a happier person, that change can radiate outwards and make things better, 1 person at a time.

Enjoyable, thankyou :)

You got it exactly right bro... and perfect! Thanks so much for being so interactive and reading other people's posts too :)

With Love
Hart Floe Poet
<3

I genuinely believe that reading the posts and the work of others helps us to grow too!

By knowing the things that touch us, things that speak to us, sometimes things we may not have thought of we have the ability to become better in our work, In the world.

Creating this group will have more of a profound effect on some people than you will probably ever even realise. Coming together and encouraging, giving tips to each-other we can grow together and become better.

Another thing that we often don't think of is that sometimes an encouraging word may come at just the right time for someone. Everyone needs to know that their work has been appreciated at sometime by somebody, and some may quit, feeling they are toiling in obscurity.

I hadn't wrote a poem in a good 10 years before I joined Steemit and happened across a cool-dude named Hartfloe and even though it may make me sound a bit "daft" (I am), I'm having a whale of a time writing now!

So thankYOU.

What I would say to everyone here is keep on keeping on, have FUN, get better at your craft and make friends, your work matters, even when ya think it doesn't, it is making the world a better, more beautiful place one word at a time.

Footnote...You may have noticed my terrible punctuation and misplaced/missing commas at times. I break every grammatical law ever created from time to time. I never learned punctuation, but I don't let it worry me too much. I say what I want people to hear as best as I can. I can't paint, draw, sculpt, create digital images and that kinda thing. To be honest, I am still learning to format my posts here lol. I use what I have to the best of my ability. The people it is meant to speak to will hear it.

When I say I use my words...I never use ten when ten thousand will do haha.

I guess what I'm saying to everyone here is, forget the rules, do as best as you can...Rebels don't need rules, right? haha.

Image from the AWESOMETASTICAL Pixabay.

I really like your contest idea. Very original.

Awesome to see you here @richreeve :)

Maybe a guy who can put his feelings across as eloquently as you may have a go next time ;)

That's such a kind thing to say buddy. Thank you.