My very first writing contest

And a few lessons learned along the way

So, I joined a cult—I mean, I joined a competition. I wrote my piece very quickly, the stars aligning to allow me to write within a world I was tinkering with, but had not written anything within yet. I got some quick beta-reads, refined the story until I was satisfied it could be no better, and I hit submit. Dammit if I then didn’t also get sucked into the most lovely community I’ve ever encountered on the internet. Curse you, sweet positive responses to my writing!

I joined Writing Battle (WB) after spending two months biting nails while I waited for responses to my novel query. Now, I get the odd response, and go ‘Huh, oh yeah, I was doing that whole thing’. That alone, was worth the effort. Then there’s the exposure to other stories; genuinely wonderfully crafted and impressive works of art and circumstance. In the last duel, my story went up against the very first story I read from the competition, and it was one of the stories I enjoyed the most as I continued to read. It was a well-deserved victory and a beautifully circular end to my competition journey.

Did I mention I sort of signed up to every competition I could get my grubby little hands off in the two months time since I signed up for my first contest? No? Well, let me tell you… no, wait, that will take too long. Let’s just get to the results, because yes—although WB was my first contest, I joined the Booby Prize, which was a quick little contest that had results coming out first. I didn’t place, but that’s alright. I got to write a comedic horror about a monstrous creature that can’t dance. Good stuff. Now that the results are out, I think I’ll post it here, sometime—gives me an excuse for having a Substack to begin with.

I’m not sure I want to mention the other contests I’m in just yet—I’ll see how it goes first. I can say, however, that I’ve written 6 short stories in all and polished 2 novel excerpts for submission. In two months. My boss told me the other day that I haven’t looked well for about two weeks, and I can’t really figure out why. Maybe it’s my diet. Need more fiber.

So, with my first contest in the bag and behind me, what have I learned? The exercise of writing short fiction, limiting myself into the bare essentials and cutting away any and all fat from my prose and plot has been the greatest take-away for me. Since I’ve always thought of narratives and plot in a novel-length framework, forcing myself into a more economical mode of writing has definitely helped me work out some bad habits.

I’ve also learned that people enjoy my writing. Huh, imagine that.

There are lots of great people on WB, who are all willing to lend an ear or a pair of eyes to what I’m working on, and I’ve had a great time interacting with them all. Which is strange, since I generally get exhausted by being engaging in conversation. Too much work, I say. Better to just sit alone with a cup of coffee and write something like a first post for my new Substack page.

Now, what to do next… Well, I could talk about what I’m going to do with the story that I submitted to my first contest. I’m working on expanding it into a novella. With my current novel stalling in the query wasteland, I’ve decided to just move it to the wayside and focus on short stories and writing a novella that might have a better chance of getting published.

So what is Cleaning House about? It’s basically a detective mystery set in a fantastical world where Madness is a primal force of magic, and only Archmages and their towers are capable of cultivating a sphere of influence where people can live without—you know, going mad. Enter our protagonist, Sol the Adjudicator, who’s going to have to solve the mystery of why a young heir to the Archmage decided to initiate a ritual that might doom the whole tower and everyone in the vicinity. I think I’m making it sound funny, but it’s rather dark, bloody, and probably not for everyone.

Intrigued? Sorry, not giving you any more than this. Join WB if you want to read it, or wait until I’ve managed to complicate this story into a 40K word-salad that might—just might—be palatable. Or maybe it’s going to be less… Or maybe I’m gonna give into my urges and write a full novel, defeating the whole point of the exercise.

What else, what else… oh, I apparently like to write long-form essays that are very true to the original form of the art (before it got cool and started being defined). So, here’s my stream of consciousness, delivered as though it had any point, worth, or meaning to the surrounding world. Enjoy the maddening world of ideas I live within, and despair.

All in all, a good experience, well worth the investment and the time I put into it, because it has already made me a better writer. Let’s see if it can take me further, with me joining the NYCM short story contest in January, along with all WB battles for 2026.

Happy November, Holiday, and New Year’s to all. Maybe this is my one and only post, and if it is, I want it to go out with a bang. Live long and prosper, may the Force be with you, and may you find all the Spice you need in life.

See you when I see you.