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However, one of those things we learned was it takes time to judge writing entries. We opened the submissions up to flash fiction and short stories. We set the lengths at 6-300 words for flash fiction and 3500-5000 words for our short stories. 

Then the flood gates opened. We were astounded at the number of people who wanted in on our contest. I couldn’t figure out if it was because we didn’t charge anything (most writing contests charge an entry fee) or because of the idea behind the contest.

The idea was simple. Take an ordinary event, say washing dishes, and turn it into something extra-ordinary. I wanted something that would blow my mind. I wanted to see what others thought about in the genres of writing where they could take something ordinary and turn it into something that would make me think. Make me wonder if there was something extraordinary out there in the world.

Of course, as I ventured into this contest, I thought I was being an original. Only the more it progressed the more I realized I was channeling Rod Serling, the creator of The Twilight Zone TV series. Each of their episodes was based upon something ordinary which became extra-ordinary. Imagine my surprise to learn I hadn’t come up with something original at all. Though, to be fair it felt good to be in such company as Rod Serling. I adored The Twilight Zone. Have all of them on discs. I recommend anyone who writes to watch the series to see what I mean.

See, I wanted something that grew from ordinary items such as mowing the grass into something like an alien invasion. Only I didn’t want it as a plot twist. That was where the judging became difficult. We received hundreds of entries. Most of them, unfortunately, never paid too much attention to the brief we published about the rules for the contest.

We received many that simply didn’t fall within the word count limits. Others took the opportunity to rant about something they felt was different in their lives but did not reflect the theme of the contest or the upcoming book. 

Then there were the ones with the plot twists. Think the ending of The Sixth Sense. An ending I didn’t see coming. Which is rare. I normally have the story figured out long before the ending much to my wife’s chagrin. And yes, I saw most of these plot twists but that didn’t take away from their creativity or fun.

This left us in a quandary. Here we had many short stories with the proper word count that did not fit the requirements of the ordinary to the extraordinary but were quite good regardless. We didn’t want to see these stories go to waste, so we asked the authors if we could hold onto them in the hopes, we could use them in a later edition of short stories.

How did we judge the contest? With a great deal of effort. We decided to overlook any grammar errors or structural problems or even plot holes. We put aside anything to do with the craft of writing and looked at the story itself. If the story was good, we put it in the “look at again” pile. If it wasn’t, we deleted them and sent an email to the authors thanking them and letting them know to try again. 

Once we whittled the entries down to usable stories, we looked to see if they actually told a tale that started out as some ordinary chore or event and then turned into something extraordinary. A heady task.  

Once we whittled out the ones with the plot twist at the end to those who met our criteria, we had to choose one per category. Just one. It took us a week once we had only the ones that remained in contention for the prize to surface.

In our flash fiction category, our winner came from the Philippines. Cleffy Garcia’s story intrigued us. We read it multiple times until we finally decided we kept coming back to it as a comparison to other stories. This meant if we were using it to compare to the others then it must be the winner. 

The genre Cleffy chose was intriguing. A fantasy-based story with an unusual addition to the genre. I will not tell you anything more. I prefer you read it for yourself and decide. 

Our winner in the short story category took us by surprise. She too was a slow starter who gained on us each time we looked at her entry. Tammy Lynn Waclawski entered her story under the romance genre. I am a jaded man when it comes to romance stories. For me they all seem the same. I can tell you the outcome of the book within the pages of the first chapter. Most romances are simply repeats of the great ones down to the themes and the characters. Tammy’s was not. I was delighted to find an original story about romance. At least to me.

We will have to edit the entries of course. Including my own. It is sometimes good to be the publisher since I get to include one of my own stories. One edited and judged by Miranda Cummings and Jocelyn Lockhart. Two women who take great joy in returning the favor of judging my work in the harshest of lights. They show no mercy when it comes to my emotions about my work. None. Which is the way it is supposed to be. If you have a thin skin then be careful, the writing game is a harsh one.

To give you a little peak at what is inside Ordinary to Extraordinary I give you the short stories:

Sensual Dishes...............................Miranda Cummings Erotica

Groceries .........................................Anna Smythe Horror

Date Night.......................................Tammy Waclawski Romance

A Detective Chooses......................Wilhelmina Folsom Supernatural

I look forward to presenting these stories to you.

I’m Ross, The Editor-in-Chief at The Pyrateheart Press and I’m out.