News flash! Six months until you can enter this international writing competition – but you may need the time

I only became aware of Erma Bombeck a couple of years ago and I regret that I never read any of her newspaper columns. She must, though, be a very familiar name to anyone on the other side of the Atlantic because her witty, pithy words on  a housewife’s lot were apparently read twice weekly by thirty million readers of 900 newspapers in US and Canada from the mid 1960s to the early 1990s. (Can that statistic really be true? Anyone good at maths reckon that’s feasible…?)

To remember and celebrate her writing life, an international  writing competition is held every two years – you can submit entries emulating  her style from January 2014. The first prize is $500 and 525 writers from 7 different countries and 48 states entered in 2012. More details HERE.

Detail of Image:Sampler by Elizabeth Laidman, 1760.jpg (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

While you’ve got six months to hone your entry, she is a tough act to follow as this quote shows. I think it should be displayed in cross stitch in every home…

“My second favourite household chore is ironing. My first being hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint.”

That woman knew a thing or two. Here she is again on the same subject:

         “Housework is a treadmill from futility to oblivion with stop-offs at tedium and counter productivity.”

And the delicious:

          “My idea of housework is to sweep the room with a glance.”

photo credit: loungerie via photopin cc
Related articles

• Good Ol’ Erma. (helenruby.com)
• Erma Bombeck’s List of How She Would Have Lived Her Life Over (mbtimetraveler.com)