A finished product.

No, no, no--don't get excited.  I didn't finish the first Emerson story (yet).

But what I did finish was a short story.  I'd heard about a Writer's Digest short story contest whose deadline is in November, and I've been wanting to enter.  But I'm not usually a short story writer--oh no, I get these grandiose plans not just for books, but for 7-book series!  I don't have any short stories on hand that I could just submit.  So I had to write one.

The idea came to me the other morning.  "She likes to win," I heard the voice in my head telling me.  But I didn't know who it meant, or what was being won.  But soon enough, I did.  My brain sorted it all out and I wrote down a bunch of notes.  And then today I glanced at those notes and wrote the story in under 2 hours--yes, that's including editing.

I'm happy with the story.  It's very, very me.  Edgy and twisted and weird and focused on the things I write about best. 

Submitting this story for the contest is not about winning.  It's about having an idea, writing it well, and creating a finished product that I'm proud of.  I've done that, so in my mind, I've already won.  If I win any prizes, well, that's just the icing on the cake.


For all the shit I constantly give myself for never seeming to write enough, that inner critic is silenced today.  Today I did enough, and I'm proud.