I’ve touched briefly on the topic of entering writing contests before in a previous post, and the benefits, but I’d like to re-iterate some information here. I belong to the LinkedIn Children’s Publishing Group, the Aspiring Writers Group and the Aspiring Writers Blogs Group. At first I was tentative to join these groups, and even more shy to add comments or articles. I felt a sense of awe with the company the group kept. I mean there are even authors from Random House there. Did I have enough knowledge about writing and publishing to share? Would members take me seriously? After sitting in the background (I think they call it lurking these days) for awhile, I started adding a few comments here and there. I anxiously hit the send button to share a press release. What was I thinking? Would I be laughed out of the group?
But, guess what, I should never have feared. Like any new group, once a person gets past the awkwardness of joining, being in the community becomes fun and rewarding. I even went so far as to enter the June Children’s genre short story contest in the Aspiring Writers Group. I’m so happy to report that I shared winning third place for my story “Silly Bear“, along with Ronda Payne for “Canary Barf Yellow”. Second place went to Cindy Yatis for “Smally Small and His New Best Friend”, and first place was awarded to Carole Seawert for “The Best of Friends”. Congratulations to all who won!
I felt honoured to win, as all the stories entered were great. I’ve entered many, many contests, and have won 4 or 5. Entering contests not only gives you exposure (especially if winning), it helps you to hone your craft and stick to a deadline. Just the preparation of editing and making sure your entry is in the best editorial shape possible has its rewards.
If you want a community of like-minded individuals to share your work, comments or blogs with, take a look at the LinkedIn groups I mentioned above (just click on the links there), which were all started by Mr. David Nicholls, the CEO of Lebrary.com. An article regarding Lebrary can be found at: Lebrary — New Website for Authors.
Tags: Writing Contests
