Update as of August 3rd: So, I ended up winning the Goodreads Bookclub Slideshow Story Contest. Go figure on that! Jennifer Egan announced the winners yesterday evening during a live chat on Goodreads.com. (The winners are announced towards the end of the video around the 54:00 mark.) Runner up was a slide show story that I also really enjoyed "Criminal Consultation." And another I liked a lot and voted for was in the top 5 also: "Frowning on the Inside."
I have to say I'm quite surprised and thrilled by this. The aim was to make the top 5 mainly, but to know that people were touched by the piece I wrote was fulfilling in itself. To hear women say that the slideshow made them cry was endearing to me as a writer because you always want your work to resonate and mean something to readers and knowing that it did meant a lot, still does. And to see that about 4,000 people viewed the slideshow story and a couple commented positively on it blows my mind. Add in the fact that Jennifer Egan found it a "complex" piece and said it had a "big reach." Wow. So major thanks to everyone for the comments and well wishes and votes! They mean everything and definitely reinvigorate me to keep pushing along.
Original Post from July 25th:
Hello! Just an FYI that my story "Where Dads Go: a story for my unborn child" is in competition for the Goodreads Bookclub Slideshow Story contest.
You can view my and other great entries here: www.goodreads.com/bookclub/slideshow. But you must be a member of Goodreads to vote. (Registration is free and if you're a fellow book lover it's fun to track what you and others read and write reviews.)
The contest was inspired by a chapter in the Pulitzer prize winning book by Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad. She wrote one chapter in Powerpoint and it is just phenomenal. Even Jennifer said that her agent kind of raised an eyebrow when she said she wanted to do this. But it works great in her book. So it's a lot to live up to.
It took me awhile to get an idea for a story that may fit as a powerpoint (PPT) presentation, but when I did it it just clicked! I figured how interesting would it be for a mom to write to her unborn child about the men, or lack thereof, in her life and how it runs in the family. Personally, the men in my family weren't very prominent in my childhood and that of my cousins so it definitely struck a chord. And my husband has even had an absence from his father where they are recently reconnecting. It's an interesting premise I think a lot of people can relate to and I thought it'd be interesting to delve into that visually.
I have to give Jennifer Egan credit for creating an emotional story within PPT and it's not easy to really capture as much as you'd like in a truncated yet visual form, especially for those of us who manipulate words for a living (or passion). But in the end I am very proud of what I created within 10 days time. (Yes 10 days! Lots of starts and stops people.) And while I know there are probably more edits to be made I hope that it resonates with many when they read it.
When logging into Goodreads you can see this contest as part of the monthly poll on the bottom right-hand side of your main page. So feel free to view and vote! I believe the deadline to vote is July 31st. Stories in the top 5 will be sent to Jennifer Egan for judging to pick a winner and runner-up! Keep your fingers crossed for me and the other authors!
If you're not part of Goodreads but would like to see my entry anyways feel free to view it here on SlideShare: