I'm celebrating a major accomplishment. On Friday, I sent two contest entries winging off into cyberspace. Woo~Hoo! Let the Cyber Champagne flow, the Cyber chocolate makes its rounds. And, of course, send in the Cyber cowboys!
Yes, I know I haven't WON any contest. Merely entered. However, every time I attempt to enter contests there's major hurdles to overcome.
1) Self-Doubt: Suddenly my wonderful story doesn't seem that wonderful anymore. I obsess over every word choice until the last minute. I can't believe I wrote this drivel. I want to call up all my writing friends and seek reassurance. But I like having friends, so I don't.
2)When upset or nervous, I cook or bake. So I spend precious writing time in the kitchen. This time, it was a Pumpkin Spice Bread, pumpkin muffins and pumpkin pudding. I'm really getting into October here.
3)My computer sabotages me. Really. I'm not making this up. Whenever I'm on contest deadline, my computer acts up: the word processor refuses to do the requested formatting, the e-mail goes down etc. etc. What? Operator difficulties, you say? Nope. It's the computer's fault.
So win or lose, just entering contests is a major accomplishment. And I'm celebrating!
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4 comments:
Keep entering! You'll never win if you don't. I had a flurry of finals in the summer and now - zip. Nada. Zilch.
One day - you will final. And THEN you will win!
Most possibly before me ; )
Hey Ms. Finals-Queen,
You need to blog about all the different times you've managed to final. What you think worked, what the experience was like and what you got from each contest.
okay, whoever wins first buys the other a Mexican Martini! Do we have a deal?
Ha!
How did I final? Lack of competition, apparently!
Well, not quite. In one final for SBIS they dropped the lowest score (whew) otherwise I wouldn't have made it. In the others I think it was solely the fresh idea that got me through.
For my inspie - readers have always loved it or hated it. Scored high or scored low, never in between. As luck would have it I got "loved-it" judges.
Some people complain about published vs unpublished judges. I say it's all the luck of the draw. My first contest judge was a published author that kept me going because she loved my story. Other pubbed authors turn into evil editors and obsess over each comma. Some unpubbed ones read for the pleasure of reading and those are the ones I love - if I can catch their attention and make them want to read more then I'm happy.
I admit that now I am getting SOME rave reviews I am not paying much attention to the lower scored comments unless they are things that really need to be fixed.
What did I get out of the contests? A really terrific ego boost that I will make sure lasts a while!
Let's make that a double on the martini!
Oh yes - so who hasn't finaled now, huh?
NOT YOU!!
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