Hellooo, George -- it's just the beginning ...

George Clooney stepped out of the limo, looked into my eyes and flashed his famous smile. “Are you …?”

How would I finish this sentence? My mind has been boomeranging around possible answers: “Are you … Martha? “Are you … on the editorial staff at The Writer? “Are you … available? Yes, yes, YES to all of them! That first sentence is just the beginning of what could be a beautiful story. It could go anywhere my imagination takes me.

And that’s what we’re looking for from you—a writing prompt; a sentence that could be the beginning of a beautiful story that could go anywhere. If you have an idea for a prompt, please post it in our "submit a prompt" forum topic by noon next Friday, May 7.

We’re going to review all your suggestions and pick one that we’ll post with a request for short responses. Once we receive the responses from you, we’ll pick a winner that will be published in our newsletter; the author of the winning response will also receive a year’s subscription to The Writer. If you need ideas or inspiration to write a prompt, take a look at the ones already submitted in the Writing Prompt forum. We've got some great ones already!

Good luck! We’re looking forward to reading your creative suggestions.

Now … back to my story with George.

Note:
• The Edgar Awards
Those of you who are fans of the mystery genre will be happy to hear that the Edgar Award winners for 2010 were announced last night. The Mystery Writers of America (MWA) awards Edgars in several mystery/crime categories, including best novel; best first novel by an American author; best paperbacks original; best fact crime; best short story; best juvenile and best young adult.

This year, MWA awarded the Best Novel Edgar to The Last Child by John Hart, who has racked up an impressive Edgar run for someone who has written only three books. His debut mystery, King of Lies, was nominated in 2007 for the Best First Novel by an American Author. Although he didn’t win that year, he went on to win Best Novel in 2008 with his second book, Down River.

This year’s Best First Novel by an American Author went to In the Shadow of Gotham by Stefanie Pintoff. To stock up on great book titles for your reading list, take a look at the Edgars website.

-- Martha Lundin, editorial associate

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