WRITING WORKSHOP - SUBMISSION EXAMPLE

Here is an example of a 500-WORD writing submission for a workshop.

This excerpt is from the story The Parking Lot by Gail Purdy. (Gail has done two retreats with me: France & Victoria.)

Gail submitted this piece to The Amy Award in 2021 and it was selected as the Runner-Up.

PLEASE NOTE: This is just a sample. It is not the only style of writing that is acceptable in a workshop. The best 500-word excerpt gives a good snapshot of your writing style.

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Excerpt from ‘The Parking Lot’ by Gail Purdy

Another COVID outbreak.

The entire seniors’ complex is locked down again. Only essential visitors are now allowed into the long-term care facility where my mother has been living since January. According to facility guidelines, I am not considered essential.

It is now the middle of November, and today, there are no in-person visits, no window visits, and no FaceTime visits. I cannot remember how many times the facility has closed and reopened during these past months. I am feeling a sense of urgency. My mother doesn’t understand why I am not coming to see her. Something is gnawing at my insides. I want to see my mother.

How long will I have to wait this time before the facility opens again? Will my mother die before I am allowed to see her or, if I do see her again, will she remember who I am? Eight months have passed since her ninety-fifth birthday, the last time I touched her, the last time I gave her a hug.

An idea begins to form. What if I can get her to come to the window?

Maybe we could have a long-distance visit between her window and the parking lot. A five-minute drive brings me to the parking lot of the care home. I get out of the car and take a deep breath before looking up to locate the window of Mom’s room. She is on the eighth floor, the highest floor of the building. You can see the ocean from this window. She doesn’t think to look out the window. She doesn’t see the orange and yellow streaks of light weaving through the clouds as the sun begins to set.  

Pulling out my cell phone, I press speed dial. Emotions tear at my insides as they always do just before I hear her voice on the phone. “I have not abandoned you,” I say to myself as I wait for her to answer the phone. I need to see her. Fear and sadness readily surface these days when I think about my mother. Questions race through my mind. Is she remembering being abandoned as a child? Does she relive the moment she was left in the orphanage when her mother could no longer take care of her? Was she pulled away from her mother’s embrace? Is she wondering why I have left her in this place? I continue to ask myself these questions over and over and over again.

“Hello,” she says.

“How are you?” I ask, speaking loudly into the phone. “I have been thinking about you.”

“Who’s this?” she asks.

“It’s Gail, your daughter.”

“It doesn’t sound like you. I didn’t recognize your voice,” she responds.  

I am struggling to accept the journeys I know we are both on. For her, it’s the journey of dementia taking all her memories, and for me, the journey of losing my mother. Losing a mother I am desperate to connect with before she is gone.

…

Gail Purdy’s full story can be found in The Amy Award Anthology.