Free your mind — check out what these participants had to say:

Zeal4living

BubblysLife

BubblysLife (II)

peacenow

XxXDarknessismyonlyescapeXxX

moss_icon

       Several years ago Kweeny became fascinated by this relatively new sport called Parkour, also called free running. No! Hardly for myself. It’s just fun to watch. Anyway, the purist definition calls it “the physical discipline of training to overcome any obstacle within one’s path by adapting one’s movements to the environment” (from Wikipedia). If you’ve ever watched a traceur (a parkour participant) in action, you know how efficient, graceful, and frankly awesome their movements can be. (If you haven’t witnessed the sport we highly recommend doing a quick YouTube search to check it out.)

       The same principle of efficiently overcoming obstacles can be applied to several things, but we find it highly useful in a writing exercise called “free writing.” No, it’s probably not going to be quite as acrobatic as free running, and like any exercise you only get better with practice, but it can be used as a warm-up or as a tool to help overcome writer’s block. The results can be quite interesting, sometimes even impressive. You just put pen to paper, or fingers to keys, and go. So in that vein, our challenge this month, from a suggestion by silkenbutterfly, is this:

       Set a timer for five minutes. Put your fingers to the keyboard and write exactly what you are thinking. Don’t make yourself start out on a topic, just go. Keep your fingers moving for the whole five minutes and see what comes out. Don’t edit, don’t polish. Except for maybe some of the inevitable typos. Just open your mind and let it flow out. Five minutes. Have fun!

• Have your entry set to public.
• Link to either this site or the blog ring.
• Come back to this site to let me know that you have posted for this challenge. I will then link to your entry. Rec your entry. Leave you eProps.
• Have your entry done by December 14th for Prime Time Action, but I’ll keep linking posts through the 31st.
• Have fun. 

Happy writing! Be sure to check out everyone’s entries. I’m sure they appreciate your feedback.

Go ahead — fall for these participants:

       Yes, we’re a little late, but better late than never. Maybe. It’s not easy being Kween, you know — we have been a pretty busy lady. So before you all run for your pitchforks let’s just agree to let loose a little. Until we find a new groove let’s be a little flexible on the new challenge dates. Just for a little while. K? K.

       It’s autumn! The Kweenly Palace has been buzzing with excitement, because this is hands down our favorite season. The colors really bring out my eyes. But what to do for a challenge? This time of the month we’d usually do lists or photo prompts and we’d have something interesting like a “list your favorite things about autumn” but that’s kind of a cop-out challenge. Too easy, you know? So. For this challenge we’re going to list our favorite things about autumn! Hey, Kweeny’s a busy lady. Twenty should do it.

• Have your entry set to public.
• Link to either this site or the blog ring.
• Come back to this site to let me know that you have posted for this challenge. I will then link to your entry. Rec your entry. Leave you eProps.
• Have your entry done by whenever I post the next challenge .
• Have fun.

So get to it!

Need some change? Check out how these participants did it:

       Ah, my Lords and Ladies, ’tis delightful to see you again. We royally screwed the pooch with that mid-August challenge, didn’t we? Totally missed it. But it was meant to be missed, we’re sure, since our royal mistakes are ordained by God, thus not mistakes at all. Anywho.

       It’s a little crazy that it’s September already, isn’t it? Summer is starting to wind down, classes have started, and there’s a hint of autumn on the breeze. In fact our next challenge will be right on the doorstep of fall, so while we opened this season with a picture-list of our favorite things about summer, let’s also close it out with thoughts about the short three months we’ve just experienced. As the season changes, tell us how it has changed you. A traditional writing challenge is preferred, in poetry or prose, but of course if you’d like to do it in pictures or lists or whatever creative way you choose it will be welcomed. We’ll keep this one fairly open — write about whatever you’d like, but mostly just write! And have fun. =)

• Have your entry set to public.
• Link to either this site or the blog ring.
• Come back to this site to let me know that you have posted for this challenge. I will then link to your entry. Rec your entry. Leave you eProps.
• Have your entry done by September 14th for Prime Time Action, but I’ll keep linking posts through the 30th.
• Have fun. 

Happy writing! Be sure to check out everyone’s entries. I’m sure they appreciate your feedback.

       These participants sure aren’t senseless. Check ‘em out:

       Oh dear, time’s just slippin’ right on by, isn’t it? Only a few precious weeks left of the summer break (for those of us in the northern hemisphere, at least)! Hope you’ve all been enjoying it as much as possible! Well, then, time’s a-wastin. Let’s get to it! This month’s challenge is yet another that I found buried in the castle archives (old emails), this time suggested by MrsMok:

       Write a story/poem/blurb/whatever from the perspective of the Blind. Use the senses, without visual description, if you can. Get creative with this one, but most of all have fun with it.

• Have your entry set to public.
• Link to either this site or the blog ring.
• Come back to this site to let me know that you have posted for this challenge. I will then link to your entry. Rec your entry. Leave you eProps.
• Have your entry done by August 14th for Prime Time Action, but I’ll keep linking posts through the 31st.
• Have fun. 

Happy writing! Be sure to check out everyone’s entries. I’m sure they appreciate your feedback.

       Check out these lucky ducks:

       Ooh, our 13th challenge this year. You’d better participate in order to avoid bad luck. So Kweeny’s being lazy in this heat. You’re kinda lucky that you got a challenge at all, so you’d better show your appreciation and do it even if luck weren’t an issue. Yeah, I’m not sure that that’s going to convince you to do it either. How about a pretty please with a cherry on top? And whipped cream if you’re good. Or bad. Oh good, you’ll do it. Now for the challenges. It’s the middle of the month, so we’re gonna do some lists!

       Challenge A: Twenty-five things you wish you would have been alive or present for.

       Challenge B: Tell us about some of your superstitions. Do you have any? Know someone with a good one? You know… anything would really work here. Make something up if you want to. Like… I have this friend who has to hold his breath every time he passes a cemetery. I always wonder what he does when he goes to a funeral. But yeah. Stuff like that. Because it’s our 13th challenge and all. But I didn’t make that up. He really holds his breath.

       Told you I was being lazy. But have fun with ‘em.

• Have your entry set to public.
• Link to either this site or the blog ring.
• Come back to this site to let me know that you have posted for this challenge. I will then link to your entry. Rec your entry. Leave you eProps.
• Have your entry done by July 31st.
• Have fun.

Give these dreamers a shot. they might need it. oh, just click:

 
       Summer’s in full swing here at the Kweenly Palace: the pool is full and the cocktails are flowing and the dynamite (fireworks) are going “boom” around the clock in celebration of the 234th birthday of the United States. And Hector, the tanned and muscled pool boy, is hard at work. Let me tell ya, this is truly the American Dream.

       Ok, so maybe Hector is the name of the ugly little robot vacuum thing and the pool is just a little bit scuzzy because Hector keeps breaking down and the inflatable rafts all have holes and the only fireworks I have are those annoying Black Cats and to top it all off I’m out of the good kind of vodka. Let’s face it: things have been tough, even for us Kweens, and “The American Dream” is starting to turn slightly sour.

       So the challenge this month is this: Examine what dreams you’ve had in your youth, what dreams you now have, how things have changed, and how different things are from how you planned them. Take some liberties with this one. Explore. And write!

       (For those not living in the U.S., please forgive the slightly ethnocentric post — the theme is rather applicable to all, I’m sure, so I hope you’ll still participate!)

• Have your entry set to public.
• Link to either this site or the blog ring.
• Come back to this site to let me know that you have posted for this challenge. I will then link to your entry. Rec your entry. Leave you eProps.
• Have your entry done by July 14th for Prime Time Action, but I’ll keep linking posts through the 31st.
• Have fun.

PeriwinkleAdonis TumbleweedEh mercurialmusic Zeal4living (II) *Hinase (II)* *IRTwiggit (I) & (II)*

NightCometh *Hinase (I)* PureLilly geeohde32 madamzephyrus (II)

       Ahh, isn’t it wonderful? I love sitting back on the palace steps, sipping on a glass of sweet tea, and watching the goings on in the kingdom. I’m really not much for the heat, but all the skin is rather nice. Which brings me to our challenges. The photo prompts haven’t been doing very well lately, so we’re going to give them a wee break in favor of … lists!

       Challenge I: It’s nearly summer here on the northern side of the world! June 21st is the first day and we’re going to celebrate it with a list of 15 things we love about summer. These could be favorite summer memories or something as simple as sweet tea on the porch. But there’s a catch. Inspired by some clever KotQ Survey respondent, and since this challenge is taking the place of a photo prompt, the requirement for this list is that it must be told entirely with pictures! So get your Google Image search on (or use your own) and show us, don’t tell us, some of your favorite things about the season. Have fun!

       Challenge II: Along the same lines, this is another suggestion from someone else who responded to the KotQ Survey (and again, I wish I knew who it was so I could properly thank them!), but tell us — what are your top 25 moments in life? You don’t have to do this one in pictures, but bonus points if you do. =)

       Those who do both challenges will get pretty little stars (re: asterisks) by their names when I link to the entries (do them in separate posts so you get twice the recognition). This post will also be plugged for a whole week, so it’s free advertising for your site if you’re linked here. Kweeny doesn’t have many credits left, so it’s a last ditch effort to pick things up around here. So what are you waiting for!? Get to it!

• Have your entry set to public.
• Link to either this site or the blog ring.
• Come back to this site to let me know that you have posted for this challenge. I will then link to your entry. Rec your entry. Leave you eProps.
• Have your entry done by June 30th.
• Have fun. 

Happy writing! Be sure to check out everyone’s entries. I’m sure they appreciate your feedback.

 
       I tell you what, every day I fight a war against that damn mirror! I still haven’t quite figured out how to get this queen to look presentable. Sometimes I just wish I could be somebody else. I see a guy walking down the street, looking beautiful like it came naturally, and I wonder what it would be like to spend a day in his pants shoes. Do you ever have days like that?

       Well the first challenge for this month comes from the founder and original Kween, Jeri_Dee. A servant was unpacking the last of the boxes and found a little message from her from about a year ago that contained a suggestion for a challenge that was never used: How would you react if by some twist of fate you woke up one morning and were in someone else’s life? Could be anyone — you decide. You still have more or less the same personality and you still have your memories, but you can also pick the brain of the person whose life you now have. Would you tell anyone? What would you do? Would you try to get your old life back? Or would you permanently assume their identity? Tell us the story in whatever way you think best. Take some liberties. Be creative. And write!

• Have your entry set to public.
• Link to either this site or the blog ring.
• Come back to this site to let me know that you have posted for this challenge. I will then link to your entry. Rec your entry. Leave you eProps.
• Have your entry done by June 14th for Prime Time Action, but I’ll keep linking posts through the 30th.
• Have fun.

• Have your entry set to public.
• Link to either this site or the blog ring.
• Come back to this site to let me know that you have posted for this challenge. I will then link to your entry. Rec your entry. Leave you eProps.
• Have your entry done by May 31st.
• Have fun. 

Happy writing! Be sure to check out everyone’s entries. I’m sure they appreciate your feedback.

       I’ll be brief — click on these:

 
       Try telling that to Charles Dickens. Or Vikram Seth. Well, neither of them have proved as popular as the bard, so I guess that shows who’s right, yeah? Anyway.

       Well April sure was interesting. Over twenty posts for the first challenge (good job there!) then almost nuthin’ on the second (not so good). But I’m sure that means you’ll all be chomping at the bit to get at this one, right? Well, good, because it’s definitely gonna be a challenge! Our first challenge this month comes from one of my favorite xangans, impossibleangles. She sent me this message: “You know the old story about how someone challenged Ernest Hemingway to write a short story in just six words? And he did, ‘For Sale: Baby shoes, never used.’ and won the bet. It’s an old tale that has been around forever, though I don’t think that the original source of this was ever found. Still it’s a great story. So complete. How about challenging everyone to write stories in 10 (since we aren’t all Hemingway) words or less?”

       So this is the challenge, my lovely lords and ladies: write an uber short story, commonly known as flash fiction, in ten words or less. It doesn’t have to be fiction, but flash non-fiction just doesn’t have the same ring to it, you know? As always you can make it your own. I’ll be really impressed if one of you poets can make a haiku in ten words or less. I’m sure it’s possible. There are lots of big words out there.

Just copy and paste the code below into your weblog to link back to this site!
It should come out looking exactly like the picture above. Tutorial here.

<br><center><a href=”http://kween-of-the-queens.xanga.com/726113440/brevity-is-the-soul-of-wit/”><img src=”http://xbc.xanga.com/776f904326335266901947/b212902929.jpg”></a></center><br>

You must:

• Have your entry set to public.
• Link to either this site or the blog ring.
• Come back to this site to let me know that you have posted for this challenge. I will then link to your entry. Rec your entry. Leave you eProps.
• Have your entry done by May 14th for Prime Time Action, but I’ll keep linking posts through the 31st.
• Have fun.

Happy writing! Be sure to check out everyone’s entries. I’m sure they appreciate your feedback.