First Annual Donna's Book Pub Short Story Contest Winners

Maybe it's because May is such a lovely, lusty month and writers are busy outdoors or have other things on their minds, but I only received two submissions for my short story contest in honor of National Short Story Month.

Having said that, the two entries I received were outstanding. Thanks to Claudia Mundell and Stan Wilson for submitting their wonderful stories to Donna's Book Pub First Annual Short Story Contest in honor of National Short Story Month.

Both stories are very good, and they are also very different, but the compelling writing voice of one story edged out the other.

Drum roll, please . . .

First place winner: "Blood Kin," by Claudia Mundell is a coming-of-age story about Alice Gallagher set decades ago in summertime Kansas. The setting of "Blood Kin" rings true: Momma in the kitchen canning tomatoes and green beans and warning Alice to watch herself around grown men, the family sitting on Grandma's wraparound porch telling stories and swapping gossip, Aunt Mary Kate ignoring what she doesn't want to see, and creepy Uncle Daniel lurking in the background. Claudia's excellent writing voice, use of vivid description, realistic dialogue, suspense, and tension when Alice changes from innocence to understanding combine to make a compelling and memorable story.

Second place winner: "The Bonding of a Man and His Cat" by Stan Wilson is told from the point of view of a cat called "The Cat or Kat," who lives Sheriff Raymond T. Wills aka RW. Stan uses touches of humor in his short story, which is set in Hendawson Falls, Indiana, during Prohibition. A crooked sheriff, a talking cat, a shady lady, race cars, racy card games, illegal moonshine, and a shoot-out with an infamous ganster make an entertaining story.

Well done, Claudia and Stan, and congratulations! Claudia wins a copy of Cuivre River Anthology (Volume I) and a certificate. Stan wins a certificate. I will mail out the winnings by mid-month.

Goals for the Month - Letting Go of Stuff

Over the past week I've done some spring cleaning, but I've still got a long way to go. Cari and I worked on her room on Sunday. Like me, she is a saver, which means she had lots of stuff to go through. I've also decided to move some furniture around, which means get rid of stuff. I've filled up several bags and boxes to give away to various charities and people, but this month I'm also going to focus on cleaning up my writing act.

With the new month, I've set some new writing goals. Here they are:

Book Reviews - Finish one interview and three reviews this month.

Short stories - Work on "Grandma's Suitcase" (now at 1800 words). Have 3,000 words by the end of month

YA Novel - Pull it out, dust off the cobwebs, and start over. Note to self: You can do this!

Critique group - Bring something to read to two meetings. Usually I give up my reading time to others, but this month I'm going to stop being a slacker and bring something to read.

Market/Contests - Find one new market or contest and submit.

Blog - Announce winners of my short story contest in honor of National Short Story Month by June 5th.
Find one new market and post on blog.
Find one new contest and post on blog.

Saturday Writers - Follow up with MO History Museum about speaker for June.
Send out e-mails about Cuivre River Anthology
Update website twice during the month

Book Stack/Shelf - Give away or recycle at least 10 books this month--to library, to critique group, to Saturday Writers, to my sisters, or as a blog giveaway. I'm taking three books to critique group today, so seven more to go by month's end.

How about you, do you have any writing goals for the month?

Notes from Nature Writing Workshop

In yesterday's post I reviewed Seeds of Change by Jen Cullerton Johnson, who gave a Nature Writing Workshop to Saturday Writers in April. Jen's workshop was inspiring and a great opportunity to stimulate the writing muscles, so I want to share some of my notes from the workshop.


To write a story about nature:

1. Sit quietly (or walk) and observe
2. Engage the five senses (see, touch, smell, taste, hear)
3. Notice the details (texture, color, weight)
4. Describe an object using two senses (for example, a clover field)
5. Describe the object as it evokes a memory (running through a clover field in the summer, making clover bracelets)
6. Combine the two parts (description and memory) to create a story
7. Be as specific as possible
8. Include a goal
9. Add conflict
10. Introduce a second character
11 Dig for emotion
12. Include Climax and resolution
13. Prune and tighten


In Jen's workshop I began a story about my mom's backyard. One woman wrote a piece about running through a field and making clover bracelets. Another wrote about scuba diving for shells. What really helped stimulate my imagination was holding the seeds and plants that Jen gave to participants.


Another suggestion was to keep a notebook or a journal to record details when you are out in nature. I also have found taking photographs helps stimulate my memory and heightens my senses to create a story or an essay with more vivid details.


Short Story Month Reminder and Challenge: How about writing a short story where nature has a strong presence?

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow

Yesterday was a busy, but very fun day.

In spite of the rain and traffic I arrived on time at the library in Harris Elementary School in St. Charles to talk to more than 400 students in KG-4th grade about "The Life of a Writer." The visit was set up by Ruth Guffey from the Saint Charles City School District Partners in Education Program. The school's Literacy Leader Melissa Armbruster oversaw the program. (Thanks, Becky, for sending my name to Ruth.)

For the event I joined Sarah Weaver and Stephanie Bearce. Sarah is a young, an enthusiastic and an intelligent reporter who talked about some of her reporting assignments, including President Obama's visit to St. Charles in March. Stephanie is a vivbrant and knowledgeable retired teacher who has written several non-fiction books and is working on a fiction book.

The real stars of the program, however, were the students. What a joy it was to be in their presence! They asked great questions and had some charming answers when they were asked questions. I was amazed that the kindergartners knew the difference between fiction and non-fiction. All the children were attentative and appreciative and just so sweet.

After leaving Harris School, I met up with my sister Kathleen and friends Gerri and Patty to go to the Missouri History Museum in St. Louis. The four of us are volunteer gallery attendants for the Splendors of the Vatican exhibition which runs through September. The crowd wasn't as large as last Sunday so I had some time to examine some items in the collection more closely.

Last night I typed up several current event papers for Cari (that are due today) and didn't get to bed until early this morning--around 2 a.m.

Today is catch-up day. I'll be signing the kiddos up for two short summer day camps and Ill be updating the Saturday Writers website, which is long overdue. And housework is calling my name.

Tomorrow (and for the next 10 days) I'm hoping to receive more entries in my no-fee, easy-to-enter short story contest in honor of National Short Story month.

You can find complete guidelines on my May 3 post. In a nutshell, stories should be unpublished, in English, no more than 2010 words, and e-mailed to me (copy and paste in the body of an e-mail) dvolkenannt (at) charter (dot) net by May 31. Open to writers in the USA and Canada. First place winner receives a copy of the out-of-print Cuivre River Anthology (Vol I). Top three winners receive certificates.

Hope you all have a great weekend. I'll be back on Monday!

National Short Story Month Contest - Day 10

We're about one-third of the way through NSSM and my contest to encourage my visitors to write and submit a short story. If you missed my original post about the contest, check back to the beginning of this month. In essence, I'm hoping to encourage short story writing and asking visitors to submit a short story of no more than 2010 words. Contest details are in the earlier post.

If you're stuck and looking for ideas to get started, here are a couple of suggestions.

Last Friday on Cathy C. Hall's blog, she posted a link to The Absinthe Road where you can find writing prompts each Monday. How's that for a great way to get inspired to write?

If that doesn't work, I'll also try to help. This week I'll post some prompts I've gathered from workshops I've attended as well as from other sources I've collected on my writing journey. Today's prompts come from Pat Carr, who gave a "Writing Fiction with Pat Carr" workshop to Saturday Writers last October.

In Pat's workshop, she taught that a "short story moves from innocence to experience" and "fiction is narrative shown in scenes." She advised not having more than five charaters in a short story and shared these prompts:

1. The easiest place to start a story is with an incident that actually happened. Prompt: Write five incidents you remember (preferably longer than five years ago).

2. For authenticity, use a place you've been. Prompt: Set your story in one of these places:

The most comfortable place in life, most uncomfortable, most exciting, most boring, or the most frightening.

3. To make your setting come alive for your reader, use specific sensory details. Prompt: Use one or more of these to get your story started: An odor (our sense of smell is our strongest), time of day and season, temperature, sound, an important object, a dominant color, a dominant shape, something that can be touched, a taste, a certain slant of light (from Emily Dickenson).

I've used Pat's prompts to start two short stories--note I wrote start--they are still works in progress, but they got my creative juices flowing and gave shape to my ideas. So, how about you?

National Short Story Month Contest

In case you didn't know it, May has been designated National Short Story Month. Don't feel bad; I didn't know it either until I read an article in the May/June issue of Poets and Writers Magazine.

I love reading and writing short stories and can still remember some favorites from high school and college--"The Most Dangerous Game," "The Gift of the Magi," "The Fall of the House of Usher," "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall," and "Good Country People"--are some that come to mind.

So, in honor of National Short Story Month, I'm going to sponsor a little no-entry-fee contest to encourage writers to write and submit a short story this month. I'm also doing it to accomplish my goal of downsizing my bookshelves by giving away a copy of Cuivre River Anthology (Volume I), Saturday Writers Winning Words, which contains one of my short stories.

Here are the short and simple rules.

Short stories must be:

The submitter's own work

Written between May 1 and May 31, 2010

Written in English

Unpublished

No longer than 2010 words (as in the year 2010)

Submitted by e-mail to dvolkenannt (at) charter (dot) net

Received by midnight CST on May 31 2010

Other guidelines:

Copy and paste into the body of an e-mail

No attachments; attachments will not be opened

Submit your best work

Proofread before sending

No pornography or gory content

One entry per person

Open to residents of USA and Canada

Decision of judge is final

Writers retain all rights to their stories

No whining, please

Prizes:

First place winner will receive a copy of Cuivre River Anthology (Vol I), which includes my short story "Golden Lilace Under the Worm Moon"

Top three winners will receive certificates

Depending on number of submissions, I might award some honorable mentions

Titles and names of winners will appear on Donna's Book Pub on June 8, 2010