  Contests & Activities
This week: What to Do When the Party is Over Edited by: Leger~  
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The purpose of this newsletter is to highlight some of the current contests and activities on the site, help educate members on how to host contests and activities, and provide clues to submit quality entries to contests. Write to me if you'd like something in particular covered.
This week's Contests and Activities Editor
Leger~
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What To Do When the Party is Over
WDC's great 10th birthday party celebration is winding down and you're wondering what to do now. If you entered stories or poems in some of the contests, be sure to reread your reviews and edit your work before you lose interest in it and the entry falls to the back of your portfolio. If it turned out fabulous, look for some places to submit the story or poem for publication. Ride the wave of excitement and send out your query letters.
Visit the contest forums and thank the host for running the contest and congratulate the winners even if your entry didn't win. If you read the other entries, be sure to rate and review your fellow member's work. If you liked their entry, visit their portfolio and check out what else they may have. This is a great way to network with other writers and find good reads to review. Be sure to stop in "The Shameless "Plug" Page" and post a plug for your work or someone else.
Contests and activities are fun if you participate by not only entering but by interacting with the other contestants. It's a great way to make friends and get to know more members of our community. It can also help you see what works, and what doesn't, when running your own contest. If you're thinking about running a fall (for the U.S.) or Christmas contest or activity, now is the time to start setting up your pages and accumulating gift points for prizes. It is much easier to fine tune the page when you're ready to start if you have a template prepared in advance. Once you know the dates you want to run the activity or how many gift points you're able to give as prizes, you can edit your page.
Write on!
This month's question: What do you do with your contest entries after the party is over?
Send in your answer below - newsletter editors  feedback! |
Excerpt: Two individuals, when asked to describe a scene they just viewed, will respond with starkly varying levels of detailing. Some people have the innate ability to see much more than others. While it could be a natural gift for a fortunate few, I am certain that with practice everyone can develop it. This contest is an opportunity to hone this skill
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Excerpt: This contest focuses on small poems and prompts. For poetry, I view prompts a bit differently: it might be a random poetry form, a random picture, some random words, even a random restriction instead of a random something.
This contest ends September 30th.
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#1704806 by Not Available. |
A fun 10th Birthday related contest, entries must be in by September 30th.
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#1703585 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: WDC is a supportive, creative outlet for writers and more. There are friends waiting to be made and best friends who would have never been without this site! To celebrate WDC's 10th Anniversary we are spreading smiles through pink and blue balloons!
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#1582329 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: One of my favorite things in the world is duckies. I love how festive they can be and how they fit any and every occasion.
Excerpt: Send out a review to a WdC member with an account birthday and get rewarded with gift points. There is no group to join and no minimum requirements. Those who make 15 or more reviews in a month get a merit badge. Check it out, it's fun and rewarding.
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#1385616 by Not Available. |
Excerpt: This is a group dedicated to reading and discussing published books in order to improve our own skills as writers.
Excerpt: This In and Out is designed for generic names that really exist have an interesting but believable feel to them.
A story for your characters to mingle with others. This interactive story has over 250 chapters, join in the fun!
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Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form
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This month's question: What do you do with your contest entries after the party is over?
Last month's question: What other types of activities would you like to see in our community? Give hosts some ideas!
nishia: There is something I have been thinking of for some time. Getting different reviews from various people is great but for new or evolving writers it might be nice to hook up with a sort of mentor - someone that has the know how to review and edit items and that give advice on how to improve, think of exercises the newbie could do to better their writing skills etc. I know that with all the different competitions, forums, newsletters etc the entire site is set up like one large mentor, but a more personal interaction might be nice. Maybe seasoned writers could volunteer services for specific periods, like "Sci-fi mentor available for one month" or something. I say this because every person has their own opinion and when you end up with seven different people saying something about your work it can get confusing. It would be great to have one person to guide you especially while you are still trying to find your own voice.
Comments in response to last month's newsletter about contests and unfulfilled expectations:
nishia: I am very glad that you wrote about the "bad" contests etc. I frequently stumble upon forums for contests and reviewing (well anything you can have a forum for) that hasn't been active for a long time. It would be nice if people remove their contests or forums from the site if they don't have time to devote to it. Anyone can start something, but not a lot of people can keep at it.
salliemoffitt: Thank you for writing a newsletter on this subject. The past few auctions I have participated in have resulted in me winning prizes that were never awarded. Sometimes I was refunded my gift points, but other times I received nothing. I now participate in auctions and contests ran by long-time members I know will honor their word. This is sad, because I know there are several members who run honorable contests and auctions that need participants. I hope your newsletter will remind people to fulfill their donations as promised. Great newletter, Sallie
A.T.B: It'sWhatWeDo  : I recently withdrew from a contest - but only after making a 25k donation to expedite the rewards and disqualifying myself in order to help judge the lagging round in question. Two days later the round closed without a snag.
We all have our reasons to compete. It helps inspire new writing, promotes one's skills as an artist, and the sky is always the limit in the event one should win...
First, however, we work together - as writers, members, judges, and competitors. If you find yourself in a stalled contest, think "What can I do for everyone?" first. You'll often find a selfless act is immeasurably more effective than impatience or frustration. We're lucky to have what we have here; we're luckier still to have the opportunity to make what we have here even better.
Excellent newsletter, Leger. Best always!
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Contests & Activities: September 15, 2010 Issue [#3971]
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