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 2017 results

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

First Place ($300)

R.J. Viski, NSW: A Complex Relationship

Second Place ($100)

Doug Hamilton, VIC: The Inner Temple

Third Place

Jim Brigginshaw, NSW: Keeper of the Keg

Highly Commended

Andrea Wilk, VIC: The Christmas Letter

Jane Ireland, QLD: Stage Fright

Andrea Wilk, VIC: My Bucket List

Commended

Leonie Crowden, TAS: Let Sleeping Cats Lie

Ray Scott, VIC: Bureaucracy Rules

Valda Brown, NSW: A Kiss Without a Moustache

Jordan Nyhouse, VIC: You Believe Me, Don't You?


There were 51 short stories in the competition, from 45 entrants.