Deep Dive: Steep Competition(s)!

I’ve been writing a lot of short stories recently, and there’s a question that naturally begs itself: what do you do with a short story?

Eventually, the plan is to publish my own collection…but first? Story competitions and (hopefully) publication in various literary magazines and anthologies.

I’ve written nine shorts so far, and I’m submitting these to competitions while I work on other stories. I’ve already had results back from a few such outlets, as you’ll see below, and the biggest lesson I’ve learned thus far is: it’s all subjective.

Just like book reviews, where one reader might offer a scathing 1-star critique, another reader might shower the book with 5-star praises; it’s all about connecting with the right reader at the right time.

As I’ve been looking for reputable contests to submit my shorts, I’ve also found some novel competitions, and I’ve decided to submit my work there as well. How is it going, you ask?

Aug 1st update, by the numbers:

Novel Competitions:

• 12 contests submitted to thus far
• 10 pending
• 2 rejections
• 1 longlist/shortlist*

*I can’t say much about this one yet, because I don’t want to jeopardize the blind judging process, but I’ve made the top 2 cuts thus far! As a shortlisted finalist, I’m eagerly awaiting the competition results in September. Stay tuned for updates!

Short Story Competitions:

• 33 contests submitted to thus far
• 24 pending
• 7 rejections
• 1 withdrawn
• 1 win/placement*

*Wait, whaaaaat???? That’s right! I won 2nd place in a short story competition!

Okay, let’s talk about my second place finish!

The Deepest Part of Man is an Edwardian epistolary tale of dread told in the style of Edgar Allan Poe and HP Lovecraft. It was a fun exercise to put myself in the shoes of these forefathers of the horror & Sci-Fi genres, and I hope you’ll enjoy reading my story as much as I enjoyed writing it!

The Henshaw Press competition is run by Hobeck Books, a small, independent publisher based in Staffordshire, UK. The competition runs quarterly, with anthologies of winning entries (that’s me!) published as they’re collected.

But you don’t have to wait that long to read my story.

The top three award winners are published right now on the Henshaw Press competition awards page!

What’s next? Well, I plan to continue writing stories and submitting to competitions! I’ll post collected results like this periodically on this blog, or you can follow me on social media for more instantaneous results announcements.

Thanks for reading, and in the meantime, wish me luck!

Your author,