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 2018 results

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

First Place ($300)

Geoff Covey, QLD: Three Pigs and a Wolf

Second Place ($100)

Geoff Covey, QLD: What an Ugly Duckling!

Third Place

Nicole Lenoir-Jourdan, NSW: Dragons on Drugs

Highly Commended

Tony King, NSW: Stoep Leowa - Pianist

Jacqueline Winn, NSW: Crumbs of Wisdom from Beverly Ovens-Batter

Tony King, NSW: The Last Blues Man

Commended

Andrea Wilk, VIC: The Randle St, Old Datsun, Circus Elephant Incident

Geoff Covey, QLD: The Plaid Piper of Hammerlynn

Victor Kirwan, NSW: Kinetic Energy Unleashed

Dean Briggs, NSW: Time Gentlemen, Please


There were 56 short stories in the competition, from 37 entrants.