Home Tour About What's New Help Forums Join Login My Account Shop
Save
Support
E
Book
Store
I
Need A
Savior
301
  

The HOME for Christian writers! The Home for Christian Writers!
The Official Writing Challenge

BACK TO
CHALLENGE
MAIN

INSTRUCTIONS

how it works
submission rules
guidelines for
choosing a level

ENTRIES

submit your entry
read current entries
read past entries
challenge winners



Our Daily Devotional HERE
Place it on your site or
receive it daily by email.





TRUST JESUS TODAY

TRY THE TEST



Share
how it works   Submit

Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Illustrate the meaning of “A Bird in the Hand is Worth Two in the Bush” (without using the actual phrase or literal example). (01/10/08)

TITLE: The Game
By Beckie Stewart
01/16/08


 LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
 SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
 ADD TO MY FAVORITES

I've always been a little competitive in the academic field. Since I am not athletic, I thrive on competition regarding my mind and my own will power to accomplish it. No, I am not a good team player. Nothing frustrates me more than believing I can win, and losing because of the mistake of others. As long as I lose due to my own mistakes or sheer knowledge of someone doing something better than me, I am okay.

So as an only child of a single father, I enjoyed many weekends playing board games with him. He never let me win and so when I did, I knew I had truly accomplished that victory. I will never forget the valuable lesson learned during a competitive game of Scrabble.

This particular game began with a bang for me. I selected the letter closest to "a", and so had gained the advantage of placing the first word down. With my letters I formed the word "greedy" strategically placing the "y" on the double letter score. Because it was the first word of the game, my score doubled because it covered the pink star in the center of the board.

"Wow, thirty points, " my father told me. "That is a great start."

My father looked the board over carefully and played the word "draft" and received eighteen points for his word. No matter how well I did or did not play a word on each turn, I always remained at least five to ten points ahead of my father.

"I am ruling this game," I thought to myself as we were finally nearing the end. With only a few more letters to play, this game would be over and the win would be mine.
"There it is," I suddenly said to myself. With four letters remaining I placed an "r" in the spot that formed two words and gave me twenty more points.

"I believe you misspelled that word," my father challenged. We pulled out the dictionary, and indeed my father was correct. I removed my letter and lost my turn. With one sweeping blow, my father used his last three letters and I subtracted four points from my score. With my spelling error and my father's last word, I lost the game by two points. I should have known that first word was warning me about the traps of life.


The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be right now. CLICK HERE

JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.


This article has been read 457 times
Member Comments
Member Date
Joanne Sher 01/19/08
Enjoyed this read - you kept me interested throughout.
Sally Hanan01/21/08
This one is a little gem. I don't know if you have joined the discussion boards yet, but if you do, you will get many more comments each Monday.
Paula Titus 01/21/08
Great illustration :)
LauraLee Shaw01/22/08
Your last line is my favorite.
Holly Westefeld01/22/08
I really enjoyed this piece, especially how you summed the topic up in a single word, woven casually in to the story, then tied in at the end. I appreciate those stories which employ subtlety.
Just my opinion, but I think you held your own nicely in intermediate.
Hanne Moon 01/22/08
I like how you tied your ending to the first word played. Good job...
Jan Ackerson 01/22/08
Oooh, a Scrabble story! I love Scrabble, and this held me captive from the first word to the last.
Debbie Wistrom01/22/08
Thanks for the truthful testimony. Keep up the good words.
Catrina Bradley 01/22/08
I love Scrabble - my favorite game. DH doesn't like to play because I "always win". Good descriptions of the game and I love the tie in back to the first word played. Intriguing title. Red ink: in the first sentence of the second paragraph, you could leave off the beginning "So".
Good first entry in intermediate! :)
Sara Harricharan 01/23/08
You make this piece come alive with the interactive way of playing scrabble. I liked this piece, how it covers a valuable lesson and does it without daubing too much confusion on it. Very nicely done! ^_^
Loren T. Lowery 01/23/08
An insigtful story into the subtle ways our characters are developed. The writing beautifully shows the love of family and the impact it can have and the lessons we can learn if our hearts and mind are but open.
Verna Cole Mitchell 01/23/08
You chose a very creative way to illustrate the topic. I love Scrabble, too.
Patty Wysong01/23/08
Hearing the internal dialog added a lot to the piece. Great job bringing it full circle, too. :-)
Tim Pickl01/23/08
Your Scrabble score for 'the game' is 13! It's awesome you had a dad who took the time to play--
Dee Yoder 01/23/08
Love the ending on this entry! It was perfect to reflect what you had written before and gave a soft little punch to the message you wanted to give.
Lesley-Anne Evans01/25/08
I really enjoyed reading this. Your writing allowed me to "see" you playing the game with your father. Creatively written and a great little moral at the end without being preachy. Thanks for reading and commenting on my story as well.
Lesley-Anne


   
© MeasurelessMedia. All rights reservedTerms of Service