Why enter a writing contest?

Our writing contest is turning out to be more fun than we ever imagined. In addition, our respect for writers, at every stage of creativity, has grown immensely--since the inception of our flash fiction contest.

The variety of stories that are inspired by the same few words has amazed us. Writers, you are showing great imaginations, gifts of expressions and courage to hit that SEND button. We are impressed.

We read and laugh, cry and/or drop our jaws. What power words have, whether we are reading or writing, and that includes flash fiction.

Contest prompts can make us step outside of our comfort zones, dealing with themes that we may not be familiar with, some subjects that we never would have considered, on our own, and those stretching exercises help us grow as writers.

Another thing, entering contests demonstrates that we write for the sheer joy of writing! Let's face it, no one is going to make a living from entering writing contests. Nevertheless, a lot of us love the challenge of seeing what we can do with words wrapped around another person’s idea, word count or other guidelines.

Spontaneity is a part of creativity. Writing contests, especially like ours, encourages impulsiveness and, perhaps, can give a needed break from what we're doing. Contests engender a different kind of adrenaline rush from our usual routine and can spark some excellent writing when we return to our more serious projects.

These are just some of the motivations that I can think of, for entering a contest. Who knows, maybe we’ll have a contest prompt that suggests a story about why we would want to enter a contest. We are certainly open to ideas from you, the most important people with opinions—our readers.

Take care,

Beryl

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