By Cheryl Rushing

I had a postcard in the mail today from NarrativeMagazine.com announcing their 2008 Fall Fiction Contest.

$3,000 First Prize

$1,500 Second Prize

$750 Third Prize

and $100 for Ten Finalists

Entry Deadline: November 30

I’m going to check out the contest guidelines.  Couldn’t hurt, right?

I am entering the Winter 2009 edition of WritersWeekly.com’s 24-Hour Short Story Contest.  The winter contest starts January 23, 2009 at noon central.

The contest is limited to 500 entries.  The entry fee is $5 and the grand prize is $300 + more.

Added to the sidebar ——>

Info on upcoming writing contest deadlines.

Writing prompts.

More to come!

This piece was written during a writing seminar in November 2006 based on a writing prompt.  The prompt was: “Write about a purchase you regret.”  This is fiction.

You should have seen him there in the window, wagging his precious little lump of a tail. 

Sure, he was bigger than all the other puppies but – oh! – that face!  He looked right at me with those sweet brown eyes and I knew – I just knew – he was meant to be mine.

Seems my inability to pick a suitable male companion extends beyond my own species.

Who knew those dog carriers were so big?  Not to mention non-absorbent!  The cute little sales boy barely got the carrier shoved into the car before “Puddles” let loose.  The smell is never going to come out of the carpet.  The leasing company is going to just love that.

I didn’t even bother to take the carrier out when I got home, I just snapped a rhinestone collar on my big boy and trotted him right up to the penthouse.  He wasn’t the least bit shy, either.  Walked right in like he owned the place.

You’d think he does, the way he lounges around on the Oriental rugs like a sultan, refusing to eat and drink out of anything but the Waterford crystal.  He’s even developed a taste for the really fine things in life, like my Jimmy Choos and Ferragamos.

What was I thinking?  I’m definitely more of a cat person.