Writers of the Future Semi-Finalist

I feel like I’ve leveled-up in writing! I’m thrilled to share with you that I was a Semi-Finalist for the Writers of the Future contest 2nd Quarter! I’m late in sharing, but this is yet another step higher than my previous silver honorable mention. (See this post and why I think even honorable mentions with WotF are BIG small wins.) This is the fourth story I’ve submitted to WotF and the fourth honor received.

How is Semi-Finalist different? It means I was in the top twenty of the hundreds of submissions! Levels below semi can actually edit and resubmit the story to the contest. With semi-finalists, the judges feel the story is good enough that it only needs a little work to be submitted to professional market.

This time, I entered a story that was a gift for my friend (and co-author on Trials of the Innermost). He requested specific elements like combining sci-fi and fantasy, alternate history, and things like androids. I started my idea with a question “What if we never went to the moon?” and the story They Came For the Bees evolved. I even included unknowingly one of his favorite tropes – an alien object shows up and things on earth change. In my story, creatures get innate powers. It was also special to me as it’s the first short story I wrote focusing on a mother and their child.

I received feedback from the contest director (so nice that they do that for us!) and will be making those small tweaks and searching for a home for TCFTB!