Day 23 – Writing Challenge – Your inspiration
Let us dive into another exciting Day 23 of the Writing Challenge. While you attempt today’s challenge and share your inspiration, you can also check the below topic which will help you immensely to learn and grow as a writer in this competitive world.
Today’s challenge is – Top 4 Websites to check for writing contests
Your inspiration
Inspiration is that instant spark of hope that gets us started on our dreams. It fuels us to keep going in the difficult times of our lives. It is needed in every bit of our ongoing process towards becoming a better version of ourselves.
When you write about your inspiration, think about that moment that led you to action and made you change your life for the better. We all have our reasons for inspiration. It can be our parents, our ambition, the feather, the ants, or even the raindrops.
There is no limit to interpreting the true meaning of inspiration in our life. Every individual is unique and what works for you may not work for me. You need to know yourself better and find your inspiration. It can be that particular movie you watched yesterday or a book you explored last weekend. It can be all that gives you hope to carry on with life and do something bigger in your life.
My source of inspiration lies in books especially the lives of those who did great in life and what carved their lives as they are today.
Top 4 websites for Writing Contests
Writing is creative work that needs immense research and hard work to make it your career. When you have just started with your writing career, you may need validation and reviews. We all need to sustain ourselves in this world and pay for our bills. Participating in writing contests not only allows writers to earn, but it also gives them a platform where their work is recognized and when they start to find work, they can use it to highlight their capability as a writer.
Writing contests give you the exposure to compete with other writers and showcase your talent. You may not win for the first time or you may win but all the way, you are going to take away a lot of learnings that will eventually help you grow as a writer. It can serve as a motivation to continue your writing career when you feel like quitting. It allows you to improve and find work easily. Websites for writing contests are the most helpful platforms to give your writing career the boost that it needs.
FundsforWriters is a great website for all kinds of writers. It is one of the top websites for writing contests that are very helpful and engaging.
C. Hope Clark is the editor of FundsForWriters and she has been working immensely to help budding writers achieve a better place in this industry. The newsletters from FundsForWriters are helping writers worldwide build a sustainable career and explore options in this field.
Below is an interview from C. Hope Clark that’s an inspiration in itself. Take a look and grab your broken motivation and build it into a new tower of hope and success.
Introduction
Every writer is asked how they got started when there is no real beginning. At least nothing with a date, or even a year on it. I can say I had a cathartic moment while working for the federal government, after writing yet another requested paper, report, analysis, who knows, but it was a moment that told me to return to writing for myself. Over the next few years, I made myself write daily. I failed at placing the pieces, then sold a couple of things, before I stumbled into a plan for a novel.
The novel didn’t sell so I decided to freelance. I was going to write for a living, I said. That’s how FundsforWriters was born. I saw the need and filled it. Writer’s Digest Magazine commended me for it and launched my reader numbers. They continue to do so 21 years later. In the middle of this education, I left the day job (making excellent money), my husband took a promotion in another state to cover expenses (and we moved), and I took writing seriously.
But it wasn’t until I met another mystery author did I have the revelation to go back to my fiction in addition to the freelance. It’s been start and stop, a lot of research, some mistakes, but I finally found a publisher for the original novel (rewritten from scratch three times and edited at least 25 before finding an agent). But it took a lot of studying the craft, accepting criticism from several critique groups, and tons of submissions. I continue to write daily. It took me a while to realize that I wrote for the sanity and the enjoyment, though. Otherwise, it becomes too much like work.
C. Hope Clark
How to become a better writer and how to approach contests on FundsforWriters?
To become a better writer you must write a lot. Not simply when you feel like it, either. If that’s the only time you write, then you have a hobby. I still tell writers to write daily. Also, you learn way more from criticism of your work and reading good books than sitting in a class. Two critique groups seriously molded me in my early days. Sure, I shed tears over the criticism, but I learned a tremendous amount from the reflection. More importantly, I learned what is good criticism and what is not. But also engulf yourself in good published works…excellent works that you wish you’d written. When you have that thought, you are on the cusp of learning great lessons that will aid your cause.
As for contests on FundsforWriters . . . understand that no two contests are alike. Find your genre first, unless you want to test-drive another genre, but that’s up to you. Memorize the guidelines. And just because a contest has an entry fee does not mean it is a scam or should not be entered. Frankly, I trust a contest that has an entry fee and pays a respectable first prize than those that have no fees and pay nickels and dimes. I wonder where the money comes from and the motivation of the sponsor which factors into legitimacy. Now, there are a handful of legit free contests, but not many. Someone has to pay the prize money, and entry fees are an easy method.
Send your best work. Study who and what has won in the past. Study the judges and what they’ve written. That tells you the direction the contest is taking, and whether or not your voice has a chance. We hold contests to a standard in FundsforWriters, and there are a lot of contests we refuse to post because we have a sour feel about them. We definitely attempt to vet well, because we want to win a contest to aid a writer’s resume, make an introduction to opportunity, and possibly get a writer published in addition to earning money.
C. Hope Clark
Your daily struggles as an editor and writer
I try not to pay attention to “struggles.” I love what I do so why single out the negatives? That said, however, there are some wishes. As a writer, I wish I had more time, and I wish I had a good (and fast) critique group, but alas, I don’t. As an editor, I wish more people would read the guidelines before submitting to me. So many people see that we pay $60 per 550-650 words and shoot me anything. I try to respond to everyone, but sometimes, when the submission is so outrageously rude in its submission, I just delete. Writers do not realize that editors have busy days, and to insult them by sending something about the pandemic, romance, pets, or cooking when we want topics on income earning potential for writers, is just that. . . insulting. Editors aren’t sitting around waiting to read their emails. They are swamped. And in my case, if I do not have a good article, I have the potential to write one of my own, so I do not have to “settle” for less than excellent.
So I guess the bottom line is that time is short, both as a writer and an editor. I want to write novels and publish FundsforWriters until my last breath.
C. Hope Clark
Your upcoming works.
I have a new series coming out this fall, with a two-book release. I’m starting another Edisto mystery, which will be number eight in the series. I take a month off between books to clear the cobwebs, but otherwise, I’m usually on contract for another book while often entertaining some freelance work assignments. A writer actively seeks work. A writer actively writes.
C. Hope Clark
Your final thoughts for upcoming writers.
Study your genre or market. Join groups with the hope of finding peers and mentors. Facebook is incredible in that regard. Join and study the professional writing organizations that fit your goals. They all have superb resources.
Write every day. If you say you do not have time to write, then you’ve made something else your priority. The more you write, the more often you write, the faster your work improves, and the more professional you become. Skipping days and weeks between writing efforts only makes you have to waste valuable time trying to figure out where you left off.
If you freelance, such as copywriting, blogging, marketing, etc., make time to do something for yourself here and there creatively. If you write creative prose, don’t fuss about not making an income since it is a more difficult field. . . and allow yourself to freelance, enter contests, and find work that earns a dollar. Regardless of what you write, it helps your quality in the long run. Just keep writing. If writing is your purpose, then you find the time.
C. Hope Clark
Jerry Jenkins is an author and the website includes various writing contests to attempt and details are well-updated. Apart from the contests, it also has writing courses and information regarding the best writing tools needed for writing projects.
If you are interested to take a chance and make writing a successful journey for yourself, you must build your accomplishments step by step to reach your ultimate goal. Attempting and winning writing contests is surely a booster for your writing career and if you can find the right path in the form of the right websites for writing contests, then it’s a bonus.
Writers Digest is another popular website that has a lot of exciting writing contests that will add value to your career and build your confidence towards achieving your goals. Apart from the competitions, they also have online writing workshops to enhance your skills.
The Write Life is also a very popular website where information regarding writing contests is presented for you. It is a great website for writing contests and gives required details about all the upcoming contests. You can also check out their articles on freelancing and get the help needed to grow your writing career.
Writing contests are a great way to help you in your writing career especially if you have started or when you think your career has become stagnant. Keep writing to keep becoming better at your craft! I hope this blog post on websites for writing contests helped you in some way.
Good luck!
Below is a link that has all the types of 30-Day Challenges with their checklists:
