Fresh Ink...A Pearl

     Recently, in the local paper, we read about a contest being held by the St. Catharines Library called Fresh Ink. This year would be the twelfth annual writing contest for students aged twelve through eighteen living in the Niagara Region. All you had to do was write a short story or poem. My Mom suggested I enter and I gladly agreed, but I had one problem. I can't write short stories. Everything I've ever written since I was little, has been long and well...detailed. I had ideas coming out my eyeballs for this contest, but with a limit of 1,500 words I was feeling it would be impossible.

     Maybe you've read my previous entry, Lilac Lane. Mom suggested I enter that because she loved it. After this was decided, I payed little attention to writing at all until I figured I should probably check the word count on it. I discovered it was 1,630 words. Mom assured me we could edit it so that it would be shorter, but then something happened; we got busy. Suddenly I was being called out to movie sets and we had a few appointments and get togethers and the next thing I knew it was July 31st. We were in Burlington, early in the morning, when it hit me. I put my hand to my head. The deadline was today and my work was at home. Needless to say I was disappointed and mad at myself.

     On the way to my grandparents, where we would spend the morning, I was explaining to my Mom how Dad had woken me up that morning. She was laughing hysterically. Then I had the idea. I would use Grandma's computer to write my entry and I would write about my experience from that morning. Sure enough, at Grandma's I went to her computer and I think maybe an hour later, I had completed my entry for the contest. I printed it out, and as a team, Mom and I edited it and read it aloud to my grandparents. The next thing knew, I had clicked the submit button. This was the first contest I've ever entered for my writing and the excitement I felt...that I still feel, is incomparable!

To read my entry, click the link at the top of the page titled Fresh Ink 2012. Thoughts are welcome!