The worst week of my life started with a single bad writing prompt

I entered this short story contest last March where the prompt was 'write about a perfect day from a characters perspective.' I thought I nailed it. Wrote this beautiful piece about a kid on a fishing trip with his grandpa. Sent it off feeling great. Then I find out the contest judge was my ex-girlfriends new boyfriend. He didn't just reject it, he posted the whole thing online and called it 'derivative garbage' in a blog post. Got 200 comments ripping it apart before I even woke up the next morning. Has anyone else had their creative work publicly trashed by someone with a grudge?

3 comments

3 Comments

betty_palmer23d ago

Wait, are we really acting like a bad writing prompt is the "worst week of your life"? I get that it stings having your work trashed online, but 200 randos on the internet don't define your talent. You sent a story to a contest where the judge had a personal axe to grind - that's a conflict of interest, not a reflection on your writing. Block the blog, delete the comments, and submit that same piece somewhere legitimate. If grandpa fishing trip was good enough to make you proud, it's good enough for another set of eyes.

margareth4823d ago

People do this ALL the time now where one bad moment online becomes the WHOLE story of their life. The internet tricks us into thinking 200 strangers matter more than the people who actually know us.

murphy.barbara22d ago

Doesn't it make you wonder how many good people out there got eaten alive by a mob that never even met them?