From My Mind to....

Submitting to a Contest Outside WDC

There seems to be two kinds of people who blog--those who so do faithfully and regularly, and those who do not.  It's safe to see in which category I fall.  Perhaps I can change that...

Recently I received a flyer from a local arts group advertising their 8th Writing Contest with three available categories:  Fiction, Non-fiction, and Poetry.  Despite all the poetry I've written this year, and because I couldn't decide which three were my best, I decided to submit one of my short stories.  Once again, I couldn't decide which one to submit, so I asked my wife to help me choose.  And that was a rather eye-opening experience for me.

I printed each of seven stories I thought might be good enough to submit.  I've posted their links here in no particular order:

"The Refuge"  [18+]
"Little Ships"  [ASR]
"My Dearest Son"  [ASR]
"The Meaning of Me"  [13+]
"Little Jamey"  [ASR]
"The Accidental Visit"  [E]
"Butterfly Kisses and Baby Bear Hugs"  [E]

I knew what you folks on WDC thought of my work from the reviews, ratings and number of views.  I also had an idea which were my favorites.  I have to commend her first choice--it was mine as well, and was the one I won a Short Shots competition.  But none of the other stories matched my, or your, choices at all. It gave me something to ponder.

Of course I asked her why she chose as she did.  A couple of the stories were more personal in nature, or were about things that happened in our family--those she liked better.  And since I never explained anything about the stories, I realized how much I had "put into them" despite my efforts to sanitize anything family from them.  For those of you who actually may read these stories, you may guess on one or two that fit what I'm talking about. 

Then again, I think that's what make them good, IMHO.  I believe a writer has to invest himself in his characters and his story.  I continually ask myself how would I act in that circumstance.  And then I let my results speak for themselves.

Hopefully, the judges will see my way too.  Oh, yeah, my submission: 

STATIC

Little Ships  (ASR) The miracle of Dunkirk is remembered by an old survivor. #1616299 by JACE

 

I wonder if I'll have to split any winnings with her.

Get your tickets now for the WDC 2012 Meet & Greet next August.  Check it out!

[CANCELED]: 2012 Writing.Com Meet & Greet  (ASR) Details & order form for our Meet & Greet in Newark, New Jersey on August 4, 2012. #1813897 by The StoryMaster