How Are You Feeling? - Flash Fic Results Looming

Jennk wrote:

I wrote a story for a different comp a couple months back. It was a very personal story for me, and I put a lot of myself into it. Almost 4 years ago, I lost the love of my life to cancer. And two years ago my best friend passed away from diabetic complications. Her husband had also passed 5 years before she did. I wrote a romantic story about loss. The main characters were based on Troye and I, and also Bill and Jim. Many of the things they experienced were pulled directly from our lives. And it was set in a place that meant a lot to me. It was very cathartic, and I shed a lot of tears writing it.  

The feedback I got from the judges was 100% positive and encouraging. The only negative they had was that they wanted to know more about my characters, and even mentioned that they understood about how that would be difficult given the word limit. They said they loved my syntax and imagery and pretty much everything about my story. And it didn't place. Or even get an honorable mention. 

So, yeah. I was gutted. I was ready to give up completely on writing. Or at least stop entering contests and/or sharing anything I wrote. If I hadn't already paid the entry fee, I would not have even written for Flash. But I did,  and then messed up and got a DQ in round 1  At that point I definitely wanted to "chuck it in the f**k-it bucket". But I didn't, and wrote for round 2, and managed to get my 1st ever placement. Just a few points, but enough to keep me going for a bit longer.