Short Story Contest!

So this past week I entered my very first writing contest. A fellow ANWA member was having a short story contest because May was Short Story Month. I decided to go and give it a try. What can it hurt?

Well, writing a short story is actually very difficult. I mean, you think 1,000 words...no big deal. Anyone can write 1,000 words. It was SO hard. At the beginning I just had a hard time coming up with an idea. It needed a strong but short story line and it had to have a twist at the end. Hmmm...I thought about it for over a week. Then, in the middle of Sunday School it hit me! I started scribbling down my ideas (which I'm sure my teacher thought I was taking wonderful notes that day).

I came home and wrote my first draft. It ended up being 1,600 + words. Man! So I had to go and whittle it down to practically nothing-- just the bare minimum. It was actually a great exercise for me to learn how to describe as much as I can in very little words. I had to pick my words wisely and focus on the most important things. I finally got my story down to 999 words. So I added a word, just because I could (1,000 words was the cut off mark). :)

Anyway, I'll find out what happened to it in a couple of weeks. I'm not really planning on winning, but after she posts the winners on her blog, I'll post my story here...for all the world to see. Yikes!