20 December, 2010

Breakdown

I am very pleased to be able to announce a small victory in short story writing. I found out last week that I have won the first New Eastbourne Writers National Short Story Competition. I have worked my way through being runner-up and highly commended etc. etc. but this is the first time I have been the outright winner in a full-length short story competition. The theme was 'The Journey' - I like themed competitions because you are challenged to think of an interesting way to interpret it, knowing that all the other entrants are trying to do the same.

Small competitions give writers like me, the chance to improve our writing without paying extortionate entrance fees or having to go through the heart ache of months of rejections from publishers. I enter competitions pretty regularly, when I'm not working on my children's novel, and I am genuinely grateful for the effort the organisers and judges put into them, especially small writing groups like New Eastbourne Writers. Obviously, in this particular competition, the judges showed that they have impeccable taste as well!

If you are so minded, have a read of my winning entry, here.

Visit my competition page to see what else I've been up to.
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6 comments:

  1. Unknown20 December 2010 at 21:38

    I'm so proud of you!

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  2. Anonymous20 December 2010 at 21:41

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  3. Tom21 December 2010 at 16:00

    I'm impressed Chloe. First, obviously by the fact that you won the competition, but more by the tale itself. Excellent story telling.
    Like any reader with an imagination I had a feeling it would be a return ticket, but it still has to be confirmed.
    I think the early dialogue really picks the reader up and carts them off right into the story. The use of dialogue to explore the back story and the guilt was first class.

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  4. Paul22 December 2010 at 21:11

    Hey Chloe

    Good to meet a fellow writer-and-blogger and thanks for dropping by my wee corner of the interwebby-net.

    Loved that short story, well done on winning the competition. Might get back to writing short stories myself (by gar it's been a while).

    Hope the book is going well, looking forward to seeing in print in the not too distant future!

    Blog soon,
    Paul

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  5. Chloe23 December 2010 at 20:39

    Thanks Tom and Paul! I didn't think anyone was reading this so it's great to hear from you both :)

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  6. Dan Purdue3 January 2011 at 17:44

    Congratulations, Chloe! Very well done for winning the competition and I hope it gives you yet more enthusiasm for tackling your novel re-write.

    I also had a look at "When All This Is Over" on Twisted Tails - I was very impressed by that, and will have to add TT to my competition listings page on my blog.

    Keep up the good work, and a very Happy New Year to you!

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