I had a test of character lately

You know, I am appalled at the kind of writing contest where you win, not because of your great writing ability, but because you have a lot of friends who are willing to vote for you. They never even have to read what you write.  They just have to like you.  So it's really a contest of how many people you know who will go to the trouble of voting for you. So, I am a snob about contests like that.

This reminds me of when I was a teenager. There was a Lux soap contest as to who was the prettiest Lux girl in the city where I lived. My niece, who is only three years younger than I am,  entered,  or someone entered her. How you won was to have your friends submit all the Lux coupons they possessed from all the Lux soap they bought in order to stagger the votes! The contestant whose friends and family submit the most Lux coupons wins! Remember my mother and father had a grocery store and shelves to stock all the extra Lux soap they bought, not for the soap, of course, but for those coupons.

My niece did indeed win. I think she would have won on her looks alone, but what kind of a victory did she have?

I guess I like the old-fashioned writing contest, the kind that I don't win, a contest where there is a consensus of opinion that your story is the one that a qualified board of impartial writers and editors consider the best. They don't even know your name or where you are from when they read your story so it's really really an objective process.

The downside of this kind of impartial contest, however, is that I don't win.

But there is a contest I just spotted that I know I could win hands down. I am too noble and honorable to enter it, however.  I really can't. I don't object to the site doing it. They are looking for more subscribers to their site. They're not charging anything. All they want is more traffic and subscribers. I understand that.

This is what I learned about the state of this specific writing contest right now. They have only eleven entries. Total! The winner so far has only 18 votes. Only 18!  Shoot, I could get a hundred votes in one day.  I could win this short story contest hands down.  I would win, not based on the merits of my writing, however, but on the basis of the loyalty of Heavenreaders and the fact that there are lots of you. That would be loading the dice in my favor. And, so, I am too honorable and wonderful to enter this contest I am sure to win.

I don't care. You,  the Heavenreaders, are the true prize anyway.