Writing Contests | Cathy C. Hall Writes

So, here’s the thing. Friday is my “Catch Up on All Things Bloggy” day. And generally speaking, I start out the day, zipping from blog to favorite blog, reading about what my creative buds have been up to in their little corners of the writing world. It’s all very interesting, but exhausting, in an “information overload” kind of way.

That’s why I have to go out to lunch on Fridays. It helps me process all that information. I know it may look like I’m talking about my neighbor while inhaling chips and salsa, but trust me. I’m processing.

Except that today, I happened to stop over at Becky’s blog and read somewhere among the last week’s posts about this submission call out at Mozark Press. Which had, if I remember what Becky said correctly, originally popped up on Donna’s blog, who knows when.

Well. I could barely concentrate on my quesadilla fajita or eavesdropping on the table next to me. All I could think about was a flash story I’d written that I knew would work for this A Shaker of Margaritas: Hot Flash Mommas anthology.

One teensy, little thing. I needed about 700 more words, a 40-ish protagonist and a totally different middle and ending. So, that whole writing thing took longer than I planned. Which explains my Finding Something Friday post at a few minutes before Saturday.

Oh, and one more thing. You only have till June 15 if you’ve got a story stuck in your head now. And really. You don’t have time to be lolly-gagging at lunch dates.

Long, long ago, in a radio station far, far away, I worked as a copywriter.

Now, I loved writing commercials. But I hated taking a vacation. Because I knew when I got back, first thing Monday morning, 87 gajillion work orders would be sitting on my desk. That meant 87 gajillion commercials would have to be written, produced and scheduled. By the end of that Monday.

Flash forward to today. You’d think being a writer, working at home, AND having a laptop computer that one can tote everywhere, would sidestep that vacation pile-up on Monday. But you’d be wrong if you were Cathy C. Hall. Apparently, I cannot bring myself to work while I’m on vacation. So, I’ve spent the entire morning culling emails. (I caught up on the writing stuff over the weekend. Sorta.)

Mostly, I zipped through submission call outs, writing opps, and contests. All the newsletters that have been piling up in the old Inbox. To be honest, I zipped through them at record speed because I’m pretty particular. But halfway through my zipping, I started to wonder about contest entry fees.

You know I like my contests. But I’m very particular when it comes to entry fees. Or maybe just cheap. The point is, I rarely send anything off if a fee is over 12 bucks. But what I’m wondering is if I’m letting my cheapness stand in the way of opportunity. So, I’m asking you to weigh in on contest entry fees. What will you pay? And why?

And now, Monday’s pile of writing is singing. “They say that catching u-u-u-p is hard to do.” (That’s what happens when you’ve worked in a radio station.)