More Writing Goals
I left my post yesterday feeling unfinished, even though I said a lot. The lack of concrete-ness in my goals still bothered me. I left off with a few plans for February: I want to read one book on writing, continue writing as frequently as possible but without the daily pressure, and keep seeking additional resources to help me learn and grow.
Today I dove into that last one. I didn’t know what I was looking for, but I found it nonetheless. A few days ago in a Facebook group for creative writers in my city, someone posted that their little local arts publication was seeking submissions. The call was open-ended, with a small word count, and I thought, Huh, that would be neat. So I submitted one of my earlier short stories from January titled “Simple Joys Gelateria”. My reward was an instant hit of dopamine. Wow! I just submitted to a magazine! What a cool thing.
That got my wheels turning. I started searching. Turns out, there are thousands of writing competitions, challenges, and zines out there. Some have prizes like “winners will be featured in our publication” or “winners will get a free year subscription” but others have cash prizes. Some cash prizes are significant. I went down a rabbit hole. I realized a lot of these contests have entry fees - which makes sense. Judges getting paid is nice, and the cash prizes have to come from somewhere. But there are plenty of challenges that don’t require an entry fee, so it was an easy call for me to eliminate ones that weren’t free. I also eliminated most competitions that were looking for poetry, non-fiction, or YA. I love all those things, but they just don’t spark my creative drive the way adult fiction does. And finally, I didn’t go for any submissions with cash prizes less than $100. If I swing for the fences, I’ll feel like I have some skin in the game. In the end, my spreadsheet had almost 20 writing competitions I could enter this year. (And that’s after only one day of searching.)
In addition to my February goals above, my new 2022 goal is to submit to at least 12 free writing contests with cash prizes this year. That equates to one a month, but if I submit three in May and none in December, that’s fine. Competitions all have different deadlines and I’m not going to keep myself beholden to a one a month schedule if I don’t jibe with any that have deadlines in September. I may also submit to others along the way that don’t meet my criteria above, but they won’t count toward my 12 for the year.
SMART goal: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound. Nailed it!
The writing contests will help me get experience with meeting deadlines, following specific guidelines, and getting used to the idea of other people reading my writing with a critical lens. It’ll also give me motivation, which is key. Perhaps most important of all, it will get me used to rejection. Rejection is the defining factor of being a new writer. If I can build up my rejection calluses now, hopefully my soul won’t get crushed when my first book manuscript gets rejected by agents, editors, and the big publishing houses. It’s part of the process. It happens to everyone.
Plus, there’s the possibility that I’ll get constructive criticism, exposure, or maybe even prize money. I don’t expect any of those things, but…*fingers crossed*
As I attempt to follow through with my resolution, I am feeling better about having a SMART goal as an outline. I’ll keep posting updates on here to keep myself accountable and to discuss any contests I enter in the coming months!
