The Winning “Wanda”

By On September 1, 2010 · 13 Comments · In A Dish Called "Wanda", Past Contests: All Postings

A Dish Called “Wanda” – another interesting, creativity-provoking contest from A Word with You Press – produced a panoply of powerful, pleasing and peculiar posts, and sometimes all three.  Readers were introduced to (among other things) a ghost, a sea monster, a soldier, a foodie, a cowboy, a satellite dish, a gambler, and some pretty delicious coconut cake.  Each story had to contain this exact phrase:  ”The locals warned me about Wanda’s, but why was there . . .” (and then fill in the rest with the writer’s wonderful imagination).

The contest rules also included a clause about comments:  In order to be eligible to win, each story had to garner at least eight comments from other readers (that is, not pleasant chit-chat, but actual comments about the nature or quality of the story); and each author had to leave at least three comments on other entrants’ posts.  This narrowed down the number of qualifying entries to six, and to give the writers their due, I would like to mention them here:

There were also some stories that fearlessly and beautifully tackled heavy-duty topics, such as Stefanie Allison’s Honor and Duty and Juan Vandendorp’s haunting Waiting.  Dave Fisher contributed two magnificent pieces as well, and we look forward to reading more of his published work.

But once the comments were tallied up, there was one absolute, no-question-about-it winner:  David Boop’s True Grit in Willow Creek.  This delightful, well-written story with a twist at the end collected a staggering 38 total comments, with 20 of them being particular comments on his story.  David, you have unequivocally captured the people’s fancy.  We hope to hear more from you!  Your name will be inscribed on the Wordu Award (a word + u; isn’t that punny?) and added to the hallowed ranks of our honored contest winners.

But wait, there’s more!  We’d also like to announce our two runners up:  Mac Eagan and Peggy Dobbs.

David, you will receive a $50 gift certificate to spend at your favorite restaurant, pub, cafe or other eatery, and Mac and Peggy both get $25 for the same delicious purpose.

But for crying out loud, don’t order the grits.

 
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spykergyrl

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  • Star5fallonmyheart

    LOL I LOVED reading that story!!! I remember the imagery that captivated me and even though it seemed like such a mundane reason to have a bonfire, the image of the fire and of the townsfolk rejoicing together offered a strange sense of unity in the midst of wrath against the most disgusting grits ever. An excellent choice indeed =)

    …Still haven't eaten grits yet. I fear I could incriminate an unsuspecting restaurant and have the townsfolk misinterpret my picky eating habits for less-than-up-t0-standard grits.

  • Derek

    Congratulations David and well done to everyone who took part. As other writers know, it's quite a thing to condense your creativity into a piece of writing to order. Especially when, as so often is the case within this community of creatives, it's done right.

  • http://www.facebook.com/david.boop David Boop

    Wow! I'm flaberghasted! There was tough competition, before and after the field narrowed. There were a couple stories I hated to see disqualified and would have been tough to beat. I hope to read more of everyone's writing here! This is a great contest and a wonderful group of prose-loving people! Thank you so much for this opportunity and honor!

  • http://www.awordwithyoupress.com/ Thornton Sully

    Well deserved, David. Congratulations. Send me your personal address in an email to me, and your cash prize will be mailed within thirty days with the next cycle. Do so hope you will continue writing not just on the contests, but on the blogs and perhaps submit more work that you'd like us all to read. If you (or anybody reading this) would like to share your work and get feedback, simply send it to us and in the subject line put “A Word from You”.

    Also love it when writers comment on the work of others. It's what keeps the grits out of the cogs here.

  • Mac Eagan

    Fantastic job, David. Congratulations. As soon as I read your story, I knew you were going to leave your mark on this contest. The idea of a town riot over the quality of grits is, in and of itself, kind of ridiculous. But you made it exceptionally entertaining. You built up the right amount of suspense (without going over the top) before hitting us with the surprise ending. Even the technical side of punctuation usage in the final line was perfectly executed to reflect the gas station attendant's (and whole town's) feelings on the matter. Very well done.

    Also, congratulations to you, too, Peggy. A well-told yarn with the feel of real life. Not only was the dialogue expertly crafted, but the way you revealed the body language of the characters enhanced the story that much more. I especially enjoyed at the end 'until I hit him with my cap.' Fantastic.

  • Peggy R. Dobbs

    Congratulations David and Mac. I am in such good company! Now you see why both of you got “highlighted” in my comment poem. Just kidding. As Thorn said, I tried to include everyone. Sorry Juan got in late. I told Monika what a fun contest this has been. I have never seen such a variety of subjects and her comments just kept us at it! To everyone who commented on our stories, a big thank you. And to Thorn, thank you for giving us this opportunity to have a place to meet and write and share our thoughts with those of like mind. Blessings to all, pd

  • Peggy R. Dobbs

    Congratulations David and Mac. I am in such good company! Now you see why both of you got “highlighted” in my comment poem. Just kidding. As Thorn said, I tried to include everyone. Sorry Juan got in late. I told Monika what a fun contest this has been. I have never seen such a variety of subjects and her comments just kept us at it! To everyone who commented on our stories, a big thank you. And to Thorn, thank you for giving us this opportunity to have a place to meet and write and share our thoughts with those of like mind. Blessings to all, pd

  • Peggy R. Dobbs

    Stef, Have you seen the movie, My Cousin Vinnie? He is in Alabama and served a breakfast plate with grits. He is told what they are and he asks, “What's a grit?” Couldn't help but think about that when you said,”Still haven't eaten grits yet!” Its just corn. Give it a try, “You'll like 'em! pd

  • http://www.awordwithyoupress.com/ Thornton Sully

    As usual Mac you put as much effort andthought into helping other writers with your constructive critique as you do writing your own submissions. I know I speak for the whole tribe when I tell you how much that is appreciated. Can you imagine this site with a hundred like you? We'd change the world.

    thanks, and don't forget to send me your personal address in an email to see that you reap your reward. Winners of a contest get there cash reward thirty days after announcement of the winners.
    thorn

  • http://www.awordwithyoupress.com/ Thornton Sully

    Then mostly I write with true grit. It's just corn.

  • http://www.awordwithyoupress.com/ Thornton Sully

    “tis a continuing pleasure Peggy to have you enter our contests and post your comments.

  • spykergyrl

    I'll have to second that.

  • spykergyrl

    Oooooooh, I love grits. I ate them by the bushel when I was pregnant, with butter and honey and milk. And there was a place across the street from where I used to work that served fried chicken and waffles, with heaping side orders of grits. It wasn't called Wanda's, but if anyone's ever in Pasadena, California, check out Roscoe's on Lake Avenue.