Hello everyone! The weather in Evansville, IN has been dreary, dreary, dreary, and more dreary. And today? It’s dreary.
So, what can brighten these dreary days? Well, writing, of course!
I’m working on book three of Calling the Moon, some days quickly, some days slowly. The words pour down like a monsoon, or drip-drip-drip like run-off from lifeless winter branches. Either way, though, the water accumulates.
In the next couple of days, I’ll take a break from my WIP* to participate in the NYC Midnight Short Story Challenge. This is a contest with an entry fee, so some might urge you to stay away–and indeed, you shouldn’t consider it if you don’t have the money to spare. The chances of winning a prize are slim, because there are a LOT of entrants.
However…it is FUN. Like. Fun. 
The contest is pretty random. You receive a specific writing prompt and have a limited time to write a story within a tight word limit. For the first round, you have 8 days to write no more than 2,500 words. The prompt consists of a genre, a subject, and a character.
Last year, when I received my first prompt, I stared at the screen and thought, “Oh, hell no.” But then…the ideas started to percolate. And then…I started to get excited about it. And before I knew it, I’d written a story that was COMPLETELY out of my comfort zone and genres of choice.
What fun! The contest also has a pretty great forum, full of potential crit buddies and commiseration.
I’ll post my prompt when I receive it, which will likely be very early Saturday morning. What genre will I get? Horror? Crime Caper? Comedy? We shall see!
*Work in Progress. You probably all know that, but I would hate for someone to be annoyed and have to Google an unknown acronym.
Sarah E. Stevens 