WOW, Alison!!! I love all the infos covered here, especially the examples of the showing and how it compares with the "telling" as you point them out in the Almost Dad story, is absolutely so very very helpful. Thank you so much Alison ... and thank you Laurie for your explanations - the 4 points. I love this story Almost Dad, (personally/secretly I think it's 10x more touching and deeper and the other one, although of course I also enjoyed Cathy's).

An excellent interview, bursting with fabulous writing examples, insight, and valuable intel on what editors and contest judges look for in a submission. This was a Masterclass in itself! Thank you, Alison and Laurie!

Brilliantly insightful, thank you Alison and Laurie. I sent off my entry a while ago, and of course am now filled with doubts, writers!!! go figure

Thanks so much for posting this. It’s super helpful and inspiring.

Excellent interview. I had previously submitted a story in 2022 and did not make it to the long list. I wish I had known about Leslie back then . I have contemplated re-writing it but I took time to write my debut memoir which was published this January. Incidentally, I like using ProWritingAid vs Grammarly regarding punctuation and grammar.

Do you accept texts in Spanish?