 Contests & Activities: May 17, 2023 Issue [#11953] |
This week: Motivation Edited by: NaNoNette  
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3. Letter from the Editor
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Motivation
On any given day, there are several contests here on the site that you can enter. Whether poetry, short stories, novel chapters, or even a snapshot, you can find them all here.
The hope to win a prize is a nice incentive. Since there are a limited number of prizes for each contest, you have to come up with a strategy to enter contests even if it means you might not be among those who collect a prize.
Writing, like any sport, takes dedication. To say it with CrossFit Coach Dan John: “The goal is to keep the goal the goal.”
Define your goal. If all you want is winning, then that is a pretty thin goal. It's easy to miss. Because it's easy to miss, it makes it way too easy to dismiss competing in the first place. That is why you don't throw a sloppy bit of writing into a contest pool and hope it will stick. Give your story or poem or chapter the respect it deserves and the respect you want others to have for it.
Come to your writing mentally committed. Let your life revolve around drafting, pre-writing, writing, dreaming, and editing. Fight to stay motivated during the many hours of revisions and rewrites. When things start feeling repetitive, take a short break. Plan for the break and plan for getting back to writing. If you start doubting why you're putting yourself through writing for a contest that you might not win, remember that you will lose every contest that you don't enter. Automatically.
To stay with writing for contests, revisit your purpose for writing in the first place. Why did you choose writing as a hobby? Are you driven by the desire for extrinsic rewards such as prizes or are you writing for intrinsic rewards such as the feeling of accomplishment when a piece turned out the way you wanted it?
Stay focused on your goal. You won't hit that jackpot of first prize if you're not aiming for it. In a writing contest, that means to read the rules. All of them. Believe and understand that every rule applies to your writing. Deadlines, word counts, genre requirements, rating limits, and more are all pieces of your winning strategy. Be precise and careful to fulfill the basics of each contest. Because the other way to lose is automatically is to get disqualified.
Go, compete in some contests.
How do you motivate yourself to enter contests? |
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Replies to my last Contests & Activities newsletter "Challenge or Contest?" that asked Do you prefer the competition of a contest or the comradery of a challenge?
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