Done.
Four stories were written, re-written, edited, re-edited, spell-checked, audio edited, and then sent to my fabulous beta-readers. The feedback warranted a bunch of fixes and so four stories needed re-writing, more edits, and another audio edit.
The competition rules limit each author to 3 entries. I had four worth submitting, and so the cut was made. As much as I wanted to have Pamala Stanley appear in one of my stores, for this year’s theme, I felt the other 3 stories were stronger. So the complete rewrite of “Bandstand Dream”, now titled “A Little Girl’s Dream” goes back to the archive to be included in the series of Shorts in Beach Misses.
The stories that we submitted were: “What Owen Failed to Mention”, “Every Holiday”, and “Alaric Needs Christmas”.
“What Owen Failed to Mention” is an attempt at humor based on the holiday “Kiss a Ginger Day. I tried to be lighthearted and cute, and hide the reason why Owen forgot to tell his red-headed buddy.
“Every Holiday” also attempts humor when two adolescent boys accidentally send the mayor of Rehoboth Beach an edict that the following Monday is Parents Do Your Home Work day. Since the mayor believed it to be a federal request, he didn’t question the holiday and made it law. He didn’t question Second Scoop of Ice Cream day either. But what happens when the boys are discovered is quite unexpected.
Finally, “Alaric Need Christma” was a last-minute surprise. I’d been working on the theme of Christmas in July for a couple of months. It was started several times but just wouldn’t come together, so I put it aside. Then, two weeks before the deadline, I was sitting staring at the premise line and something clicked. The rough draft came in at 5500 words. Almost too many to cut down to 3500 without losing too much of the plot or story.
But made several passes at it, and ended in what I think is a solid story, meeting all the needed plot points, and character arcs with a fast-paced ending.
The submission deadline was July 1, results are posted on or about August 1.
Wish me luck!
