London Blitz story submitted for contest

I haven’t done a lot of writing recently–my PathBinder Publishing newsletters have been getting most of my attention from a literary standpoint these days–but I did manage to tweak a short story I’d written about a year ago and submit it to a contest.

“Young Romance During the London Blitz” was a story I originally fashioned from prompts for a writers group assignment. And while I thought it turned out pretty good considering I only worked on it for two days, I hadn’t considered sending it on for any contests; it was simply an exercise.

But when my buddy, Tony Acree with Hydra Publications in Kentucky, put out a message that Louisville Literary Arts was seeking entries for its short story contest, it reminded me I had that London Blitz story sitting around. With a little work, it could be something decent enough to submit. So, I carved out a few hours from one of my days, tweaked it here and there, fleshed it out a bit–adding a thousand words along the way–and sent it in with my entry fee.

I harbor no illusions of greatness; I don’t expect to win. But it’s the first time in quite a while I felt good enough about any of my writing to pay an entry fee to have it judged.

It would be nice to win, though, as the grand prize is $300. Even if I’m only in the top 20, though, the story will be published in an anthology. So, that would be cool.

Winners will be announced April 21.

Here’s a blog post I posted shortly after I wrote the original story.