Speaking Of...
Speaking of contests, I can't say my track record has been great, but I did win one back in like, 1991 or so. It was a contest for new writers thrown by Byline magazine -- I'm not even sure if that magazine is still around. The prize didn't include publication, but it did include cash money. Whoo-whee!
So yeah, I won first place, I think it was $70. (And for an alcoholic college student, that was SO TOTALLY COOL!) I spent it on beer and threw a party. (Either that or I took a bunch of people to the Green Door, our local haunt, and bought tons of drinks. Judging the alcoholic nature of my youth, it's all a little fuzzy.) All I know is, I spent it all on beer, and maybe cigarettes too.
But anyway, other than the silly vagaries of youth (spending all your prize money on booze), I remember that the slip they sent with the check said something along the lines of, "This is a fine story. It will definitely get published somewhere."
Guess how long it took? 12 YEARS! I just got it published last fall. 12 YEARS! Maybe that was some sort of payback from the universe for spending that prize money on something so fleeting, but it made perfect sense at the time.
Okay, so this is not an entirely inspiring post. That was the first and last contest I won. (Unless you count the one in elementary school that included a felt ribbon.) I guess the positive part is eventually, it did get published, the sad part... 12 YEARS! Ha. I'm pretty sure that these days, given a cash prize, I'd probably pay down credit card debt or something responsible like that.
Write on,
LLB
So yeah, I won first place, I think it was $70. (And for an alcoholic college student, that was SO TOTALLY COOL!) I spent it on beer and threw a party. (Either that or I took a bunch of people to the Green Door, our local haunt, and bought tons of drinks. Judging the alcoholic nature of my youth, it's all a little fuzzy.) All I know is, I spent it all on beer, and maybe cigarettes too.
But anyway, other than the silly vagaries of youth (spending all your prize money on booze), I remember that the slip they sent with the check said something along the lines of, "This is a fine story. It will definitely get published somewhere."
Guess how long it took? 12 YEARS! I just got it published last fall. 12 YEARS! Maybe that was some sort of payback from the universe for spending that prize money on something so fleeting, but it made perfect sense at the time.
Okay, so this is not an entirely inspiring post. That was the first and last contest I won. (Unless you count the one in elementary school that included a felt ribbon.) I guess the positive part is eventually, it did get published, the sad part... 12 YEARS! Ha. I'm pretty sure that these days, given a cash prize, I'd probably pay down credit card debt or something responsible like that.
Write on,
LLB
posted by LadyLitBlitzin at 7:30 PM
2 Comments:
Hi! This is another interesting site for writers that was on today's Cool Site of the Day:
http://www.writersdreamtools.com/guest.asp
Hope you're feeling fully recovered now. Bye!
Cool! Thanks Gatochy! And thanks for asking -- I'm still kind of recovering but feel MUCH better than I did before!
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