Top 3 are:

Q: Involved with 6 votes
E: A Choice of Wine with 4 votes
R+G: Apostrophe Now and Virginia with 3 votes

A: 1 vote
B: 2 votes
C: 1 vote
E: 4 votes
H: 2 votes
I: 2 votes
J: 1 vote
O: 2 votes
Q: 6 votes
R: 3 votes
S: 1 vote
V: 2 votes

G is my tie breaking vote

I did not get one vote because my writing sucks..... I do however feel I had the best M Night Shamalan surprise ending.

Anyone who did not get my ending needs to brush up on their Shamalan

Alright, here are the 3 finalists:

Involved - ElSapo
A Choice of Wine - adsman
Apostrophe Now - Rushmore (Rob Usto)


These stories will be read by a panel of judges and the winner will be announced in a few days (or whenever the judges make their decision). Good luck!

I want to thank everyone who entered a story in the contest. It was fun to read all of them and I think we had a good variety.

really, was it that fun to read all of them?

are you trolling me?

We now have a winner for the Short Story Contest. Finally, the judges have read the three stories and weighed in.

And the winner of the Jan 2009 Short Story Contest is......


Apostrophe Now by Rushmore (aka Rob Usto)


(Speech speech! Nice job, Rushmore.)


This was not a unanimous decision btw. Rushmore, we will be in touch to discuss how the money will be transferred to you. Be thinking of a title you would like (Storyteller perhaps?). Also, at least one of our judges is willing to go on record as a judge and discuss why he chose the story he chose (over the other two) if anyone is interested in discussing it with him.

Thank you to the 3 finalists, ElSapo, Adsman and Rushmore, for being so patient with this contest. You guys are great

Also, thanks to all the judges, for agreeing to be part of this and reading the finalists' stories for me. Very much appreciated.

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGED

Congrats btw, wonderful story

Wow. Seriously, thanks!

I honestly didn't feel that judging the final three stories would actually yield the "best," because they were so different in tone and content. I am not being falsely modest when I say that I am certain my story was no better than the other two (or Bruiser's contribution, "Injuns").

That said, it's nice to have a little validation.

Thanks again.

Choosing my new title as we speak. I am currently leaning toward "Literary Genius," but I might settle for "King of the Popes." I'll let you know.

Congratulations Rushmore, very nice work...

Well done Rush, and a big thanks to Katy for all her hard work and enthusiasm, the judges for doing that for us, and of course the mystery sponsor. Always a pleasure to enter these.

Grats Rush!

I have received my prize at Stars. It included the special bonus prize of having forgotten I still had $86 in my account from when I quit playing two plus years ago.

Thanks again to everyone involved, especially Katy, diebitter, and our mysterious benefactor.

As for my new purple name and undertitle, I'm joking, of course. I just wanted to utilize a little alliteration, seeing as we have been discussing the highbrow topic of, ahem--Literature.

For what it's worth, I am expanding on my submission a bit. I'll come back and post it when I have another chapter (or installation, I haven't decided).

Thanks.

Looking good in purple, Rushmore (god i sure hope you are Rob Usto)

Glad you got your money. I'm looking forward to your next chapter.

Yeah, it would be some serious hustle if I just decided to state that I am Rob Usto, and everyone just took me at my word, and then you paid me the prize, and then it turned out I was lying, but then I turned out to actually BE a great writer (coincidentally).

Similar to the Charles Bukowski story, in a way.

Anyway, I didn't do that. I am Rob Usto.

In more ways than one, thank you very much!

Congrats Rushmore (er. Rob Usto). Great stories all. I'm a lounge newb, but long-time poster in STTF.

Just wondering, are you a published writer and if so, how did you get your start?

People keep saying that I should write short-stories as well but have no idea how to go about getting published, etc.

Thanks, and thanks for the story! SlackerMcFly

p.s. Some of the latest ones are in the "Ask Slacker Anything" thread in STTF. Dead thread now, but there are a few interesting stories starting a couple of pages in and especially later in the thread. Any input would be a great help. SMcF

I have no idea whether this applies to you or not, Slacker, so I'm not saying it does, but your post did remind me that sometimes I'm surprised how much more many people talk about getting their writing published than actually becoming good writers.

Good point Blarg. Kind of like asking how to make a Final Table at the WSOP without studying the game of poker...

I guess I always thought writing exceptionally well was harder than getting published, as there's a lot of mediocre writing out there. I think if my standards were geared more toward writing acceptably well and getting published rather than writing superlatively well, I'd have a different outlook. I might have even bothered trying to publish something, who knows. My own standards are so high as to be crippling, so I'm not sure I would really recommend them to anyone anyway.

That's the rub. It would be nice to write funny crap that makes money (gets published) and still be considered a decent writer. For now, I'd settle for the money though, as I have no standards.

Haha! I guess I wouldn't be averse to a few bucks either. I've thought of refocusing quite a few times, but never really stuck with it. It's awkward trying to change not just what you do, but what feels like your nature. But I can't argue against the idea that doing so might be a lot more rewarding in the long run than just filing stuff away to be forgotten.

I can tell you from personal experience, keeping your stuff in a forgotten box will just make you lose perspective on your material. You need external feedback as a reference for self-validation. You won't become a great writer by keeping it to yourself.

You might be surprised by how profoundly affected people are by something you thought was crap (just like a lot of people roll their eyes and gag at stories some authors think are gold ). I think the trap is getting caught up in popularity. Or the reverse (which seems your dilemma), having such a strong perception of yourself you don't feel like you need ANY external reference.

The answer, of course, is you need a balance. I wouldn't be surprised if James Patterson thinks he's a great writer, and I don't blame him. He's sold a LOT of books, and these days everything he pseudo-writes is instantly a #1 bestseller.

Maybe you are afraid of finding out other people think your stuff is as bad as you think?

I think you bring up a great point though, Blarg. A similar point was made in one of the writing threads where we talked about not just people that want to get published no matter whether or not what they've written is good, they talk and talk and talk about wanting to get published before they've even written anything!

I think this ties back in to your comment. A lot of authors spend so long perfecting their story it's a wonder to me they ever finish it.

It's great to strive for a great story, but don't forget that perfection is an impossible goal. If you love to write, at some point you need to just let the story go into the public eye and see what happens.

I suppose you're right about that.

I guess that reading is correct too. I only wish my perception were a more positive one. But by my best judgment, my perception of my limits is accurate. I think my problem is that that is not as important as I tend to credit it being.

I just read an Abraham Lincoln quote today. "If I had six hours to chop a tree, I would spend four sharpening the axe." I may spend the rest of my life sharpening and never fully realize, in a way that matters, that my ultimate goal was never simply to have a sharp axe.

It's an ongoing struggle I've taken a very long time to bring to no conclusion. Yet. Who knows.

I have to ask, what are you afraid of? Perhaps, that should be "...of what are you afraid? Seriously? You clearly have the skills, intelligence and erudition. If I had half the chops you have, I would be spend my night and weekends writing and I would submit all of it for publication.

With regard to the original request for information and the subsequent posts, in my opinion, there is no greater mistake than to pursue your art for money's sake. I have seen this up close on several occasions, and there is no greater destructive force for the artist personally, than the pursuit of money at the expense of their art.

If you are going to write, pursue perfection in your work. If you're lucky, you will find financial success. If you are not, you will still find personal success in your work.

This is not to say that if you are the next Patterson or Koontz, and you are fortunate enough to find a receptive audience for your work, that you should not write to your market, you obviously should. But, you should not pursue that path unless that is the natural result of your work.

Whenever I read posts like these, I always think of Jack London. He spent countless hours educating himself, actually learning how to write and even more hours reading everything he could get his hands on. Then he spent thousands of hours writing story after story, only to be rejected again and again. Until finally, after several years he met with success.

From what I understand, he never once thought that he could write without the proper foundation ( grammar, punctuation, structure etc.) and he never wrote a word in which he did not believe.