Bonita Springs Florida Weekly

It’s a wrap on another Florida Weekly Writing Challenge




These two photographs served as prompts for the writers from Key West to Alberta, Canada, who submitted a total of 256 entries in the 2017 Florida Weekly Writing Challenge. Read the winning entry on page B5. BETTY WELLS / FLORIDA WEEKLY

These two photographs served as prompts for the writers from Key West to Alberta, Canada, who submitted a total of 256 entries in the 2017 Florida Weekly Writing Challenge. Read the winning entry on page B5. BETTY WELLS / FLORIDA WEEKLY

Talk about a challenge. Choosing one winner from among a record 256 entries in the 2017 Florida Weekly Writing Challenge proved a difficult assignment for our editors and senior writers who had that responsibility. Nine of us divided up the initial load, each picking two favorites from the 28-29 stories we read. Then all nine of us read the 18 finalists and chose our top three, with points assigned for everyone’s first, second and third picks.

VANDY MAJOR / FLORIDA WEEKLY

VANDY MAJOR / FLORIDA WEEKLY

In the end, Naples resident Kristine Gill’s “Good Intentions” earned the most points. Read it on page C5.

A media relations specialist with the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, Ms. Gill majored in journalism and minored in creative writing at Kent State University in her home state of Ohio. She moved to Naples six years ago for a job as a reporter for the Naples Daily News. During five years at the paper she covered higher education, Naples city government and crime. She also wrote feature stories. She joined CCSO a year ago last month.

A career in news never dampened Ms. Gill’s love of writing fiction.

GILL

GILL

“I’ve been writing stories ever since I was little” she says. “It’s always come easily.”

Throughout college classes in creative writing and even during a six-week fiction writers’ workshop in Dublin, Ireland, offered through the University of Iowa, however, Ms. Gill says she “never had much luck” with writing prompts like the photographs that serve as the starting point for the Florida Weekly annual Writing Challenge.

“I rarely get much inspiration from any kind of prompt,” she says. So when she saw the first of this year’s two photographic prompts for the Writing Challenge, she didn’t ponder very long. “I just went with the first thing that came to mind and started writing,” she says.

The result, “Good Intentions,” is written from the point of view of a woman who knows she should quit smoking.

“I’ve never been a smoker,” Ms. Gill says. “But I have tried to convince people to quit, including my grandpa and my sister.

“Doesn’t everyone know someone they wish would stop smoking?”

More stories

Two entries in this year’s Writing Challenge tied for second place: Neapolitan Greig MacCallum’s “Waiting at the Window” and Fort Myers resident Douglas Molloy’s “Clarity.”

And three tied for third place: “Time Fighters” by Alexis Lamb of Marco Island, “Warriors of Peace” by Linda Mills of Venice, and “Chronological Time 2052” by Judy Rousseau, also of Venice.

Comprising the rest of the 18 finalists were (in alphabetical order by writer): “Our Day at the Beach” by Debbie Brumback of Port Charlotte; “Reach” by Samuel Burnley, Port Charlotte; “City Streets” by Kelly Cheary, Palm Beach Gardens; “Daisy at the Window” by Carolyn Clark, North Fort Myers; “Victory” by David Dorsey, Fort Myers; “Lee Island Lodge” by Anne Fleming, Naples; “Somebody” by Pat Aube Gray, Blairsville, Ga.; “What a Diff’rence a Day Makes” by JoAnne Leone of Blairsville, Ga.; “Yes, Mama” by J.E. Marksteiner of Fort Myers; “Do What Your Love” by Nancy Neuman, Port Charlotte; “Destiny” by Suzanne Smith of Englewood; and “Missing” by Julie Ward of Fort Myers.

For her winning fiction, Ms. Gill earns a place at the Sanibel Island Writers Conference coming up Nov. 2-5 (see story on page C1). The runners up — and all the writers who no doubt agonized over the other 250 entries we received this year — earn our heartfelt appreciation and respect. We wish we had prizes for everyone, but we don’t. We will, however, print the other 17 finalists as space permits over the next few weeks.

To all who stepped up to the challenge, thank you. ¦

Join the group

>> Kristine Gill, winner of the 2017 Florida Weekly Writing Challenge for her short story titled “Good Intentions,” invites serious fiction writers of all levels of experience to join the Naples Writers’ Workshop.

>> Two groups meet on alternating Wednesdays, one for writers of short stories and one for those who have novels in progress. Members discuss their processes and challenges and share their work for the purpose of receiving feedback from fellow writers in a supportive environment. A commitment to attend and participate regularly is expected.

>> For more information, email kristine.gill@gmail.com.

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