Creative Writer Award

Milo James Fowler has just passed on Lesa's Bald Faced Liar "Creative Writer" Blogger Award to me. Thanks, Milo!

It's not all glamour, though. Accepting this award requires me to:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award and link to them.
2. Add the award to your blog.
3. Tell six outrageous lies about yourself and one truth. (Another variant: Tell six truths and one outrageous lie. YOU get to guess which variant I chose – and which statements are true, as well as which are lies.)
4. Nominate six creative liars/writers and post links to them.
5. Let your nominees know that they have been nominated.

Here is a list of either six outrageous lies about me and one truth, or six truths and one outrageous lie. I prefer to think of the "lies" as "creative writing", by the way.

1. Last year I saved my company $2.4M in just three months by spending less than $100 to change the type of "O"-ring used to connect all high-pressure hydraulic hoses.
2. I learned to fly a plane before I learned to drive a car.
3. I've turned down multiple offers for senior management roles within Rio Tinto because those roles would have given me a lot less time to write.
4. I lost 30kg (66lbs) over 18 months using the Weight Watchers program.
5. I have never had a speeding ticket.
6. I was the only person in my high school to study two foreign languages.
7. I have memorised the first three chapters of the Gospel of Luke in the King James Version, and I'm working on chapter four.

Use the comments section to guess which you think are true, and which you think are creative.

Passing on this award is tricky, because it seems that some people don't "do" awards. I guess there's no harm in nominating them anyway. Anyway, my nominations go to Angel Zapata, Erin Cole, Greg "Gladbloke" Bray, Quin Browne and Linda.

Apologies in advance if I've caused offence nominating, or not nominating anyone.

Happy guessing between the truths and creativities!

Going on Holidays

I'm about to go on holiday for a week. I'll be getting away from just about everything, that includes the internet (ergo, this blog). Apparently, you can live without the internet; for short periods. I don't intend to stop writing during this time, and expect to have a lot of material to post when I return.

Give me a challenge!

I want you to present me with your short story writing challenge! Your challenge will be my inspiration and stimulus to imagine and to write; and of course, to entertain. A bit like Mister Squiggle, really.

Your challenge can be one or a couple of words, a theme, a brief character description, a picture: anything, really.. The constraints for your challenge are:

1. No copyrighted or offensive material.


2. Not too much: don't write the story for me. One word can be plenty.


3. Be creative and have fun.


4. By challenging me, you recognise that I retain full ownership of any material that I write in response to that challenge. If this doesn't feel fair to you, don't challenge me.

I will respond to challenges as follows:

1. I reserve the right to not take up challenges for any reason.


2. I will try to send an email back to you letting you know whether or not I intend to take up the challenge.


3. I can't guarantee how quickly I'll respond to the challenge. This is a surge bin after all!


4. When I post my response to each challenge, I'll include the details of the challenge, and acknowledge the challenger. Please let me know what name, if any, you'd like me to acknowledge. Also include anything else you'd like to see with your name, including where you're from, what you do, or a link back to your own website.

Simply e-mail your challenge to me (Bernard) at surgebin@gmail.com

Why Call my Blog Surge Bin?

1. The good names are taken
All the good blogname.blogspot.com names were taken, including "shortstory", "short", "story", and the list goes on. I needed something obscure.

2. I thought it apt
In the world of materials handling, a surge bin allows for the peaks and troughs in production to be 'ironed out' for the downstream processes.

In my world of fiction, this blog is intended to be my surge bin. I have lots of peaks and troughs - it really is a batch process. The downstream processes produce short stories, very short stories and flash fiction. Maybe, poetry.