’tis the season for several contests.

One is me against the oak pollen. Or, more precisely, the oak pollen against me. The oak pollen is winning. I relearned a lesson the hard way yesterday. My Velcro kitty, Nikki, wants to cuddle. She had been outside all day leaving roll-marks in the pollen on the driveway and deck. She hopped up in my lap, gave me a head butt, snuzzled a t-shirt, and jumped down, leaving yellow gunk all over me. Sneezing fit lasted 20 minutes. Maybe I won’t cuddle with her for a while. Even brushing the gunk out of her no-longer-white-but-now-dingy-yellow fur brings on itchy eyes and ears, plus a fair number of explosive sneezes. Better check the tissue supply. Or use an old bed sheet.

The next set of contests are writing contests. They seem to sprout along with the dandelions.

I worked hard over the past several weeks on a short story, a poem (more as a joke, because I am really not a poet), and a personal essay. Each is targeted at specific contests. The short story already placed third in the Virginia Writers Club “Inside the Back Cover” contest (see blog entry below). I have entered it in another regional contest and am seriously considering entering a national contest.

The poem? Actually, four haiku. More of a joke because a coordinator of a contest was complaining that she had very few entries. I sent one so that she’d at least have a wee bit of content. And then I decided it too could go to a regional contest.

As for the personal essay, definitely targeted for the regional contest.

We’ll see what happens. Inspiration comes between sneezes, but at least it comes.