Women On Writing Contest

Today I entered the Women On Writing Flash Fiction contest. The Women On Writing site hosts a quarterly short story contest that seems like a great opportunity, and also seems fun, so I was excited to officially sign up for the winter contest today. I haven't sent in my actual story yet, I have until February 28 to do that, but I sent in my registration.

I just wrote the story I intend to submit yesterday, when I was stressed out after a lousy week, and felt like writing because it helps me relax. I know I need to review it and do some editing, but overall I'm happy with it. The contest stories can't be more than 750 words, and my story has 744, so I just came in under the wire.

I got the idea for my story using The Writer's Toolbox by Jamie Cat Callen. I ordered this from Amazon nearly a year ago as I thought it looked like a fun kit, but after I opened the box, I promptly put it in a drawer and didn't give it another thought.

But yesterday morning when I felt like writing, something made me think of that Toolbox, so I dug it out and started playing around with it. One thing that caught my eye was a group of  little sticks with "first sentences" on them. You choose a stick, and then use the sentence on that stick to start a story.

I browsed through the sticks, and came upon this sentence:

"I put tulips under all the pillows, and then I set fire to the house."

Isn't that a great sentence? I thought it was so intriguing, and so full of possibilities. I like thrillers and suspense stories, and this sentence was so dark and chilling, it caught my attention right away.

I sat down with my laptop and wrote out a story in a few hours. I changed the sentence to fit my story and didn't use the same wording, but the idea behind the story came right from this little sentence stick.

It was a lot of fun to write this, and I'm excited about the opportunity to enter the story into the contest. I'm so glad I decided to get my Toolbox out yesterday, as I'm anxious to go through the rest of the sticks, and also through the other tools, and see what kinds of ideas they generate.

I don't know why it took me almost a year, but I'm glad I finally put the Toolbox to good use. 

Hope everyone had a Happy Valentine's Day! :)

Interesting sites

I came upon a site this week called Wow! Women On Writing, and it seems like a great resource. They host a quarterly writing contest for short stories or flash fiction, and I think I am going to sign up for their Winter contest. The deadline to enter is February 28th so I've got some time to try and write something, and I noticed this contest is an "open prompt," so the topic can be about anything I choose. If I don't get a story done in time for this deadline, I will definitely try their Spring contest. I enjoyed participating in the WritersWeekly contest so much that I am anxious to try others.

In addition to the contests, Wow! just seems like a helpful site in general, with lots of articles, a blog, and other resources for writers. I'm definitely bookmarking it and looking forward to exploring it in more detail.

I also started an account at Goodreads this week and am anxious to participate more there. I work as a librarian so I'd heard of sites like Goodreads and LibraryThing before, and had even created accounts, but that was as far as it went, I never participated. I kept seeing Goodreads coming up on authors' blogs though, so I decided to check it out again.

I've always loved to read and used to read constantly, but in recent years I have gotten away from that somewhat. Not for any specific reason, mostly just because of time limits, but I hope this site will inspire me to get back into the habit of reading.

I only played with the site a bit, but I can see how it could become addicting. I started entering in some books I've read and liked, but my biggest problem is I have a terrible time remembering what I've read. Many times I've picked up a book and started reading it, only to find it seems very familiar. After a few pages, I realize I already know the story and the ending, as I've read the book before! Regardless, it's fun to go through and pick out some of my favorite authors and books, and get recommendations for others.

I also noticed the site has groups for writers to share progress and support each other, so I'm dipping my toe in those waters. I'm an introvert by nature and sharing my work is not easy for me, but I'm working on changing that as I know it only hinders my goals.

At any rate, I'm continually amazed at how many resources and sites are out there for writers. At times it almost feels overwhelming. But I look forward to continuing to explore and learn, and see what else is out there. And, I'm happy I made my three posts a week goal for the S.H.I.N.E Online challenge!

Short story contests and Blogging challenges

Over the weekend I participated in the 24 hour short story contest at WritersWeekly.com. I received the prompt at 1:00 Eastern time on Saturday, and had to have the story e-mailed to the editor by 1:00 on Sunday.

I was watching an Ohio State basketball game (Go Bucks!!) that started at noon on Saturday, and it was fun to keep checking the clock and waiting for 1:00 to get here, as I was really anxious to see the prompt. It did arrive in my e-mail at 1:00 on the dot, and I was almost nervous opening it. I'm not sure why I was nervous, as the worst that could happen was I wouldn't be able to think of anything to write, but since I've never done anything like this before I felt a bit on edge.

I was excited as soon as I read the e-mail though, as I thought it was a really interesting prompt for a story. The prompt was about a pajama-clad woman crying and trudging through deep snow, and hearing a train whistle. The story had to touch on this topic in some way, and couldn't be more than 875 words.

I finished watching the basketball game and started thinking of ideas, then sat down with my laptop to write. The prompt seemed very dark to me, and I wanted to write a dark tale to go along with it. It was fun to try and imagine who this woman was and why she was out in the snow wearing only pajamas, and to determine the significance of the train whistle.

For better or worse, I finished the story later that night and e-mailed it back to the editor on Sunday morning. I was happy with my finished product, and regardless of whether I win anything, it was a great experience to participate in the contest. I'm looking forward to signing up for the next contest in the spring.

On a different note, I also signed up for a blogging challenge last Friday. I learned of the 2011 S.H.I.N.E Blogging Challenge at the WritingSpirit blog, and was excited to sign up for it. I was a bit late as the challenge started on New Year's Day, but I figured I could still participate for the remainder of the challenge's 111 day time period.

One fun thing about this challenge to me is participants are encouraged to use the #SHINEonline hashtag on Twitter, so I thought this could be a great way to interact with other bloggers. I'm still getting acclimated to Twitter, so this seemed like a great opportunity to get more comfortable with it.

I signed up for 3 blog posts a week with the challenge, so I'm looking forward to working towards that, starting with this week. Of course, I didn't do too well with NaBloPoMo, but 3 posts a week seems a lot more manageable.

Anyway, it was a great weekend for writing, (and for my sports teams!) and I'm looking forward to continuing that momentum through the week ahead.

Short story contests

I just entered a 24-hour short story contest at WritersWeekly.com. I'd never heard of the idea before, but apparently the editor sends a topic on a designated day, in this case January 22nd, and writers then must submit a story on that topic within 24 hours. You aren't told the topic or word length beforehand, so it's all a surprise. I thought it sounded like a lot of fun, and it will be a great challenge to try something totally new. I'm very curious to get the topic and see how it goes. Of course, I wouldn't be surprised if I get the topic and immediately draw a blank, but fingers crossed that won't be the case.

I've been amazed at the number of contests I've come across, I had no idea there were so many. This is the first one I've entered, but I'm looking forward to exploring the contests and entering many of them. It seems like a great way to get more experience and more writing under my belt. If nothing else, the stories will be fun to try.

I have to say this NaBloPoMo posting is harder than I thought it would be, and it's only the 5th of the month! But it's great practice, which is exactly what I wanted. I think I am going to try some of the prompts on the site, and see what I can come up with from there.