I entered the contest, but don’t love what I did with unforsaken. You can read mine and all the entries in the comment section of Janet Reid’s blog. It looks like others had trouble as well, so that makes me feel a bit better.
As I whined about how nothing I wrote with unforsaken was working, my husband suggested trying it from a different angle. In the end, I abandoned the different angle story. The way I used the word felt like cheating, but the exercise helped loosen me up.
“Unforsaken?” The witch stared into her cauldron. How many times had she warned her pet ghost not to slurp his lunch near her workstation? Alphabet noodles always wreaked havoc on her deadly potions.
She plucked fur from the decaying rat corpse in the corner and added it to the pot along with some eye of newt. Then she stirred the concoction again and new noodles bubbled to the surface: slay.
“Ah,” the witch smiled. “Much better.”
Thanks for the idea, honey!
The Empty Pen 
Aw, what at nice solution! I liked that little story. 🙂
Thanks!
I’m not too crazy about these writing contests where they give you a few words you have to use. Your mentioning that the way you “used the word felt like cheating” tells me why I don’t like the contests: they somehow feel like I’m cheating. But hmmm. Maybe I outta be a bit less stubborn? I liked your piece!,
I like these contests because of the challenge. I don’t look at them as my next great story idea, just a new and different way to stretch my writing muscles. If they’re short and simple, they can be fun. I would suggest trying one and if you don’t like it, you can go back to being stubborn.