Writing Contest Honors 9/11

If you’re a good writer, Patch is looking for you.

The three Patch websites in southwest Riverside County are accepting submissions for their first short story contest.

The contest will be held in remembrance of Sept. 11, and the theme will be “conquering terror.”

The story does not have to be about the terrorist attacks; it can be in any genre, set in any time period.

The stories have to be original and written especially for this contest, so to stop anybody from digging out an old, pre-written story, each tale must have these three elements: somebody must struggle to conquer terror in some way, the stories must be set in southwest Riverside County and the protagonist must have insomnia.

Winners will be announced in September, and they’ll get Patch-themed prizes. Also, their stories will be published on the Temecula, Murrieta and Lake Elsinore-Wildomar Patch websites.

Patch editors will judge the stories based on these criteria: creativity, writing voice and technical stuff, such as spelling, grammar and punctuation.

Submissions must be between 4,000 and 6,000 words long and in by Aug. 31 at noon. Email submissions to Temecula Patch editor Peter Surowski at peter.surowski@patch.com.

Editor's note: Patch wants to thank Temecula resident William Lynes for coming up with the idea for the writing contest and helping iron out some of the details.