Short stories are an excellent jump start for writing, especially when a prompt and deadline are attached to the challenge.

I decided to sharpen my creative pencil and signed up to participate in the Midwest Writing Center’s Iron Pen Contest. My cue came through via email right on schedule. I had 24 hours to write a short story in the category I’d chosen and the one I know best. Fiction.

The prompt: Between the ocean and the mountains is a wild forest. That is where I want to make my home.

Images came. Words followed. I wrote a chapter that might have been if the dream we had for a life together in Canada hadn’t ended with my husband’s life. I finished the story that would never be for us and cried.

I may not win the contest. I’ll find out on March 8th.

But I want to share this story with you.

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Thanks for reading.