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

Spring 2016 results

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

First Place ($400)

Greg Southwell, ACT: "The Journal of Count Malevolent"

Second Place ($100)

Liane Young, NSW: "Brkup by Txt"

Third Place

Heather MacKenzie, QLD: "A Very Smithy Christmas to You"

Highly Commended

Rob Walker, SA: "The Beefmaster"

Michelle Rule, WA: "Don't Eat the Cookies"

Kate McManus, ACT: "The Lost Letter of Valentinus"

Commended

Karen Lethlean, NSW: "Bum Joke"

Mike Woodhouse, NSW: “Mateship”

Judith A Green, VIC: "The Sequel to Happily Ever After"

Joanna Nell, NSW: “The Widower”


There were 58 short stories in the competition, from 53 entrants.