This Judging Thing I Did

Last year, I entered a short story contest sponsored by Short Fiction Break and The Writing Practice. My story, The Cicatrix, was awarded 4th Place out of more than 200 entries. I was pretty stoked.

A few months ago, one of the editors for Short Fiction Break approached me and asked if I would be interested in being a judge for their Winter Writing Contest. Of course I said 'yes'.

Judging took place over several week and three rounds of reading and discussion with my fellow judges. It also involved writing critiques for the stories if it was requested by the author.

I learned so much by judging this contest. On a basic level, if I saw repetitive grammar or punctuation errors that bugged me, I would research them to make sure I was correct, and on more than one occasion, I learned that, actually, I was the one in error. Also, in collaboration with my fellow judges, I learned to see stories from others' point of view and to listen to what they felt a story's strength or weaknesses were.

The winners of the contest were announced earlier today and I wanted to share them with you. The required them was 'Two Worlds', so the stories all had to show or connect somehow to that theme. There are some excellent stories and you can read them here: http://shortfictionbreak.com/winter16/.

I have a contest of my own starting later this week, as well as continuing to work on BAD RIVER. I'm hoping to send BAD RIVER out to Beta readers next month in preparation for a writing workshop I'm attending in May (more on that later).

I hope the New Year is treating you well!