[stylist] Entering a Writing Contest is a risk

Tue Feb 21 17:24:04 UTC 2012

Eve,
The sinister risk is submitting to predator literary agents.
Donna

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Eve Sanchez
Sent: Monday, February 20, 2012 10:49 PM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] Entering a Writing Contest is a risk

I love all of the discussion. So what I am understanding from this is that
the risk is to whether or not we may get our egos bruised. Well, I say
bruise away. Thanks all. At first I thought Robert meant something more
sinister as being a risk.  haha Eve

On Mon, Feb 20, 2012 at 12:06 PM, Lynda Lambert
<llambert at zoominternet.net>wrote:

> Yes, this is how I am as well.
> I think of it as "casting my bread on the waters, and waiting to see what
> comes back to me." A biblical idea.
>
> Also, I remember reading, I think Dale Carnegie, but not sure, said that
> how can we expect our ship to come in, when we have never sent any out in
> the first place. So, every time I go to the mailbox, I will say to my
> husband, One of my ships may be out there in the mailbox. It is absolutely
> true. If we don't put it OUT in QUANTITY we will reap nothing at all.
>
> I love sales. I have always loved high end sales and used to work for
> Neiman Marcus, in Palo Allto, California in the early 90s. Every time I
> stepped inside the threshold of the door where we employees came in, I
> would feel so excited - I was going to HELP people, and enjoy them, and
> help them get the things they needed that day. They would leave with a
> smile, and I was smiling because they were so happy, too.
>
> I feel this way when I sell a painting, or have an award given to my work,
> or get a poem published. I know the publisher or buyer is happy with what
I
> have given them and I am thrilled to have done it.
>
> In art and writing (it is all art, to me) it is important to be GENEROUS
> and to SHARE what you have to share.
>
>
> Lynda
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Donna Hill" <penatwork at epix.net>
> To: "'Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Monday, February 20, 2012 1:34 PM
>
> Subject: Re: [stylist] Entering a Writing Contest is a risk
>
>
>  Lynda,
>> I think of the ratio of work sent out to positive results -- in writing
>> and
>> in music -- as akin to sales. In sales, if you get 5% from a cold call
>> campaign or bulk mailing, you are considered to be doing extremely well.
>> For
>> me personally, I don't invest myself emotionally in any one attempt -- be
>> it
>> a contest, agents or publications. What I try to do is to work on getting
>> stuff out there. If I set a goal of contacting 100 literary agents, for
>> instance, who have a proven track record and an interest in my genre
>> (fantasy), then I first view success as working toward that goal. If
>> someone
>> rejects me, that too is a success, since a significant number of
>> rejections
>> are typical for any writer.
>> Donna
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:stylist-bounces@**nfbnet.org<stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org>]
>> On
>> Behalf Of Lynda Lambert
>> Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2012 7:08 PM
>> To: Writer's Division Mailing List
>> Subject: Re: [stylist] Entering a Writing Contest is a risk
>>
>> This is all very true, Donna.
>> In fine art, if you get in a show 50 percent of the time, you are doing
so
>> well it is almost unbelievable. And, that is after years of doing your
>> art,
>> and with your degrees, etc. It is always a risk every time you enter your
>> art in a show. ALWAYS. It never goes away. And, it is not a matter of
>> saying, "well, it is just that judges opinion." It is much more than
that.
>> All judges have a broad experience at looking at art, or reading written
>> entries. There is an overall sense of whether or not something "works."
It
>> does not matter what that particular judge's personal likes or dislikes
>> are.
>>
>> When it comes to judging, they weigh each thing for what it is not what
>> they
>>
>> personally do in their own work. Two or three judges can work on
selecting
>> the same body of entries. And, in the end there will be a lot of
agreement
>> in the things they choose because they are looking at the big picture of
>> the
>>
>> craft itself.
>>
>> If you don't put it out for this kind of critique, you really won't grow
>> as
>> an artist. It is very important to begin to put your work before your
>> peers
>> in this way.  Just like here on this list.  It is good to get feedback
for
>> all of us.
>>
>> Lynda
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Donna Hill" <penatwork at epix.net>
>> To: "'Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2012 2:48 PM
>> Subject: Re: [stylist] Entering a Writing Contest is a risk
>>
>>
>> Robert,
>>> Contests are part of putting your work out there for better or worse.
>>> Writers and all artists need thick skin, and I have met very few who
come
>>> by
>>> that naturally. Some people are crushed to the point of not sharing
their
>>> work or not even pursuing it. Others think they are thick-skinned, but
>>> they
>>> respond to rejection by essentially saying "who cares what they think"
>>> and
>>> fail to use the experience to re evaluate their skills. Anything,
whether
>>> it's sharing your writing here, entering a contest or submitting your
>>> work
>>> to a publisher, constitutes an exercise that contributes to the
>>> "normalization" of criticism. Writers will get far more rejection than
>>> acceptance, so we all need to embrace that reality and, as Atty says,
>>> "write
>>> on."
>>> Donna
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:stylist-bounces@**nfbnet.org<stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org>]
>>> On
>>> Behalf Of Robert Leslie Newman
>>> Sent: Saturday, February 18, 2012 11:41 AM
>>> To: 'Writer's Division Mailing List'
>>> Subject: [stylist] Entering a Writing Contest is a risk
>>>
>>> Eve and others on STYLIST
>>>
>>> RE: What do the rest of you writers think on this?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> The question is: "Curious Robert, why do you say entering a contest is a
>>> risk?" eve
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Robert's shortish answer: A writing contest is a competition, an
activity
>>> where we agree to put ourselves out there to be judged. Granted, the
>>> exposure isn't the same if you compare a writing contest where not many
>>> others know we are actually competing, to taking part in a massive
public
>>> sports event. But we know. And so in my mind the question more is ---
how
>>> do
>>> we help ourselves or one another to take on this risk of submitting our
>>> work
>>> to a contest, or to a publisher?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> (Yeah --- what are the gains from the process working up to the taking
of
>>> a
>>> risk, to the benefits that come with a successful outcome?)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> robert Leslie Newman
>>>
>>> Personall Website-
>>>
>>> Adjustmen To Blindness And Visual impairment
>>>
>>> http//www.thoughtprovoker.info
>>>
>>> NFB Writers' Division, president
>>>
>>>
http://www.nfb-writers-**division.net<http://www.nfb-writers-division.net/>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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