I’ll share from personal experience.

At the earliest age, a yearning stirred within me urging me to jot emotions on paper in story and verse. In my early twenties, I taught myself to play guitar and developed my poetry into songs. A couple of years later, I played guitar and sang in a local band. One of the local radio stations held a songwriting contest and I dared to enter even though I felt completely inept and insecure. But who would know? My song didn’t win, but placed in the top ten. The second competition I entered was a "Battle of the Bands" at Friday’s Restaurant. I mustered up enough gumption to enter -- alone. When I noticed that all the other contestants were bands complete with drums, bass, and several vocalists, my heart stopped before plummeting to my feet. What had I done? I was frantic. Yet, I trudged to the stage, guitar in hand, and sat on that lonely stool to face a filled-to-capacity room. I sang songs I had written that possessed my spirit, joys, losses, and desires -- not someone else’s. Patrons voted for the winner, and the results were so close, votes had to be counted three times. I placed second. However, the most exciting moment happened when the manager offered me a job to play guitar and sing on the weekends. Being a new mother, I couldn’t accept, but the offer instilled a new confidence. Every now and then I’ll pull out those old songs and shiver as goose bumps bathe me in memories.

As I began writing stories and articles, I discovered I lacked discipline in not only completing them, but in mailing them out for consideration.

Writing competitions keep me on a strict writing schedule and force me to complete a project. I now have many short stories that I wouldn’t have had if I hadn’t been writing with a specific purpose in mind.

Competition allows opportunities to compete against the pros, the very best, as well as test my own skills and technique, and recognize weaknesses and strengths.

That’s why I enter competitions. Below is how:

1. I research competition announcements, through e-zines, magazines, and websites, saving announcements that interest me in a "Competition File." After I enter a specific contest, I jot down which story I entered and file it in my "Contests Entered" file. I also keep a tracking sheet for that story, as well as a master-tracking sheet for every piece of literature I have out for consideration. I mark the date results are due on my calendar. Here are a few of my favorites:

• www.chopeclark.com
• www.klockepresents.com
• www.inscriptionsmagazine.com
• www.wordweaving.com
• www.bylinemag.com
• www.coffeehouse4writers.com
• www.scbeginnings.com
• www.writingcorner.com

There are many more. Simply allow your favorite search engine to pull up "Writing Contests." You’ll be amazed at the number of opportunities out there.

2. I compare the prize to the entry fee. If a prize is worth $50.00 and it costs $10.00 to enter, it’s not worth the time or money. However, if the prize is worth $50.00 and it costs only $4.00 or $5.00 to enter, I’ll enter. Of course, the bigger the prize, the stiffer the competition.

3. I enter every free competition I’m able to. What do I have to lose? Absolutely nothing.

4. I check "Writer’s Beware" sections on the Internet for competitions that have earned a bad name. Don’t enter them no matter how good they look. A few good ones are:

a. www.sfwa.org/beware

b. www.sfwa.org/prededitors

5. I read guidelines CLOSELY. As many entries as I have entered, I have occasionally made serious errors by haphazardly scanning guidelines and have been disqualified. It’s a hard lesson, especially when it’s a FREE competition. I READ THE GUIDELINES, MAKE A CHECKLIST, AND DON’T SEND IT UNTIL I’M SURE IT’S PROPERLY COMPLETED.

6. After entering a contest, is my piece is out of commission until the contest is over? Not necessarily. Some guidelines may read, "No work is eligible for submission if AT THE TIME OF ENTRY, it has won an award or been published or accepted for publication." Key phrase is "If at the time of entry." However, some competitions, like the 2000 Writer’s Digest Short Short Story Competition, set out: "All entries must be original, unpublished, and NOT SUBMITTED ELSEWHERE UNTIL THE WINNERS ARE ANNOUNCED." Every competition is different. I can’t stress enough how important it is to read the guidelines very carefully.

7. Lastly, but most important, I SIMPLY CAN’T BE AFRAID. I’m not one of those writers fully content to write for myself in a private journal, though I do journal. I yearn to share my writing with the world, so I had to quit beating myself over the head worrying that my writing wasn’t good enough. I’d never discover my writing potential until I released it to the world.

After receiving contest results, I read winning entries to determine why they won. Personally, I have learned more from doing that than any writing course I’ve completed.

I entered "North and South" in Story’s writing competition and ordered the anthology. I read and weighed the winning stories, scrutinizing writing techniques, emotional content, climactic events, and story line. What made them soar above mine? Bottom line -- the way they were written. My story contained too many adjectives, too much telling, and extreme wordiness. It didn’t take a New York Editor to understand why mine didn’t even place. Did it make me feel like a loser? I guess it could have, but I’ve tried to use the many lost competitions as steppingstones toward tighter writing and better technique.

Did I reject my losing entry? Not on your life. It had rooted from the bottom of my heart. I simply had to find the best way to nourish it and help it grow. I revised it several times, entered it in the Write Spot Competition where it placed in the finals. Am I finished with it? Not on your life. It’s presently entered in other contests.

I never consider writing competitions to defeat other writers, but to improve my writing, and become courageous and daring enough to stand beside literary giants. They were beginners once upon a time. We all begin somewhere. Why not competitions -- just for the love of the game?

Copyright © 2000 by Richelle Putnam

CONTESTS RESUME
1999 Writer’s Digest Writing Competition consisting of over 14,000 entries - Honorable Mention for "Song of Melissy"

1999 Write Spot Competition - Top forty Finalist for "North and South"

January 2000, By-Line Magazine Children’s Story or Picture Book Competition - First Place winner for "Song of Melissy"; Special Honorable Mention for "My Brother Kevin"; And Honorable Mention for "The Three Gruff Billy Goats". Marcia Preston advised me there had been over 200 entries, so to be honored three times in the same competition was quite an honor.

2000 Mystic-Ink "Love That Romance" contest - First place winner for "The Quintessence of Romance" and publication in anthology August, 2000 Writer’s Arena 48 Hour Mystery Contest - First place winner for "The Chocolate Syrup Caper", and publication in anthology

2000 Inscription’s Summer Romance Contest - Honorable Mention for "Beneath the Ruins" 2000 World Wide Writer’s Competition - Publication and Winner for "Truth and Mercy" 2000 Writer’s Digest Writing Competition - over 19,000 entries received - Honorable Mention in Genre Story Division for "The Curse" and Honorable Mention in Children’s Division for "My Brother Kevin"

WRITING RESUME
My story, "My Obsession", will appear in Beginnings January issue

I am the judge for the children’s division of "2000, Dream Realm Awards"

Mystic-Ink Publishing will be publishing a collection of my short stories My middle-grade fiction, "Fallout", will be published Thanksgiving, 2000

Graduate of the Institute of Children’s Literature and a selected student in their advanced program, and a graduate of Writer’s Digest School

Member of the national SCBWI and the Southern Breeze Division of SCBWI