This month’s weblog publish comes from Autumn Bettinger, our new assistant and particular visitor choose for April 2026. She is a short-form fiction author and has gained the Tadpole Press 100-Phrase Writing Contest twice.
There are just a few methods we might have tumbled into writing. Maybe we’ve been scribbling since our little arms might scrunch round a pencil. Maybe we’re retired and need to strive a brand new pastime. Or maybe you’re like me, and the factor that rekindled your love of writing was an inconsequential ad on Instagram for a writing competitors referred to as NYC Midnight.
The yr of 2020 was wild. I do know… all of us repressed rather a lot. However it WAS.
I discovered myself quarantined in my home with a toddler and a child whereas my husband had important work. It was CNN within the background and washing particular person grapes. It was a number of ready, a number of concern, a number of entertaining my youngsters whereas the world shut down.
There are solely so many episodes of Bluey you’ll be able to watch, so many craft tasks you are able to do, so many dance events you’ll be able to have whereas nursing and altering diapers… once more… earlier than your sanity slips.
I dropped the onesie I used to be folding when the ad popped up.
Microfiction. 200 and fifty phrases. Two days to jot down. Prompts.
A writing competitors? How unusual, how thrilling, how intimidating!
Might this be my alternative to regain my id and thoughts from the doldrums of the pandemic? Might this unobtrusive ad supply me a manner again to one thing?
I’d all the time preferred writing little one-page accounts of memorable adventures with buddies in highschool and even thought-about pursuing a artistic writing diploma. So I registered. When the competition kicked off, I received my prompts in an electronic mail. A style, motion, and phrase I needed to incorporate to show I used to be writing one thing new. I felt rusty, eyes glazing over because the cursor blinked. I attempted to get my toddler down for a nap and brainstormed whereas singing “You Are My Sunshine” on repeat. As soon as the home was quiet, I began choosing on the keyboard. Motion/journey was my style, so what might set me aside? As a substitute of actual stakes, what if I made it playful? With a fourth cup of espresso and a haze of imposter syndrome, I wrote about some youngsters having a water balloon struggle.
Whereas scrubbing jelly handprints off my pant leg, I re-read it after submitting. I used to be proud. It felt like a valiant effort. Although I used to be aggressive, I wasn’t aiming for first place. The actual win right here was my participation.
Whereas I waited eons for the outcomes, I discovered the NYCM discussion board. The old-school interface was a blast from the previous—like an historical AOL dialup chat board. It took some asking for assist and experimenting to determine the way it all labored. As soon as I received the logistics down, the problem was constructing the gumption to share my story.
The feedback got here trickling in. They have been constructive, they have been crucial within the kindest, most useful method, they have been… folks. In a world so minimize off, the communication with different would-be writers was a balm. I checked the boards day by day, feeling loneliness fading each time a brand new remark popped up or an fascinating thread began. I used to be now part of a teeming neighborhood of people that have been simply as excited and nervous as me. New and skilled writers who shared their creations whereas ready for outcomes and discovered from one another. I responded to feedback and threads, fostering friendships. I felt like I used to be part of one thing once more. One thing actual and tangible. A lifeline at the hours of darkness.
When the outcomes got here, I scrambled to see if I’d positioned.
I’d taken third in my group and can be going to the following spherical!
I texted the outcomes to each single individual I had ever met.
Spherical two got here and went and I didn’t advance to the finals. However I had already achieved my objective. I used to be discovering myself once more, connecting with different creatives.
I signed up for the 100-word problem, then the 1000-word. Fairly quickly I knew different writers properly sufficient that I searched out their tales on the discussion board. I unearthed different competitions. I discovered the Tadpole Press 100-Phrase Writing Contest, began collaborating in Writing Battle, then Twisted Event, after which Not Fairly Write. I noticed the identical folks within the competitors circuit and we began cheering each other on. All of the whereas, I improved. Ultimately, I used to be invited to a web-based writing group that included most of the folks whose work I admired. It modified my life. I now had day by day encouragement, beta readers, and buddies to often test in on me.
I’m a greater author with the assistance of the competitors neighborhood. Having different writers I respect learn my work and critique it, assist me polish it, and genuinely cheer for me after I place is what has introduced me to the place I’m as we speak.
I relished the financial system of phrases, the advantage of quick writing, and serving to others with their work. I began to understand short-form writing as a sound pursuit in and of itself. “Not all writers write books,” I informed myself. A few of us write little glimmers, tiny one hundred-word gems.
I started advancing in competitions. I gained extra confidence, wrote day by day, and believed I might push this ardour into one thing extra. In November of 2023, I took 1st place within the Tadpole Press 100-Phrase Contest. In January of 2024, I utilized for a Fishtrap Fellowship and received it. That friendship was not solely an attractive July week in nature with unbelievable academics and collaborations, but it surely was additionally my foot within the door of the broader writing trade. That summer season, I gained the Not Fairly Write Prize. The next yr, I received my second win—tenth place this time—within the Tadpole Press 100-Phrase Contest, cementing my place of their fantastic neighborhood. In Might of 2025, I turned my fellowship foot within the door right into a educating alternative with Fishtrap that continues as we speak, educating courses on microfiction and sensory element by way of nature. This led to me educating my microfiction workshop with Tadpole Press as properly. I’m now so happy to be their assistant and particular visitor choose for his or her April 2026 contest.
All this from just a little competitors ad whereas I used to be half asleep in a pile of child socks.
Everybody finds their very own manner into writing, however in case you’re curious if competitors could also be your manner in, I’m right here to inform you it labored for me. I’m a stay-at-home mother with out an MFA, writing day by day, doing the factor that lights me up and provides me objective. Possibly it will encourage you to place your self on the market, make a good friend or two, and see the place it takes you. I hope to see you on the market. For those who see AutumnBe on the boards, don’t hesitate to say hiya!
