If you happened to stumble across this, that probably means you were reading our Texas Book Festival preview. And that probably means you like good books and good writing, and hey, maybe you’ve thought that you could be good at it, too, that whole writing thing. Maybe, even, you’ve already got a few stories banging around your brain, or better yet, put down in a notebook or on a laptop, close to finished. So what are you waiting for?
How about a carrot, a little incentive: Every year, we hold this thing. It’s a short story contest. Some pretty interesting stories, and people, have won in the past. We’ve got a decent rep, actually. And we give away real prize money, too. But we know you’re pure of heart and art and all that, so what you really want to know is that we publish the first-place winner in our print edition, which means somewheres about 100,000 eyes – er, make that 200,000, give or take the occasional eye patch – will pass over your words. Just think of it: your words. So what are you waiting for? Use ’em already.
The rules and regulations: Postmark deadline is Dec. 15; work must be unpublished, typewritten, and no longer than 2,500 words; work must be accompanied by a cover letter that contains the name, address, e-mail, and phone number of the author, as well as the story’s word count and title (author’s name must not appear on the manuscript); one entry per person; Chronicle staff, freelancers who have contributed more than one article since September 2008, and first- through fifth-place winners from the 2008 contest are ineligible; no electronic submissions.
Want more info? Visit austinchronicle.com/shortstory. Got questions? Contact books@austinchronicle.com. Now get to work.
This article appears in swine flu.
