The leader of my writing group has been in the hospital for about three months. Unfortunately, she had a toe amputated.

Deciding to keep her spirits up, she challenged us to write a story about how she lost her toe. Whoever won would get a $20 gift card to Panera.

Thinking about how to proceed, the only thing that entered my mind was zombies. Yup, that was the only idea that would come. My son shot down the idea.

But I proceeded and had such a good time with it. It was received very well, and there were loads of laughter. It was a comedy overall.

I didn’t win, but after receiving edits from one of the members, I worked on getting it in better shape.

The more I work on it, the better I felt I could do more. It may sound conceited, but there are certain sections of the piece that makes me laugh out loud. The same areas that made the group laugh out loud.

What started as a short piece now has over 2000 words. It won’t be a book. I have too many WIP. I have a notebook with book ideas that will never come to pass.

But it felt good to write something light and different than what I used to work on.

It came to mind that perhaps I could enter this into a writing contest. I have not fully embraced entering stories in this format.

I have kept telling myself to enter more writing competitions. It is on my to-do list. I have just ignored doing that.

You have such a variety of competition, from those that are free to those that are not. You have cash prizes as well.

Will I win anything I don’t know. However, this is a fun project to work on if nothing else. It is freeing.