  Contests & Activities
This week: Fundraising for Contests and Activities Edited by: NaNoNette  
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3. Letter from the Editor
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There was a day, last week or nearly a decade ago, that you typed "writing" into your search engine. You wanted to show off some of your poems, short stories, or maybe even get feedback for a whole novel. You found Writing.com.
On this site you found all that you had searched for: Portfolio space, helpful reviewers, encouraging groups, style and grammar lessons from peers. But nothing had prepared you for the amazing bounty of: Contests & Activities |
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In the short time I’ve been a WDC member I’ve noticed several problems with contests. One of the most frustrating is when the contest proctors don’t have enough GPs to pay the winners in a timely fashion. Some lower the prizes, or just close the contest with no awards at all. So I thought of holding a raffle to help fund contests. 80% of GPs in this my first raffle will be donated to those wonderful people who sponsor contests for us all. Ends August 29th.
Donates a portion to 'upgrade-giving' groups around here in this site. Ends October 15th.
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The Sr. Mods are all excited about their third field trip of returning to school scrunched in the backpack of a student or teacher who will be returning to a classroom, home office, or the kitchen table for the 2010/2011 school year.
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This is a fund raising raffle, so the funds raised will be distributed among the GP winner, and five groups. Ends September 10th.
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Tickets need not be bought with GPs, for they can bought here with your words and thoughts on the people you would like to send them to! Ends August 30th.
Be Detailed. Be Imaginative. Have Fun. And be awarded a merit badge of thanks for donating to the contest.
The proceeds from this contest are returned to the WDC writing community, and go toward rewards here and also other groups Dream Team interacts with. Sometimes it helps provide upgraded memberships, Merit Badges, Awardicons, or signature items. This contest requires an entry fee, which is but a tiny fraction of the prizes that await the winners.
Donations are requested to enable me to keep my poetry contests going. I spend 240,000 GP in a year for my contests and need support.Be a patron of the arts for all to see! |
Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form
Don't forget to support our sponsor!
| ASIN: B00KN0JEYA |
Product Type: Kindle Store
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Amazon's Price: $ 4.99
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Answers to my last newsletter "Motives to write for contests"
Jeff  : Great NL, Giselle! It's always challenging (and fun) to try writing something new and outside one's comfort zone. 
Thanks for the praise. Yes, I need to take my own advice. Maybe I will one day write a mystery. 
Adriana Noir  : Great advice, Giselle! It's never a bad idea to stretch those wings and expand your style. *grins* Thank you so very much for featuring my contest too! 
Ah, see. Your contest would be one that would really stretch my writing wings. Maybe even rip them out.  I'm too scared to write scary stories.
Mara ♣ McBain  : Thank you for the shout out to Erotic Tales of Pleasure and Pain!
My pleasure. 
atwhatcost: Your column today reminded me how far I've come. On 2/28/09, I wandered back to another site and found a writing prompt I decided to join in. That was a life-changing moment. One that had me later join WDC, and changed me from a blogger to a short story writer, and now? Now, I'm working on my first novel. One tiny prompt turned me into a serious writer, even if I didn't see it happening at that time.
That is totally amazing! Keep it up. When your book is on the shelves I will be able to say: "I knew them back when..."
pitbull : As a new WDC member, I'm still learning my way around the site, which includes the contest arena as well. I look at the results from previous contests to determine whether the winners make sense, which reflects on the caliber of the judging. As for the awards, I would personally rather receive gift points, although it is kinda cool to have a blue ribbon hanging beside a piece. Why can't we have both? Why do the ribbons have to have ANY financial value assigned to them in the first place? A 25K ribbon has no actual value, other than visually, right?
I HATE contests that end and are STILL UNJUDGED after the NEXT contest has also ended one month later! I'm in one of these LIMBO situations now and am reluctant to inquire because I don't want to influence the sponsor one way or the other. It's very frustrating. My entry piece is indefinitely tied up. I halfway wonder if the contest's sponsor has forgotten altogether!
So many questions ... I like it!
 If you would prefer to receive gift points, you will find most contest hosts to be happy to oblige. I have sent out GPs instead of ribbons before. Just for the last round of one of the contests I run, I gave out a merit badge, a ribbon, and a "cash" prize of 10k points. A great daily contest where you can win gift points is "The Writer's Cramp"
The ribbons have values because it helps in contests to differentiate between the different spots. I think it's neat to see that another member found an item worth an amount large enough to decorate it with a higher priced ribbon or even a trophy.
Unjudged contests ... maybe I shouldn't say anything about that. OK, there are ways to approach a contest host and ways not to do it. Sending a polite email, asking what's going on, and asking if you can edit your story since the contest has been over for a while is perfectly fine. If you don't get an answer at all, it may be the member isn't around a whole lot and you can safely assume that your story is "free" for you to edit.
 Do not post in the contest forum with snide remarks or go trashing the host among your friends. Not only does this pretty much guarantee the host will not want to award your story even if it is worth of the top spot, you may find that the host disqualifies you for it.
sarahreed: Since I'm trying to focus on revising my novel, I only write for contests lately because I make the "mistake" of looking at a contest and getting inspired by the prompt. The idea starts burning a hole in my head until I let it out. So my reason lately is to keep my sanity. lol.
I know those "burning a hole in my head" stories. I wish there were more prompts for the stories that burn holes in my head. |
| ASIN: B000FC0SIM |
Product Type: Kindle Store
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Amazon's Price: $ 12.99
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Contests & Activities: August 25, 2010 Issue [#3921]
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