A Simple Contest with a Strong Message for All Writers: Wake Up Your Writing SpiritWritten by Shelley Wake
The Blogfest 2005 Writing Contest has only been running for two weeks and already results are overwhelming. And not because we’re getting far more entries than we expected. It’s because along with entries, we’re also getting heartfelt messages from writers all over world. I’ve run a few contests before and received quite a few entries, but I’ve never been personally emailed and thanked by so many writers. What’s difference with this contest? I think main reason is that idea actually came from writers. Even though writers at our company work in publishing, they find it a little sad that there’s so much focus on writing what can sell instead of writing what truly matters to you. They wanted a contest that would allow people to write whatever they wanted to write. From that idea came Blogfest, a contest designed to encourage all writers to get project of their dreams done. Unlike most contests, we decided not to offer publication and not to pay prize for a completed work. Instead, we decided to offer prizes based on how much writing project means to writer. This is one contest that isn’t about whether or not your work can sell or about what your writing will mean to someone else. It’s about what it means to you. To enter, we asked writers to tell us about one thing they’ve always wanted to write and to tell us what it would mean to them to write it. Now, after only two weeks, we have an inbox full of emails from people. Entries so far have included grandparents wanting to write their life story for their grandchildren, aspiring novelists, professional writers looking for chance to write something for themselves and not for money, and a young woman wanting to capture and preserve her mother’s family recipes.
| | The Art of Keeping a JournalWritten by Janice Hoffmann
Journal keeping is basically without rules. It is an uncensored invitation to cut & paste, sketch & chart, and to visualize and unravel every great and small thought. At its most basic it is a decision that your life has value.Just listing your experiences and endeavors can reveal incredible things and encourage you to work for nearly impossible, rigorous, and unseen. Recently, during a course on INQUIRY, I was asked to make a list of one hundred things I didn't know. Here a simple list became a prospect for unknown and an introduction to something new. As Henry Miller states, "Writing, like life itself, is a voyage of discovery." I have also discovered that journal keeping is a great way to zero in. For instance, if you were preparing to run a marathon and wanted to improve your performance as a runner. You might put together a book that included: ·Diet & Nutrition ·Speed & Strength ·Warm up & Cool down ·Visualization & Meditation ·Cross training ·Profiles of great athletes ·And perhaps a section reserved for ideas and challenges yet to come.
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