All Rileyed Up

What do you have to do in the next 14 days?

1. Come up with exciting things to keep the kids busy while they’re out of school, like hang gliding off the roof with a couple umbrellas and a baseball bat. Hey, MacGuyver could do it.

2. Send out last minute cards. E-card or otherwise.

3. Buy last minute presents. And keep them hidden from prying eyes.

4. Partake in a White Elephant gift exchange where you wind up with the clown shoes and bow tie that squirts water. Score!

5. Write something for the True North contest.

Whoa, whoa, whoa… wait… what’s the True North contest?

Trust me, you want to enter this (though part of me would prefer it if you didn’t because it would increase my chances of winning).

True North Snacks, nut snacks from Frito-Lay, is sponsoring a contest for everyone to share their True North Story. In 300 words or less. This story should say what keeps you going, what drives you, what you want out of life, that old chest nut (pun intended).

The winning story writer receives twenty-five grand (just imagine how many postcards I could buy with that) and the story will be turned into a 60-minute commercial directed by Helen Hunt and ideally aired during the Oscars 2009 (which will give you TOTAL bragging rights at that Oscar party you usually don’t like attending because all you wind up doing is making fun of the outfits and speculating over movies you haven’t seen).

So what’s My True North Story?

My writing. That really is what I want out of life, to continue to be a writer who pursues her passion with passion, who writes what she loves, who writes words that can change people or move people or, in select instances, cause them to jump up and scream aloud, “Yes, Elvis is the Man!” (or “I’m all shook up”) I am having trouble formulating this story into a compelling string of 300 words, though.

Can you define irony?

Anyhoo, go ahead and check out the site. Seems like a fun thing to enter, and gives you a chance to really ponder the question “What do I want out of life?” and if you ask me, there aren’t enough of us asking ourselves that question these days.

I visited this new site, FieldReport, which is self-described as the following:

“On the outside, FieldReport is a contest, big enough to get a lot of people involved. On the inside it’s a community of writers and readers dedicated to great storytelling and to breaking down walls of human isolation.

The message of FieldReport is a simple one: The only thing that really matters about life is how you open your heart to it.”

It’s an interesting site. I’m still getting the hang of it. Actually, there’s not much to get – Write or Review. Write your own life stories of 2000 words or less and read ones written by others. You have to review five in order to write one. Winners are judged by other members of the FieldReport community (Fun! Who wants to buy me?).

There are monthly contests to win $1,000 and a grand prize for $250,000. Which is no small chunk of change. It could buy you a sweet Harry Winston ring. Or a house or something. (Which begs the question – who is funding this? Maybe John McCain doesn’t know he’s fronting the prize money.)

All in all, looks pretty cool. The one piece I’ve reviewed so far got a ten from me, about a mother bringing a second child into the home and its effect on the firstborn. I think all of us parents of more than one child remember that feeling of “the second time”… If the rest of the writing is this high quality, you’re in for a treat as a reader.

Go check it out for yourself. Currently, I’m reviewing under the name Riley, but I’m still debating changing the name of my writing persona. It’s a toss up between Glorious Beastmaster and Amiable Anaconda.

Tough call.