Winners!! -- Challenge of Inspiration II
Ok, ok, these phrases didn't draw the level of inspiration I thought they might, but hey, that's why it's called a challenge! What I really love about these challenges is that you never know who's going to be inspired by the entries, and it's awesome to see the responses start to come rolling in. For this, I'm going to give the next challenge a bit more time.
Let's get right to it. @Huckleberry_Hoo took this challenge by the horns and came out almost completely unscathed. I mean, who edits out one of the challenge parameters? Still, the genius was there, and that's what really counts. Seriously, if you haven't read it, you definitely should--it's so worth it! HH takes the win for the initial entry part of the challenge. However, there were some really neat stories which deserve mention.
You just never know when you're going to get the old FUJIMO! @DrSemicolon brought it to the table and slammed it down! Nice work! @Fabulam had a brilliantly creative entry with Battle of Mind and Soul. I really hoped @LilMisWordSmith would submit a response, but it was just too late. Fortunately, she did post a response in This Sweet, Handsome Devil's Last Chance, which is truly an inspired piece following Thunderstruck from @Embc -- a throwback for us old farts who still pine for those glory days. @ElisePotato -- I so enjoy this author! Burn Away the Tears. I would have responded to this one, myself, if I hadn't been so buried last week. Check this out: @DanPhantom123 submitted an entry without actually submitting it into the challenge, so you'll have to do a quick search for it. "Loving. Is a Rare Kind of Lifeline" is the title. It's a read, my friends, but the pace is so quick, you'll be through it and reading it again in ten minutes, easy.
Secondly, along with LilMisWordSmith, there were some great responses inspired, which is exactly the kind of chain reaction I hope to see. @Fabulam had a fabulous response to @Ola_8 -- if you haven't seen this pair, I highly recommend that as well. @Lou1913 threw down a nice response to @Akitoyu 's Reaching Wings. Akito, may I add, is a badass.
The big winner of the response part of the challenge, as I'm sure you'll agree, is @Mavia with her response to HH's heart-wrenching, tragic story of young love revisited, where the story delivers an unexpected and empowering twist. Please, if you haven't read this tandem tale, do so now. You will not regret it!
So congrats to the winners, and thank you everyone for another showcase of creativity! I continue to learn lessons as the entries come in, and I hope I've done my part in coming up with a more inspirational set of phrases for the next: Challenge of Inspiration III, which is linked below.