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 2021 results

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

First Place ($500)

Tony Barrett, TAS: Against the Tide - in the Lap Lane of the Gods

Second Place ($100)

Mike Murphy, WA: Tell it to the Judge

Third Place

Alan Cornell, VIC: How to Stuff Up a Chicken

Highly Commended

Dave Wellings, QLD: Group Therapy

Grahame Griffin, QLD: The Corpse Pose

Maria Bonar, WA: Baby Boomer - Heading South

Commended

Jude Bridge, WA: Reservations

Megan Koch, SA: Wombok Story

Maria Bonar, WA: Me and My Shadow

Jude Bridge, WA: The Old and the Beautiful


There were 59 short stories in the competition, from 42 entrants.