Welp, I made some promises in IRC and now you all get to suffer the consequences.



It's that time of year again, and last week's judges made the terrible mistake of handing me the reins. I like to keep things nice and simple during the hectic holiday season, so here's the deal:

You guys are going to mosey on over to the December Diamonds website and choose from their dizzying assortment of glistening, six-packed merman tree ornaments. I'm only expecting you to choose one, but if you want more, be my guest!

Then, you are going to write me and my future co-judges a story inspired by that ornament. I'm not gonna be super strict here, I just want to see some element of your pick make it into the story. Be as loose or literal as you'd like. In fact, you don't even have to write about mermen (though it certainly can't hurt!).

I know most of you are going to be spending time with friends and family, so I don't want everyone stressing out. Take it easy, and most of all, have fun with the prompt.

I'm also tossing in a preemptive Word Bounty!

Anyone who crits a story from any previous week gets an extra 200 words. Ideally you should look for a story that hasn't gotten a lot of attention and whose author is still floating around. Doesn't need to be a huge, in-depth write-up, but please do more than 1 or 2 lines.