Saturday Wordzzle Challenge: Week 55

This is week 55 of the Saturday Wordzzle challenge. Anyone new to the process can refer back here to find out how it works. I thought these words were very difficult but once I got started I had kind of a good time with them. Still, I think I need to come up with a new system... or maybe therapy for my muse who seems to go a bit nuts when she spews out the new words every week. Anyway, looking forward to reading everyone's offerings.

The words for this week's ten word challenge were: humanity, shadow, ricochet, wrong, pluralism, mathematics, person-hood, printing press, ink spot, choral society Mini Challenge: kingdom, take names, best seller, three times, inner demons

This week's 10 word challenge is:

Despite the fact that modern presses were faster and not subject to problems like ink spots and irregularities, Martin Lundgren missed his old printing press. He missed the challenge, the mathematics and artistry of spacing lines in a manuscript so that they looked right. He loved the light and shadow of hot type and how it reflected the human agents behind the publications. So many of life's modern improvements took the humanity, the person-hood out of things, gave them a bland perfection that he found boring and disheartening. Although when working on something like the book he was printing up now, it was a blessing indeed! Even the title - PLURALISM IS WRONG - was boring. And another blessing... it gave him time for other things. He did love having the extra time to play a good game of Ricochet with his youngest son and singing with his teen-age daughter and his wife in the choral society. Singing didn't carry the tactile pleasure of setting hot type, but it was a joyful source of both communion with his family and creative expression. On the whole, he guessed, there was more gain than loss with his the new machines... and he still had the old hot type out in the garage for an occasional special creative project... like today's special birthday book for his daughter. He hoped she would feel the love in the the paper and the ink and how it reflected her own unique magic. Life, he thought, was pretty good when you had a wonderful family and the best of both the old and new.

And the mini challenge:

Three times topping the best seller list for 6 months or longer (with small breaks in between as some new flash in the pan breezed through) was more than Kate Ravenlea had hoped for even in her most lavish fantasies. Who would have thought that the inner demons who had tormented her and held her down for most of her life would turn out to be the key to her fame and financial well being? When she had begun writing "Demonalia: Kingdom of Inner Voices Gone Wrong," she had wanted nothing more than to tame and take control of the chorus of voices that ranted at her from the darkest corners of her mind. When she had begun her book by saying out loud: "Listen up, monsters. Your time has passed. The party's over. Demonalia is under new managment. I'm coming after you. I'm going to take names (and perhaps give them where needed) and I'm consigning you guys to the obscurity you deserve," it had felt more like bravado than truth. But here she was four years later, self-assured and rolling in dough. Demonalia was indeed under new management.

This week's mega challenge: printing press

Kate Ravenlea's best seller had struck a chord with large numbers of people because it spoke to their common humanity. She had made false starts three times writing "Demonalia: Kingdom of Inner Voices Gone Wrong." It was originally titled - big mistake - "Coming to Terms with Your Inner Demons and Taming Your Shadow Side to Achieve full Person-hood." Mercifully a good editor had read past title, seen the value in the book and helped her settle on the final Demonalia title. By some miracle, the process of writing her book had healed something deep inside her. The pluralism of sane and insane voices ricocheting off each other in her head, while not totally silenced was greatly stilled. The mathematics, the enormous proportions of the book's snowballing impact, continued to stun her. "Demonalians" and "demonalia" had become household words around the world. And the book had touched so many lives. A composer in California had written a twelve part musical work called "The Defeat of Demonalia." She was to be the honored guest when the New York Choral Society premiered it tonight at Carnegie Hall. Then there were the letters she had received from all over the world. They moved her to tears and and sometimes to joyful laughter. Ink Spot Publications was talking with her about a new book using the letters and she was really excited about it. Some of them were profoundly touching in ways that would be healing to many, many people. Her publisher had asked her to take names and addresses to the legal department so that they could work on clearing away any legal obstacles that might stand in the way of the new book. "I'm thinking Ink Spot may need to buy a couple of new printing presses just to keep up with the demand for your books, " her agent had joked. But you know what was the best thing about all this excitement and good news was for Kate? There had not been a peep out of the residents of Demonalia. Not a peep. Life was not just good, it was glorious!

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Next Week's Ten Word Challenge will be: partition, imagination, salvation, mirror image, green power, highway, roasting marshmallows, serial killer, autograph, cartography

Mini Challenge: cell phone, Big Mac, panther, legendary, poets corner

Thanks for playing. For those who are new, here are some guidelines to make the process more fun.

Enjoy! See you next week.

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Please note: There are a fair number of new people visiting, many sort of new to the blogosphere as well. Please only sign into Mr. Linky if you are participating in this week's Wordzzle Challenge. That's what it's for. It makes me cranky when people sign in just to get visitors. I know for some this is/was an innocent breach of blog etiquette so I won't hold it against you. But don't do it again, please. Other Mr. Linky advice. If your name is already in Mr. Linky from a previous participation, make sure to update it. Mr. Linky tends to be stuck in the past if not given his due. Thanks, Raven.