Give Yourself Some Time For Contest Entries

Have you ever entered a writing contest? I send off several pieces to my state authors annual contest on a regular basis. Besides following guidelines carefully, there's something else to be considered--getting your contest entry done well ahead of the deadline date.

One thing I've learned along this road is that you should not rush your contest entry. We all know what the deadline date is for entering any type of contest. We know we should get cracking and work on the stories, poems or articles you want to send in. But Life tends to get in our way, and we put the contest entry on the back burner to keep warm.

Suddenly, the date is only a couple days away, and there sit your entries, still in first draft condition. So, you hurry through the revisions, get them ready with the cover letter, rush to the post office to have the postage calculated and send them on the way. Whew! You did it.

But you've done yourself a disservice if you enter the contest in that particular way. Your work will not be your best writing. Hurrying a project seldom brings outstanding results. Note that I said seldom, because sometimes the perfect piece comes quickly and easily.

Make getting those writing projects done in a timely manner. Allow yourself plenty of time to write a first draft and then make revisions. Sometimes those revisions require more than one sitting. Don't send your work in if you're not satisfied with it. If you aren't the judges probably won't be either. .

A hurry-up job ends up looking like a writing roadrunner barreled through.