Good News Klaxon – Westwords Writing Competition

* GOOD NEWS KLAXON *

I wrote a thing and won a thing.

Today my phone rang during one of my free periods and because the number was unknown I ignored it, assuming it to be telemarketing. A message pops up saying I have a missed call (duh) and there’s a message.

The voice message is a lovely gentleman from Westwords telling me I had won the Blacktown Local Government Area for 18+

I played the message again to make sure I had heard correctly. Then I returned the call because this couldn’t be right. Turns out it is. I am chuffed, stoked, amazed, bewildered and aghast.

Now it’s a literary fight to the death in June for the Main Round against the other winners.

It really is a weird feeling because I wrote this piece in response to the given theme/prompt, Are We Here Yet?

I wrote what I thought was a good piece that met the brief as I saw fit. I polished it to the best I could (and thanks to Jodi Cleghorn and Rus VanWestervelt for their insights and edits) and even had a colleague at work do a proofread (because she’s trained and she liked the work).

But I genuinely had no hope, and all hope, for this piece. You have no idea what others will write, or what the judges are looking for but you’re putting your trust in what you have written.

The next step is the 13 Local Government Area winners compete for the top prize. Again I have no hope and all hope. Whatever the outcome of that, I am still chuffed, not because of my success but because I wrote and submitted.

The link is here for the announcement and the list of winners: https://www.westwords.com.au/projects/living-stories-publication-prize-announcement/

I will let you know when it is available to read.