Fiction & Nonfiction

The venture

The Venture

She looked at the guidelines of the contest, in open-mouthed curiosity. Jenny loved to write. She was full of bubbling enthusiasm to try her hand at creativity, now that she got her diploma in creative writing.

The contest sounded like just her cup of tea, and the prompt not very difficult. As she read through the rules and explanations, her aplomb simmered down. The negatives dominated the page. Her confidence took a beating. The line, “you will be disqualified if...” was found at more than two places.

The process of submission looked complicated, and time consuming. The contest holder wanted a link to bitem, and direct posting in the forum as well.

“Not for me,” muttered Jenny, turning to another contest. She read through the details, and discovered she could do it. There were very few “don’ts” and, no insistence on any basics. The girls in the picture prompt, looked like her classmates. This raised her inspiration. Jenny submitted her entry.

Two days later, to her great delight, she found, her story won the first place honor.

“Hay...” Jenny did a quick jig, and telephoned her mom. Mom was all joy and, asked her to try more.

With her confidence restored, Jenny went back to the first contest, and once again read through the details. She no longer felt like a first timer.

She found, despite three paragraphs, the contents could be summarized in one. The rules did not appear like menaces anymore. She looked at the prompt, and started working on the story.

Word Count:257