I created the Super Secrets of Writing resource, the free Super Secrets year-long Workshop & Challenge, and the Wulf Pack Writers Group to help struggling writers succeed in getting professionally published. We focus on Writers of the Future and other respected markets to build careers. We’ve had seven alumni win Writers of the Future, become published finalists, or both! Now, there’s EIGHT in three-and-a-half years since I started this crazy experiment. David Hankins is our latest!
Thousands enter their stories every quarter to try to win the largest talent search for speculative fiction writers in the world! Over $30,000 is spent on each winner by the time they are paid prize and publication money and all the goodies that follow. They are flown to Hollywood for an expense paid trip from anywhere in the world. The win includes their stay at a luxurious Hollywood hotel, a week-long workshop with top writers and industry leaders, and a gala and award ceremony that many call ‘The Oscars of science fiction and fantasy.’ Way to go, David!
I share his own words on his writer journey, unsolicited and posted to Discord today as we congratulated him on winning Writers of the Future (and congratulated our Wulf Pack Writers’ other Finalist, Brandon Case. So close, Brandon! Next Q is you!)
Heeere’s David! And what he wrote about his journey to that Hollywood stage!
(Shared with permission.)
David Hankins
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Thank you! You, the Super Secrets, and the Wulf Pack are the only reason I grew from enthusiastic amateur to award-winning author (wow, that title feels strange!). I’ve told you this but thought I’d share with the group:
18 months. That’s how long I’ve been entering Writers of the Future. I found Moon’s Super Secrets on the WotF forum after my first entry in March 2021. That story earned an HM, but Moon kindly declined my request to join his annual challenge. Need an SHM or above, buddy.
Oh, really? Challenge accepted.
I dug into the Super Secrets, read the thread (120 pages at that point), applied myself through smart practice, wrote six KYDs in 30 days, and took Moon’s KYD Masterclass. My first published story came out of that Masterclass.
That paid KYD Masterclass granted access to the Wulf Pack, which changed my writing forever. You are my writing family. Together we are greater than the sum of our parts.
I got another HM then an SHM and joined Moon’s Vol39 annual challenge.
Challenge completed. 
I was humbled when Moon asked me to be Keeper of Records.
More smart practice, attended Moon’s Winning Stories Masterclass at Fyrecon-online (Attend Fyrecon! It’s amazing!), and I started to find my writer’s voice. Humor, described by many as the hardest voice to write well. Unlikely to win WotF.
I got another HM. Not a step back, just a reminder. Write fresh, don’t revise and resubmit.
January 2022 was pivotal. DreamForge accepted my first story. I had my last working day in the Army (meaning my heart committed itself completely to writing, though my mind yelled ‘get a real job!’). Jody Lynn Nye (a humorist) became WotF coordinating judge.
I found my voice, my passion. Snarky, funny, heartfelt. I wrote my winner. Moon and the Wulf Pack helped polish it, I submitted, and moved to the next story. That one sold. And the next.
Winners are made here. Professionals are made here.
!! GO WULF PACK !!