Writing To A Theme in Contests

Many writing contests have a theme. It might be a quote, a phrase, or even one word which the entrant is  to consider in their entry. Sometimes, it's rather nice to have the path you're going to walk already selected for you, since we often find the beginning the most difficult steps. It also limits the writer but only in a small way.

Hope Clark runs an annual themed contest connected with her marketing newsletters. This year the theme is one word--diligence. The word allows you to go in myriad directions but which one will come up a winner? I've been mulling it over for weeks now and I haven't come up with an idea yet. There's still time left.

Our state authors group has an annual contest which offers several categories a writer can enter. There is an overall theme each year which is a category all its own. It offers the greatest amount of prize money. The theme generally has something to do with writing but occasionally it reflects our state heritage. Kansas has a rich history in the pioneer movement in the nineteenth century.

One year, the theme was"Pen Life As Art" and I thought and thought about it while I did household tasks, while I waited in line at the checkout counter and when TV was so boring I couldn't concentrate on it. I had a choice of entering either poetry or prose for this theme, or both, as they were separate categories.
I ended up entering a poem and was pleased when it won third place. The poem is below, so you can judge for yourself if I wrote to the theme.

Artists All

Painting with oils,
watercolors brushed across canvas,
clay molded by loving hands,
marble chiseled to exquisite form

Artists ply their trade,
by the golden light of day
and velvet depths of night,
with passion and verve.

One more artist joins the rank.
The writer brushes words over paper,
molds a story bit by glittering bit,
chisels a novel to survive the ages.

The writer gathers life’s stories
from country roads to city streets,
written from the depths of a heart
bursting with intensity and rapture.

Artists all, masters of creation,
be they painters, sculptors or writers,
leaving footprints on canvas, marble and paper-- heartfelt tributes embraced by mankind.



Encouraged by placing, I entered a lengthy poem about the wild west the following year. It was so contrived, so terrible that I should not have even entered it. It may have been written to the theme, but it was just plain awful. Keep the theme in mind, but also concentrate on good writing.

If you can't come up with something related to the theme, move on to another contest. Not every theme given is going to inspire us. Our state contest theme this year is "Kansas:  Freedom Frontier For 150 Years"  This is our state's 150th birthday so it was a good choice. I never came up with anything to write for it, however. Rather than entering something awful, I skipped on to the other categories.

Writing to a theme can be interesting. If you haven't tried it, give it a whirl. Google writing contest with theme and see if you can find one that appeals to you.

A Talented Teen

Hope Clark's blog today featured a guest writer. Anthony Otten is about to finish his junior year of high school. He writes a piece titled Spinning Yarns Of Gold. You  can read his thoughts about writing at http://hopeclark.blogspot.com/2011/04/spinning-yarns-of-gold.html  I think you'll be as impressed as I was with the maturity of this teen's writing. Be sure to read his Bio at the end, and you'll be filled with admiration and maybe a bit of envy. I am willing to go out on a limb and predict that we will hear his name in the writing world in years to come.

There are other talented teens in the fields of music and writing and art, as well as the sciences and math world. The sporting world is filled with talented teens who dream of doing big things in their adult lives. Many of them will do so. If you know any of these top rated kids, do all you can to encourage them. Too often, the teens we read about in the newspaper or see on TV are the ones who have messed up their lives with drugs or criminal acts. It's easy to fall into the mindset that more teens are trouble than the ones who have talent and drive.

Earlier this week, our high school pops choir sang and danced like professionals at a luncheon I attended. It was sheer pleasure to watch those fresh young faces with the nimble feet and melodic voices doing something they love. There are others at that same high school who are excelling in other fields. It would be nice to see more of their accomplishments on the front page of the local newspaper rather than buried farther back with a couple of lines of print.

Meanwhile, read the wise words of talented teen writer, Anthony Otten at the link above. My thanks to Hope Clark for featuring him in her blog today.