Not being one of the “winners”:http://clarityofnight.blogspot.com/2006/06/winners-announcement-midnight-road.html in a “writing contest”:http://clarityofnight.blogspot.com/2006/06/midnight-road-short-fiction-contest.html is akin to receiving a rejection letter from a magazine you’ve submitted a story to – the disappointment is keen, but it simply provides the stimulation and the motivation to try again. The “Midnight Road” contest winners were announced this past Friday evening, and I extend congratulations to the winners! All the entries were well-done, and it was intriguing to see the different perspectives generated from the photograph. If you haven’t gone to read them yet, run over to “Clarity of Night”:http://clarityofnight.blogspot.com and read down through the 50+ entries submitted. And keep the site in mind; a “new contest will be starting in August”:http://clarityofnight.blogspot.com/2006/07/augusts-promise.html, complete with feedback from author “Anne Frasier”:http://annefrasier.blogspot.com/. So, stay tuned!
what a beautiful blog! and thanks for the link. :) i’m really looking forward to august and jason’s new contest. that guy is amazing, and i still can’t believe he invited me along for the ride.
Hi, Anne! Thanks for stopping by. It’s simply amazing the number of wonderful new blogs and people I’ve run across as a result of Jason’s most recent contest. I’ve loved the networking and the expansion of my own horizons. Very much looking forward to interacting with you and with all the other writers.
You can write, my friend, no doubt about that. My comments on your entry are posted.
I scored you in the upper tier. Your language is tight and strong, and you have a great sense of pacing. You’ll find no rejection from me!!
(Anne, now I’m blushing. What a nice thing to say!)
Thanks for the comments, Jason. I appreciate that. It’s tough going up against other such talented writers, but it is a heckuvalot of fun! Sure, it _feels_ disappointing to fall short of anything less than perfect, but then again, I’m strongly driven for perfection. Your kind words are a great encourager. I tell ya’ – writing for your contests makes me all the more eager to set to work on some of the other projects in my mental queue. Now, if I just find that all-too-elusive time…
hah. he’s blushing.
jim, i know it’s tough, but you have to try to think of it as simply not making the short list.
does that help? or is that like kicking a guy when he’s down?
Anne, thanks for the follow-up. I think I’m still just learning what it is to really be a writer. Relatively speaking, I’m still something of an infant to the writing industry; I’ve only been pursuing writing as a serious occupation since this past December. I was just talking to my wife yesterday about the trouble I’m having just finding time to write and then making the best use of that time when I do finally get a little of it. (She reminded me that it took even Stephen King a while to become as successful as he is now.) I was frustrated because I had the whole day off yesterday and I only managed to write maybe 300-400 words. I had loftier goals for the use of my day devoted to writing. I think placing in a contest or having a story accepted to a magazine is another one of those parts of writing where I have a certain ideal in mind, and I’m having trouble accepting the fact that becoming an accomplished and productive writer doesn’t just happen overnight. I want to be good RIGHT NOW, and it’s a tough internal battle to realize that it doesn’t work that way. There’s a lot that goes into this, I know, and I’m still trying to figure out how it all works. So, again, thanks for the kind words and the encouragement. It does help. Hopefully, the more I do this, the more I’ll figure out.