Writing is a never-ending fistfight against the voice that whispers “You’re not…(talented enough, connected to the right people, disciplined, etc.) or “You’re too…(old, out-of-touch, predictable, etc. etc.) Insert your favorite self-doubt here 🙂

In 2012 I began writing a little novel about a broken family and how they try to get unbroken. At year’s end I was about 15,000 words into an anticipated 60k finished work, happily skipping along.

And then 2013 happened. New job. New church job. Life. My little novel stayed little. For over five years. Yeah. I DID publish another book. And also wrote and published a Christmas story with a screenplay to boot. So, not a total slacker, right?

But that little story stood beckoning – untold, unwritten – forlorn. So I got back on the bike. Started pedaling. Things were shaky at first. Hit a few curbs. Scrapped my knees once or twice. But it eventually came back. Last July I finished the first draft and then began revising. In December of 2019 I felt I was ready to take the leap of terror and share it with select readers. I shared. They read it. They…had feelings. Some liked it…parts at least. Some had strong thoughts about my main characters. They weren’t enamored. I was grateful for their feedback. Back to the work.

I was crushed.

I thought I was exempt from the rules of the universe. Not so, verily. I stopped writing. For weeks. I’d think about it. Get ready to start. Slump back. Later I would tell myself. Not ready quite yet.

I needed to get unstuck. Needed to believe I still had something. Still had the knack.

That’s when I learned about a flash fiction contest from Booksie.com. I’d never even heard about Booksie, but I thought what the hey, I’ll see what I can come up with.

The rules were simple. Write a short, 500-words-or-less story about the photograph at the beginning of this post. Spent a few days thinking about what to write. Wrote it. Rewrote it. Several times. And then submitted it and forgot all about it. Until this past Sunday, when I received this email from BooksieGuy:

Hello, I wanted to let you know your story Catch Me and Gone was chosen as the winner of the flash fiction story contest. Congratulations! As the winner, we’ll send you $500 and give you a gold contest badge. Can you let us know your PayPal address so we can send the money. If you send us your Facebook or Instragram account we’ll also tag you with the winner announcement. Congrats again!

I won? Like, first place? I even get a gold contest badge (digital only, sadly)

I WON! You liked it!

Here’s Catch Me And Gone should you wish to agree or disagree with BooksieGuy.

Do the work. Again and again and again. Mom and Dad were right. Stop whining. Do the work.