Contest! | Cathy C. Hall Writes

Everytime SCBWI has a new contest, I get sucked in again. I can’t help it. I’m a sucker for a free membership. I should probably just pay the bucks for the membership and be done with it. But that’s too easy. I’d rather win it.

So here’s what you have to do this time around: Write a scene, in 75 words or less, of your character’s excuse for not getting his/her assignment completed. It’s that old “Dog ate my homework” excuse, but with your own special twist.

And if the SCBWI folks like it, you win a year’s free membership! If they don’t like it, well, you’ve spent an hour or so obsessing over 75 words when you could have been working. But you’ve flexed those mental muscles while you were at it.

That’s my excuse for wasting an hour. (Check out the contest details here and come up with your own excuse.)

Let’s say that you have this wonderful kiddie story, all dressed up with no market to go to. So, you’re staring at your computer screen, thinking what about a contest? But then you pause a minute and think again. Do contests count?

Oh, yes. And not just those prestigious contests with expensive entry fees. Those not-quite-so-la-ti-da contests with reasonable fees count, too.

You can practice keeping your writing tight when you have a word count specification. You can practice writing age-related fiction when you have a target/grade specification. You can broaden your appeal when you write for a theme. And finally, you can win! a contest and brag a little. (Okay, you can brag a lot if you take me out to lunch with your winnings.)

So try a contest, like this one. Children’s Writer has several contests a year. And even though there’s a fee, you get a trial subscription with that fee. So even if you lose, you win. That’s got to count for something, right?