Inspired by Johannesburg and Jewel (Singer)

Last year I entered a short story competition and my story was shortlisted in the 1st round and in the 2nd and final round it received honorable mention as a story which was well written and which the judges enjoyed reading. This year I have been suffering from writers block and haven't been able to write up anything as yet and so I dismissed the thought of entering the same competition again. Last minute, I decided to re-work an old story and enter the competition. I wasn't very hopeful but to my surprise my story was shortlisted again , this time in the top 25 out of about 677 entries. I was wowed and humbled by this.

What really touched me was that  the  5 or 6 judges read my story, really read my story, liked it and put me in the top 25 out of 677 entries. For me that is huge and it gave me a huge boost. Although I eventually did not win in the 2nd round I was ecstatic. My story was in the honors category which is actually higher than the honorable mention category my story for last year was in. The honors category is for stories that were well written, with great story lines and solid characters. This recognition has made me feel that I am going in the right direction with my story writing. 

God help me I really want to take my stories to next level by getting published. I just need to figure out how to go about. Yeah, I am a published author in the making :)

Oh by the way my story was inspired by Jewel's song Hands and my imagination of what living on the streets of Johannesburg could be like. I was in the in a taxi one day on my way to work when I saw some street kids sleeping on the pavements and the idea of a story hit me. Coincidentally Jewel's song Hands had been playing over and over in my head and a story came together. I was very emotional when I wrote that story I tell you. I usually carry a small notebook where I can jot down ideas and thoughts. A lot of times ideas hit me at the oddest of times so I need somewhere to write before I forget. For me writing stories is an adventure in itself. My prayer is that one day (soon) people will read my stories and enjoy them the same way I enjoy reading other people's stories - example I am talking about you Alexander McCall Smith.