This week: Double Duty Edited by: Jeff  
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"You never know what you can do until you try,
and very few try unless they have to."
-- C.S. Lewis
About The Editor: Greetings! My name is Jeff and I'm one of your regular editors for the Noticing Newbies Official Newsletter! I've been a member of Writing.com since 2003, and have edited more than 400 newsletters across the site during that time. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me via email or the handy feedback field at the bottom of this newsletter! 
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Double Duty
Have you ever written something here on Writing.com with the intention of entering multiple activities or contests? Perhaps a short story that qualifies for the official WdC writing contest but is also capable of being entered into a genre contest or other member-run activity. Or perhaps a blog post that also qualifies for a WdC Monthly Media Prompt or other blogging challenge? One of the cool things about Writing.com is there are so many activities and challenges available, you can sometimes even participate in more than one with the same piece of writing!
This year, "Invalid Item" is running an activity called "Andre's Fractured Resolutions Blog-O-Thon!" , which is a prompt-a-week blogging exercise that gives away exclusive trinkets as prizes. But did you know there's also a year-long writing activity called "I Write in 2024" which is giving away a ton of merit badges throughout the year? By writing a blog post for Andre's activity and also submitting it to I Write, you have the opportunity to have the same piece of writing qualify for prizes across two different activities here on the site!
The trickiest part of this practice is making sure you follow the criteria for every activity you enter. I Write has a maximum word count of 2,000 words per entry. That matches up perfectly with the official contests like "What a Character! : Official WDC Contest" or "Quotation Inspiration: Official Contest" where the word count limit is also 2,000 words. But the "Twisted Tales Contest" has a word count limit of 6,000 words. So you'd have to make sure that an entry you wrote for Twisted Tales is 2,000 or less if you want it to qualify for both Twisted Tales and I Write.
Similarly, other contests might have rules like requiring entries to be newly written for that contest (usually meaning written during the contest round and not prior to), the inclusion of specific elements, or even differing deadlines. It can sometimes be a challenge to make sure you're creating an entry that meets all the requirements of both activities, but investing the time can be really rewarding if you're eligible for prizes in multiple challenges for the same piece of writing.
In addition to the double prizes, it can also be a fun creative challenge to try and include the prompts from multiple activities at the same time. There are contests where the writing prompt is trying to include specific words in your entry. Others use a picture prompt, or a stated scenario, or a theme. If you need to stretch your creative muscles or think outside the box, it can be a worthwhile exercise to see how you can fit more than one of those things together. What about a {suseritem:shortshots} image prompt that also includes the requisite words to qualify it for the " Magic Words Contest " ? What if you could combine the image prompt with the requisite words and a particular genre to make it eligible for three different contests?
Having WdC items that pull double (or triple, or quadruple) duty isn't for everyone. Some writers find even one prompt too restricting, and others dislike all of the extra work that has to go into making sure every box of every contest the item is submitted to is properly checked. But for those with the time and inclination to make that effort, it can be really rewarding. It can stretch you as a writer to try interesting combinations of prompts, and if you're lucky it can mean winning prizes from more than one activity at the same time.
Until next time,
Jeff
If you're interested in checking out my work:
"New & Noteworthy Things" | "Blogocentric Formulations"
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This month's official Writing.com writing contest is:
I also encourage you to check out the following items:
EXCERPT: Dea’s children became so insufferable about social media, she had to ban phones at the table, or they would spend the whole mealtime comparing “status points”, as they were called on their favorite platform.
It got worse when her son, Curt, brought home camera and sound equipment. She was skeptical, but hoped videocasting would be a constructive activity for him, so she let him take over the family room. Soon, he forbade entry while he was recording, which was most of the time.
EXCERPT: Hugh Brisman, at long last, pulled into a parking space he was lucky to find open. Nearby, he could see a light on in the upstairs of his townhouse, the only upright structure on a street of slovenly bungalows. Probably, Jo, his wife, was getting ready to go out.
EXCERPT: As I gaze at the concrete wall in front of me, my stomach begins to growl furiously. I don't know how long I've been sitting here, but I refuse to ruin this comfortable and warm ball I have become. It took a long time for me to wrap my clothes, and belongings around me in such a way that the breeze ceased to brush up against my skin. I catch a waft of something nearby. It smells like something warm and nostalgic. Whatever it is it makes my stomach growl furiously once again. Since my curiosity has been piqued, and my stomach overpowering my will, I finally get up from the floor after my long morning of cuddling the nearest dumpster.
EXCERPT: "It’s weird how I can say I’m on the moon, well, without lying of course.” My partner, Artemis, exclaimed as I pushed back into my seat.
“Wait, that’s funny,” I said. Artemis looked back and raised his right eyebrow. “Your name kind of predicted your fate as an astronaut! Artemis…” I said,
"Well, it makes sense; my mom was a volunteer; on December 20th, 2023, she went to the moon and never came back. But anyway.” Artemis said,
“Yeah… Wait, why’d you change the subject?” I said.
“I just don’t really like to talk about it; it was kind of a freak accident.”
EXCERPT: I started watching Saturday Night Live (SNL) back in the late seventies. It was amazing. John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, and so on. Pure gold. Soon after you got Eddie Murphy, Phil Hartman, Tim Meadows, Martin Short, Molly Shannon, and Cheri Oteri. You know who else was great? Will Ferell, Mike Meyers, Chris Kattan, Dana Carvey, Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, and so on.
The writing was also so much better years ago. You had amazing writers including Larry David, Bob Odenkirk, Conan O'Brien, Seth Myers, Al Franken, Dennis Miller, and so on. The skits were so original. The timing was great. The cast members had this special kind of chemistry like they fed off each other.
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Noticing Newbies: January 10, 2024 Issue [#12364]
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