Short Story Contests and Waiting

By teacherayala · Jul 20, 2011 · 479 · 4
  1. I entered two different short stories into contests around March, and I won't find out until October or November. Not that I'm expecting to win, but I would like to see if I earned at least some kind of honorable mention or placing, and it's killing me to wait this long!

    I really wish that I could focus on my short story writing and I'm considering taking a course through CrossBridge, which will most likely be cheaper than going through a more traditional route. I just need a jumpstart somewhere, and I can't afford to start a full-on creative writing certificate when I am still working on my Master's degree in Education. (Which is a career necessity at this point.)

    <sigh>

    One day, I'm going to win a short story contest somewhere and then I'm going to win another one, and then I'm going to have something to put on my SASE. One day.

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  1. benfromcanada
    Are they still open, and if so, can anyone else enter them?

    The best way to get around waiting is to not think about it.
    benfromcanada, Jul 21, 2011
  2. teacherayala
    Yes, they are still open (I think). I have a hard time meeting deadlines for stories that are suddenly due the next month or something like that. I need to get faster at composing and honing the story.
    teacherayala, Jul 22, 2011
  3. mugen shiyo
    Yeah, I think published writers write when it is their job, they are older and retired and have the time, or they are merely elaborating on their current job or life. It can be pretty time consuming.

    I always wondered whether taking classes would really improve me any. I think really talking to other accomplished writers would be better. Less of a nuisance and you cut all bull they try to hand you out of it.

    I hope you win the short story contests. What genre's did you write for and was it a magazine or something? Either way, good luck, Aya.
    mugen shiyo, Jul 27, 2011
  4. teacherayala
    One was a general fiction contest. I have a (kind-of) magical realism (Latin-American style) crime fiction piece that I have no idea where to submit even though I think it's really quite good. I need to seriously take it to a class, though, to improve upon it because it has plenty of potential. I dressed it up as best as I could and sent it off, figuring that you never really win anything if you never send anything out!

    The second story was a crime fiction short for an online crime fiction magazine. Not, though, Alfred Hitchcock or Ellery Queen. Not quite there yet.

    I really would love to be an accomplished crime fiction writer, but I am more interested in the reasons why people commit crimes than in the crimes themselves. I also don't have any background knowledge about police work or forensics or anything like that, so I could never write a police detective novel. I'll always end up with a semi-bumbling amateur. I've toyed with the idea of perhaps doing a romantic suspense...
    teacherayala, Jul 29, 2011
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