Quick update, this month I won first place at a flash fiction contest at the Roanoke Writers Conference!
The story I submitted, “She Stalks in Beauty, Like the Night,” is a slice of life high school sweetheart love story in a small town Texas. With lesbian vampires. I’m sending it out to magazines now to hopefully get it published somewhere.
It’s incredibly encouraging to conclude this first year of studying the craft of the short story by winning this award, and not simply because it feels like proof of my capability despite (oh, unceasing!) doubts. This story is a product of community, and to me the award symbolizes less my own skill and more the dear friends who have helped me in these early stages of my writing journey.
Context: I first drafted this story for the Clarion West flash fiction workshop I did over the summer, and drastically revised it based on critiques from friends I made there, to a level of quality I couldn’t have reached relying only on my own intuition and skills. Plus, I wouldn’t have heard about this conference and contest if it weren’t for a lovely friend I met through work, who herself heard about this through her library writing group. And the conference itself was a huge, collaborative effort of a community that truly believes in supporting each other and new writers.
On that note: check out the North Texas Writers Collective, sign up for their newsletter and go to next year’s Roanoke Writer Conference! They have so much to offer, particularly the community and mutual aid network behind it. The conference, organized thanks to DG Swain, Alicia Holston at the Roanoke Public Library, and many more, and packed with presentations and workshops by successful authors across genres and trad/indie publishing, was totally free. I actually personally left $50 richer than I arrived thanks to the flash fiction contest (which also completed my little goal to make $100 from speculative fiction this year!) but MORE IMPORTANTLY I left richer in information, networking, and friendship. At one point, I looked around the conference and just thought, “these are my people.” I felt like for the first time, I had found my local crew in terms of love for the craft of writing, and I’ve been continuing to meet up since then with friends I made there.
I can’t recommend this conference enough for writers in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and beyond, and I’m looking forward to what else the North Texas Writers Collective cooks up. What impressed me most was the genuine love I witnessed, writers who have “made it” turning around to uplift the next generations and share everything they can, and cultivate a collaborative and healthy community. I’ve unfortunately experienced my share of toxic communities, and a lot depends on the seeds you plant and the presence of experienced, wiser members bringing up newbies with good principles. So it was gratifying and even healing to find an intergenerational community planting good seeds.
For other new writers who are nervous about conferences and trying to figure out how to make connections and learn: just show up! I literally just showed up, not knowing anybody or what to expect, and just being present opened me to being approached by people who would share resources and encouragement and become new friends and mentors.
AUSTIN DEWAR 