>Confluence

>I’ve entered a fair number of literary contests in the last few months, as these contests seem to have arisen everywhere and present one avenue of publication, not to mention fame and/or fortune. I was a finalist in a good contest last month, and a semi-finalist (whatever that means in this context) in another. But upon collecting my mail this morning, after my trip to Indiana, I learned I had won the Fiction Prize of Confluence magazine, for my story “Stonewall.” The prize is a small check (enclosed with the announcement letter) and publication.

The magazine is not terribly well-known, and the prize is small, but I’m quite pleased nonetheless. I like the story very much, too, but I feel that I’ve already moved beyond it so I’m glad that it has a home. I submitted it to a few other places–some pretty nice magazines–so I’ll need to carefully withdraw the piece from places like Quarterly West and Swink, who’ve had eight months to make up their minds.

I’m looking forward to seeing “Stonewall” in print.