After months without news of either my Q2 or Q3 short story entry in the Writer’s of the Future contest, I got both results this month! 🙂

I received my 3rd consecutive Honorable Mention notification on Sept 1st for my Quarter 2 (Vol. 33) submission, and I’ll admit I was a bit disheartened. I realize it’s not a failure, and for that I am grateful and thankful. I also realize it is a recognition that I’m writing at a certain level, a good level, but it has begun to feel like I’m stuck writing at that level without any progression.

Then last night after I got home from work, I’m on the sofa googling a recipe on my phone and I get an email notification. Now all three of my previous HM notification emails have come in around midnight (Joni must keep late hours). Also I had just heard back about my Q2 results, and you know with this contest it can be anywhere from 2.5 months to 6 months before you know anything. So basically I wasn’t expecting to hear back from them about my Q3 results for like, awhile yet.
So I’m sitting there last night, minding my own business, happily googling away when – kerplinck! (that’s the sound my phone makes when I get an email on that account). So I looked without any hesitation, because remember, long time for results. Well, it was an email…from Joni…about my Q3 results.
Oh. My. Gurd.

This is what is said:
Dear Entrant,

Your story has been judged and is a Silver Honorable Mention for the 3rd quarter of the L. Ron Hubbard Writers of the Future Contest.
Congratulations!!!
I do hope you are already working on that next story….

Best regards,
Joni Labaqui

Needless to say I was over-the-moon ecstatic!! Not only have I broken out of HM land for the moment, it’s an advance in the right direction. And! with a story that I was nearly positive would get me a straight-up ‘R’. See , there were some ‘issues’ with the story.
1) It was humorous. Which historically are not often top winners.
2) It was a rush job and because of that there were some glaring spelling errors, missing words, etc. (so embarrassing!)
I had spent nearly the entire quarter trying to get another story to gel, and when that one wouldn’t come together I ran to my trunk, pulled this story out and began to work some of my silver mojo on it. 😉
3) Partway through fixing this story up, I just said “Fuck it. I’m going to write a bad short story and just have fun with it.” So I did. I left things in that made me cringe when I re-read them (after submitting of course). I put in my own sardonic, dry sense of observational humor. And worst of all, the ending wasn’t touching or heartbreaking, it was a joke. I built up the story, then-bam! “Ha-ha,  I was just kidding!”

And with all this glaring wrongness,
this story won me a Silver. Go Figure.

Maybe it was because I had fun with it, which in turn seemed to make the story more fun. Which makes me hope I got a Silver HM because Dave had a bit of fun reading it. And who knows, perhaps had I cleaned it properly and submitted it without all those errors it could have maybe, possibly, been more than just a Silver.
Hey, a girl can dream.

Just for fun, my WOTF progress:
HM #1 – Vol. 32-Q4 – Results, with my name listed! HERE.
HM #2 – Vol. 33-Q1 – Results, did you see my name? HERE.
HM #3 – Vol. 33-Q2 – Results, yep my name is there again, never gets old really. HERE.
SHM #1 – Vol. 33 – Q3 – Results have now been posted, my Silver! HERE.

♥