

At first, the prize for honorable mention was an Amazon gift card. In the course of the following months, I won honorable mention in the writing contest a number of times. There were all kinds of interesting things I wanted to try out and then write about. I was having so much fun writing that I just could not stop. I continued to write regularly for SurvivalBlog. The antiques I was most interested in were snapped up quickly, and most of the ones that remained were priced beyond my reach. The Covid gun-buying panic made things discouraging for a while. I was not quite ready to make a purchase, but I checked Elk Creek inventory regularly to keep track of what was available. The credit was good toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. Among other great prizes was a transferable $100 purchase credit from Elk Creek Company. Then, in June of 2020, something wonderful happened: I won third place in the writing contest. Over the course of the following months I submitted a half dozen or so additional articles. I had so much fun writing that first article, that I just kept on writing more. I thought that SurvivalBlog readers might find it interesting or entertaining. I wrote the article because I had a story to tell. A couple of years ago, I submitted an article to SurvivalBlog for the non-fiction writing contest.
