I clicked on 'design' on the Blogger dashboard and started changin' stuff. You can't go back. This panicked me at first; I missed my old design. But I'm embracing the change now.
Just wanted to share some interesting writing competitions that I've spotted, and hope to enter myself:
Sentinel Literary Quarterly Short Story Competition
1500 words maximum
£150 first prize
£5 to enter
Deadline 25th June
Royal Society of Literature V.S Pritchett Memorial Prize
2000 - 5000 words
£1000 first prize
£5 to enter
Deadline 30th June
Spilling Ink Review Microfiction Competition
300 words maximum
£100 first prize
£5 to enter
Deadline 30th June
Writers' Bureau Short Story Competition
2000 words maximum
£1000 first prize
£5 to enter
Deadline 30th June
Good luck if you enter any of these. I'm working on something new for at least one of them, and might polish up some drafts for the other 3. I want to get more work 'out there', it makes me feel good and productive, even if it ends in rejection.
I had a rejection last week from an online magazine, felt quite put out by it for a moment or two, then let it go. It was for a very short flash piece that I've had trouble placing for a while. I'm thinking now that it might not work so well as a stand-alone piece, but there are a couple of images in it I like. I should think about adding it to something else perhaps.
Or not think about adding it, that might be too self-conscious. I think I'm always balancing on that line - trying, but not trying too hard. Being disciplined, but relaxed.
What line do you find yourself balancing on, in terms of writing/creating?
7 comments:
I love the new look - very zingy and fresh!
Given the time I would be a workaholic - I can easily spend twelve hours and occasionally more glued to the screen tapping away, and I am never satisfied with anything I've written. I send stuff out and immediately wish I had hung onto it - then, when rejection comes calling I get really cross with myself! Bonkers. Glad I have two kids to keep me grounded and busy with other things - that's probably why I have such a strong passion for writing because i cannot physically do it as much as I wasnt to - I'm sure if I had unlimited writing time the love affair would dwindle from time to time! So keeping my family happy and giving others enough attention and writing are my balancing thingies..oh, and trying to stay positive when my work crashes and burns :)
Best of luck with those comps - I linked to your post on my blog :)
"wasnt to" should read "want to"...see...obsessive!!!
Today I have mostly been balancing between crashing despair and utter hopelessness....
Maybe that's a little histrionic. But, seriously, I balance between wanting and needing to write, and feeling like it's a crazy thing to wish to do with my time!
P.S. Do like the new design though, even through my despair (!) - very citrusy!
Ah, glad you both like the design. It is much more zingy and fresh and citrusy, to use all your words.
Rachel - I love how you're always so enthusiastic and positive about the time you get to write. There has to be something in the theory that it stays urgent for you because you have less time to do it in. Even though I work I don't really have any other responsibilities, just seeing friends and cooking and stuff. I always seem to want to write in the hour before I have to get ready to start a shift, rather than when I have a clear 5 hour block of time. Something about pressure, things pressing, I guess.
Hi Claire - it's good that the citrus cut through your despair, if just a little. I'm just thinking about what you said and those words 'want' and 'need', and thinking 'need' can be something from inside, like an instinct, but also a construct of our own making.
This may not be making sense. But when I think of 'need' in terms of my own writing process, it's less about instinct and more that I've conditionned myself to write in my spare time, and the expectation of that will sometimes leave me unable or reluctant to write.
'Want' is a much happier place for me, I think.
Hmm...
I do love your blog Tree, it makes me really THINK about writing, which is always a good thing :-)
I think the goal-oriented approach is a great way to write because at some point you realise if you want to be a writer for a living you have to set deadlines, goals, ambitions.
And then instead of this big scary white screen in front of you with no purpose, you have boxes to tick and deadlines to hit, but you can still enjoy the process.
Of course, sometimes it's nice to write without that pressure. But once you get into the habit it's rather exciting having deadlines.
In fact I think the big scary purposeless white screen is scarier! Yay deadlines.
Good THINKING Miles. I agree. I reckon that for me deadlines help but it's good to have a dose of not-for-anything-in-particular writing time too, just to play about.
Purposeless white screen is scarier than purposeless white page, I think.
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