Successes to Share

The month of September has brought with it great tidings for me. I’m pleased to report a couple of successes:

• My story Lost & Found won an honorable mention in the LCPL Write On! Short Story Contest.

This was my first story for the Short Story Challenge written way back in January when we started. I had put it on the backburner as I tend to do, and returned to it much later to make the changes suggested by those who critiqued it. For the most part I’m happy to leave my stories to percolate so that I may read it with renewed energy and a fresh eye. This turned out to be a good move for this story.

• My story Reading the Leaves won 3^rd place in the themed short-story contest held by the Creative Writing Institute. They don’t seem to have announced the winners online, but I got this news in the email last week!

The theme for the contest was to write a story of any genre between 1,000 and 2,000 words, but it must contain the given sentences in order without any changes:

I have a list and a map. What could possibly go wrong?

I had a draft of a story that fit the theme. Days before the deadline I rustled up the story proper and whipped it into shape for the contest.

These wins have given me the motivation I need to continue writing. Though the last few months have been hectic on the work front, I continue to plod away at my stories, even its only one page at a time, or revising a little as I go.

So what have you been writing lately?