short a story

I recently found an announcement for a short story contest in the local newspaper, that I thought I might take my chances at. I cut the add out and hung it up on the fridge as a motivational tool, which really has not motivated me in the least. It has, however, succeeded in making me feel guilty and pressured every time I sit down to enjoy a nice meal with my family.

The problem is not lack of time (although don't we all love to use that as an excuse), but more a lack of inspiration. I mean I have no shortage of things to write about, having just traveled and seen heaps of new places and met new people, but somehow that doesn't cut it.

Perhaps it has to due with my intimidation of short stories. I've taken a few English Lit. classes in my day, which has included reading a fair share of short stories. It always seems that the short stories are a bit dark, and on more than one occasion I have been left with an unsettled feeling, as I shake my head and conclude that I have a) no idea what that story was about b) have no idea what the point of that story was. Like a story I read by one of my favourite children's authors not to long ago. Let's just say Rhold Dahl was very imaginative in a fun way for children, but I'm afraid his imagination takes a darker twist and I'm not grown-up enough to read his adult work...yikes.

If I were to actually sit down long enough to write this story (which can be no more than 1600 words [about 3 times as long as this blog entry], and needs to be mailed and have arrived safely at its destination in 9 days), what would I write? I could take the boring non-fictional "day in the life of Dana Honderich" approach listing reasons why dairy farming is important, and why travel is fun (lame-O); or I could try to be artsy and weird and have people walk away with the same unsettled feeling I've experienced (I don't want to go to the dark side); or maybe I could try to pretend I'm funny enough to write something to make people laugh (That'll never happen... what?); or the emotional attempt whereby I make people think through a series of reflections and bam... whap 'em with some profound nugget I've gleaned from life experiences (Maybe...); or a travel guide type story(but I don't want to step on the toes of the folks from Lonely Planet, or Mr. Rick Steves); or ...

Now time for some audience participation. What should Dana write about? Help me out friends, the clock is tickin' and the page is still blank. Did I mention that first prize is $1000? We're not talking letter grades here, but cold hard cash. And my story would be printed in the paper for all to read, which is not a bad deal for an aspiring author.

Without any further ado let the brainstorming begin!