Sunday, March 4, 2007

Contests-My Rant

Just a word on contests. I get to do this because it's my blog. If anyone enters a writing contest, read the rules. Pay attention if they say. If it says use the official cover sheet, don't make up your own. The idea of most contests is to allow beginners to learn how to turn out professional work, so do the basics. Double space. Use readable font. Number the pages. Do what any editor would expect. The contest in which I'm involved, didn't spell out the fact that pages in a manuscript need to be numbered. But, if you ever meant to have an editor read a manuscript, they would say over and over-NUMBER THE PAGES. Would you do less for a contest in which you wanted to win?

I'm seeing adults refuse to take responsibility for their own mistakes and blame everythng else, someone told me wrong, the rules weren't specific enough, it shouldn't apply to me because... If you enter a contest and are disqualified, this is not the loss of a six figure income. It's a minor disappointment and just means you failed to take care of a detail. It is not the end of life as we know it.

OK, I'm done. Back to writing. I made the work count yesterday, today will be harder because it's full of family have to things, which is why I set a goal of 600 words, five days a week. Did I make that total last week? NO. Will I next week? Maybe with the world watching, or at least the few people who read this, I will.

3 comments:

AmyShojai said...

You go, girl!

I most certainly sympathize with the disappointment of having entries disqualified. Nothing hurts worse when you anticipated constructive feedback or (oh joy!) honors for your work.

And when we make obvious/dumb/stoopid/slap-yer-forehead errors we want to lash out at everyone but ourselves.

I hafta say, though, that there are some folks who despite their disappointment find it in themselves to maintain dignity and act with class. Kudos to them!

paulab said...

Carol, more power to you if you make your daily word quota. I've set mine at 200/day and make it sometimes, sometimes not. I'm proud of myself though when I try.

Carol said...

That's the thing, you feel so virtuous when you actually reach the goal.

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