Last week on the blog, I sponsored a contest with delicious salted caramel chocolate brownies for a prize. This week, I entered a contest myself. It's all very exciting! It is a writing contest, and my entry is due on Saturday at the stroke of midnight. Very Marty McFly, isn't it?

The whole thing has me so riled up, I've been skipping around the kitchen Island. Writing fiction? With a deadline?! I'm giddy to the point that I'm adding gratuitous exclamation points to every text message, email, and Instagram post.

My husband asked me what the prize is. Duh! The prize is feedback on my writing. Isn't that marvelous?

Yes, the contest cost me $55 to enter. As long as the judges don't call me a hack, I've definitely come out ahead. You get what you pay for, especially in the writing contest business.

And really, I don't need a prize. When I want one, I can win one. Like that time I impressed my kids to no end by telling them I was going to win the iPad in the marching band's raffle and then they called my ticket number. I screamed hysterically and ran to the stage like a contestant on The Price is Right, not because I wanted an iPad but because it confirmed what the kids and I suspected. I am a telepathic mind bender.

In entering this contest and writing my entry, I've learned so much. Did you know that if you tie someone's hands with rope and then soak the rope with water, the rope will tighten to the point that your victim's hands will need to be amputated? Also, did you know that the Italian Mafia kills its women if they try to remarry even years after their spouse has died?

I'm dying to share a couple of paragraphs from my entry, but that might disqualify me. Let me assure you though, it's fabulous stuff. There's a scientist who invented a new kind of cement impervious to water or salt. There's an obituary writer who hates being touched. There's a boat race and a crazed father on a vendetta. I don't mean to blow my own horn but doesn't that seem like the kind of fictional prowess that should get me to the next round? Okay, maybe I need to add an animal to the mix. A muskrat? 

Anyway, I'm giddy with anticipation. Like Cinderella! Signing off now so I can count down the minutes until Saturday at MIDNIGHT!!!!!!!!!

P.S. If you would like info on the writing contest, click here. If you want to read about the Mongolians who soaked ropes to torture their captives, click here. To read about the way the Italian Mafia treats its women, click here. 

Photo by Ariel Besagar via Unsplash.