NYC Midnight

In an effort to expand my writing horizons I do my best to find new opportunities. These can include book shows, conferences and conventions, even simply taking part in a contest or trying a new genre.  Last year, along with my first ever conference, I also decided to try a short story competition for the first time. It is run by the organization NYC Midnight who also puts on other writing competitions throughout the year.

It was anxiety filled for a number of reasons. For one thing, the two firsts happened to coincide schedule wise. I was either driving, attending sessions and network dinners, or practicing my book pitches while I should have been figuring out my story idea. That was the other nerve racking part, the story. The way this particular competition works is everyone that signs up is split into groups where they are given an assignment of subject, character, and genre. You then have twenty-five hundred words and eight days to write, edit, format, and finally submit you short story for judgement. The top five in each group move on to the next round with new assignments and an even shorter word count and time frame.

I did not make it to round two last year but the feedback from the judges was fantastic. Each judge gives pros and cons of your submission so you can see what you did right and things you can improve upon for next year. One of the judges didn't care for my formatting but that was the only negative they gave, everything else was positive. I held no delusions I would win or even make it past round one, I honestly just wanted the feedback. I took what I learned from them and have worked to improve the story so I could submit to other online forums and publications.

Last year I was given a character and subject I felt went together, a stay at home mom and a wrong number. The genre was thriller. It jumped off the page at me and said this will be fun. I was ecstatic. This year I was given a pediatrician, patriotism, and scifi. I do not read, watch, or write scifi. I am not backing down though. I am trying to take the main idea I have and then add scifi elements to it in order to make it work. It would never have been my first choice but expanding my horizons is what this challenge is all about.