Witching Hour
Not my year, but there’s always next year.
Bucks County Community College announced the winner of this year’s short story contest.
I’m not surprised ‘Witching Hour’ wasn’t selected for publication, there could have been a myriad of errors and inconsistencies in the piece. I literally started editing the story while on a business trip, needing to cut it from 8,000 to 5,000 words. I worked on it while on a plane, eating meals, basically whenever I had fifteen minutes or more. And then, when getting back to the hotel after meetings, dinners, and drinks with clients and colleagues, I sat at the desk with the stark light and worked my butt off.
I want to say, I probably wouldn’t have done that much work if it weren’t for the encouragement of a friend who kept saying, “you can do it”. He never once said, “there’s always next year”. Maybe because he was the antagonist and title creator, he pushed me, but for whatever reason, I finished the story. And this was the first time a deadline loomed so close – for all the other competitions I’ve written for I’ve always finished early. So it could have been that I didn’t do the usual 5 rounds of edits, 3 different spell-checks, a grammar program check, and the final audio edit. There could have been a myriad of errors in the story.
Or the winning stories were just better. I have yet to read them but will and will learn what I can from them. Still, I liked the story and am proud of it. I’ll put it on the shelf and take a second look when I have an opportunity to submit it someplace else. And I’ll start a little earlier next year for the 2023 BCCC contest. I’ll be sure to do the proper number of edits and let my beta readers weigh in.
Thanks again to Chris for the support, encouragement, and story title.
Winning stories: https://www.bucks.edu/calendarnews/news/news/bucks-county-short-fiction-contest-announces-winners-.html
