This short story by Bob Vander Lugt won our “America Is…” Show Off Contest. Bob writes short fiction and lives in Michigan.
One hallmark of nearly every great writer through history is that they supported, and were supported by, a larger community of writers. I hope you show Bob the full support of The Write Practice community by reading and sharing this story. I’m honored to publish it here. Enjoy!
Most people are their most creative when they’re not creating.
Bob Dylan wrote the chorus for “Like a Rolling Story” after he quit music. Hemingway wouldn’t allow himself to think about his novels when he wasn’t writing because he wanted his subconscious to work on it without him. One screenwriter had been blocked for months, when he was woken up by the sound of an imaginary woman’s voice. He started writing, and the screenplay ended up winning Academy Award. Twice in the last two years, I’ve gotten to a point in a project that I was so frustrated I wanted to quit writing. Both times, a break through came just a little while later while I wasn’t working.
Metaphor is a speeding train, pulling readers down the tracks of your story.
Simile, on the other hand, goes down easy like a glass of iced tea, but it’s forgettable like the canned lines in a greeting card.
Are you making full use of the power of metaphor in your writing? Or are you leaning on simile?
Just a reminder, if you didn’t win this writing contest it doesn’t mean:
You are a writer if you choose to be one. You are good because you practice by writing hundreds of pieces like the one you submitted to this contest. And your words are powerful things.
The Pulitzer Prize for fiction, as you probably know, was not awarded this year. The fiction panel nominated three books from a reading list of 300. (Can you imagine reading 300 books in a year?)
However, the Pulitzer board didn’t pick any of them. And we don’t know why. Were they not good enough? Were they not American enough? We don’t know. All we know is the Pulitzer Prize for fiction wasn’t awarded this year.
However, Michael Cunningham’s article on how the three Pulitzer nominees were chosen is a fascinating guide for how to angle for the Pulitzer.
If you want to win the Pulitzer, here’s how in five (not-so) easy steps…
