Short fiction finalist

Late last year, I entered a writing contest for the Tennessee Williams Festival. Today, I got a surprising email.

Tennessee Williams Festival info@tennesseewilliams.net via gmail.com

Tue, Jan 22, 2019, 12:20 PM

Dear Jeff,

It’s my pleasure to inform you that your manuscript “The World to Come” was selected as a finalist for our 2019 contest. Congratulations!

We will be announcing the winner, runners up and finalists this Thursday, January 24th, 2019 on the website and in the most recent newsletter. In the meantime, please let us know if your work has been recognized or published elsewhere. The finalist award comes with a free panel pass to the festival. If you decide to come, just go to our box office and mention your name to receive it. We will also be listing the finalists up on the contest page. Cheers!

We’re honored to have you among the finalists for our contest. Our sincere thanks for giving us the opportunity to read your work!

Warm regards,

█████ ████ ████████

Contest Coordinator

UPDATE 1-Feb 2019

I didn’t win, but it was a great experience. The contest was to write a story in the Southern Gothic style. Naturally, I channeled Cormac McCarthy, my favorite writer. Looking back, I may have gotten a little carried away with the homage, but it was a lot of fun to write.

I’m not going to post the story here, because I’m going to keep developing it. The scene for the intro in this story is a trailer park I would drive past as I took my kids to school. One time, a dog was pacing nervously in the drainage ditch near the road. He looked like he wanted to cross the road, but he wouldn’t. Then I noticed why - another dog was laying dead in the road, it had recently been hit. The living dog was aware that his buddy had died. He didn’t know what to do, I’m not sure we would either in that moment. That scene stuck with me for a long time.

- @jbnunn