“I’ve entered four times and won twice,” says Memphian Bradley Harris, who, for a living, advises writers on writing. “That’s a good average in the major leagues.”
Yes, it is. Harris is winner of the 2012 3-Day Novel Contest, which you can read about in this week’s Flyer. But there’s more to it. In Harris’ words:
“I had no thought of winning. I’d won once, back in 1998, and that felt like a fluke. So I put it out of my mind. My purpose in entering the contest was just to have a book-length manuscript, so I could expand it.
“When Melissa Edwards from the contest called me, I was with a writing client. I said to Melissa, ‘Let me call you back.’ Melissa said, ‘Well, you won the 3-Day Novel Contest.’ I thought, no, you’re wrong. It struck me as a silly possibility. I was so flabbergasted that I had to ask her what text I’d sent. I felt for a few moments like a fool.
“The client I was with when Melissa called was coincidentally the same client who’d come in the day I sent the manuscript to the contest. The client that day had said, ‘You done?’ ‘Yep.’ ‘Is it any good?’ ‘Nope.’ ‘You gonna send it in?’ I heaved a sigh and said, ‘Yeah, I guess. I paid the money, might as well.’
“So indeed I sent it in, and there you have it: Lightning strikes twice.”
