Trifextra: Week Fifty-Four

Welcome back, Trifectans!  Thanks to all eighty-darn-one of you who linked up with your own interpretations of the one-word prompt, path.  A quick note--many of you have expressed concern over your ability (or lack thereof) to comment on as many as 81 posts, twice a week.  Our official response is as follows: Trifecta is supposed to be fun.  Every aspect of the challenge (except for playing by our zany rules and being kind to one another) is voluntary, and there is absolutely no pressure on you to leave 81 comments twice a week.  Do what you can, when you can, and trust that others are doing the same.  No matter what our numbers, let's keep Trifecta fun, ok?  We assume you already have enough responsibilities elsewhere.

This week's challenge was judged by the community.  In first place, you chose Trudging Through Fog's Shade Redux.  How many times has Trudging won this thing?  We keep track, of course, and it's a lot, every one of those well deserved.

I was twelve when I chose my name: Shade. Shade, with all that it implies: the sheltering darkness of the forest in the heat of the summer; the shadow cast by a lone tree or a tall tower in the moonlight; the restless spirit of one whose time came too soon. 

Before I named myself, my father called me Daughter, or in moments of tenderness, My Heart, and he called my brother simply Lad. Most of the townspeople knew us as Acorn and Little Oak. Lily – well, everyone called her Lily right from the start, and she never did choose a true-name of her own, but accepted the designation chosen for her and grew into it. 

A hunter and a wanderer, my brother called himself Trace, and it is true that he never lost his way no matter how narrow the track or how faint the trail. He understood his path from childhood, and moved through life with the self-assurance that comes with such fundamental awareness of one’s self and one’s place in the world. I suspect that my brother chose his true-name deliberately, with careful forethought and exploration of hidden meanings. I am certain that if you were to go to North Forest today, his footsteps would still mark the trails he loved to walk. 

If I had known then what I knew now – if I could have seen deep enough into the murky future – I wonder what name I might have chosen? A brighter true-name would surely have led me to a different place; a softer one may have brought me to a more serene, more comfortable life. But I chose Shade, and on the day I chose my name, my name chose me.

Second place this week goes to Tara at Thin Spiral Notebook who gave us Sisterhood.  I'm sure by now you've seen Tara's photography, but do yourself a favor and click on this link to check out this photo and how it relates to her post.

Third place was a tie this week, as often happens with community-judging.  Lumdog gave us his own fork in the road with Decisions, Decisions! and Misanthropic Muse rocked our worlds with The Pale Mistress.

Excellent work all of you, and a big congratulations to our top four.

Head on over to our Featured Trifectan tab to get the scoop on our latest highlighted member, and then sit tight until your name is called.  If you leave one comment this weekend, leave it here and give our Featured Trifectan some well-deserved love.

Weeks ago, we said that when our Facebook likes reached 333, we'd do something.  Well, at the present time, we have 358 awesome likes on our page.  If you're not following Trifecta on Facebook, you're missing some witty banter.  In celebration of our amazing community, we want to give away a specific item from our online shop, Tricerashops:

When you enter your link this weekend, you will be prompted to enter your email address if you'd like a chance to win this random drawing for the above-pictured glass.  If you don't plan on linking up this weekend, but still want a chance to win, email us at trifectawritingchallenge@gmail.com and we'll add your name.  One winner will be chosen at random when the linkz close.  If you don't like your odds, feel free to make a purchase from our shop.  All proceeds from the shop go straight back into the site.

This weekend we are venturing into uncharted territories once again.  This Trifextra isn't so much a writing challenge; it's more of a reading challenge.  We want you to scour through your favorite pieces of literature and give us the best 33 words you can find.

Some quick guidelines:

• The writing you choose should not be your own.
• The 33 words should be lifted directly from another source (i.e. don't take 33 random words from Macbeth and shake them into a poem of your own (though that would be an awesome idea for another challenge) and don't take a sentence from the beginning of a book and another from the end--keep the original order).
• Credit your sources.
• You can't use the same 33 words as anyone else in the linkz. Skim through before posting your own.  You can use the same author and even the same title, just not the exact same words.

This weekend is judged by the community.  What are you judging?  Maybe you're judging the craft of the original work.  Maybe you're judging the editing skills of the person who managed to find 33 incredible words from a much larger piece.  Or maybe you're judging the originality of the choice.  It's up to you.  I think we will all recognize our favorites when we see them.

This challenge is community-judged.

• For the 12 hours following the close of the challenge, voting will be enabled on links.  
• In order to vote, return to this post where stars will appear next to each link.  To vote, simply click the star that corresponds with your favorite post.
• You can vote for your top three favorite posts.
• Voting is open to everyone.
• You have 12 hours to vote.  It's not much time, so be diligent! We'll send out reminders on Twitter and Facebook.