Many writers have shared their thoughts with the public:

"There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they'll take you." - Beatrix Potter

"The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say." - Anaïs Nin

"Sharing your writing, being enlarged by others' writing, is what makes you feel famous." - Gretchen Bernabei

"Writing is not an amusing occupation. It is a combination of ditch-digging, mountain-climbing, treadmill and childbirth." - Edna Ferber

"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing." - Ben Franklin

"One must be drenched in words, literally soaked in them, to have the right ones to form themselves into the proper pattern at the right moment." - Hart Crane

"There are three rules for writing. Unfortunately, no one can agree what they are." - W. Somerset Maugham

The Best of Times Short Story Competition

Autumn 2012 results

Note: stories are available for reading only where the authors have given permission.

First Place ($200)

Rob Johnson, NSW: "In One Word or Less"

Second Place ($50)

BJ Stirling, NSW: "Being Undead"

Third Place

Dean Briggs, NSW: "This Goes With That"

Highly Commended

Tania Yardley, NSW: "Irony of the Tortured Artist"

Jim Brigginshaw, NSW: "Storm in a Bra Cup"

Jim Murphy, VIC: "Euthasania"

Phil Tennant, WA: "Skin Deep"

Commended

Nicola Bradbury, WA: "Don't Order the Jelly"

Janeen Samuel, VIC: “When Julia Met Granny”

Janeen Samuel, VIC: "The Launching of Esmeralda"

Fiona Skepper, VIC: "Under the Influence of Jane Austen"

Edmund Fitzgerald, ACT: "My Son, the Doctor"


There were 72 short stories in the competition, from 53 entrants.