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The Shortest Form of All

By Roy Peter Clark

In an era of journalism business massacres, it's time to turn our attention to Valentine's Day. A little time for a little love will go a long way.

I remember a wintry day in Canada some years ago where I was conducting a retreat for a wonderful group of journalists from the Toronto Star. It happened to be Feb. 14, Valentine's Day, so I conducted a simple writing experiment. Who could write the hottest, shortest, most clever love message ever written?

Our model for this writing was those perennial delights, the little heart candies with messages on them. Think of it: What is the shortest story form ever invented? The headline? The Haiku? The acronymic text message? None of those offers less space for the writer than the valentine heart.

So here's what we have in mind: a Valentine's Day Short Writing Contest.

You will be limited to three lines of text (one or two is acceptable), and a total of 10 characters, as in "Hubba hubba!"

You may enter in any one of three categories (or all three):

1. Journalism love: "Nice Lede!"
2. Presidential candidate love (or hate): "Huck - a - bee."
3. Or generic love or lust (rated PG-13, please): "My space?"

The winner in each category will receive one of the new paperback editions of the book "Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer."

You can enter the contest two ways:

1. Enter your message on this site. Save the image to your computer (following the instructions on the screen) and e-mail it to rclark@poynter.org.
2. E-mail your three lines of text (no more than 10 characters) to rclark@poynter.org.

Enter as many times as you want before Wednesday, Feb. 13. The three winning messages will be posted on Poynter Online (in heart form) on Valentine's Day. Good luck -- and love.

Full post as published by Writing Tools on February 11, 2008 (boomark / email).