Flash Fiction Challenge

Some time ago, while idly whittling the time away on FB, I stumbled across an ad that caught my attention. It was calling for entries for something known as flash fiction. Having a deep aspirations of one day making it big in the world of writing I decided to investigate.

I found myself being taken here, where before I knew it I had filled in the entry form and began not so patiently waiting for the first challenge to be set. Finally the long awaited day arrived. And when I say finally I mean a good 14 hours after the date set out on the website. (One of the many joys of living in Australia is that for the most part we are ahead of time)

Anyway for the next 24 hours I pondered on what I was going to create. For the past month I had been dreaming of creating a literary piece that would leave the judges blown away with the prize money all but in my pocket. Now that the time was actually here I struggled to even conceive a notion of a plot that was set in a homeless shelter, mentioned a fishing net and was a mystery.

Not wanting to be a quitter (or waste the entry fee) I managed to submit a charming little piece which I titled Sally and the Psychic Not exactly the most imaginative title I know, (actually the judge's comments were the title is to literal and thesis like) but it was the best I could do at the time.

While on the one hand I felt some sense of achievement in being able to produce something in under 48 hours, there was also a part of me that felt I had not done enough. Truth be told I probably only spent a total of 8 hours creating my work of art and at the end of it all I realised it would possibly not be the winner I had been dreaming of.

For the following weeks while I waited for the results to be posted I tried not to beat myself up too much. What was done was done. All I could do now was make sure my next attempt was an improvement.

As it turned out I had my efforts were worse than I expected. I failed to score at all. You could only imagine the disappointment that I felt. I tried to let it all go though as it was only 24 hours till the next round began. With all the best intentions I was certain I could still make it to the top five. These best intentions were quickly shattered when I saw I need to come up with a court room drama that mentioned a remote control car. One hour before the deadline for submissions closed I some how managed to send of Death by Accident

This time there was no pride. Just shame I had not been able to come up with something better. I felt my efforts were nothing more than just an entry. I was glad it was an electronic submission as it really would have been a waste of paper to enter such tripe.

I felt no anticipation for the results to be posted this time as I was certain that I would again fail to reach a score. There was a little disappointment when I received the email saying the results posting was delayed as I did just want it over and done with. However there was much surprise when I discovered I had actually been assigned 12 points. In the scheme of things this means out 22 writers I came in seventh place. Which given my effort levels I think is not too bad.

The best part of all of this is that I think it may actually be enough to spur me on a little...after all Nanowrimo is only a few weeks away now....stay tuned...