'I found a single email, sent by the organisers of a writing competition, inviting me to a reading and presentation, but my phone was out of service. I had been shortlisted.'

I found a single email, sent by the organisers of a writing competition, inviting me to a reading and presentation, but my phone was out of service. I had been shortlisted, and I needed to call them by the following day, or my place would be forfeited.