Globalshortstories.net competition - 2nd place

I got second place aka highly commended at a competition I entered in February :)
The story is a sort of metaphor for drugs and creativity and I was inspired both by Bruno Mars' song of the same name, Dreamtaker, and the story of Jean-Michel Basquiat's life.


The review makes me think they're talking about someone else, haha, but I'm so pleased.


Our highly commended writer, earning £25, comes from Paris, France, and is Deana Mundell, for Dreamtaker, of which Fiona says: “This is the stuff of nightmares and has a quirkiness which engaged me from the start. It recalled the reversal of fortunes in that classic movie ‘Nightmare Alley,’ which I saw only once when I was nine years old and yet the vivid impression of almost every scene has stayed with me ever since. The use of language is suitably economic and serves to highlight the very dark subject matter. Well done.”


http://www.globalshortstories.net/februarywinners2011.pdf


Mine's the second story.

Literary magazines

More so than winning competitions, my ultimate goal, obviously, is to be published.
Novels, screenplays, songs, editorials, articles, non-fiction...I want to write it all.

So far though, I haven't submitted to magazines. A lot of it has to do with them accepting only post submissions which costs money I don't have since I'm not in the US. Though that's mainly an excuse for me and my fear to hide behind.

I'm writing this now to make myself accountable: I'm working on a non-fiction contribution which I hope to finish and send by the end of next month at the latest. I've never written anything like that; it feels like submitting a diary entry in a way.

But now it's out there so I have to do it.
Who knows? I might even be selected :)

I've just submitted to 5 different competitions

I always plan on submitting to all the competitions and magazines around & then just before pressing 'submit' - or 'pay now' as the case may be - I chicken out & think of all the reasons why I shouldn't.

They won't like my style
They won't like the genre
They won't like the language
I don't have any money
My story sucks
I suck & I'm also stupid

I've just submitted to 5 different competitions & I'll be submitting more stories to literary magazines whether or not I place or win.

An excerpt of my story - Dreamtaker (1400 words)

"He was the worst storyteller I'd ever come across yet his little bursts had created a thread in my mind, and I could see everything that had happened to him. The young and beautiful artist, riding triumphant on his rising star, the large and imposing, equally beautiful, equally charismatic dreamtaker, promising to take the artist to the next level. I leaned forward, anxious for this new pause to end."

I'm terrified

but tomorrow I'm submitting to the following competitions:


Cazart
Global short stories
Brighton Cow
Unbound Press
Dark Tales
Exeter
Gemini magazine
Meridian writing
Bristol competition
Writer mag
American Short Fiction
Writersdigest
Bridport prize

I'm not sure if I'll write a different story for the following publications, but I will submit to these as well:

Glimmer Train
Granta magazine
The Paris review
Zoetrope
The Georgia Review