Finalist!

Looking at the number of literary journals that submitted entries to the 2020 Best of the Net Anthology competition, and knowing that each journal was allowed to send two stories, I estimate about seven-to-eight hundred stories were submitted. Of those, eight stories were chosen as the best, and fifteen of our stories were picked as finalists. I am thrilled to be chosen. I feel like my story is a winner. I feel that all stories nominated were winners. I feel that all stories chosen to be published in literary journals are winners. Editors are discriminating; they have good eyes, and they also have subjective eyes. One fantastic story chosen by one editor may not be written in a style that appeals to another editor. Another judge of another year may not have picked my story as a finalist; this year’s judge chose mine. At some point, the choices become personal. And that is okay. That is art. We are all in wonderful, creative and diverse company.