After I released Mannequin, I felt as if I should begin building my ‘portfolio’ and most importantly, an audience to share it with. Id like to share some of my experiences of this with you.
Whilst I am not new to writing, I am new to the writing industry. Social media has never been a strength and writing ‘outloud’ somewhere other than my journal feels… unusual. All of this has left me at somewhat of a disadvantage, the biggest being that I haven’t known where to start when looking for advice or instruction. I know I am not alone though!
Soon after I started my search, I discovered a few avenues for growth that relied solely on my own efforts. This was something I felt was important for my journey, especially as my inbox became bombarded by sales pitches for platforms and advertisers id never heard of before. Along with this blog, my fondest discovery was writing competitions.
Now, you may consider the first writing competition I discovered to be a fluke or pot-luck, but it was an opportunity and opened my mind to that avenue. I had been scrolling a blog much like this when I came across the announcement for a poetry competition hosted by Fiction Factory. It’s submission date was in two days time and I had just finalised my poem Shrift. The stars had aligned and it started me wondering how many other comped were out there and where?
Mag-a-zines!
There are some great magazines out there for all kinds of hobbies and crafts. That includes writing and I was in luck. Starting my search early enough into the year meant they were targeting their articles towards fresh blood and this particular issue had a catalogue of the coming years competitions. 500 of them!
Queue the stereotypical clip of someone searching their periodicals ads, thick red marker in hand as they strike out and circle each.
Whilst all are worth the time and entry fee, there are limiting factors such as:
- Nationality
- Age group (I’m not a teenager anymore)
- Genre
- Word count
Taking all this into account, from a good selection for March, I was left with three prime opportunities. Two had the same criteria for a short story whilst the third was for a poem.
You’re probably thinking one story into two competitions, tick! Nope. You must always read the terms and conditions. Many state that the work submitted must be unpublished and not submitted elsewhere. That would mean with one story almost finalised, I would have to pick which of the two offered me the best opportunity.
So by now you’re probably thinking this all sounds like a lot of effort to just enter a competition. You’d be right, but it’s not JUST about entering. Firstly the competition is a great source for inspiration, often providing you with a topic and limiting factors like minimum and maximum word counts. Then there’s the prizes. Some offer money, that’s always a win, but some even offer opportunities to have works published, reviewed and even edited. Now if you find a diamond amongst all those ads, you may even find yourself comparing notes with your favourite author.
Give it a go and let me know how you do. I will be sure to do the same.
