Improving
as a writer is an ongoing process. There’s never a time when the learning
stops. There’s a lot of truth in the saying, the more you write, the better you
become. Providing you keep honing the craft. None of us has achieved perfection
– otherwise editors would be out of a job! – so we must persist in writing
regularly, often and be critical in our self-editing phase.
That’s
all very well if the work runs smoothly and comes to an end. What if you’re stuck
for ideas? Or can’t move forward on a particular piece?
One
way to recharge the writing machine in you is to leave the current problematic
work and try something fresh. An ideal choice is a competition; particularly if
the competition has a theme. Competitions have deadlines: that also proves helpful
to the writing soul – instilling in us discipline to finish to a deadline.
Throughout
the year there are plenty of competitions for writers of short fiction, poetry,
and even novels. Some have modest entry fees (about £5 or equivalent), while others are free to enter. Useful resources for being notified about these are the
magazines Writers’ Forum and Writing Magazine (revamped to now
contain a Writers’ News section).
In
addition there are a good number of online sites that alert you.
Here’s
a very comprehensive site, definitely worth subscribing to:
Good
luck with your writing – and your competition entries!
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