What's the (short) story?
Mr Maht of The Moon Topples, artist, writer and keeper of cats (my favourite ever blogger description) is running the fabulous GBA(s)FC: Great Big Awesome (short) Fiction Competition.
Word limit: 500.
Subject: Growth.
You can read the full details here, and there are already two great entries up there!
I am a coward. I want to write something but ... but ... but. Yes. Paralysed by that internal chatter that informs me that it will be shit / boring / rubbish / cliched / nonsensical. Or, more likely shit, boring, rubbish, cliched nonsense.
I am trying to battle the voice. Reasoning with it. It won't be good enough it says. Good enough for what? I wonder. Although there are prizes (amazon vouchers! yay!) I'm not really the competitive type. And given that the stories are submitted semi-anonymously, if it's really crap I don't even have to own it!
Ho hum.
Courage, do not desert me now.
Word limit: 500.
Subject: Growth.
You can read the full details here, and there are already two great entries up there!
I am a coward. I want to write something but ... but ... but. Yes. Paralysed by that internal chatter that informs me that it will be shit / boring / rubbish / cliched / nonsensical. Or, more likely shit, boring, rubbish, cliched nonsense.
I am trying to battle the voice. Reasoning with it. It won't be good enough it says. Good enough for what? I wonder. Although there are prizes (amazon vouchers! yay!) I'm not really the competitive type. And given that the stories are submitted semi-anonymously, if it's really crap I don't even have to own it!
Ho hum.
Courage, do not desert me now.
posted by Stray at 10:03 AM
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8 Comments:
Come on, if I can admit my utter hopelessness at anything even vaguely technical,then a little 500 anonymous words should be a doddle. Go for it, and think how good you will feel when you post it. Nothing ventured, nothing gained[and I'm not talking prizes].
No No Stray, you're right, it would be crap. Literary competitions aren't for the likes of humble folk like us.
Caroline or Ms Mmmmmmm would float off with the prizes and we'd just have a self-punishing critical voice going I told you so, but would you listen. Do like me, play it safe. Don't enter so you can't lose.
Of course, if I was forbidden to enter, I naturally find every possible way of sneaking a story in.
Perhaps we should set up a competition that people who don't win competitions aren't allowed to enter, so that it goads them into actually entering.
This isn't making sense, is it xx
Stray: I'd be very interested to read an entry of yours for this contest (which is not really about prizes but about encouraging people to write [and sheepish is wise]). If nothing else, I think you should write an entry whether you submit it or not, as the only reasons you seem to have for not doing it are that it is scary.
Ignore the possibility of prizes and think of it as a writing festival rather than a competition. Does it sound more fun to you that way?
And thanks for the compliment about my profile copy. Not sure how many people have ever even read that besides you.
Böbø: You are forbidden from entering my contest. You hear me? Under no circumstances are you to write an entry for my competition and send it to the address provided in the contest rules. I also forbid you from mentioning the contest on your blog and encouraging people to give it a whirl.
Oh, and I just failed to place in a writing contest myself, so let me know when you get your unwinners competition together.
Hey Mahty, you just stole my line. I was about to forbid BoBo from entering. And Stray darling, you are clearly an accomplished risk taker. See you over at Mr Moon's :)
But you write so well and so naturally. Why don't you try and write something and see how it turns out?
Would you regret it more by doing it or by not doing it?
I am not entering for all the reasons you state here lovely Stray. Please don't tell Maht though. Please.
I think that you should be brave. Do it. Do it. Do it. And Bobo is just silly. Ignore him.
Courage is a funny thing. It's a bit like jelly.
xxxx
Wasn't it Eleanor Roosevelt who said to do something every day that scares you?
:)
sheepish - you've got me good there. Every day I encourage people to do technical things that give them the shivers, and my mantra for them is "no matter how badly you get it wrong, you can't do any damage".
Bobo - that encapsulates it precisely. It's not for the likes of me. It's for those writery types. Of which I am not one. Despite substantial evidence in terms of published articles. But those are technical. I can hide behind the fact that it is not my story, just journalism. It's not the writing bit, it's the making-up-a-story bit. What if I'm really boring?
I liked your forbidding trick. Unfortunately my father read too many child psychology tomes when I was small and thus I have become immune to reverse psychology. Feel free to use it on yourself though ;)
Lovely Maht, as much as I am a book junkie, I would only waste the vouchers on something like Advanced Actionscript 3 with UML and Design Patterns. I am a terrible devourer of text books, which I feel would go against the spirit of a creative writing comp!
I love that you're putting your energy into this. And yes, festival is less scary than competition - as if it's ok to enter even if you know you're not fit to headline. Still scary though. I used to be in a band, and would gag on my own vomit just before a big guitar solo (I play guitar). I have lived a bizarrely public life considering I am really quite horrible shy and self-conscious!
Ms M - clever. Risk taking, yes. Can I not do a parachute jump instead? It feels less scary.
R R - you are spot on. I would have more regret if I let it slip by. Much more.
Cas - has nobody told you that anyone who wins can potentially use their vouchers to buy your real life book which amazon are actually selling? I can't believe you're the only one who doesn't know!
Jelly. Yes. And I've never really liked jelly. It's not quite sure what to be, and I like things to be something or not something, not kinda inbetween.
Clare - I'm not sure if it was her, or if it was Ant and Dec, but it's a good philosophy.
Plus, it's a 3 day weekend here. And I am supposed to be taking it easy. No excuse not to really.
*sharpens pencil*
Thank you all :)
Sx
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