I don’t write short stories. I’d rather write a complete chapter
than a 200-word story. My husband will testify that I can’t answer a simple question
in less than 200 words.
But I DO appreciate short stories. And, for the last
several years, one of my responsibilities as a veteran Writers’ Police Academy (WPA)
volunteer has been to line up reader judges for the Golden Donut Short Story
contest. Another of my duties is to count the words in each story—to make
certain they contain EXACTLY 200 words, including the required title.
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| Here's a man who knows how to make words count! Craig Johnson, author of the Longmire series, and this year's contest judge. |
The exact word count is a unique contest rule that
writers (can you believe it) sometimes fail. Hey, how many of us were math
majors or big on following a rule book? Nonetheless there are big rewards for
short story authors who can tell a riveting tale in exactly 200 words. The
winner of this year’s Golden Donut contest not only receives a nifty trophy and
lots of recognition—online and at the WPA banquet—but also gets a FREE
registration to a 2018 WPA event. And, guess who's the final judge for this year's Golden Donut contest? Craig Johnson,
It’s been a pleasure to read the Golden Donut entries in
past years. They’ve ranged from funny to spine-tingling, melancholy to
horrifying. It’s amazing how a single photo can spark such different tales. The
rules of the contest are simple. The contest
photo absolutely MUST be the main focus of the story, not just a
mere mention within the text. Here’s the inspirational photo for the
2017 contest:
And the good news? There’s still time to enter! The
deadline for entries is July 2. Plenty of time to pen 200 words. And you don’t
have to be registered to attend the 2017 Writers’ Police Academy to enter. The
contest is open to all. Here’s the link to all the details: http://www.writerspoliceacademy.com/short-story-contest/
And don’t forget I’ll be COUNTING on you…
Good luck!
This makes me wish I wrote fiction!
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