I had hoped to rework some segments of The 29th Day into a short story that could be competitive in the CBC Literary Awards. I have now had a chance to analyze last year’s award winner in the short story category.  I need to mature much more as a writer in order to have any chance of being short-listed. I will still submit an entry, but wow – I have so much to learn. I still think that my book as a whole is a worthy offering, well worth reading and publishing. In fact, I think my strength being able to sustain a story over 100,000 words – kind of like running a marathon (though I would much rather write than have to run any distance!). The matter of writing an award winning 2500 short story is quite different.

I am no expert, but here are some small thoughts about what is remarkable about Claire Battershill’s 2008 winning entry, Circus:

• an economy of words: each sentence conveys complex and sometimes contrasting thoughts;
• Ms. Battershill manages to span generations or link the experiences of different characters in even in the most succint phrases;
• she developed two main characters, one minor character and a peripheral character in the span of 2500 words;
• humorous ideas are conveyed in a very matter of fact way – I really enjoyed the sly comedy throughout the piece; and
• the theme of the circus, tight-rope walking, and contortions is introduced in the beginning and then artfully woven throughout the whole story.

Really, the writing is marvellous – check it out at http://enroute.aircanada.com/en/articles/cbc-literary-short-story-circus-winner-claire-battershill

It now strikes me that one must approach this as a project of trying to write a short story for the purpose of entering it in a literary competition rather than writing a novel and reworking it. I will keep that in mind for next year, and will make the best of what I have got for now. In terms of being better prepared to submit to literary competions, if one were so inclined, I would point out that The Writers’ Circle of Durham Region has a session for this: “2010 03 06 Write to Win! Workshop with Dorothea Helms & Ruth Walker “. For more information see their website at http://wcdr.ca/wcdr.