I extremely into writing so much. An efficient way to spend my free time is when I string a sentence into an interesting story and show it off at a competition. There are many types of writings that I have made ranging from poetry, short stories, scientific articles to fictional stories such as fairy tales. Somehow writing has become one of my interests and talents that I must continue to master so that my ability to think and string words can develop every day.
I’m still remember the first story I made I submitted to a national short story competition and I managed to rank in the top 30 out of hundreds of other participants. I was so over the moon that my heart literally broke through the seventh floor. The prize I got was a printed certificate, a novel from a great writer and a bronze medal. Because of that event, I was constantly motivated to enter writing competitions over and over again in the future.
But for some reason, all the works I entered in subsequent competitions never entered the rankings I hoped for, my luck seemed to only reach my first competition. The more I entered writing competitions with less satisfying results, the more I realized that maybe my writing skills had diminished. Or maybe the plot of my story had not touched the taste of the judges. Because of this, I had begun to despair and was less enthusiastic about entering writing competitions of any kind again.
But one day, I was really interested in participating again after a long time because I got information about the ASEAN level short story writing competition on a page on social media. At that time, my motivation suddenly rose because I had never tasted an international competition like this, so I chose one of my best works that had not won the contest in the past and hoped that I could really win this competition to satisfy myself.
The theme of the story was free, so I chose my work with the theme of family warmth. Without thinking, I submitted my work on the portal provided even though the deadline was still a long time away. Hopefully, I continued to strengthen my prayers every day, hoping that the struggle I had made this time would not be in vain and would bring happiness.
A month later, the announcement day arrived. My mind continued to drift imagining the results I would get. In other hand I also thought it was very impossible to get the champion seat because considering this competition was at the international level. But I still insisted that there was always hope at the last second.
I looked at my laptop screen, it said "International Short Story Competition Champion Announcement" the sound of heartbeat and sweat drenching my whole body. I really hoped that I could at least enter the 50th rank, it would be a happy moment in my life. But fate said otherwise.
My body impulses stopped for a moment, my eyes unblinking at my laptop screen. In the announcement, it was written that I had won second place in the competition. ecstatic hormones suddenly filled all the restless feelings that I had previously experienced. I really didn't expect that there would be a surprise that was completely out of my expectations like this. I was expecting to be ranked 50th, but it turned out to be my lucky day. I suddenly announce this happy announcement to my entire family and they reaction toward me was speechless because this information just all by sudden happen
Honestly, it was the biggest surprise moment in my life that I will never forget. It was also a stepping stone for me in entering writing competitions nowadays. I'm very proud of myself for not giving up when I started to decide that I could give up at any time.