Calling writers...
- Thread starter Hewex
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GetBetterer
Hall of Fame
Failing English was unpossible for me.
albino smurf
Professional
You going to post it or are you just announcing to the world that you are writing for a contest?
E
eliza
Guest
OK, are you having a writer's block and want us to supply ideas?
Hewex
Semi-Pro
LOL, no...I was curious if anyone else wrote fiction. Writing for a contest is no big deal, especially when I never win.
hollywood9826
Hall of Fame
I think 80% of this boards writes some type of fiction everyday. I now I do.
Nuke
Hall of Fame
I have sold something like 40 short stories to paying markets.
Most writing (and poetry) contests are crap. If you have to pay to enter the contest, walk away. Contests that collect entry fees exist to make money for the person running the contest, not the writers. The writers magazines are full of them in their back pages, and they're nearly all worthless. Look for contests like the "Writers of the Future" contest that don't charge an entry fee, but do give good prizes and publication in some medium that readers might actually buy.
You are usually much better off submitting your story to a paying market (a magazine or book anthology) where the only cost to you is postage. Buy a copy of the annual Writer's Market or the Novel and Short Story Writer's Market, and find suitable places to send your work.
Remember, if it's legit, they pay the writer; the writer does not pay them.
I started writing in 1998. I'm currently editing my third novel, though hastily add that none are published.
I entered one short story competition a few years ago. It was called 'End of Story': there were 6 half-written stories contributed by well-known (or at least reasonably well-known) authors, and the goal was to pick one of them and write the end. I chose the one by Alexei Sayle, who is a comedian, actor and author in the UK. The top 5 entries for each story were published on the internet, and the winners published in a book.
That competition was a strong lesson in subjectivity. I was pleased with my entry, and was disappointed when I read the 5 short-listed in my category because they were quite weak. One in particular I thought was pretty awful. But the judges liked them, and that's the bottom line. I haven't had the inclination to enter another competition since. It's difficult to write for someone else when you don't know what it is they want. Instead I write for my own enjoyment. If that ever leads to publication then I'll be delighted; if not, I can live with the fact that everyone else might find my work dire.
I entered one short story competition a few years ago. It was called 'End of Story': there were 6 half-written stories contributed by well-known (or at least reasonably well-known) authors, and the goal was to pick one of them and write the end. I chose the one by Alexei Sayle, who is a comedian, actor and author in the UK. The top 5 entries for each story were published on the internet, and the winners published in a book.
That competition was a strong lesson in subjectivity. I was pleased with my entry, and was disappointed when I read the 5 short-listed in my category because they were quite weak. One in particular I thought was pretty awful. But the judges liked them, and that's the bottom line. I haven't had the inclination to enter another competition since. It's difficult to write for someone else when you don't know what it is they want. Instead I write for my own enjoyment. If that ever leads to publication then I'll be delighted; if not, I can live with the fact that everyone else might find my work dire.
How much money did you make?
Manus Domini
Hall of Fame
<--is one of the best writers in his English class
That seems to be consistent with what I thought. Very difficult to make money unless you are very successful.
Nuke
Hall of Fame
Nobody can make a living writing short stories. The money is in novels, and even then, you're looking at maybe $10,000 for a first novel, which isn't really very much if you take a year to write it. And selling a first novel is not an easy task.
CoachingMastery
Professional
Two tennis books, (Tennis Mastery #2 on TennisWareHouse best seller list, and Coaching Mastery #4 on the TW best seller list.)
Two novels, (co-authored), Hidden Mickey 1: Sometimes Dead Men DO Tell Tales, & Hidden Mickey 2: It all Started... Both books are adult level, (age appropriate for 12 and up) mysteries about Walt Disney's lost diary and of a treasure he left behind before he died in 1966...They are historical fiction like National Treasure. (Both books are on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and I-pad)
Both novels are currently best sellers at the Disneyland Resort and on line at Barnes and Noble and Amazon.
I have published close to 100 articles for various tennis magazines, (domestic and abroad), and, as Senior Editor for TennisOne, I have published about 150 articles for that web site over the past ten years or so.
Writing is not only an art form, it requires jumping through a lot of hoops, knowing what hoops to jump through, and luck. (But, I believe you create your own luck!)
And after 35 years of teaching tennis, I have retired from that to write full time. (Hidden Mickey 3 & 4 will be out this summer!)
Two novels, (co-authored), Hidden Mickey 1: Sometimes Dead Men DO Tell Tales, & Hidden Mickey 2: It all Started... Both books are adult level, (age appropriate for 12 and up) mysteries about Walt Disney's lost diary and of a treasure he left behind before he died in 1966...They are historical fiction like National Treasure. (Both books are on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and I-pad)
Both novels are currently best sellers at the Disneyland Resort and on line at Barnes and Noble and Amazon.
I have published close to 100 articles for various tennis magazines, (domestic and abroad), and, as Senior Editor for TennisOne, I have published about 150 articles for that web site over the past ten years or so.
Writing is not only an art form, it requires jumping through a lot of hoops, knowing what hoops to jump through, and luck. (But, I believe you create your own luck!)
And after 35 years of teaching tennis, I have retired from that to write full time. (Hidden Mickey 3 & 4 will be out this summer!)
E
eliza
Guest
OK, I need to show off, bad day.
I am published, but what I wrote are crude articles on legal topics, plus a couple on the DIA and Opera House.
Nothing, really. I do not stand a chance that somebody, centuries from now, stumbling over an old file with my name, can think "once upon a time, this woman lived, and wrote......................"
I am published, but what I wrote are crude articles on legal topics, plus a couple on the DIA and Opera House.
Nothing, really. I do not stand a chance that somebody, centuries from now, stumbling over an old file with my name, can think "once upon a time, this woman lived, and wrote......................"
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eliza
Guest
35 yrs teaching tennis? What a wonderful life!!!!!
CoachingMastery
Professional
I had some very interesting years! The reward, (as I wrote about in Coaching Mastery), is the number of players who years later write me to share how much they learned from me during the years I worked with them.
Tennis Pros have a high level of connection with their students...we work with many players for many years; sometimes we see these students more than they see their own parents!
Of course, learning how players develop (working with about 3500 players over those years), has shown me how best to approach teaching and communicating. (I guess which explains why my two tennis books are doing so well!)
But, yes, it has been a great ride.
E
eliza
Guest
Well, you got another reader.
I used to love audiences, I spoke before more than 2,000 for Biotech, then in Detroit for the Automotive industry, universities etc. But unlike you I grew to hate people, and I have now a short fuse. But for women is all another story.
Time to play tennis.
E
eliza
Guest
Well, you got another reader.
I used to love audiences, I spoke before more than 2,000 for Biotech, then in Detroit for the Automotive industry, universities etc. But unlike you I grew to hate people, and I have now a short fuse. But for women is all another story.
Time to play tennis.
E
eliza
Guest
Well, you got another reader.
I used to love audiences, I spoke before more than 2,000 about Biotech, then in Detroit for the Automotive industry, universities etc. But unlike you I grew to hate people, and I have now a short fuse. But for women is all another story.
Time to play tennis.
E
eliza
Guest
sorry for the multiple entries, I must have pushed enter too many times.......
After 40, you realize that a cell phone keyboard is no longer for you........
After 40, you realize that a cell phone keyboard is no longer for you........
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CoachingMastery
Professional
I'm sorry to hear you have developed a dislike of people. Having worked at Disneyland (way back in the 1970's and 80's!) I learned a lot about how people act and how to deal with them. I owe a lot of my ability to teach and lecture, (I too speak at a lot of workshops...both for tennis and for writing and authorship keynote speaking), something I enjoy a great deal.
I also played in a number of night club bands (I'm a bass player) and that was a different means to be in front of large groups.
But now I mostly do book signings. Obviously, a rewarding thing too. People who have read our books come back and tell us how much they love them...that kind of thing.
I'll bet you have some terrific stories about your days up on the stage!
Hope you are enjoying your tennis, now!!!
Best wishes!
