I won a writing contest the other day. It’s my third. In the mid 1980s I took first place for a short story I’d entered in a Willamette Writers contest. I also won an Oregon Writers Colony essay contest during the same era.
To say my recent win is a big deal is grossly overstated, but only because the story I wrote is exceedingly small.
Ali McCart is owner of Indigo Editing & Publications. She was the featured speaker at the monthly meeting of the Northwest Association of Book Publishers, of which I am a member. Indigo also is a sponsor of the Sledgehammer writing contest, which combines teams of writers, writing prompts, a scavenger hunt, and a 36-hour time limit.
But this contest didn’t involve teams or scavenger hunts. During her presentation, Ali challenged the 40 or so people in the audience to write a short story of no more than 36 words. The prompt was: “The first time you learned of your book topic.”
I wrote about the first time I had used mindfulness and clear comprehension (without knowing that’s what I was doing) to change my future. It was the first time I’d fully grasped the meaning and importance of the law of karma. The story takes place 14 years ago.
In 36 words, it goes like this:
I held the mug under the spigot poking out of the bladder-filled box. What would happen if I sloshed wine into the cup? It would not be the day I stopped drinking. I didn’t. It was.
Maybe I’ll post the longer version another day.
