Writer's Digest Short Story Contest
Writer's Digest does an annual short story competition for all genres. The only rule is that the story has to be under 1500 words. The first place winner of the competition receives $3,000. The top twenty-five submissions will also receive at least $25. The most important prize, though, is that the top ten submissions will be published.
I have several projects in work, but the story I felt was the best for the contest takes me back to the late 1960's when we lived on the Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. When I first started writing the story, I didn't think I had enough content to get close to the 1500 word limit. I should have known better. In writing the non-fiction story about the three years we lived there, I began to remember more and more. Soon, I was struggling to keep the story under those 1500 words.
Judi came to the rescue by pointing out that there was an episode in the story that didn't fit. I liked that episode, which was funny and scary at the same time. On second reading, though, it was obvious that it interupted the flow of the story and did not add to the central theme. The result is a better story - and cutting that scene brought the story back under the word count restriction.
The name of the story is "The Royal Gramma." I sent the story to the Writer's Digest contest. The contest closed on 15 January, and winners will be announced sometime in February.
