Inscribe Winner for August Word Challenge A

Congratulations to Bruce Atchison who won the most recent ICWF Word Challenge.

I am the Ontario Representative for Inscribe and one of my responsibilities includes creating a mini contest for Inscribe members. We have a lot of fun doing this and it helps give participating writers at all levels, motivation and encouragement.

If you are not familiar with Inscribe Christian Writer's Fellowship - check out the website. http://www.inscribe.org/. I promise you, you will not be bored! This is one of the most deliciously filling sites I have savoured. The information found on this site for writers will tempt the palate and before long you will find yourself tasting and being filled beyond your expectations (can you tell I haven't had supper?)

This most recent exercise for Inscribers was the following:

"Write a paragraph about a cat attacking something, but don't use the words, HISS, SCRATCH OR POUNCE. This might be a good challenge for those of us who have quite a time telling rather than showing. Find some lovely descriptions and make it a visual treat."

The votes are in and the winner is Bruce Atchison who wrote the following piece:

The Queen

Though summer is a time for memorable family activities, minor episodes can also leave lasting impressions. This recollection from my teenage years comes back to me as clear as if it happened yesterday.

Brilliant sunlight poured through the living room picture window early one evening as my family and I watched TV. Cocoa, our Siamese cat, gracefully entered, intent on stretching out in one of her customary spots. Then she froze, her sky blue eyes locking onto her favourite game.

In the centre of the rectangle of sunlight on the light brown carpet, a foolhardy fly sat motionless and exposed. This chance was too good to miss. Like a hunting jungle tiger, she slunk through the shade cast by the chesterfield to within two feet of the unsuspecting insect. Seeing that the fly hadn't noticed her stalking it, Cocoa crouched lower, gauged the distance to the target, and launched herself. Her lithe creamy body described a perfect arc as her dark chocolate forepaws pinned down her prey. Cocoa's expression abruptly changed as she sniffed the inert object.

It was a watermelon seed that a careless human dropped. With all the haughtiness a feline could muster, she straightened up and strode underneath the chesterfield. She flopped down and glared at us, her violently swishing tail conveying her righteous indignation. The raucous laughter from my sisters and me only deepened her chagrin at making such an undignified mistake. The Queen, as we nicknamed her, was definitely not amused.