The Journal: A Short Story Contest

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In today’s Journal

* Today
* Of Interest
* The Numbers

This morning I was handed a theme for my upcoming short story: People are strange.

It’s a contest prompt, and the deadline is midnight EST, 1 March. That’s TOMORROW. Just in case you want to and can pound out a short story in that time, I’ve included the link in “Of Interest” below.

Apparently the opening date was Feb 10, but I didn’t learn of it until today. Probably due to my own inattention.

Anyway, I turned-to. Wrote a short story to meet my own deadline and then submitted it to the contest. (grin)

You’ll see it below. Now I’m giving the rest of this month to my wife.

Talk with you again soon.

Of Interest

See “People Are Strange: The Book, and a Short Story Contest” at https://leelofland.com/people-are-strange-the-book-and-a-short-story-contest/.

See “Florence Osmund Joins The Book Designer…” at https://www.thebookdesigner.com/2020/02/florence-osmund-joins-the-book-designer-as-a-contributing-writer/. Submitted in case the internal links strike your interest.

See “Early Bird Discount Ending” at https://www.deanwesleysmith.com/early-bird-discount-ending/. An opportunity.

Via The Passive Guy, see “Renewable Books Leads Industry with Green Initiatives” at https://themillions.com/2020/02/renewable-books-leads-industry-with-green-initiatives.html. This has GOT to be satire.

The Numbers

Fiction words today…………………… 3690
Nonfiction words today…………… 190 (Journal)

Writing of “A Gesture of Frienship” (short story)

Day 1…… 3690 words. Total words to date…… 3690 (done)

Total fiction words for the month……… 71151
Total fiction words for the year………… 136695
Total nonfiction words for the month… 2320
Total nonfiction words for the year…… 54480
Total words for the year (fiction and this blog)…… 191175

Calendar Year 2020 Novels to Date…………………… 3
Calendar Year 2020 Novellas to Date……………… X
Calendar Year 2020 Short Stories to Date… 6
Novels (since Oct 19, 2014)…………………………………… 48
Novellas (since Nov 1, 2015)………………………………… 8
Short stories (since Apr 15, 2014)………………… 202
Short story collections……………………………………………… 31

6 thoughts on “The Journal: A Short Story Contest”

  1. I must say I’m surprised to see you submit to a contest with an entry fee and for which none of the royalties will goes to the authors. Any specific reason you might want to do it (like helping the Writers’ Police Academy) ?

    • I’m not really sure why you’re asking. And not that it really matters (my reasons are my own), but 1) my own challenge (tonight midnight) and the contest challege coincided to feel ilke a “real” challenge to me, and 2) yes, to donate to WPA. And 3) it really isn’t all about the money. That’s my heirs’ ogre to wrestle. Plus a couple of my good friends are among the published talent in the forthcoming anthology (and they’re donating their royalties to WPA as well) and I’d like very much to be in the book with them. And 4) it’s only one short story. It isn’t like it’s going to break me if it’s accepted and I can’t publish it for awhile. Oh, and 5) because it excited me.

      But again, that’s just me. (grin)

      • I was asking because I thought the usual advice was to avoid paying contests. So I was wondering why it was different here.

        Thanks for answering even though of course your reasons are your own.

        Obviously, if your reasons are to support the WPA and to hopefully be published amongst friends, while having fun along the way, good for you!

        Good luck with your submission.

        • Thanks. If I came out fervently against paying contests (or free contests for that matter) that was foolish of me. This is something each writer has to decide on his or her own. The one stringent piece of advice I would give is to always read the terms of service and/or contest rules with a specific eye for Rights or Licensce. Some free contests are nothing more than rights grabs. So caution on that.

  2. Good for you and best wishes on the short story, Harvey!
    I avoid paying contests as much as possible, but sometimes the urge to write is irresistible.
    What I need to be doing right now is publishing. Unless I find what I’m looking for in your sidebars, I plan to discuss this with you at some point.
    In the meantime, you and Mrs S enjoy the month!

    • Thanks, Diedre. Please feel free to email me and ask me anything you like about publishing. Happy to help. I even have some free books on the topic.

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