Part 2 - Challenge! Presidents' Day International

[kiavonne]

First, if you are just joining us, this is part two of the Presidents’ Day International challenge. Please head on over to Part One to read up on this challenge, and check out the champion gift I will be awarding with the completion of Part Two. Also, please check and read the very important Rules & Uglies (disclaimers) post, as well.

 

On to Part Two, and the heart of this challenge!

 

We need new practice sentences!

 

We want to improve our penmanship, and we want to learn new scripts, and the best way to do this is by practice. We practice over and over, perfecting our hands at writing. Practice sentences using the words and letter combinations that trip us up and drive us nuts help us with this goal.

 

However, as fond as I am of President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address or a sonnet by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, I want a practice sentence that really makes me work at moving my pen across the page for better writing. I also want such a practice sentence to be unique and interesting, as well as challenging, even if it is not the most logical or grammatically correct. I want a story practice sentence. Actually, I want a variety of story practice sentences. And, so begins this final stage of the challenge.

 

 

Your entry:

 

Using as many words from the word list as you are able, and incorporating some of the difficult letter combinations we’ve gathered where you are able, please create for us all a new practice sentence.

 

Your sentence must also tell some kind of story.

 

Your sentence doesn’t have to be perfect, but it should be something that you would want to use for practice for yourself, as well. Pick out those words and nasty letter combinations that drive you nuts to try and write, and use your creativity to tell us all a little story.

 

 

You do not have to use all the words in the list – that would make one seriously long writing session, and I don’t want anyone to end up with carpel tunnel as a result.

 

You do not have to use only the words in the list, of course we need a few connectors and flow additions, and other words you feel fit the difficult words criteria, too.

 

Do use a little bit of punctuation now and again – commas and semicolons – as we need a pause once in a while to let ourselves catch up and to let our hands rest a moment. There will be no punctuation police, but give us the pause to think, digest and enjoy while we practice.

 

No grammar police, either, just do your best in the name of fun.

 

What about length? Well, long enough to get some good practice out of a fun little story, but let’s keep it to about a half a page (US letter size) or less, and think double spaced as if you were hand writing the sentence. A little over or under, no worries, but we want to be reasonable and keep it a length that will hold our attention as well as our practice. Everyone's handwriting varies, I know that, so I won't be saying you must have so many words or lines or that kind of thing. Go with your instinct and fair reason.

 

What about hand writing the sentence? Honestly, I would not only like to see your typed version posted for legibility, but I would also like to see a snapshot of your own hand written version posted with it as well. I won’t make that a requirement, but we are here for practice, and I think it would add much to the challenge for us to actually use our story sentences. FPN also has an upload where you can host your photos, if needed.

 

I will not be judging the entries by penmanship. The entries are going to be there to help us all improve.

 

I will be looking for the use of difficult words and for creativity, but also for a little bit of practicality. Not only do I want to be able to use the sentence for penmanship practice, but some others – and you – may want to, as well. Don’t aim for total frustration, aim for a bit of challenging fun.

 

I will review all the practice sentence entries submitted by midnight, Mountain Daylight Time in the US (I’m in Colorado on the map), on Monday morning, February 17, 2014 – Presidents’ Day in the US, for the challenge champion. There will be only one champion, who will receive the challenge gift (see part one for gift details).

 

In the evening of February 17, 2014, hopefully by 6:00 p.m., MDT in the US, I plan to post the name of the winning entry.

 

For that last bit of inspiration, here is the full practice sentence that started it all back in 2008:

 

Disturbed by his colleagues' lack of enthusiasm, again and again the Egyptian astrophysicist visiting the observatory in Mississippi analyzed the multi-part transcription of telecommunications from the Galileo probe for the minimum of errors and maximum of syzygy, murmuring nervously over the unerring interference from the unnerving rumble of the mummers' minivan in the nunnery next door as a neighboring Afghani analyst coughed lightly while weighing his thoughts over straightening a spaghetti-code-laden program designed for intergalactic exploration blighted by oversight before getting his prized midnight snack of yoghurt and doughnuts from the equipment room icebox.

 

(See what I mean about punctuation?)

 

So, please champion my cause, post your entries, and above all, have fun!

Edited January 24, 2014 by kiavonne

[kiavonne]

Dang, I keep looking for my font, and I am probably messing with the early birds' eyes!

 

Sorry about that folks.

Edited January 24, 2014 by kiavonne

[Apprenti]

Woo hoo! Better get started then!

[kiavonne]

Good to see the enthusiasm, Apprenti!

[the flexistentialist]

Well I took a stab at it last night – I'm afraid it might be a bit long, but I've written it probably 20 times now and can honestly say it showed me some hot spots in my handwriting I truly need to focus on.

 

Here goes:

 

As the elusive "Egyptian Gypsy" ascended the platform of the guillotine, he remembered the merry misadventures that led him there — how he 'accidentally' grabbed the grubby bejeweled giraffe in Tennessee that sparked the kerfuffle in Clackmannanshire with the flabbergasted sheriff who followed him through Mississippi where he used the maximum amount of savvy necessary to beguile the bookkeeper in Buffalo to dodge the cops following him until he could get to Cairo, which was filled with so many possibilities, so much potential … so many purses to be successfully pilfered again and again until he was chased to Tiananmen where he 'borrowed' the baggage, but never pulled the trigger as he was accused, which naturally forced him to conceive a difficult plan to bluff the gruff chauffeur in D.C. — but it turned into a big squabble with the ruffian from the Mediterranean that, upon assessment, probably gave the officials the equipment needed to send the one underhanded telecommunication that ended the affair and sent this braggart anxiously wobbling up to face his final comeuppance.

 

Hand-written version – boy, I need to get back into practice

 

 

 

 

 

This is a great contest that gave me a very pleasant night of international espionage and handwriting practice – for that I thank you very much!

 

The Flexistentialist

[kiavonne]

Wow, The Flexistentialist, that was a lot of fun! Great job opening the gate!

 

(now I have to go and try to write it!)

Edited January 29, 2014 by kiavonne

[Apprenti]

Hi everyone!

 

I've been working on my practice sentence and this is what I've got:

 

http://i1171.photobucket.com/albums/r555/Josiah_Goldsmith/Presidentsdaycomp.jpg

Written with my Noodler's Creaper and Lamy blue-black (thanks Tas!)

 

And here's something I did as a warm-up: a six page epic utilising every word in the list! It's a bit rushed because I'm pretty bogged down with school work and a cold at the moment, but I figured some of you may enjoy its randomness

http://i1171.photobucket.com/albums/r555/Josiah_Goldsmith/page1competition026.jpg

http://i1171.photobucket.com/albums/r555/Josiah_Goldsmith/page2competition027.jpg

http://i1171.photobucket.com/albums/r555/Josiah_Goldsmith/page3competition028.jpg

http://i1171.photobucket.com/albums/r555/Josiah_Goldsmith/page4competition029.jpg

http://i1171.photobucket.com/albums/r555/Josiah_Goldsmith/page5competition030.jpg

http://i1171.photobucket.com/albums/r555/Josiah_Goldsmith/page6competition031.jpg

 

As you can see, neither of these are without mistakes. But that's because they were both quite a challenge to write!!! I enjoyed this immensely though; I love writing and I love fountain pens (even if I have only got a couple at the moment, that will change soon!) and I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!

 

Have fun! I'll keep checking back here to see what other creative creations spawn as a product of this magnificent thread

Joe

[the flexistentialist]

Egads and forsooth, indeed! I need a bigger piece of practice paper! That was quite impressive Apprenti. Love the Scarlet Pimpernel reference. I believe your epic just sealed the fate of my evening – one really long practice session.

 

(Hope your cold gets better!)

 

The Flexistentialist

[kiavonne]

Your entry is great, Joe, and that was also quite the warm up!

[Apprenti]

I love the Scarlet Pimpernel book. Few people seem to appreciate good literature and good communication nowadays, and I think it's important to try and keep that alive. I. Often just download classic books onto my kindle app and read when there's nothing to do: on the train, between classes etc.

 

Thanks for the nice comments. It was fun to write!

 

Joe

[Apprenti]

(Hope your cold gets better!)

 

The Flexistentialist

Thanks, it's beginning to disappear and I think the writing might even have helped hehe

 

Joe

[DanF]

Kiavonne ---

 

I am going to ask for some clarification of the rules, as upon finishing (at least for now) my entry, it runs about a page and a half on single spaced wide ruled paper, something close to 150 words, whereas the winning entry that you posted from 2008 was around 90 words, or about a full sheet of paper, at least the way I write; however you suggested something like half a page and double spaced at that, which would be quite a bit shorter than the previous winner, or any of the entries posted so far - so you see perhaps now where my confusion arises - I am wondering whether I have to edit severely in order to avoid disqualification of my "sentence" based on the Part Two instructions, which nobody seems to be following so far.

 

Dan

[Apprenti]

I thought the rules were either half a page or a full page but double spaced, but perhaps mine is a bit long. Kiavonne, you don't mind the length do you?

I don't think the idea of this thread is to painstakingly ponder over the rules but to have fun and write something!

Edited February 1, 2014 by Apprenti

[Apprenti]

And also, if you ignore the title on mine it's only about half a page. I don't think anyone's not adhering to the rules and I don't think we should be treating this as a strict competition where winning is the important thing. I thought the idea was to have fun writing a practice sentence.

 

Personally, I'd love to see your entry and I'm sure everyone else does too.

 

Thanks for starting this thread Kiavonne! If my entry is too long I'd be only to happy to shorten it.

 

Joe

Edited February 1, 2014 by Apprenti

[kiavonne]

Dan, please submit your entry, without edit.

 

I understand that some people write differently than others. I posted earlier that a little over, a little under, it's not going to be an issue. I wanted to let folks try their hands at a practice sentence, and have fun, but not lose interest in the task when using the sentence. If I space out the original sentence from 2008 to be able to write it, in my writing, it comes to nearly a a full page. Back in 2008 (not a competition), I had hoped that thread would never die and the practice sentence would continue to grow, I enjoyed it so much. I had visions of contacting the Guinness World Book of Records! For this competition, I didn't want folks to feel like they had to create something that they would not be comfortable writing or that others would not want to try writing. So, I threw in some parameters, but they are flexible.

 

People are different in their writing. And, just the nature of some of these words will space things out, too. Some may want a practice sentence not only for their words, but for the tale being told. Some may choose one for just words, or may even just practice writing the list of difficult words. So, hey, a little over, a little under, it's all good. We're also here to have some fun with practice.

 

(Joe, your entry is fine)

Edited February 1, 2014 by kiavonne

[kiavonne]

I should point out, Joe's actual entry is not his six-page epic, which was just for fun to use all the words. (And, rutabaga is a turnip. I'm afraid I don't like turnips, not even in my stews. )

[Apprenti]

Turnip?!? I don't like turnips either, I don't think I even knew what rutabaga is!

 

Any one else with an entry? Looking forward to seeing what others come up with.

 

Joe

[MINItron]

Here is my sentence written in my rather poor Missouri public school cursive. I haven't managed a clean copy in a nicer hand yet, though I am still trying.

 

[Apprenti]

Haha, I like it! Good one!

 

Joe

[kiavonne]

Well done!

 

Just another 12 days to go!