Longlisted – ‘learning the brutal truth’

I was ECSTATIC this morning!

However, I am learning fast and now I’m not quite as excited as I was first thing! It appears that I misunderstood what ‘longlisted’ means but thanks to friendly fellow Twitterers I am now a little wiser.

First the good news – my newest short story, ‘The Price of Lipstick,’ has been longlisted, for which I am extremely grateful. I believe I’m up against three hundred entries that have to be whittled down to only 100. So technically, I have a one in three chance of making the final cut, I think, based on statistics.

However I don't think it’s not quite so simple. I have made it through the first hurdle – a panel of up to six readers liked my story enough to put it forward to the next round. My thanks go to these anonymous readers.

Consequently, I'm six again and I’m back in the egg and spoon race on sports day and I can see the finish line, it's just over there, except this time the staff have included an obstacle! My hand is shaking, will I drop the egg too soon clearing the obstruction?

My story has to satisfy the Editors and I don’t know who these people are but I am going to send them strong positive good vibes and I hope that they will like my up beat contemporary story.

And the newest thing I’m learning personally is 'Patience,' which I have to be honest up until now (including today) isn’t and never was one of my strengths.

Therefore my dilemma is quiet simple, hanging on to my excitement before I gush and make a complete fool of myself in the public domain. Hopeless (romantic) I know! But maybe I can be forgiven this trait or is it a weakness(?) as I’m a novice waiting to hit the big time. And there is one thing I'm certain I’m learning something new everyday especially when it comes to Twitter, I'm finding I do have a small addictive trait too, now that’s a bit scary because I never knew this existed! Except where Chocolate is involved!

Nevertheless I’m sure I’ll get over this too with a little practice.

I’m keeping my fingers and toes firmly crossed that the Editors, a wonderful group of people, will put my entry through to the final 100.