I woke up this morning, checked my email and found the results from the second challenge in round 1 of the NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Challenge were up. I’ll admit I was a bit nervous about this one; I placed fifth in my group for the first one with ‘The Bunker‘, and so was in a good position to get through if I did well on the second story. I had been happy with it, but had posted it to the forums and had feedback that it was confusing, particularly the timeline.

Fortunately the judges didn’t agree! I finished third in my group, which put me an amazing second overall and through to challenge 3.

The initial field of 2,200 has been narrowed down to 300 – it’s going to be incredibly tough competition going forward. There’s always the chance that I will get a genre that I’m not familiar with or good at (comedy, romance, political satire; these things are sending chills down my spine as I think about the weekend!) or that I get a migraine, or some other illness and I’m just off my game.

I am incredibly lucky that my family are really supportive of my writing, my husband will take the kids out so I can write my entry, he’ll also be my first reader. I have friends who are always willing to read stories in draft stage and give me their honest opinions.

So, while I am nervous going forward, I will give it my best shot.

Feedback from the markers on ‘The Ashrey’ is due later today.