1f6e

One of the ways many writers can successfully add credentials to their portfolio if to participate in a variety of literary contests. This type of contest encourages writers to put their best foot forward in both creativity and attention to detail.

It is true that there are some contests that provide a cash award for their top finishers, but there are also publishing scams that will accept your work regardless of quality. When you receive notice that your work has been accepted for publication it can be a real boost, however, a quick look at many writer’s websites can help you define the contests that are essentially vanity publishers willing to print just about anything if they believe you will purchase copies of the book for friends and family.

Many cash award writing contests cover the cost of prize awards by charging an entry fee. This factor often discourages many writers who may not feel confident enough in their writing to pay a fee to submit. This allows those who do enter a better chance at placing.

There are also writing contests that present the opportunity to have their work published online, in a magazine or in an anthology. As a rule this type of contest does not require a purchase of the publication the work will appear in nor will they assume full rights of your work. The best writing contests only require a one time non-exclusive print right. This is important because it allows you the opportunity to sell or place the work in other venues.

Beware of forfeiting full (exclusive) rights in any writing contest. When this right is given the ownership of the work is no longer yours. You will have no right to use the material in any form without permission from the publisher. It is possible to pay to enter a contest, forfeit the rights to your work and allow a publisher to gain long-term financial benefit from your work.

Quality writing contests have the bonus feature of allowing you to fine tune your skills by reading the work of others. Reading can make a good writer even better. If you pay attention you can learn what works and what doesn’t while using writing contests as a means of gaining valuable insight into unique styles and structure.

On a positive note, there have been numerous incidents in which individuals who entered a submission for a writing contest were able to use that same work for publishing in other book anthologies and magazines. The key is making sure to participate in writing contests that preserve your right to control the reuse of the piece.

Popularity: 76% [?]

1fa5

Grief is not always sad and depressing, but can be inspiring and encouraging. Everyone deals with grief differently. Writing is an avenue through which healing begins. Something inside is unleashed, as a creative literary embryo develops and is born. This newborn combines tear jerking memories and a dash of optimism to turn melancholy into joy and productivity.

After tragic events like 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, Hiroshima, The Tsunami of 2004, The Space Shuttle Challenger Explosion of 1986 and The Vietnam War, many novels and documentaries were born. Despite these single disasters, so many eclectic, emotionally charged voices were heard through the written word.

Your “best seller” doesn’t have to be a novel, but can be an essay, article, poem or a piece of writing so compelling, that others are sold by your sheer poetics. Some of the positive attributes that therapeutic writing invokes, but are not limited to, includes:

1. Creating documented history with frequent and better journaling

2. Unleashing your creative juices by writing personal unedited emotions

3. Your story can help others get through their grief period.

4. Writing will make you sit down and slow down

5. Helping you realize the importance of spending quality time with those you love

6. Never take a person or situation for granted, including you.

7. Bringing closure to a grief stricken circumstance

Prior to my mother’s death, the joy of personal, developmental writing took a back seat to the writing projects for my career. After my mother was buried and everyone returned home, I dove back into my job thinking that staying busy was the best remedy for me. How very wrong I was. As I began journaling about the pain of loosing my mother, the quality and quantity of my writing increased. You have the ability to turn an apparently debilitating situation around, after experiencing some form of loss and grief, such as:

? A divorce or major breakup of a relationship

? Loosing someone you love through death, disappearance or abandonment

? Finding out that you or someone very close to you has been diagnosed with a terminal illness

? Surviving a natural disaster or an unexpected occurrence

? Loosing a job after years of dedicated work

Journaling or simply picking up a notebook and pen, then candidly begin writing down your struggles, memories, anger, joys, the pain of your loss, or any epiphany, can evoke the healing process. Writing out your emotionally charged grief, may not be shared respectfully by many, but there will be a considerable amount of your reading audience who will applaud your willingness to share something so personal that probably inspired them to do the same.

Although writing can possibly bring closure to a grief stricken situation, this doesn’t mean that you will forget. The words won’t let you. As the final chapter of a novel brings closure to the book, you certainly won’t forget the story. Once you close the book and put it on the shelf with other classics, you move on to the next book with a new set of chapters yet to be lived. Where there is no closure, the wound remains open. This metaphor compares to the scenario of the last few pages of a novel being ripped out, leaving you to wonder what the end would be.

Read some classical literary compositions and notice how they were written with life experiencing emotion, good and bad, drawing you into the story. Whether the author’s sentiment was personal or one they lived through someone else, you travel with them to a time and place where the journey meanders through an unpredictable path.

If you’re writing fiction, changing real character names to protect the innocent, relocating a venue or placing the time in another era, can still allow reality and emotion to permeate through your pages. Who knows where therapeutic writing can take you? So many wonderful and positive projects, as well as healing, can bloom from just one grieving experience.

Popularity: 57% [?]