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Thursday, October 9, 2014

Day 1 of the Go Teen Writers Word War


Jill here! As Stephanie mentioned, today we're kicking off a six-day word war here on the blog.

Today is my travel day. I am driving to Tahoe right now. That means you all get a big head start on me! I'm looking to be settled in the hotel sometime this afternoon. I'll check in with you then to see how you're all doing. Can't wait!


Is this the first you've heard of a word war? If so, here are the details:

This word war is a friendly competition to motivate participants to type as many words as possible between now and Tuesday the 14th. 
While some word wars are shorter (fifteen minutes or an hour) and strict, this will instead be a come-and-go, write-when-you-can style of war. So start when you want to and write as much as you can. There are no hard and fast rules. This is about encouraging each other and writing a lot of words. It's that simple.

How you can connect with each other:
1. You can connect in the comments section of the blog. There will be a post every day and a final word count post on Wednesday. So post your final word counts every day. Or post them in segments, if you prefer. Something as simple as "Just wrote 1,000 words in the last hour!" is fine. Seeing everyone's posts will help to encourage each other in knowing that we're all hard at work.

2. If you want to break the time into smaller word wars, you can post that in the comments section too. For example, you could arrange a word war from 1:00 to 2:00 with a few people. You could also do that on Twitter using the hashtag #GTWwordwar or on the Go Teen Writers Facebook Group (this is a closed group, so if you're not a member yet, apply to join and then shoot Stephanie an email telling her so that she can get you approved right away.)

Happy writing, everyone! Can't wait to join see how many words we write!

237 comments:

  1. YAY! I'm so excited! I hope you have a safe trip to Lake Tahoe!

    I do have to do school today (but I get off tomorrow! yay!), but I usually get done around lunchtime. After that, word war here I come! :D

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  2. I'll be on later this afternoon!!

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  3. Replies
    1. The Word Wars are for coming and going as you wish; you can join whenever you want, leave whenever you want, and come back whenever you want.

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  4. Lunch break at work. Time to crank out the words!

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  5. Yes! Time for World war Three! I mean, WORD war three.

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  6. Question: Can we count words outside of our 100 for 100?

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    1. Absolutely! :) The GTW Word Wars are for anything you're working on writing-related.

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  7. I'll try for it. I'm not sure how I'll do since I'm almost done with my story and I have to work. (Growing up isn't fun.)

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    1. Yay! I'm glad to see you'll be participating this time.

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  8. Would anyone like to Word War? :)

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  9. The girls' way of war. ;)
    Although I am sure there are a some boy-writers too.

    1345 words for today... THE WAR IS ON.

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  10. Replies
    1. MEEE! I haven't written (I'm pretty sure that's the right word...) at all today, and I really need to XD

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    2. If so, do you want to do 3:50- 3:55 or something like that??

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    3. lol I have only written a little this morning, but I feeling the need to write.
      How does starting :50 sound and going for ten minutes?

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    4. I'll jump in, if that's all right! :)

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    5. :50 sounds great...but that is a minute away so maybe we should start at :55. lol I didn't your comment, you must have commented while I was trying to refresh the page and comment.

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    6. The more people the better. @Rachelle O'Neil

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    7. And do you want us to tell your last sentence along with your word count? I've done that before and it's fun :D

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    8. Yes! Lets do that. I did that once and it was pretty fun. :D

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    9. Okie dokie! :D ready...set...GO!

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    10. I got 149, which is low for me because I was handwriting. I'm going to get ahold of a computer for my next ones, though. ;) My last sentence was "I drop my gaze. 'I'm sorry.'"

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    11. Oops, I lost track of time and went a minute over. :-\ I got 385. And I my last sentence was '“Sorry we did get back in time.” John said.' Not exactly thrilling but..

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    12. Cool!! :D I got 151. We were really close, Rachelle! :D My last sentence was "When I turned around, Roan was standing- well, sitting- on one knee." I was too busy fangirling over my OTP half the time to really pay attention to writing :p

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    13. Haha, Emily! Good job, both of you!

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    14. lol. Sometimes when I am writing I just zone out at my computer screen imagining what one of my characters would do in a completely different situation than the one I am writing about.

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    15. Emily, it just occurred to me what your last sentence actually means. How does one sit on one knee?

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    16. haha. I do that too, Mary! :)

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    17. I would join in, but writers block is trying to get in my face so I can't see the next words to write :/

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    18. Maybe the time limit would help you, Jessica! Sure you don't want to try?

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    19. If you're doing another Word War, could I join in?

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    20. Hi, Athelas! *waves* I've been hoping you'd show up eventually! :) I'm going to start a new word war down below, in case Emily and Mary prefer to keep chatting. You're all welcome to join in, though!

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    21. Hi, Rachelle! :) *waves back* Okay, I'll head that direction, then.

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  11. Replies
    1. How long? I'd like to do fifteen minutes.

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    2. Fifteen minutes sounds good to me. At :25?

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    3. Start at :25? 15 minutes is good with me.

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    4. I got 625; how did you two do?

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    5. 435. Great job, Athelas! As always... ;)

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    6. Well done, Rachelle!
      xP Actually, that was a lot better than I've been doing recently. Are we putting our last sentences up here, too?

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    7. 219 words, and my last sentence was “If you want him to live, you can leave, and not bring back reinforcements.” I think I got some grammar wrong

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    8. Great job, Jessica! Ooh, that sentence sounds interesting! I'm fine with doing last sentences; it's actually kind of fun. But I've got to take a break. I'll probably be back in an hour.

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    9. Okay. Good bye, Rachelle! Thank you for Word Warring with me. :)

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  12. I was busy all afternoon, but was just able to get 270 words under my belt. Excited for more today!

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  13. Does anyone want to ww again? I had to scoot earlier so I could hold my baby brother for my Mom and then I fixed snack for my other younger siblings...and myself. ;-) But I am back now!

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    1. How does starting at :00 and going for ten minutes sound?

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    2. Should we say our last sentences?

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    3. I vote for saying our last sentences. That's always interesting.

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    4. I will be joining in as well!

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    5. I got 359. Not splendid, but not too bad. Last sentence: ". Liesel sighed and wrapped her shawl tighter around herself, casting one last glance toward the room she and Adelheid slept in; then she moved across the kitchen toward the door to the cellar. "

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    6. I got 233. My last sentence was "One thing I knew for sure - I had to stop it all, no matter the pain it caused me." That was so much fun!

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    7. I got 325, and my last sentence is 'John joked that if he knew that they were going to have to chase the girls all over the country he would have never gone after them in the first place.'

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    8. only 119 words, 100 less than the last ww. My last sentence was: Barclay growled in frustration and tried to remove the suppressor.

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    9. Great job everyone! Does anyone want to do another?

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    10. 152, better than last time. My last sentence was, "Kathryn sighed."

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    11. Well, I am not sure if I was doing this with anyone but I got 139. I had to leave for a little bit of it anyway :(. My last sentence was "Out of the blue my mouth moved and spoke the words, 'Do you like to run?'"

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    12. Good job. I'm done word warring for the day (unfortunately) because I want to take a break from everything because in few hours I have to do four hours of socializing. Bye. :-(

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  14. I am going to take a thirty minute break. Be back soon for more word wars!!!

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  15. Replies
    1. Hello, Alea! I'd love to! Ten or fifteen minutes?

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    2. How about 10? Start at the :43?

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    3. Sounds good! Would you like to do it where we post the last sentence that we write as well?

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    4. 289 words. Last sentence: Not a small task.

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    5. 332. Last sentence: What am I supposed to do with that? Good job, Alea!

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    6. Good job to you too! Usually my word war word count is a little higher, but I find myself battling with some writer's block. During the word war, I took a break from my novel to work on a fanfiction story that I have been working on for a few months sporadically.

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    7. 230 words. Last sentence: "I am Isabella Grant."

      Thanks for letting me jump in!

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    8. Ah, jumping to a different project would eat up some time...

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    9. Oh, there you are, Linea! :) Great job!

      My first thought on reading your last sentence is that it wrapped up a super intent scene. But I could be reading that all wrong. Funny how perspective changes without context. :D My own sentence would probably be taken as dialogue, but it's not.

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    10. Yes. :) But now I have to work on a blog post, but its a story snippet for a little continuous story I have going so I can still word war.

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    11. It *is* a super intense scene, actually. That was a lot of fun!

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    12. Awesome! I've got to switch to a flash fiction story that's due tomorrow, so give me a couple minutes.

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    13. Haha, I was right, then! :D And yes, I totally meant to write "intense," not "intent." :P

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    14. Rachelle, I hope to participate in your Flash Fiction sometime! It sounds really neat!

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    15. Oh, thank you! You've seen my posts?

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    16. A couple of times. Katie Grace told me about you.

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    17. *grin* That makes me happy! Katie and I are pretty good Internet writing buddies, thanks to these word wars. :D

      Sure, Mickayla! We'd love to have you!

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    18. Hi, Mickayla! We haven't done a WW for a little bit, but we can start a new one! Sure you can join. :)

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    19. What do ya'll think? Fifteen minutes at :15?

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    20. Katie and I are pretty good internet writing buddies too. :) We have kept in touch since the word war in April. I think I word warred with you too, if I remember correctly. And I warred with Athelas.

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    21. Sorry, got all wrapped up looking at you blog, Rachel, and just saw about the :15 word war. Starting a little late, though.

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    22. Yeah, I remember that! It was fun! How about we change it to :17? I got distracted. Come on in, Athelas! ;)

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    23. At :17 sounds good!

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    24. I'd love to do the flash fiction challenge if you host it again, as well.

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    25. Oh, I missed this whole change. I did it from :15 to :25 and got 233. Last sentence: But quickly, otherwise they will come looking for me.

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    26. I got 640. Last sentence: The lock was easy to pick.

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    27. Good job! I got 358 words. Last sentence: At the foot of the wall are several bouquets of white roses.

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    28. Yeah, we got a little screwed up, there. :/ I got 392, and my last sentence was "Maybe I would live, after all."

      Ha, Michayla, I can hardly fault you for looking at my blog. That makes me happy. :) And, Ana, I would love to have you participate next time! I'll certainly be doing it again.

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    29. Great job, everyone! Ooh, Athelas, I like your sentence! So simple, but why is someone picking a lock?! :D

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    30. Alea: (I only just saw your comment) Hi! :) *waves*

      Well done, everyone! I like your sentence, Mickayla. :D Actually, I like everyone's sentences this time... :p

      What are you all working on?

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    31. Well, I'm mostly working on my Beauty and the Beast retelling, but at the moment, I'm working on Flash Fiction for the challenge on my blog. What are you doing?

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    32. I'm working on a fantasy novel.

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    33. Rachelle: I'm working on my Beauty and the Beast retelling, also. (I realized just when the deadline was, and figured I had better get to work... Yay for pushing deadlines! xP) That last sentence, though, was actually a part of a shot story-ish inspired by a prompt posted on Mickayla's blog.

      Linea: Awesome! Fantasy is my favorite genre. What is it about?

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    34. Sorry I disappeared. :) I had some distractions and didn't write much.

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    35. Yeah, it might be good to work on that. ;) Are you doing a longer or shorter one? Mine's pushing right against the 20,000 word limit, and I'll probably have to cut it down to actually make that. :D

      Oh, that's life, Alea! :) Glad to have you back!

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    36. I got distracted also. Mine is for a school-ish writing assignment, but you could write about anything...:)

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    37. Athelas: It's about a girl discovers she’s from another world—one that is governed by the laws of magic instead of the laws of physics like Earth. A sword of deadly magic, lost for centuries, is "powering up" because humans are losing their creativity. She has to find and destroy this sword before it can disrupt the balance between Earth and the other world.

      That's my WIP in a nutshell. :)

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    38. Ah, those can be fun, Mickayla!

      Sounds interesting, Linea! I'm impressed that you've actually got it down to a long logline. :D I really need to sit down and actually summarize my stories.

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    39. Rachelle: I think mine is also going to have to be edited to make it within the word count... I never was good at writing short things. At all. I suppose that's what editing is for, though?

      Mickayla: Oh? What sort of school-ish writing assignment?

      Linea: That sounds interesting. :)

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    40. It sounds awesome, Linea! By the way, I really like your first name, I may use it in a story sometime.

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    41. Rachelle and Athelas: Thanks! I'm glad to have your take on it. :) It did take a while to summarize it "accurately", though.

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    42. Mickayla: Thank you! (and I'd be honored to be used in a story!) It's a Swedish flower.

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    43. Well, it is about a girl, Skylar, who remembers everything since when she was three and scientists are trying to help her find a way to sort through all her painful memories (she hasn't had the best past). It turns out they are actually trying to study her and find out more about her so they can create a formula to make other people remember everything. I explained that awfully... I have to go eat, be back soon.

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    44. Athelas: Yeah, me neither. For some people (Mrs. Morrill, for example), editing is required to beef up the story. For people like you and me, I believe it's the opposite. :D I just need to get the draft finished so I can actually set up a plan for editing. How far through your first draft are you?

      Linea: *grin* I know that feeling.

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    45. That sounds cool--see you soon!

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    46. Mickayla: Ooh, scientists, experimentation, and memory... Sounds fascinating.

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    47. Linea: Your summary sounds awesome! :)

      Mickayla: That sounds really interesting.

      Rachelle: Definitely. It's so hard to write short things, though... *laughs* Yeah. I'm afraid I don't have a whole lot of experience editing, though, so I'm a little nervous about needing to edit. ...Ah, not very far into the first draft, I'm afraid. How far are you?

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    48. You can look at the first part of the story on my blog: pencilscanchangetheworld.blogspot.com! Now I really have to go eat :)

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    49. Everybody: I have to go eat. be back as soon as I can!

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    50. Athelas: I'll answer after TW's WW

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    51. Athelas, ah, don't worry about editing. It's just a matter of making things clearer, tighter, sharper, and all around better. :) If you'd like, I'd be happy to help you out with critiques. If you'd rather not because we're both participating, I completely understand. :)

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    52. And then I forget to actually answer your question. *sigh* I'm on Chapter 8 of 10.

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  16. Finally made it. :) Anyone up for a word war?

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    1. We're doing a ten minute one right above you!

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    2. Okay! Thanks for letting me jump in!

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  17. I really wish I could word war with all of you. Alas, I have a ton of homework and a test to study for, and school must come first. I also haven't finished plotting my next WIP. I figure that when I have time I can word war by writing a character journal entry, though.

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    1. That's too bad, Ana! Hopefully you'll be able to jump in at some point this weekend! :)

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    2. Thanks, Rachelle. I hope so too. You used to be Bluebelle, right? If so, it's nice to see you word warring again. I remember word warring with you back in April, but I was using a different pen name because I was new to the whole blogging thing and hadn't figure out my pen name. Are you still working on the Greek mythology story? Or was that someone else...If I have the wrong person in mind, just ignore my memory.

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    3. I'm flattered that you remember me! :) It wasn't Greek mythology, exactly. It was Greek-inspired fantasy. But, yes, that was me! :) I finished the first draft of it, but I haven't started edits yet because I'm working on a retelling of for this contest - http://www.rooglewoodpress.com/fairy-tale-collections

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    4. of Beauty and the Beast. That's strange- I don't know why it skipped that in my original reply.

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  18. I'm back! Would anyone like to word war?

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    1. Do you want to do 10 or 15 minutes?

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    2. Sorry, I got distracted! I can't right now, but I might be able to in a little while :)

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  19. I have to go eat dinner, sadly... But I'll try to be fast and join in the action!!

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  20. Word war anyone? Time for me to join for a minute or two.... ;)

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    1. I can. How long would you like to go for?

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    2. Ten minutes work for you? Starting at :00?

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    4. Sounds great!

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    5. Awesome!!! :D Hey Athelas!!! :)

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    6. Are we doing ten minutes at :00?

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    7. 219 here.

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    8. I got 336. Well done, TW and Linea! :)

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    9. Well done everyone!

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    10. Good job, Rebekah and Rachelle. :D

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    11. That was fun. (: You guys all did well.

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    12. By any chance is anyone up for another one?

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    13. I need to go for dinner. Thank you for Word Warring with me, everyone!

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    14. I need to go, too. But great job, everyone! It's been a productive day, so far!

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    15. Bye, Athelas! Glad you were able to War for a while.

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    16. I can do one more war. Up for another 10 minutes?

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    17. Bye Rachelle!
      How long can you go for Rebekah?

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    18. I'm up for ten minutes, at :20?

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    19. Hey, can I join you guys on the next word war?

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    20. I don't think I will be able to join in on this next one, if there so be one.

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    21. 445. Thanks for the word war! I'm heading out. :)

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    22. You guys are amazing! :) Thanks for wwing! I gotta eat dinner! :)

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    23. Okay TW. It was fun word waring with you. (:
      I'll do another word war if anyone wants to.

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    24. Okay. It was fun word waring with you guys (:

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  21. Whew. I have been so busy all day I haven't had time to even think about the word war, much lest plot so I can start. O_O Looks like people are getting lots done! Congrats on your progress so far, y'all! ^_^ I'll see if I can finish up some stuff and do some plotting and hope to join you guys later tonight. :) Keep writing!!!

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    1. Hope you'll be able to join us!

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    2. Looking forward to having you with us!

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