{"id":97824,"date":"2022-02-18T03:33:56","date_gmt":"2022-02-18T03:33:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sawriterscollege.co.za\/?p=97824"},"modified":"2023-05-03T04:28:21","modified_gmt":"2023-05-03T04:28:21","slug":"the-trials-and-tribulations-of-competing-in-a-writing-contest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sawriterscollege.co.za\/the-trials-and-tribulations-of-competing-in-a-writing-contest\/","title":{"rendered":"The Trials and Tribulations of Competing in a Writing Contest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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If you want to enter a writing competition, the first things to crush are your belly butterflies. I plucked up the courage to write an entry, and now share my step-by-step hardships along the way.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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By Lynne Ziegler<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Struggling for hours in front of a computer to activate the flow of words can be demoralizing. This essay captures the slumps and the euphoria that pelted down on me while I plodded along to complete this project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Step 1: The kick-off<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Staring at my laptop, discomfort and indecision consumed me. What is my topic? Should I use this word? That theme? This heading? I was driving myself over the edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My indecision became my focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I felt I had a weight I couldn\u2019t wrestle. I would sit and brood over ways to dislodge the block \u2013 if not now then, when?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I knew, though, if I wanted to hang on to the little self-esteem I had left, I had no choice but to push through my discomfort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I stumbled across two interesting and helpful articles that caught my attention by chance. <\/strong>Best Writing Advice, Learn through Reading<\/a> and Distraction and Procrastination<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later, I had an epiphany that the desire to escape discomfort was for the faint-hearted. I knew the blockage I had struggled with was indeed a distraction and a form of procrastination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This insight ignited the spark I needed to continue my writing journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amid many frustrations and self-blaming for my writing inadequacies, I continued to read \u2018how to\u2019 articles and books about writing<\/a> that helped me improve and refine my writing skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Step 2: The discipline to keep going<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Discipline can be a touch-and-go game. The temptation to delay versus advance is always there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, I stuck to my routine, searching for strong verbs and nouns that soon became a habit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The maxim \u2018practice makes perfect\u2019 also has its merits. This quote about practicing from Monica M Clark\u2019s article: Why You Should Cultivate Daily Writing Habits<\/em>, is thought-provoking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Michael Jordan practised. Joshua Bell practices. Tiger Woods practised. Bill Gates practised. Pablo Picasso practised \u2014 so why don\u2019t writers practise?\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Step 3: First draft completed<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It took weeks and months of me shifting positions on my typing chair, scratching my head for ideas, starting and re-starting my article before I finally pushed through the paralysis<\/a> and produced my first draft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Revision may be tedious, but then again, it\u2019s the last recourse to perfection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even brilliant author Oscar Wilde had his revision moments and said: \u2018This morning I took out a comma and this afternoon I put it back.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I once read that if you print what you write and read your script out loud<\/a>, silently or to a friend, misplaced words, grammar etc., will shout out at you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It worked. Although tricky, I rearranged sentences, punctuation marks, words and paragraphs to fit better. My words made more sense after the rehearsal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This sequence revitalized and helped polish my article.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Step 4: Submission and presentation to an editor<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Finally, and with great relief, I was ready to submit my story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In hindsight, I did my best and if not chosen as a win, it\u2019s not that I failed; it\u2019s that I still have time and room to improve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In conclusion, no one ever said writing was easy, especially competing in a contest, but from my part, if you keep on keep on practising and never give up, you will succeed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, today, when I sometimes doubt myself, I draw courage from DH Lawrence\u2019s quote: \u2018There is no smooth road into the future: but we go round, or scramble over the obstacles.\u2019 I agree with DHL, and because of the pleasure I glean from being creative, I carry on writing regardless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nike says: \u2018Just Do It\u2019 – and so can you through commitment and determination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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More Good Reads for Writers<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Revision Is My God by Meaghan O\u2019Connell<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Improve Your Writing Skills by Bob Baffert<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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About the Author<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Lynne Ziegler<\/strong> started out writing descriptive content and is now trying her hand at blogging. She has a degree in psychology and enjoys research into physical well-being and mental health issues. Her favourite hobbies are languages, travelling, and sport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She worked at the United Nations for 10 years as an information officer. On 2 October 1980 – and only for that day – she became famous when Pope John Paul II visited the United Nations in NYC and kissed her hand. Many people approached her to touch her hand and recommended she not wash it for the rest of the day!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She now resides both in South Africa and the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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If you want to enter a writing competition, the first things to crush are your belly butterflies. I plucked up the courage to write an entry, and now share my step-by-step hardships along the way. By Lynne Ziegler Struggling for hours in front of a computer to activate the flow of words can be demoralizing. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":97826,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[623],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-97824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motivation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sawriterscollege.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sawriterscollege.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sawriterscollege.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sawriterscollege.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sawriterscollege.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97824"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sawriterscollege.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103387,"href":"https:\/\/www.sawriterscollege.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97824\/revisions\/103387"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sawriterscollege.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sawriterscollege.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sawriterscollege.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sawriterscollege.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}