I received an email that said:
“Congratulations on winning
the Devotional category for InScribe’s 2018 Winter Contest!”
My writing won! And the email came with some money. And a critique of the piece is included as well. Critiques are valuable feedback for writers.
I enjoy entering contests. Contests allow me to practice writing different genres or on various topics. Sometimes entering a contest costs money, so it is especially rewarding when a prize is one that provides more money than I spent. And if I don’t win a contest I enter? This is actually more common than winning. Contests don’t post the losing entry, so I am not publically ridiculed for not winning, so I really do not lose by using contests as a testing ground for sharing my writing. If you are hesitant to send something to a magazine for fear of rejection, try entering a contest. And the cost? If I don’t win, I believe the entry fee I sent was to be a donation to the organization offering the contest, providing opportunities for writers to… try.
This particular contest was open to writers who had pieces published in the past year, whether in a book, magazine, newspaper, or wherever. Even in a blog, but not your own blog. I have been posting along with many other writers on one of Inscribes’ blogs. This organization has two blogs, both with valuable information shared by and for writers and for people of faith. So because this is not my personal blog, the post qualified for the contest.
Inscribe is a worthy cause, worth my support, and while I love to win some of their contests, I don’t mind not winning because I know the winners are writers feeling the joy of having their words recognized, perhaps for the first time. I hope to one day be one of the writers who can help others as the writers of Inscribe have helped me.
I won’t post the winning piece here today because Inscribe has the right to publish it in their magazine, FellowScript which accepts unsolicited articles about writing and/or faith, or on their website or elsewhere. I also thought it might be fun for you to cruise through the 2017 Inscribe Writers Online blog posts to see if you can decide which one of my posts could have won as a devotional. Just for fun, make a guess in the comment space of this blog.
Preparing for this contest, I was looking through what I have published in 2017. Over the past few years, I have worked my way up from sharing/publishing absolutely nothing, to see my byline on an article or two in a company newsletter or on a blog as a guest post, to in 2017 sharing 12 posts on Inscribe, a few on Phosphorescent, and also having a piece printed in the anthology, Christmas Stories and More. Small steps, for sure, and nothing in comparison to my other writer friends. Yet these are small steps that move me forward to becoming a published writer.
By the way, although the anthology is titled Christmas Stories and More, you can enjoy reading it at any time of the year, not just at Christmas. Contact me at marnie @ marniewriter .com if you’d like a copy.
Now I think I need to do a small happy dance. Yahoo!
marniewriter.com
Marnie has recently retired to Saskatchewan, Canada to write and be with her grands. She shares from her heart, drawing from both painful and joyful life experiences, where she believes God's presence makes all the difference.
I love your “Yahoo!” post, Marnie, and I agree with you on all counts. InScribe’s contests and blogs are great opportunities for writing. Even when we don’t win, we do win, because we keep these contests going, we know that someone else had the chance to win, and we get a good critique on our writing. May I add a Yahoo to you and the other winners as I wiggle my butt on the couch and smile for each of you. Keep on writing!
What a great idea! Thanks for these tips. I’m trying to work from home permanently by just being an author, but I am not that good at getting my name out there and marketing myself, so I will definitely be checking out these links that you shared!
Camryn, marketing seems to be most writers’ biggest hurdle – after actually filling a page. 😊 There are lots of ideas ‘out there’ and sometimes we jyst need to take a risk. Inscribe has been my safe place to risk. Now i feel i can legitimately say “Im a writer” and offer publuc ways to show that.
My dream is to work from home to dedicate more time to ministry and especially writing. Keep writing and sharing.
I love it. That really builds credibility too, to have your stuff published elsewhere. I’m excited to look into it this week. Thanks again for sharing!!
Congratulations!