Call for Submissions: Fourth Annual Cyberspace Memorable Quotes Contest


Yes, it’s that time of the year again when the trees begin to think about dropping the leaves they’ve held on their branches since spring so they can take a nap during winter. The crickets and frogs have vanished along with their chirping and “uhguh” grunting sounds at night. When we let the dogs out for their final walkabout, we hear only the pool noises – the three jets pushing the water rhythmically across the surface…reminding me of rushing mountain streams.

Gamecock football games in Columbia, the South Carolina State Fair setting up next to the Williams Brice football stadium, Halloween candy in the grocery store, Pretty getting out her Pumpkin decorations for her antique empire – clearly signs of the beginning of the countdown to Christmas and the New Year. I am astonished at the warp speed with which we have added another year in the life.

But what year is complete without the Cyberspace Memorable Quotes Contest which celebrates its 4th anniversary this year!

My passion for quotes rivals Pretty’s passion for antiques, and that is really saying something. More to come on Pretty’s new adventures in the antique world very soon (with pictures, too).

I’m doing something a little different for this year’s contest. Hurricane horrors in Texas, Florida, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico have dominated the headlines in recent months, and this week we have had a horror of another kind in our country involving a disturbed man firing into a concert crowd in Las Vegas creating the largest mass murder in our history. Unbelievable tragedy. Meanwhile, we have a president in the White House who makes a flippant warning that our nation is living in a “calm before the storm” without a hint of what that might mean which seems more suitable for a TV cliffhanger than real life. Seriously?

With that in mind, here’s the deal for this year’s contest. We have a theme, and the theme is Peace and Kindness. Please select your favorite quotes that address the theme in any creative fashion that you think will appeal to the judge of the contest which, of course, is moi.

Endowments have been made for the winners this year. Third place will receive the Granny Selma Award for Trying and a prize of $25. Second place will be given the Old Woman Slow Award for Close but no Cigar and a prize of $50. First place will receive the Daddy Glenn L. Morris Award for Quote Mastery and a prize of $75. Today is Daddy’s birthday, and I’m reminded he always won when we played the Quotes game on car trips from Richards to Houston or whenever he felt like random quoting.

Now then, boys and girls in cyberspace, get busy and send your quotes to me at my secret email address of smortex@aol.com. Be sure and leave your real name on them so that the judge can weigh in on favoritism. Just kidding.

The top ten winners will be published on my blog. The deadline for entries is midnight of Friday, October 27th.

Remember: Peace and Kindness is the theme and oh, btw, please make them a priority in your own lives every day.

Have a great weekend and stay tuned.

Published by Sheila Morris

Sheila Morris is a personal historian, essayist with humorist tendencies, lesbian activist, truth seeker and speaker in the tradition of other female Texas storytellers including her paternal grandmother. In December, 2017, the University of South Carolina Press published her collection of first-person accounts of a few of the people primarily responsible for the development of LGBTQ+ organizations in South Carolina. Southern Perspectives on the Queer Movement: Committed to Home will resonate with everyone interested in LGBTQ+ history in the South during the tumultuous times from the AIDS pandemic to marriage equality. She has published five nonfiction books including two memoirs, an essay compilation and two collections of her favorite blogs from I'll Call It Like I See It. Her first book, Deep in the Heart: A Memoir of Love and Longing received a Golden Crown Literary Society Award. Her writings have been included in various anthologies including Out Loud: the best of Rainbow Radio, Saints and Sinners New Fiction from the 2017 Festival, Mothers and Other Creatures; Cowboys, Cops, Killers, and Ghosts (Texas Folklore Society LXIX). She is a displaced Texan living in South Carolina with her wife Teresa Williams and their dogs Spike, Charly and Carl. She is also Naynay to her two granddaughters Ella and Molly James who light up her life for real. Born in rural Grimes County, Texas in 1946 her Texas roots still run wide and deep.

6 replies on “Call for Submissions: Fourth Annual Cyberspace Memorable Quotes Contest”

  1. I’m SOOO bad at remembering quotes. I started writing down lines I like in a notebook which I carry in my purse but I keep forgetting to write them down! Still, I like the sound of this contest and have my eye on the Old Woman Slow prize simply for its name and applicability to moi. What a fun idea, Sheila!

    Liked by 2 people

Comments are closed.