5 things to think about when submitting to a writing competition

Warm greetings to you from the slightly chilly dressing table I write at in our flat. Not quite a room of one’s own, but it does the trick. If you saw the interview Linda did with me a month or so ago you’ll know who I am. If not, I’m El Rhodes, I’m an archaeologist and writer of both long and short prose and occasional bits of poetry.   Over the last two years, my work has been published in a lot of journals and anthologies and I’ve now placed in seventy competitions (fiction, nonfiction, poetry, micro, flash, short story, full-length manuscripts) and won twelve.   This year I’m teaching nature writing and creative nonfiction at a number of U.K. festivals and for The Crow Collective. Thrillingly, I’m also the 2022 Hysteria Writer In Residence. As part of that, I’ll be writing a blog post each month to help get your creative juices flowing, so that you’re ready to submit to the competition(s) later in the year.   I’ve read and judged six competitions over the last twelve months and, as it happens, I’ve finished reading for one a week ago. Just like if you read or edit a journal or magazine, reading or judging a competition is a great way to read a lot of prose or poetry and discover what you think works in a piece or what doesn’t.  But this blog post isn’t about the mechanics of a story or sonnet, or the plot or the pacing (we’ll cover both of these in other blog posts over the course of my residency), it’s about what the competition has as...
Source: The Hysterectomy Association - Category: OBGYN Authors: Tags: Hysteria hysteria 2022 writer in residence Source Type: news