Contesting

I did it.

There is a local writing contest. It is called a short-short story contest. Write a story in less than 100 words.

Usually, I am not very good at story writing. I am much better at writing in the memoir style. You know, like this blog.

So it was a challenge. But I got the idea, wrote it out, then edited it about 50 times. There is only so much editing you can do over 100 words. But I reworded this and that, used contractions, took out extraneous descriptions.  Believe me, it is not easy for someone whose writing runs at the mouth to keep things to 100 words.

But I just submitted it. I filled out the email, checking at least 10 times to be sure that I followed the instructions perfectly. I certainly wouldn’t want to be disqualified for not including all of the information requested.

There really is not prize. But it is with a pretty highly respected online news organization. It feels like the prize is just to have done this, and submitted it.

I certainly don’t expect to win. The submissions may be posted, though. So just thinking about the chance to see it “published” online after being reviewed by people who know about writing is exciting.

I haven’t told anyone. If anything comes of it, it will be a surprise. If not, I don’t have to feel stupid. This is the last I will bring it up here unless something comes of it, as well.

My writing has been limited to this blog, and the story I wrote for my grandchildren. This feels like a step forward in the “being a writer” continuum.

Maybe I will try to write stories more often.

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