Hear ye, hear ye! We have a WINN-AH!

The wait is over!

Deciding on the best entry in the Writer Unboxed AlphaSmart 3000 Contest was a wee more complicated than we thought it might be (a little like juggling three trumpets, maybe).

Wanting to rule out any possible bias, we asked Kath’s hubby to take all the entries and plop them–without names, links or any identifying info–into a Word document. Then Kath and I moved to our separate corners, read, then came together to chat…and chat some more.

We really struggled deciding who to crown the new King or Queen of Unboxed-ness. There were so many fabulous entries.

Entries about daily struggles, like stealing time at 3 a.m. to write haikus on the shower wall after changing a diaper.

Entries relaying inventive stories about dragons, madness, four-footed vampires, WWII lovers and habanero pepper lip gloss (oh, my!).

Entries from people who love being unboxed or who choose what boxes they do have wisely.

Entries from people dedicated to learning all they can about craft–even when they’re waking at 5 a.m. to do it–but who also know they must stop obsessing about how things should be done at some point and write from the gut.

Entries from people who are true storytellers; who dream in rhyme, type to music, muse poetically, snub fear and embrace critique; and who’ve learned that nothing in the writing life should be dubbed sacred, because that sort of labeling cries out for a box to stick to.

We had a blast with this contest, and we hope you all did too. We enjoyed reading all the entries and getting to know all of you a little better.

In the end, we did finally make a decision, because there was ONE entry that caught our attention, and that made us stop and think and nod. And so, the winner of the Writer Unboxed AlphaSmart 3000 (plus chocolate) contest is,

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*KELLY BOYCE!
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CONGRATS, KELLY!

You’ll soon be opening a FedEx box to find your new Alphie, along with these extras:

• 3 AA batteries
• AlphaWord and Calculator SmartApplets
• USB cable
• User’s Guide

And some really good chocolate.

Because we thought you might want to see what we appreciated about Kelly’s entry, we asked her if we could post it on WU and she’s kindly agreed. Here ’tis:

What makes me an unboxed writer?

I’ve killed my muse. I know, I know…it doesn’t seem like a very sound or balanced thing for a writer to do but she was giving me nothing but grief, coming and going on a whim, showing up when she pleased at the most inconvenient of times, not showing up when I truly needed her. I would sit there, glaring at my blank screen, chanting her name. She ignored me. I tried to coax her with pretty words, bribe her with chocolate, shout her out. She dodged and weaved all my attempts. She laughed, mocked. I could hear her in my sleep, but I could never get a firm enough grip to hold her down, pin her in place, make her stay. So I killed her. Tossed her into the mindfield of ideas and watched her explode into a million glittering pieces. Then I sat down, and went back to work with my new friend, Persistence. She’s far more reliable.

Kath and I think killing one’s muse is a pretty unboxed, wildly creative and damned fearless thing to do. We loved this entry. And because we’d like to learn more about her process and all of what killing one’s muse entails, we’ve invited Kelly–who is also the blog mistress at It Was A Dark & Stormy Night–to join us sometime within the next few weeks for a guest post.

Meanwhile, we have a package to mail!

We hope you’ll all join us in wishing Kelly CONGRATULATIONS and much success typing the Next Best Unboxed Classic on her new Alphie. And let’s not forget about that chocolate…

Thanks again to all who participated. Write on!