It was a close-run race, I have to tell you – and in the winner-take-all world where so much of our lives are led, the revenant renegade Marine Corps general would have beaten the Victorian power couple by a score of 5 to 4…

Which would be a sad day for some, including me – one reader wrote:

I vote for Fighting Bob. First, selfishly, I am in Afghanistan right now and so, it feels appropriate. But, it also reminds me somewhat of Lethargica,* which I loved.

I was really moved by that response, and wrote back to thank them for their service, and their appreciation of my previous works, ending my note with the words, “Vote counted, and if it turns out to be a tie, well - you've broken it!”

Unfortunately, it was not a tie.

But fortunately, we here in the Twigg and t2 ecosystems are not bound by the traditionally binary win-lose model – in fact, both of our projects are actively set against it – seeking to empower readers and writers in every way possible.

I recalled one of my favorite quotes –

Truer words never spoken.

– and had already committed in my mind’s eye to writing up and posting new material for both of these projects, even though I thought that I’d only get “credit” for one weekly post during the contest.

But no matter, I told myself – I’d go the extra mile for love of the game, and the happiness it would bring 44 percent of my readers.

In the real world, no good deed goes unpunished – as my favorite misunderstood magician belts out in the 6th song of Act II in what I will always consider the best musical ever -

Sorry, "Book of Mormon," I know that hurts, but… Turn it off… like a light switch!

Anyway, as I was saying – in any other writing contest, I’d only have condemned myself to working twice as hard for the same result –

– but again, this is Web3 – and this is where the magic happens.

No sooner had I mentally committed to putting in the extra writing sprints than I saw this reply from Wanshu to a question I'd asked on behalf of another TwiggTales writer who'd asked me about it in an AMA.

Such wow. Much generous.

Who needs a sign from the God(dess)(es) when you have a reply from the Admins?

Yes, yes they can - and in t2 and Twigg, they usually will!

So, buckle up, kittens! 😺

In the coming weeks, you’ll get popping fresh material from both War is STILL a Racket (draft chapters) and from Fighting Bob and the Grenadier in Petticoats – probably a detailed account of how to write a book proposal that an agent or editor will say “yes” to – along with a few extras just because...

I love a challenge – a stretch goal – and that’s why I love sharing my writing on t2’s current platform and am so excited about publishing with Twigg when it goes live later this year.

I’m also very excited to read and comment on what everyone else in our Territory (and beyond) creates for this contest.

Happy writing, happy reading!

Best always,

Edward

p.s. Live footage of me sinking under all my writing responsibilities! 😅

This is fine.

* This had a special significance to me, since Lethargica is both my Genesis NFT, and the piece of short fiction which – I believe – may be the most heartfelt (and heartrending) story that I'll ever write.