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 2022 results

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

First Place ($413)

David Keast, WA: My Smartwatch!

Second Place ($59)

Maggie Brooke (penname), QLD: Valerie's Secret

Third Place ($29)

Margaret Dakin, QLD: A Dot Com Romance

Highly Commended

Geoff Covey, VIC: John And Gillian

Ian Harrison, NSW: Can I Trouble You For A Light?

Joan Stammers, NSW: Little Red Riding Hood - Who Was She Really?

Commended

Margaret Harris, NSW: Thief

Joyce Iles, WA: Who's The Boss?

Geoff Covey, VIC: Beefy's Glass Eye

Jim Brigginshaw, NSW: The Boy With The Three-Metre Sidestep


There were 61 short stories in the competition, from 46 entrants.