Old News

I'm slightly disgusted with myself. 

It's a horrid truth knowing that in everything I've blogged about-unedited free verse and puppet symbolism-I've forgotten to write about a very important event. 

In October I found out that I won the Fresh Ink 2013 contest! 

It's only taken me three months to blog about it…and I have no excuse. 

As I said before, I'm slightly disgusted…and that is to say the least. 

I was announced the first place winner and awarded $100 in prize money, as well as published in the St. Catharines Library magazine. The magazine was by far the best part of the prize, as it meant that I was officially a published author. My life is a little bit closer to being complete. 

I had the pleasure of reading my story at the awards ceremony, as well as meeting some of the chair members of the library. 

As small as the contest was, it was really extraordinary for me to be able to share my writing with other people and to hear the praise and compliments I received over a single chapter. 

For those of you that haven't read the story, you can do so here, or by clicking the tab "Fresh Ink 2013" at the top of the page. 

I hope you enjoy the chapter, and once again, I apologize for my lack of commitment to my blog. I wish I had shared this with you earlier, but I guess old news is better than no news at all!

Writing...Revising...Rewriting

I'm very proud to say that I've finally, officially submitted my entry into the Fresh Ink 2013 contest!
It was a painful process that took a lot of editing...revising...rewriting and more editing, but with the help of my wonderful mother and friends, I was able to complete a short story that not only complies with the required word count, but  also has plot! 

For my entry this year, I decided to sway away from the short story I previously mentioned about Acamar the Turkey Vulture, and submit an older creation of mine that some of you may be familiar with. When I originally published Lilac Lane on my blog last year, it was full of typos and was in need of some serious reshaping. Today, completely reworked, it has been entered into Fresh Ink 2013 with my high hopes that someone will enjoy it. 
Due to contest rules and the possibility of plagiarism, I unfortunately can't post the entry right away, but I will soon. 
I hope that those of you who end up reading it find it interesting...and maybe even that it leaves you hungry for more!

All the best!
~a very happy girl

Fresh Ink 2013

     With July 31st fast approaching, I've been hard at work on my entry for this year's Fresh Ink writing contest. Remembering the last minute rush I went through to submit my entry last year, I've been determined to complete my short story in advance to give lots of room for editing and critiquing. 

    Although I have a few things up for entry consideration this year, the piece that I find myself focusing on is a short story that I wrote while planning to enter another local contest this past March. All writers were required to create an original piece that tied in with the theme "Raptorfest," an annual springtime event where various birds of prey migrate through the Niagara Region. Entrants had to write a short story or poem from the point of view of a bird of prey on how they see their environment, and I did exactly that. My bird of choice was an unusual one, but I picked the Turkey Vulture with the intention to hopefully spark some interest.


     Just shy of 1000 words, my story took place inside the typical day of a young Turkey Vulture named Acamar. I packed in as much information about the bird and its environment as I could while trying to keep it intriguing at the same time, but as you can imagine, that can be challenging to do with such a small restricted word count. Unfortunately, I didn't get the opportunity to submit my entry due to the fact that we went away for the Easter Weekend when the contest closed. However, I've been planning to submit it into Fresh Ink 2013 this month with some slight adjustments considering the fact that the word count for this contest is a minimum of 1000 words!

     Unless I have a miracle brainstorm within the next week or so, I'll be submitting Acamar the Turkey Vulture into Fresh Ink 2013 by the end of this month with climbing levels of anticipation and excitement!