A couple days ago, Karinya left a comment on one of my blog posts and mentioned a new fiction writing contest from Esquire magazine. After a brief chat, we were both intrigued by the contest and were toying with the idea of submitting pieces to it. I'm going to put both of us on the spot and publicly announce that we're both taking the plunge.By August 1st, we will each have a shiny new piece of fiction to our credit, and be one step closer to seeing our names in a major magazine.

That's every author's dream, isn't it? Getting published. Having a byline. Making money from your words. It's the simplest premise of writing, but often the hardest to achieve - a finished product. I know several authors who would love to see their names in print, but few of them will ever finish a piece, much less submit it to a major market. This is why contests can be such a great resource. There's nothing like a deadline to get the creative juices flowing.

I've always heard that a writer should expect 99 rejections to every one acceptance. That's one hundred polished and submitted attempts for each success, a pretty daunting figure. A contest is the perfect opportunity to create the piece that could be your #1. I've been in a writing slump for months now, so this couldn't have come at a better time. The challenge is, on the surface, pretty simple. Write no more than 4,000 words of original fiction, and theme it around one of the three titles listed on the web site. Entries are due by August 1st and the first place winner will receive a cash prize plus publication in Esquire.

Karinya and I are in - who else wants to tackle this challenge?