Dipping My Toes into the Water of the Writing World - Short Story Contest

So, I apparently owe quite a few posts since I did not write as much or often as I had intended after my last post...  Sorry about that.

What have I been doing in the time sense that last post?  Well, I've been trying to read... 50 books is seeming like a larger and larger number to have to reach, even if I am "staying on track" with my reading goal.  Yes, that's a direct quote from the book tracker I'm using.  It says that for about a heartbeat before it tells me that I am behind yet again.  C'est la vie.

Apart from reading, I have also been writing.  Big surprise there since this is a blog about my attempts to become a writer one day, and yet I have posted more about the books I have been reading than anything else.  Well, don't say goodbye to those lovely book reviews, but say hello to a post about a short story competition that I just entered.  It's not the first contest I've entered, but it's the first one I've entered that had this particular structure.  What structure you say?  Well, it gave the subject, genre, and character the story was supposed to address.  That's the first time I've ever had such limitations on my writing, and while a bit stressful, I really enjoyed it.  

Here was my official assignment:

• Genre: Ghost Story
• Subject: New Year's Eve
• Character: 5 year old boy

This sounds like a great setup, right?  Well, of course, except for the one glaring issue in my mind.  I hate all things spooky or scary.  I think it harkens back to my childhood when I would visit my grandparents and my grandfather would put in Jaws or the Predator.  I was scared of the ocean and banana boats for years!  And don't even get me started about invisible aliens who are only on earth to kill humans.  Awful.  Anyway, I was less than thrilled with that genre assignment, and spent a few days trying to wrap my mind around writing a spooky story when I know nothing about them.  Once I accepted the fact that I couldn't change my plight, I decided to brainstorm and came up with what I thought was a pretty good attempt at fulfilling my assignment.  At the very least, I felt good about it when I turned it in, and that's all anyone can really hope for, right?

Well, the short story is submitted, all 2,500 words of it (give or take), but the results are still out.  I won't know what anyone thought until the end of May.  Regardless of moving on to the next round or ending at this one, I am looking forward to the feedback that is promised for every entry.  It will be nice to have some pros weigh in on my writing, though I can never thank the friends who read my stuff enough for all of the help they have been over the years.  Thanks guys!  Let's hope all of our time and hard work will pay off with some wins!!

If you're interested in hearing more about the contest, check out the site: http://www.nycmidnight.com/ 

Here's hoping that the results are good when they finally come in, but regardless, I'm looking forward to finishing the next story, whatever it might be and for whatever reason, competition or personally.