When one of my writing besties, S.E. Reed author of My Heart is Hurting was selected as a guest judge for the Fiction Potluck over at the Writer’s Workout of course I wanted to participate! I really enjoy cranking out a short story so I was excited to see what S.E. would pick for the genre.

The day comes and it’s…wait for it…my shoulders droop when I read Young Adult Fantasy. Ya’ll fantasy writers are some of the smartest in the biz. Seriously! And I’m not one of them. Even reading fantasy is a challenge for me. I have the utmost respect for both fantasy authors and their fans.

That being said, I was determined to take my first ever crack at writing fantasy in the low-stakes world of a short story in an anonymous competition.

I racked my brain in effort to conjure a plot, a world, a character—when something struck! One of my favorite movies is Rocket Man about Elton John. In one scene, Elton, decked out in a full-on bird like costume, bursts into a cathedral in the midst of a group therapy session.

It wasn’t much, but it was a start. I wrote and world-built til it nearly broke my brain. But finally, my story was as done as I could get it. Sure there were some plot points the reader would have to suspend belief. But, hey that’s fantasy, right?

I go another pass to check for obvious grammar errors and send it off. I was confident I couldn’t compete with the experts in this genre, but I was also proud of myself for writing OUT of my genre. Hint: this is always a great exercise for authors.

A few weeks after, I read a Tweet. Some authors submitted short stories written in the wrong age range, or maybe just one. MINE! In all my focus on the genre, I’d totally forgotten the request was for Young Adult. Oops!

I shared a laugh with a few writing friends. Recanted my submission and you can read it here if you so desire.

The moral of the story—read the large print. Yeah, I can’t even say it was the fine print. It was pretty large! But this is a good lesson for querying authors. Read over that agent’s MSWL (Manuscript Wish List) and submission guidelines with a fine-toothed comb. Don’t be an Amy!

As an endnote, one of my other good writing friends made it to the finale and I couldn’t be more proud of him! You can read all about the finalists here!

I’ll be sneaking into the Writer’s Workout again and you can bet, I’ll read and memorize the LARGE PRINT!

Read the directions and directly you’ll be directed in the right direction.

Lewis Carroll