Munson's Microfiction: My Tears Need A Minute

A New Unofficial Challenge Has Arrived 🥳

I'm thrilled to announce my first unofficial challenge sponsorship via Vocal! As of yesterday, 2 May 2024, my Vocal catalogue proudly contains 150 pieces. For me, that's an unimaginable milestone. I've penned 118 pieces since 7 February 2024, and in large part other Vocal writers have encouraged and supported me into posting all sorts of writing, from poetry to horror to fae tales to confessions. The ride so far has been breathtaking!

This year I've participated in wonderful unofficial challenges sponsored by other Vocal writers. The prompts have been inspiring, fun, creative, and all around delightful, and have contributed to my productivity. Now's my turn to pay it forward with my first unofficial challenge offered to you, my lovelies!

May the best microfiction win!

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THE PROMPT ❤️

Munson's Microfiction Challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to write a microfiction in which the following two lines are featured:

"My tears need a minute to find the edges of my face. If you'll please excuse me."

This unofficial challenge deserves a shout-out to the brilliant Lacy Loar-Gruenler, who wrote "The Girl Who Loved Them Both," which earned Runner-Up in Vocal's, Father's Footprint Challenge.

My visceral Comment to that story begins: "Okay, my tears need a minute to find the edges of my face. If you'll please excuse me."

Lacy kindly replied that these words deserved to be quoted in a story. I agree, and I sincerely hope you agree, too! ❤️

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THE RULES

1. No more than two microfiction entries per person will be considered. If you enter more than two, the first two I receive from you will be taken as your entries. The others I'll read, after the challenge closes.
2. As with any challenge, participation is key. Will fellow Vocal writers rise to the challenge? Hope so! If fewer than eight entries in total are submitted, I respectfully reserve the right award First Place only.
3. Your entry must be a microfiction. Poems will not be considered for this challenge. Sorry. I love poems too. Maybe for a future challenge? Let's see how this one goes.
4. You must feature these two lines in your microfiction, exactly as written: "My tears need a minute to find the edges of my face. If you'll please excuse me." The two sentences may appear anywhere in your microfiction (e.g., first lines, last lines, anywhere in the middle), but you must use them as written. You may not switch the order of the sentences.
5. Your microfiction must be between 500 and 800 words in length. The mandatory prompt's two sentences may, but do not have to, qualify toward your final word count.
6. Link back to this announcement in an Author's Note in your entry.
7. Stipulate Munson's Microfiction in your subtitle.
8. Your entry must be newly posted to Vocal, as opposed to being pulled from content already in your Vocal collection.
9. Entries must be posted in the Fiction community.
10. You must provide a link to your entry in the Comments to this unofficial challenge announcement.
11. Only entries that correctly follow these rules will be considered for a prize.

Entries will be accepted from the time this challenge is publicly posted via Vocal until 11:59 PM (US Eastern Time) on May 31, 2024. Winners of the challenge will be announced on, or before, June 14 2024.

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THE PRIZES

Winners will be chosen by me, at my sole discretion. Prizes will be distributed on Vocal as Tips. Winners will be determined by content and quality. In order to be eligible to win and receive payment, you MUST have tipping enabled. The awards amounts will be provided as Tips as follows:

❤️ 1st Place: $30.00

❤️ 2nd Place: $20.00

❤️ 3rd Place: $10.00

❤️ Honorable Mention: $5.00

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Once entries are submitted via Comments to this Unofficial Challenge Announcement, I'll post them to this thread. If you'd like be kept abreast of all the the entries, simply ❤️ this post and or "subscribe" to me (Christy Munson).

Questions or feedback? Let me know in Comments. Good luck!

- Christy

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My example microfictions are provided as inspiration and a splash of adventure/horror. Naturally, my entries are ineligible for the prizes. Hope you enjoy reading them!

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THE ENTRIES...

John Cox — "The day I saw the light leave your eyes"

shrey - Cursed

Gerard DiLeo - Plainer in a Plane Lane

Andrea Corwin - Tears at the Cooling

Mike Singleton - Mikeydred - What's Cooking

Anna - I'm sorry

D.K. Shepard - The Flamingo Lounge

Matthew Fromm - Operation Dragon

Kayleigh Fraser - Convention

Everyday Junglist - These Days It Was an Everyday Occurrence

Kelli Sheckler-Amsden - Sunday Kind Of Love

Paul Stewart - Everyone Does It

L.C. Schäfer - For Crows

Sarah Wilcox - Forgotten Forest

Sonia Heidi Unruh - Shooting Guernica