The First Daring Microfiction Blogfest and Contest!

(Note: the winner has been announced!)

This is to announce the First Daring Microfiction Blogfest and Writing Competition. If I enjoy this enough I will do it again. The theme is Hemingway's six-word story about baby shoes (see Rule 3 below).

The point of this contest is for us all to have some fun, and for you to show off your writing. I am a great believer in writers putting sample fiction on their blogs and websites. Preferably stuff which is more fun than polished. That's why the stories must appear on YOUR blog or website. I will only publish links to your stories, and not the stories themselves.

The Baby Shoes Microfiction Competition Rules:

1. You must follow these rules to be eligible for the prize. The prize will be a $10 Amazon Gift certificate. There is no entry fee. Entries which don't follow the rules may be eligible for the blogfest, but not a prize (see below).

2. The submission must be a story (not an essay), and it must not be more than 1000 words.

3. The story must be based on Hemingway's six-word story - "For sale, baby shoes. Never used." While the story doesn't have to contain those words, it must involve someone selling baby shoes which have never been used, in some way. It's up to you how far you stray from the basic premise.

4. I will award the price based on my own odd tastes, and my judgment is final. I may find that I simply don't like the story which is best written, or that I love some aspect of a story which has big flaws. (For your reference: I like cleverness, I like silliness, and I don't mind strange. I also don't mind old-fashioned sentiment. I don't like to be put through grueling experiences, but I do like suspense -- so if in doubt, go ahead and enter.)

5. I reserve the right to reject entries which I find inappropriate or offensive. I am hard to offend, but I have no idea what I'm going to get, and I'm not going to link to child porn sites.

6. I also reserve the right to change/edit these rules for clarity!

7. HOW TO SUBMIT:

• Publish your story on your own blog or site before the deadline. Include an intro and a link back to this post. (NOTE: it can be a third party site. I will only read it if it's on the web somewhere.)
  
• Send an email to daringnovelist@gmail.com with the link to your entry. (NOTE: I do not use this email for any other purpose. Don't try to contact me through it otherwise.) Do NOT send the story itself. You must publish it on your own blog or website.
  
• The subject of the email should say "FOR CONTEST." You may include a title and/or your name to help me keep track of the entries.

8. You may enter as many times as you wish.

The deadline is April 30, 2011. I encourage those who can to enter earlier. I will post the links to the entries I've received each week (on Friday nights). You'll each get better exposure if you don't all send the entries at the same time.

After the deadline, I will estimate how long it will take to read them, and set a date to announce the winner. At that time, I will contact the winner through the email address he or she used to submit the entry. Then I will post the winner, along with a master list of all entries.

For those who want to break the rules:

If you want to write something that relates to the theme, but doesn't fit the rules (an essay, poem, excerpt, or a story longer than 1000 words, for instance) you may still enter the blogfest, but you will not be eligible for the prize. Just send me the link at the above address, and put "FOR BLOGFEST" in the subject line, instead of 'for contest.' I will include these links in my weekly list.

If you don't have any ideas, I suggest you go back and read my Magic of 100 posts. You'll end up with lots.

Have fun, show me what you've got, and good luck!