Top Third

We interrupt your normal broadcast with a brief update…

About two months ago, I submitted Canary Yellow (it’s over there on the sidebar if you haven’t read it) to the WOW! Women on Writing Fall Flash Fiction contest. I had originally wrote it as part of a writing prompt/contest for Public Query Slushpile. I polished it up a little more and sent it off to a real live contest, one you have to pay to enter, which was a first for me.

I completely forgot that I had done it until yesterday. I was driving to take some last minute packages to the UPS store. (What? I’ll plan ahead next year. Focus!) Anyway, I was driving to the store and my droid buzzed at me. The little Google icon was proudly flashing at me. (Yes, I also read my email while I am driving. Stop fussing at me; I am trying to tell you something.) I clicked and then screamed in joy. (No, I didn’t win. Stop interrupting me; you’re killing the story.)  It said, “Congratulations! You have made it past the first round of judging.”

My first thought was, “Yay! I followed the directions and they are going to actually read it!” But then I kept reading. Turns out they dwindled down the limited 300 stories to the top 100, and Canary Yellow was one of them. I didn’t see that coming. So math says it was the top third of the stories they allowed in the contest.  I like it. I’m actually pretty happy with that.

So, what happens next is they will then select the top 25. Of that, the top 10 will be published in their Ezine, and the top 3 get cash prizes and interviews. It will be in late January before the top 25 is selected and early February when the other winners will be notified.

My plan is to go back to forgetting about it, and taking this as a nice little victory.

What about you? Do you participate in contests? Any luck?