Sharing: A writing piece and a useful link

Blog #2...(I made it!)

I thought for my second blog, I would theme it on "sharing".

I love fiction, and the kind that is in novel format. I have always hated writing short stories, poetry and articles. It makes me cringe. But recently, I have attempted writing two short stories and they have both been finished and have left me feeling triumphant. They are challenging and much quicker to finish than the ever-present novel. This is a link I found for short story competitions in Australia, however, some competitions accept international entrants:

http://www.austwriters.com/AWRfiles/competitions.htm#COMPETITIONS%20ON%20NOW

As mentioned in my first blog, my second passion is tutoring. This week, when I tutored a year 7 high school student (13 years old), I decided to combine my two passions and get her to attempt a short story competition as featured on the link provided. However, I did not tell her that it was for a competition AND I only gave her 20 mins to formulate her response SO I am absolutely pleased with her attempt at writing and I think we can maybe see a writer for the future?
She attempted the:'First line' Short Story Competition and here is her entry (and yes I am aware there are grammatical errors but I preferred to leave her entry untouched):

QUESTION: WRITE A SHORT STORY BEGINNING WITH :
EDWIN SPOTTED THEM THE MOMENT HE STEPPED OFF THE TRAIN...

Edwin spotted them the moment he stepped off the train. Hand in hand, his parents stood in front of him, their tears running uncontrollably down their faces like raindrops racing down a window pane. Their hair, the same thick, curly locks but instead of distinct red and brown, a dark grey had replaced it.
Edwin pulled them both into a tight hug as his mother whispered in his ear, "I'm glad to have you back, safe and sound."

No one mentioned Daniel. He had died fighting a young man. Edwin preferred to leave the cabinet of sad memories untouched.

Edwin was there when Daniel died. If only...only Edwin had taken the driver's seat like he was ordered to, Daniel would still be alive. The roadside bomb had taken Daniel's life. The explosion was nothing but a mass of pressured fire, but all the same, Edwin had lost his brother, a military dog and an arm.

Pain struck Edwin's heart as he walked with his parents, now an only child, but not one to begin with.