#50 Precious Words – The Story of Becoming You

​ Part 1 – Time to be Born: Meet Vivian Kirkfeld, former Kindergarten teacher and writer extraordinaire! She’s published six fabulous books, with more in the pipeline.

​She’s also the creator of the #50 Precious Words Contest. She started it back in 2016. Since then, it’s grown and grown.
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This year 724 people entered. Over 200 people, including me, earned an honorable mention. It was the thrill of my writing life, so far! 57 people won great prizes that included the chance to work with well-known authors, editors, and agents. No wonder 724 people entered!

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Here are the two entries from 2020 and 2021. Writing something with just 50 words, it was a challenge!
 
A Story, 2020                                                                                         Time to Be Born         

Baby, can’t sleep?                                                                                 Baby, do you remember –           
Here’s a story about you –                                                             Laying safe and warm                                                
Tucked safe and warm in your mama’s belly.                       Beneath my heart?
You twisted and turned.                                                                  You twisted,
But it still wasn’t time.                                                                      Turned side to side.
Hours passed.                                                                                        You stretched,                                                
Then a day. Was it two?                                                                    Tried to kick.                                      
You twisted, tried turning.                                                             No room for you.                                           
You needed more room.                                                                  Time to be born.
That’s when you knew it was time to be born.                   You rushed out,                                 
Hello, Baby! Welcome home.                                                       Found a family
55 words – OOPS! Too many!                                                     And a home.
                                                                                                                        Where we’ll always
                                                                                                                        keep you safe and warm.     
                                                                                                                        This time – only 47 words – with 2 extra lines!

 If you’d like to read the posts I wrote about #50 Precious Words in 2020 and 2021, here are the links:

Rinda Beach - Blog - Rinda Beach   -   #50 Precious Words – the 2020  

​Rinda Beach - Blog - Rinda Beach  -  Grandma Inspiration – Stories to tell - Stories to Write – 2021

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​Part 2 – Becoming You:  I decided to skip #50 Precious Words this year. I was writing other things. I ignored Vivian’s announcement in February. I helped friends with their March submission, and I wasn’t going to enter . . .

​Until March 6th. The deadline was 11:59PM, that night. I don’t know why, but at 3PM I decided to write something. I had ten minutes till lunch, and an idea kept nudging me. I thought why not give it a try.

My idea – to write about how babies develop inside their mothers. I found a source with photos and descriptions that showed the baby grow month by month. I tried to write it last summer, but I got stuck. Too many words!

I wrote that story on March 6th. The framework was easy. I wrote my 50 words in ten minutes. It took another ten minutes to revise it. I reached out to a few critique partners, got their feedback, and did my final changes in ten minutes, again. I’ve never written or revised anything that fast – 30 minutes total! I posted Becoming You at 10:30 PM. It felt like magic!
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​​ Becoming You
 
Four weeks
Bean-size you.
 
Eight weeks
Two eyes appear.    
 
Twelve weeks
Ten fingers to count.

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​Sixteen weeks
You winked at me!
 
Twenty weeks
You’re a girl!

Twenty-four weeks
You moved?!

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​​Twenty-eight weeks
You sucked your thumb.
 
Thirty-two weeks
A somersault, really?!
 
Thirty-six weeks
And here you are!

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​PS – Becoming You has gone through 4 revisions already, and it will go through a few more before my writing friends think it’s submission ready.