 Contests & Activities: February 06, 2008 Issue [#2202] |
  Contests & Activities
This week: Edited by: larryp
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The universe is full of magical things, patiently waiting for our wits to grow sharper."
~~Eden Phillpotts
It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.
~~Edward de Bono
In the dim background of our mind we know that we ought to be doing but somehow we cannot start.
~~William James
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~~Steve Jobs |
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Many contests and campfires are available at Writing.com. to provide avenues for participation in this reading, writing, and reviewing community. The primary purpose of contests and campfires is twofold – to spur creativity by offering inspiration for writing and to help give recognition for your writings within the community.
I have often heard the question, “How do I get my writings exposed?” One way to do this is by entering a contest. There are also many forums within Writing.com which offer reviews-by-request. These are ways to receive recognition for existing writings. Many contests do allow previously written poems/stories as qualifying entries.
I think the thing I like best about the contests and campfires is the chance they avail for creating new items. Many of the contests offered here supply prompts. The given prompt or prompts may be in the form of an image, a word or phrase or a combination of words and phrases, or in the case of poetry, a form. Some contests offer the opportunity to write in a specific genre. The purpose of the prompt is to offer inspiration for creativity.
As a contest host, I know that judging contests is a difficult task. In my Kansaspoet Contest, a poetry contest which I have put on hold indefinitely, there were normally as many as fifty poems entered per month. With so many entries, it is an arduous task to select 'winners.' My theory of contests has been to enter not to win, but for the opportunity of creating a new story or poem. Of course, this is due to my personality and other entrants do enter to win. Whatever your motive, contests with prompts do offer great opportunities for creativity. I believe this is part of the goal of Writing.com – to help spur the creativity of the writer and to offer means to improve writing skills. I believe contests strive to achieve these goals and offer you the writer opportunities for inspiration.
We can never have too many contests at Writing.com. Creating a contest forum is a rewarding experience and one that requires a bit of dedication on behalf of the contest host. As a 'veteran' of contest hosting, I can offer potential contest hosts a few words of advice. Be creative with your contest forum, search for ways to offer new and varied prompts. Many times in my contest, I gave others the opportunity to submit prompts for the contest. Whenever possible, seek help in reviewing for the contests, either with 'guest judges' or 'co-judges.' As stated earlier, reviewing and judging, though a rewarding experience, can be arduous and time-consuming. Always send reviews for the entries in your contests. This stimulates interest in your contest. People will keep entering for the reviews and this helps the contest to become 'successful.'
If you enter a contest, be sure to adhere to rules of the specific contest forum. This will eliminate many frustrations for the host and entrant. It is also good preparation for the 'real world' of publishing where there are many rules and deadlines.
Campfires offer further opportunities for creativity. In a campfire, you add to a story or add a new poem created to a prompt offered by the previous campfire member or by the campfire leader. Unlike contests, which have deadlines and are offered on a timely basis, campfires are an ongoing thing. When your turn comes in the campfire, you submit an entry according to the guidelines of the specific campfire. If you enter a campfire, be faithful to post your entry as soon as possible or to select “Skip My Turn” when you are unable to complete an entry in a reasonable time. This will help keep the campfire moving.
As host of a campfire, there are a few things you can do to keep the campfire 'attractive.' The “Manage Campfire” feature allows you to edit each entry. As host, you are the only one who will be able to edit entries – advise your campfire members of this and be willing to make edits for them. As host, you can go into the edit feature and create a 'user' tag to display the poets 'handle' for each entry; you can also close all open tags.
For instance, sometimes when a member posts an entry, they will fail to close a 'color-font tag' or 'center tag.' As a result, all entries following this entry will show this color and/or will be centered, unless the tag is closed. Doing this will keep the campfire attractive. In my campfire, I also set up a “Group” forum which lists all members of the campfire. This allows me to send members of the campfire emails as a group, which helps keep interest in the campfire. If you are involved as a member of a campfire, it will be very helpful to the leader if you will remember to close all open tags: center tags, color tags, font tags, bold tags, etc.
If you are one who tends to struggle for inspiration, as many do, a contest or campfire which provides prompts may be a beneficial experience. |
Contests, campfires, and other forums
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As first-time guest editor, I have no feedback or comments from past issues of the Contests and Activities Newsletter, but I do appreciate your comments and/or suggestions.
larryp |
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