Monday 10 June 2013

Entering Competitions...

Well I finished my entry for the Spring prose competition at the writers' club in time. It was written and edited in two days. May not have been as good as it could have been, but considering I wasn't 100% well, it's amazing it was completed at all. And the three things that the story had to contain: the tin of treacle, a bird and the weather, actually didn't turn out to be as difficult as I thought...

I've been considering entering a larger short story competition for a couple of years now, but haven't taken that final step yet.

I know I'm not ready for Bridport prize- and quite honestly I don't think I ever will be - so I decided to just step up a level.

There are lots of writers' groups who run open prose and/or poetry competitions, and others that run with literary festivals.

I've decided to put an entry into the Wells Literary Festival short story competition - I posted the details about it last month.

Yesterday I printed out the entry form and details.

It does have the option to pay and submit online, but for this one I'm going to post it - I think it's a psychological thing - if I put it in an envelope and take it to the post office (and put it in the box)  I'm taking another step, and next time I probably will submit online because it won't have the same significance.

So today I'll be looking over my short story in case there's anything I want to revise, and then making a fresh copy that conforms to the rules - title and page numbering stuff.

Then if I'm happy with it all, it will be fill in the form and the entry fee cheque (£5) and off to the Post Office tomorrow.

But if you're not ready for this stage yet, then I can recommend the competitions run by Erewash Writers Group, you can see the current competitions, here.

I still have a few entries to do for some of the annual competitions that Nottingham Writers' Club runs for members each year. The deadline for these is the end of the month, so I better get on with those too.

Then I will be ready to get back to the final two chapters of the novella- draft 1. :-)




9 comments:

liz young said...

The post-box thing struck a chord, Carol - one seldom if ever gets an acknowledgement of an online comp entry, so it's impossible to be sure it arrived safely. Good luck and glad you're getting better.

Keith Havers said...

Good luck with the weather, bird, tin of treacle story, Carol. Still working on mine. Congratulations on winning the Christmas Visit comp.

Rosemary Gemmell said...

Good to hear of you entering the comps, Carol - all the very best with your entries.

Anonymous said...

Submitting on paper seems the most sensible option. I've emailed entries that haven't arrived (How?) I now BCC myself to check. The worst thing about competitions is not the coming up with ideas and writing them, it's the making sure you have adhered to the preferred formatting of spacing / numbering / attached entry vs body of email / etc. of each competition. Can't 'Off-Comp' standardise this?

Mike

Carolb said...

Thanks, Lizy.
I know some competitions do acknowledge entries, but have heard of a few that don't.

Thanks, Keith. That win was purely because I was in my writing comfort zone and was able to put in a very good entry.

And congratulations on your win for 'The Uninvited'.

Thank you, Rosemary. I decided I needed to get a bit more work out into the world. :-)

Hardeggnews I think 'Off Comp' sounds a fun idea.

But you make a valid point- it can take as long getting the submission set up to the requirements as it can actually writing the thing, sometimes.

Sadly stuff sent by e-mail does get lost for some reason, and I know a few people who have eventually received e-mails up to a year later!

Wonder how many other missing e-mails are lurking in the ether?

Patsy said...

Good luck, Carol!

Carolb said...

Thanks, Patsy. I might be braver about entering other competitions now...:)

Unknown said...

Congratulations on your competition entries, Carol, and good luck! It is hard when you first start submitting. When I had written a number of poems but not submitted any, I went through a phase of trying to enter 3 comps a month. I would draw up a list of possibilities at the beginning of the month to focus on, and found this helpful in persuading myself to post the entries.

Carolb said...

Thanks, Sharon.

I have phases where I can concentrate on short stories, but my writing brain is normally working on longer length pieces.

Admittedly we need the same skills, just to different degrees...:-)