Why Writing Contests Matter

Happy Friday, everyone. With no specific writing prompt for this month, I will treat (or subject) you to the various thoughts that are rattling around in my mind during this transitional spring-summer month.

Festival
Didn’t you enjoy Kent’s report on the festival? I dreamed last night that I went and then used insight gained there to encourage other artists. I had been thinking about wanting to go since reading his post, and woke up this morning determined—the first year I’ve gotten serious beyond the “oh yeah, that’d be neat” stage. I opened our college calendar to check it against 2011 festival dates and start planning… only to discover the festival is offered every two years. Yep. I guess it will just make it all the more special to go in 2012. Maybe by then I’ll have a good manuscript to workshop.

3-Minute Fiction Contest
Did any of you enter NPR’s three-minute fiction contest? I did and really enjoyed the rush of a) a down-to-the-wire contest entry and b) trying to tell a story in 600 words. I battled against the temptation to just do some sort of vignette/snapshot of an interesting character (maybe in reflection about a past event) and not reflect any kind of plot. But it just didn’t feel like a story as was called for. So I went with an actual storyline—I keep a running list of ideas that intrigue me saved in my phone, usually just an off-beat character or a weird scenario I think would make a story.

What I discovered from pulling together a contest entry was that I keep reverting to local-color stories about Louisiana or rural places that seem alien to our 2010 suburban life. And I’m not sure that’s a good thing. My worry is that my work won’t be taken seriously because it may be coming across too folksy and too rooted in the past.

Am I going to throw myself off a ledge or abandon writing or dramatically change my style? None of the above. But I am going to think through why I write the way I do and decide if that's what I want or if I want to rethink my style (slowly). So… one of the beauties of submitting your work is learning things about yourself you wouldn’t discover if just writing with no deadline or submission process.

Link of Interest
Speaking of deadline, this site caught my eye because it lists emergency tips for pulling off a short story due right away. I thought it’d be pretty good to go through the checklist for all projects regardless of deadline.

All about You
So, what have you been writing lately? Sound off on your projects and let’s get a feel for the variety of work being created by our community of Apostolic writers.