The first year I started really “seriously” writing was in 1999.   I was still working full time and attending college classes at night so writing was relegated to lunch hours, dinner hours, and weekends – after homework, of course.  I got my degree in December of 2000 and started on a path to improve my writing.  The method I used was contests.  

My goal was to submit something every month, and the KWA newsletter was one of my best sources.  The newsletter editor provided all the pertinent information and a web site for me to check guidelines for submission.  The trick is to polish your work as best you can then follow the contest guidelines to the letter and always submit on time.  Shaw Guides is another great contest resource.

I learned a lot that first year, writing every spare moment with the contest deadlines as my target.  I submitted poetry and short stories and novel beginnings and essays.  One of my essays was published and one of my short stories won a contest and was published as well.  There were no boundaries to where I submitted my work venturing as far as Australia and the UK as well as most of the states in the US.  There were no limits to the genres I tried either.  It helped me identify and settle down into two areas I enjoy writing the most and that is women’s fiction and children’s first readers or picture books.

Often the contest entry fee is based on the extent of the cash awards.  Many contests will also give you a critique of your work, which is very valuable.  You might not agree with the judge’s comments, but feedback can move you forward in your craft and help you to improve.  I got a lot of rejections that first year and the next year I only entered into contests every other month while I worked on my novel.  You need to decide what you think are a reasonable number of contests to enter and just do it!  Remember to always submit your best work and follow the guidelines.  You’ll learn from the experience – that’s a guarantee.

Enjoy the writing journey.
BD

This Saturday, March 21, at 1:00 PM the KWA contest winners will be reading their award winning entrees and signing the annual anthology for those that buy.  It's very exciting and although I didn't enter anythin

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Read & Enjoy.
BD

Have you ever noticed how each generation has it's buzz words and special ways of communicating?  Remember letters and cards?  Remember pagers?  Remember yelling accross the street to see if your best friend wanted to go to the mall?  Now everyone is texting and using other methods of social media.

Social media is the latest and greatest for keeping in touch. There's Twitter and Facebook and MySpace and probably a bunch of others I don't even know about.  There are scads of people out there to become "friends" with - both known and unknown, family to reacquaint yourself with, and yet there is an entire spectrum of people being missed.  Believe it or not, there are those that don't have computers or surf the web or have email.  Lots of them.  Some people are intimidated by the idea of having your words in the ether for all and some to see forever. 

Personally, I don't worry about it too much. I think it's fun to meet new people and see what they are talking about.  I have a Facebook page now and I Twitter and it's really addictive.  Limiting my on-line socializing is important or I don't get any writing done.  Most of the time my chats are limited but someday I'll hit upon a topic that will be of interest to others and who knows where we'll go with it. 

The nice thing about it all is that you can do it any time.  If I can't sleep and the writing muse is, well I can Twitter and see who else is awake at this hour.  If I'm backing up my office computer then I can whip out my laptop and see who has visited my Facebook lately.  Some people get Tweets on their cell phone but I haven't figured that one out yet.  Just give me time.
CYA-
BD

Books. Dreams. Art. Music. Travel. Movies. Nature. TV. Personal experiences. Myths. Family stories. And one of my personal favorites: eavesdropping.  This is especially effective if you are looking for realistic sounding dialog in a play or story, it doesn't matter which. 

Sometimes the white page of the computer or paper can be very intimidating.  I often see scenes in my mind and hear dialog in my head long before it ever hits the page, but I don't always know where the story is going or what has gone before.  Writing is a process.  But the first step to writing a story is to have an idea or seed for the story. 

What are some idea generators that you've found to be especially effective?

Share.
BD