A tip a day to keep the rejections away
One writing tip a day for 26.2 days. Now, that's a marathon of words!
What are my qualifications? For several years, I’ve
written the Pet Vet column for the Post Bulletin newspaper. I’ve
had articles published in RunMinnesota, DVM360 journal, and The
Wagazine. I’m in a wonderful critique group that meets weekly to tell me
everything I’ve done wrong.
Save yourself some time by learning from my
mistakes.
Abbreviations as follows:
WIP = work in progress
CP = critique partner
MS = manuscript
MILE TEN – CONTESTS
Here are five rules guaranteed
to make you win any contest!
Just kidding. (But don’t you wish it were true?)
Instead, here’s five things I’ve learned about writing
contests:
1) You won’t win every contest you enter.
This should be obvious. But feel free to laugh and learn from my
folly. When I did quite well in the
first contest I entered (leading to several requests and a rather big head on
my part), I thought: “I rock! My query rocks! I’m going to enter as many contests as I can
with my rockin’ query and pile up the requests!”
Then I didn’t get anywhere with the
next few contests I entered. But
that’s really okay. I learned a lot from
the comments I received, and I’m still waiting on a few of the requests. (So please excuse me while I go drink another
bottle of antacid because I’ve got a MS request ulcer the size of our national
debt eating away at my gut.)
2) You
won’t hear from every contest you enter.
This one surprised me. Some well-organized contests send you a “we
received your entry” reply right away followed soon after with a “thanks, but
no thanks, we picked someone else more worthy” rejection.
And I’m fine with that. What I’m not fine with is the never knowing,
even with extensive online hunting for the results. It’s frustrating to wait on a contest entry
when it’s been so long you’d like to shop it around elsewhere, but don’t feel
like you “have permission” yet. So be
forewarned, if you want to publish your WIP soon, perhaps you don’t want to tie
it up in a never ending contest.
3) Online
contests are a great way to meet people on Twitter.
Yes, I know I may never really see
these people in real life, but sometimes it’s nice to talk to other writers
about the highs and lows of the querying game.
Misery loves company, right?
4) Online
contests are a great way to get your query or first few pages critiqued.
Of course, the more people you ask,
the more diverse opinions you will receive, but it’s truly helpful to have a
“fresh set of eyes” (other than your CP group, who’s already seen it twenty
times) take a gander at your work.
5) Online
contests are a great way to get your BUTT in gear.
Confession: I once entered a contest solely to FORCE
myself to finish edits on a MS which had languished in my cabinet for over a
year. The same contest also FORCED me to
(ahem) start a blog…this blog. I’ll
admit I dragged my feet with both the blog and the Twitter thing. Before that, I dragged my feet with the DVD
over VHS thing. And now, darn it all,
I’ve been modernized, and I’m not sure I like it.
What contests have you entered? Did you find the process enjoyable?
See you tomorrow for Mile 11!
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