NPR's Three-Minute Fiction contest, all 8 seconds of it
Sunday morning I got an email from NPR. They were going to read a part of my story on NPR’s All Things Considered. It had been chosen as a finalist in the Three-Minute Fiction contest. I read the email with the kids swirling around me, the laundry in stacks on the couch, bowls of cereal crusting on the counter. But I was thrilled. I told my children and Arun the news and that I would be on the radio. Arun was groggy, he’d let me sleep that morning and had been up with the kids, but he managed enthusiasm. The kids, not so much, though Hazel did seem to understand that being on the radio was a big deal.
There are so few moments mothers get I think that are all your own. Your accomplishments are tied to your children. We put stupid stickers on our cars advertising their place on the honor roll. We congratulate them on practically everything. When they learn to tie their shoes, when they use a fork, any accomplishment is heralded with praise. When my most stubborn child finally potty trained herself, we practically had a parade.
But I had a moment, fleeting, but there, of feeling like I had done something that was all mine. Of course that evening when we tuned in to listen the kids weren’t all that interested. Hazel wanted me to make a microphone stand out of a sippy cup and a stick, Ivy was doing her usual space cadet routine and staring off into space and Clyde was yelling at me to wipe his behind. And like that it was over. And I went back to vacuuming up the remains of lunch on the carpet.
But here’s the story. They read about oh, 8 seconds of it on the air. Maybe less. I sorta heard it, somewhere underneath all the whining.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Congratulations! I listen to NPR, and I’ve be over the moon if they read something I’d written, even if was for less than eight seconds.
I agree that we often tie our successes with your children’s successes. Why do we do that?
Now you know when you become rich and famous, your kids will keep you grounded.
For the record, I thought it was amazing. I won’t soon forget it.
I didn’t hear it read but I had pulled it out of NPR and sent the link to my kids( except Amy who is on 100 hours without power). P and D (who knows what C does with his mail?)got back to me with very positive comments though they struggled with identifying the author with “Tara? Our Tara??”. It is rare I have a literary conversation with P. I say, “WELL DONE!!!!” If there is more of that story and others, Please send it my way. You have readers in this family!
I heard it ….and here I am. Ie ven started to write my own and then realized I had missed the deadline. Maybe next time!
Dangit! Next time! Enter something else though, if you’re looking for some flash fiction contests, I can send you some links!
Thanks all!