So I took a break from this blog for a while (a while? three years?!?) to work more on fiction writing.
I actually spent that time writing short stories. Then I started getting some of them professionally edited. And my editor suggested I submit to the Writers of the Future Contest. It’s run by the estate of L. Ron Hubbard (yes, the Scientology guy, who started out as a science fiction writer, and no, Scientology has nothing to do with the contest). It’s apparently a pretty prestigious sci-fi contest, where, in addition to a cash prize, you get to go to LA for an award banquet, and do a workshop with a big-name author. And best of all, they accept longer submissions than most places, and my stories tend toward the longer side.
My first story didn’t win anything, but the next quarter I sent in an older story called Test Subjects, about a guy in Australia who runs a black market pharmaceutical testing lab, and gets injected with an experimental chemical weapon. That on got an Honorable Mention early this year, which comes with the fanciest certificate I have ever received.
So I will definitely be submitting more stories to the Writers of the Future Contest (you can submit every quarter). And in the meantime, I’ve collected several of the my best stories together, and am learning how to format them to into a book and self-publish it as an ebook. I’m just waiting for a cover now, and will hopefully have it up on Amazon by the end of 2019. So stay tuned for more details!