If you've never joined in on a short fiction contest, I highly recommend it. This was my first one and it has been a blast! 45 entries in all, flooded the pages of Jason Evan's blog Clarity of Night .
Tomorrow is the last day for submitting. You have until July 16th at 11 PM. (I don't recall if that is eastern standard...) Click here for details on rules...
At some point Jason will pick a winner and a few runners up. But there will also be an award given to reader's choice. So here are a few links to my favorite stories, in no particular order...
Entry #32 Freebird by J. Scott Ellis
Entry #27 And Miles To Go Before She Sleeps by Sarah Hina
Entry #22 Crisscrossing Over by James R. Tomlinson
Entry #21 Riding to Extinction by Linda Courtland
Entry #16 Winnie Rides Again by Amy T.
Entry #13 Visiting You In Ward B by K. Lawson Gilbert
Entry #1 Precious Cargo by Charles Gramlich
Luckily, it is not up to me to pick a winner, but if I was forced to choose only one, I think it would have to be K. Lawson Gilbert because hers was written in such an interesting and unique style that was both powerful and emotive. She vacillated between what the MC was thinking (written in italics) and what the MC actually said out loud. I thought it was brilliant mixed with moments of just beautiful writing.
My favorite stanza would have to be...
Are your eyes looking at my face?
Are you really seeing me?
Your lips are as soft as rose petals.
They taste like 1963.
So good luck everyone! it was a lot of fun getting to make some new bloggy friends. I wish us all the best and hope our paths cross on the blogosphere again.
Happy Writing!
16 comments:
You should pick yourself!
Hahaha! Thanks. I suppse we all want to choose ourselves!
Cool! I really appreciate you linking my piece, and that you liked it enough to do so. I found myself wishing I had a little more word space to work with, so that I could really paint him out to be a pig (observing how fat his wife is getting, for instance), then later have him gradually make a few critical self-assessments as well. As it stands, I sort of had to rush at the end and would have enjoyed the pace of and made more of an impact with more words. What I find sometimes is that these contests open the door to bigger works. It wasn't Jason's contest, but I once got a piece published in an e-zine from a piece I submitted for a contest (which I subsequently expanded). If nothing else it just gets the engine revving a little.
I completely agree Scott. If I had more words I could have done so much more too. But I guess that is the point of the contest, and it does hone your skills to say, OK if I only have 3 words left, how can I say this the shortest, yet most clear way? What words, can I lose?
I am a "practicing" novel writer. I am used to spreading my wings in thousands and thousands of words. 250 words! Yikes! This is why I can't write picture books! A beginning middle and end all in about 200 words!? Some publishers will take as many as 800 for PBs but that is becoming more and more rare.
I'll stick to novels, thank you!
I find myself refreshing my entry over and over again, hoping for more comments. Anyone else doing that? Or, am I just a freak :)
Paul - That's why Jason's contests generate AOL-like traffic! Check it out when the show's over when he tells you how many hits he got.
Paul, Welcome to my blog! I have not revised my story for the contest, but I can't stop thinking about it. It is distracting me from my WIP that I really HAVE to finish THIS summer! Not the same, but kind of the same thing...
Wait a minute, Scott... are you saying that maybe hundreds of people read our stories... If so, I am glad I didn't know this ahead of time. I would have never entered!
I doubt that hundreds do. I'm thinking that most of the hits come from the writers refreshing their own pieces for the comments. Still though, I think a good many pass through and give it a read. I'm guessing each piece gets about a fifty to sixty reads.
Do you think any of them are agents or editors??? =)
Thanks so much for the mention, Sheri! Yours is definitely among my favorites. And that's not just quid pro quo. :)
Jason's contests are wonderful. 'Nuf said.
OMG! Thank you so much for the compliment of being listed at all!
Sarah, I always love your work. So I wasn't surprised when I loved your entry too.
Amy, your story really was so heart warming and delved into that question of what do people think about when they are in a coma or in the process of dying. At least that's how I interpreted it!!! I hope I was right or at least close...
I can't get over how the stories are still pouring in! I don't know how Jason does it.
Yours was very good.
Thanks Charles. I really enjoyed yours too, each and every time I read it.
Hey Sheri, I'd revise your list. Replace mine with yours, or how about "Reversal"? It definitely made my top 5 picks.
James, that is sweet! I am kind of out of the loop. I think I read up to 55 or maybe 60. But I definitely did not keep up and I am sure there are some new hot stories...
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