As I mentioned in this space several weeks ago my most recent entry into the Writer of the Future contest had scored a finalist. (At that time I though the finalist were six but it turned out there are eight from which the three winners are chosen.) My entry did not win.

Don’t worry about me; I’m good. Rejection is baked into the cake and its labeled right on the tin. Do not attempt traditional publication if you cannot take rejection for it will stalk you every step of the way and throughout any career. I’m proud and happy to have this odd little story score a spot on the finalist list and the contest may print it as a published finalist in next year’s anthology.

I am reminded of a story I once heard Charlton Heston recount on the Late Show with Johnny Carson. (Kids ask your parent or grandparents.) The great actor Laurence Olivier was in a stage production and the play had already been running for several weeks when one night his performance transcended into something beyond words. His fellow actors noticed the heights he suddenly has reached and were spellbound by the achievement. Afterward Maggie Smith, you kids know here from Harry Potter, came to his dressing room and asked if he knew just how good he had been that evening. Reportedly Olivier answered, “Yes, but I don’t know how.”

This is what separates art from science or engineering. You can learn rules, you can learn theories and in science those are unchanging, always producing the same results from the same inputs but art doesn’t work that way.

Under the current coordinating judge I have submitted a dozen stories to the contest, one made finalist, none have made semi-finalist, one scored an honorable mention, and the rest, ten out of twelve were passed over without comment or placement. Why did this story catch Dave’s attention?

I don’t know. A number of those stories that Dave did not care for have sold to other markets, several have gotten feedback and comments from other editors. This is not science and there are no hard and fast rules that assure consistent outcomes. Dave himself has a number of elements or rules that he thinks makes for good story telling and this story, the one he plucked for finalist, ignored or broke a number of the advisory guidelines.

When I have a new short story I will submit again but past performance is not guarantee of future results.