Christina Lilly

I have been hoping for the past ten days or so that I would win. I would take the prize in the short story competition. I've been checking multiple times a day for the past ten days or so to see if my hopes were not for naught. Finally, this morning I went on to the website and there it was. The winner. And the winner was not me. Disappointment creeped in slowly followed by bitterness. But I sternly told bitterness it was not allowed. I still made the top twenty and I still have the memory of that feeling of having made the top twenty. The door did not open yet, but it cracked a little. So, no, I am not bitter. Disappointed, yes. Not bitter. The point of competitions is not to indulge in self-pity, but to strive to do better. I'm entering another competition and have to write a new story. And maybe this time I will do even better.