I’m feeling enormous gratitude right now for the Virginia Writers Club and my Northern Virginia club chapter.
They recognized my fiction and nonfiction submissions in the 2025 Golden Nib contest, with the judge writing as follows about my 3rd place short story:
Who can resist a Floridaman reference? Or flatulence? Or the rubber chicken? And Marla Jean, imagining her juggler boyfriend’s muscles: “Tenderize me, baby, her juggler used to say.”
The judge also wrote: ““Down on Jupiter” plunges readers deep into the Florida vibe at the SeaBreez motel. Somehow it feels appropriate for the story to open with the missing poodle, Fez.
“And there are the Whipples and Dinguses. Writers sometimes miss naming opportunities, but not the author of “Jupiter.”
That really lifted my spirits.
“Jupiter” was serialized here last December as “Fez the Toy Poodle.” It had languished in my slush pile of orphaned stories for years until I committed to finishing something late last year.
It’s a reminder that in writing, persistence pays off.
Fellow writers: Stick with your stories. Do not give up!
Tomorrow I’ll post some more good news. Finishing third felt great, but I had another submission fly even higher.
Congratulations to fellow winners in the fiction category, to all the nominees, and to all the writers who shared their work in the Virginia Writers Club 2025 Golden Nib competition.
Fiction
- 1st Place: Donna-Lin Pratt for “Bittermarsh”
- 2nd Place: Marilynn Deane Mendel for “I Did Everything”
- 3rd Place: Ben East for “Down on Jupiter”
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Ben East Books 
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