Monday, February 17, 2014

High School Writing Contest with Opportunity for Feedback!

*sigh* Life is angry making at the moment. My family is on day 5 of no hot water and the home warranty company could care less. In order NOT to grumble too much about that, I'm going to focus on something I enjoy doing and see a way to improve on my participation in it.

Here's one more plug for the...

Imagination Begins With You High School Short Story Contest

I've been a judge for this national short story writing conference for a couple of years and wanted to make sure you knew about this opportunity. The deadline is March 15th to enter, the winner gets $250 and their high school library gets $50! You can get the submission guidelines at http://coolimagination.com/

Although I can't help with the writing, after the judging is over I will gladly look at your story with you or your high schooler and tell them where I would have placed it in the hundreds of stories I get to read. We can then talk through email or Skype about their writing and discuss ways to make it stronger.

Why would I do this?

Because last year I read tons of really great stories. These teen authors are way ahead of the game and I felt bad that if they didn't win they would have no idea how good their story might have been. You see, I think I'm the only judge drawn to the science fiction side of things, and sadly I get out voted. That doesn't mean the story wasn't amazing, it's just for a different audience.

ME!

So I want to give encouragement to those who just wonder, "Why didn't I win? Was my story that bad?"

9 comments:

  1. Five days without hot water? How on earth are you guys bathing? Boiling water on the stove for a bath? I'm sorry!

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    1. Yep, boiling water and going to the gym for showers. The funny thing is not having hot water isn't what bothers me the most. It's the lazy, uncaring nature of every person we've talked to at the warranty place. I actually lived for 4 years as a teen without running water, so this is nothing. I do have cold water and a toilet that flushes. It's easy to heat water when you don't have to drive somewhere to get it. :)

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  2. Wow. I'm so sorry. You'd think a company that's supposed to help with these things would care about getting the problem fixed. (One of the reasons the cable company which shall never be named is no longer in the house.)

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  3. Yikes! I hope your hot water situation clears up soon. That's awful.

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  4. @Liz, sadly they've already got my money, so why should they bother? You'd think the fact that my renewal is coming up would sway them, but no. Well, they'll be moving into the "shall not be named" for my household.

    @Michael, I hope it clears up too. Today would be a great day for that. :)

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  5. People who provide services can be so callous sometimes, it's sad. Best of luck to the contest entrants young people need to know how good their writing is to encourage them to continue.

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    1. I agree that young people need encouragement. Even a simple 1-5 scale would be nice for them to get an idea of how their writing skills are progressing.

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  6. You are such a nice person. I admire your ability to keep taking on things. I've given up on taking new endeavors. LOL. #swamped.

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    1. My hubby was talking to me about this last night. I need to stop taking things on as well, but the only area that can give is the one area I WANT to be doing. Priorities suck sometimes. LOL

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