On last week's post I had a comment asking for more information and clarification on what we are looking for in our "Mormon, Mommy, or Writer" contest. To restate, we want fictional short stories under 4000 words, personal essays, or poetry relating to one or any combination of all three aspects, Mormon, Mommy, or Writer. We thought in general this would lead to submissions of an uplifting nature, maybe "Chicken Soup for the Mormon Mommy Writer's Soul" or some such. That's not to say that it couldn't be something completely different or off the wall. And just because we were thinking one way doesn't mean we would automatically exclude anything that didn't fit in that mold. We tried a tight mold last time, and found it too restrictive, so this time we were hoping to give a greater leeway to encourage more submissions. We just want to see whatever you have to submit! Send it in!
On to other matters. I'm sure you might have noticed that the past few posts by me tended to revolve around how overwhelmed I've felt with the activities that arrived with a bang in May. And while I enjoyed it all, it was very tiring. And I missed writing a lot. I sometimes have guilt when I can write and don't, choosing other activities, but this time I deliberately put it all on the back burner, knowing that I would not have time to write, and if I did write, I would feel guilty over ignoring the other things I needed to do. So now that I'm at a point where I can take a break and start writing again. My characters have waited impatiently, indeed. There have been many whispers about possibilities that I longed to write down. And coming back to it has been refreshing. Though I was so busy with other things, it felt wonderful to write and think seriously about where my story is going again. And I found that deliberately pushing it aside when it didn't want to be, I have a renewed passion to get it finished.
So though I don't recommend doing it the way I did, think about how you can recharge your batteries for a certain story. Because sometimes you just need to do it, even when you don't think so.
I'm so pumped about the contest this year. I just finished writing my story...still need to edit and I'm 10 words over the limit. I have found that picking up a book or letting myself get distracted by a different project (like this contest) has sparked my creativity again and I'm working faster and more efficient.
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