I just bumped into a short story competition this week

Earth, MWG – A call for a short story competition landed in my inbox this week. Its a 1,000-word piece with five mandatory phrases. I have never entered a contest like this before but I felt that this was the perfect opportunity to write a story that I already wanted to get rid of for some time.

The fact that I wrote the whole thing in the space of a few hours justified it. Okay, I added the ending the next day but I had it all in my head. And I don't think it's any good but I used the mandatory phrases cleverly and the feeling behind it is quite real.

Actually it's a deeply biographical story of a teenage screw-up that is so ridiculous if I look back, but at the same time I believe many of us can relate to it. And at the moment I am unsure about publishing this as it may be too personal and I don't think it would do any good if I showed it to the subjects... so what's the point?

Maybe the more personal the stuff the better the story is. At least it is ultimately credible and real. And it's no big deal just the perfect fit for the script of an episode of the TV show "How Not to Live Your Life". I think I may apply a few modifications to distance it from actual events in order to avoid any harm. But still not sure.

I think if I proceed with this I can make the next step in my progress as a writer. And it is a huge step to publish something that is so personal. The thing is that I already decided, I only need to figure out how to play this...