Poetry and Short Story Contests

At Maximum Impact (my church study group) we’ve been studying John Maxwell’s book, “Talent is Not Enough”. The book teaches that while talent can get you picked out from among all the other apples in the barrel; it's not sufficient on its own to get you to the peak of your game and keep you there. You need other ingredients like belief, preparation and perseverance. Yesterday, we handled ‘perseverance’.

While listening to personal experiences, I realized so many things could get one off track; like entering for competitions and never winning the prize- what if you gave up today never knowing that tomorrow you were supposed to have won? I know that’s what keeps people playing the lotteries but it’s a theory that does pay off in the long run, let’s not throw out the baby with the bath water.

Another thing that kills success is winning one battle and then pitching tent at the mountain ledge of your success forgetting that there’s still a mountaintop with a better view to conquer.

That said; there are new contests for members of the ChoWilson.com facebook group. We have a poetry contest;
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=192723960112&topic=9927

and a Short Story contest;
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=192723960112&topic=9928

Follow the links and submit to the category of your choice. The only requirement is that you be a member of the group. Watch out for the deadlines!!!

Snooze not that ye lose not. Good luck.

Motivation for Your Writing

What’s the major thing keeping you from that amazing writing business? What’s holding you from that six-figure writing career? That keeps you up at night wondering how tomorrow will be?

Well, it’s the same thing that keeps everyone else from breakthroughs not just in business but in every area of life.

Perseverance.

You have a great idea, its worth a million bucks, or at least it was till everyone told you it was wack. Or till someone read your script and said its never been done, or its been done so many times that it ought to be registered in the World’s Guinness Book of Clichés.

What do you do when you run into a brick wall as tough as that? Do you slip the manuscript into one of your drawers and mentally label it ‘ABANDONED,’ or do you go around looking for a second opinion.

Getting a second opinion is good; it boosts the morale when you finally find someone other than yourself who believes that your work is good enough. Perhaps by now that’s the only person who believes because you’ve been knocked so many times that you’re beginning to feel the nay-sayers are right. But what do you do when you reach your limit and get up to 50 people telling you it won’t work?

This is the reason why the opinions of others should NEVER matter as much as yours! Walt Disney got 301 rejections on his request for a loan before he finally got the loan to build Disneyland. Now that’s a LOT of negativity.

The way out is to do the following:

1. Write down what you want
2. Tell a few people and let them know you want to hear BOTH what they like about the idea and what they feel won’t work. Then ask them if they can think of a way around it (you’d be surprised how effective this technique is).
3. Start working on the project. Analyse it, put it in stages and start doing it.
4. Continue.

This is where perseverance comes in; it’s the thing that gets you to the finish line while your brain is screaming to you that your muscles just can’t survive another step. When you don’t fee excited about the project, keep at it. When you feel overwhelmed at the enormity of the work, take a deep breadth, and keep at it. When you’re frustrated to the limit, get a good night’s rest, wake up, and keep at it.

That just might be the day you get the break you need.