So Much Depends Upon… Desperate Ravings #5

Here’s What I’ve Got: Desperate Ravings Assignment #5

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

Here’s What It’ll Do for You:
Considered a masterwork of 20th Century imagist poetry, “The Red Wheelbarrow” by William Carlos Williams — probably even more than Rachel Maddow’s Drift selection from yesterday is a great example of writing that engages your visual imagination.

Here’s What I Want You to Do Next:

• Copy “The Red Wheelbarrow” by hand and in triplicate, like so:

• Upload your work to the Desperate Ravings Homework Page
• Qualify for fabulous prizes!

In case you are just joining us, Desperate Ravings is a collaboration between myself and the good people at GatheringMagic, LegitMTG, and ManaDeprived. Aspiring writers (or just contest participants) are given passages each day of Desperate Ravings to copy and upload to the aforementioned Facebook group. For each of the first five days — today being the fifth and last — our sponsors select a single winner of a $10 gift certificate. For example, here are yesterday’s winners:

The winner of a $10 gift certificate from GatheringMagic: Marcus Bastian Hensing

The winner of a $10 gift certificate from LegitMTG: Jarrod Keith Williams

The winner of a $10 gift certificate from ManaDeprived: Bernhard Zander

The thinking is that anyone who drives himself — or herself — to do all seven assignments, consecutively, will have shown the shoulder-to-the-grindstone commitment necessary to become a consistent producer of content for one of the above sites.

Simultaneously, the thinking is that copying down some of the great passages selected by Desperate Ravings will help aspiring writers / contest participants to internalize that elusive turn of phrase that makes for engaging or entertaining writing.

… Plus there’s the, you know, prizes!

In addition to the 3×5 daily prizes from GatheringMagic, LegitMTG, and ManaDeprived, anyone who finishes all seven assignments by June 12, 2012 (ten days total to finish seven assignments) may qualify for…

• One $50 gift certificate from GatheringMagic
• One $50 gift certificate from LegitMTG
• One $50 gift certificate from ManaDeprived, or
• A one-hour coaching call from Yours Truly!

… Plus consideration for actual feature writing gigs at the sponsor sites (though we’ll shake all that out in the second phase, Desperate Ravings – Flashback).

So… If you’re late to the party, it’s okay!

Do today’s assignment and you might just get lucky on Day Five. You’ve still got until June 12 to get all of them in!

Good luck and have fun.

LOVE
MIKE

Please visit the Desperate Ravings sponsors: