Monday Miscellany for December 7, 2009
December 7, 2009 by Mary Anne
Filed under Writing Contest News
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Hello:
It’s finally snowing as I begin to put this column together—I say “finally” because we have gone a record number of months here in Central New York without an inch of snow. Of course, there’s no telling whether this gentle dusting will accumulate in an inch, either. We may continue to set an even longer record.
I used to loathe winter, but not so much these days. In fact, I find winters here to be a particularly wonderful, unhurried time to read and write. During warmer months, there’s a real or imagined pressure to get outside while you can still feel the warmth of sunshine on skin, a compulsion that all but disappears when flakes fall from the sky and begin to cover lawns, sidewalks and cars.
Of course, check back with me in a few months, when cabin fever strikes and that snow turns to brown mush and black ice, right?
OK, on to this week’s selection of writing contests and competitions. Here’s to your writing success.
Mary Anne
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Love Kills: My Bloody Valentine Short Story Contest
Pill Hill Press is excited to announce its first writing contest. Winning stories will be published in a print anthology. Winners will receive:
1st Place – $125.00 + 1 contributor’s copy of the book
2nd Place – $50.00 + 1 contributor’s copy of the book
3rd Place – $25.00 + 1 contributor’s copy of the book
Runners-up – 1 contributor’s copy of the book
Looking for scary stories, written in third person, featuring the theme LOVE KILLS: MY BLOODY VALENTINE. Stories should take place at or around Valentine’s Day. Think obsession, lust, heartache, stalkers, etc. Serial killer stories welcome. Deadline January 15, 2010. No reading or entry fee.
http://www.pillhillpress.com/love-kills-contest.html
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Mike Ditka Resorts “Holiday Essay Contest”
Entrants are asked to describe how someone has touched their life and why that special person deserves to win a weekend getaway to Mike Ditka Resorts.
Once all submissions are received, one winner will be chosen by December 18, 2009. The lucky winner will then receive a weekend getaway to Mike Ditka Resorts that they can present to the special person in their life–just in time for Christmas. No reading or entry fee.
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Saints and Sinners GLBT Literary Festivals First Annual Short Fiction Contest
Looking for original, unpublished short stories between 5,000 and 7,000 words with GLBT content on the broad theme of Saints and Sinners. The contest is open to authors at all stages of their careers and to stories in all genres. Deadline for submissions is January 2, 2010. $10 entry fee.
http://sasfest.org/first-annual-short-fiction-contest
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2010 Thoroughbred Times Fiction Writing Contest
THOROUGHBRED TIMES is conducting its Ninth Biennial Fiction Contest in 2009, with the winners being announced in the spring of 2010. Open to both professional and amateur writers, the fiction contest awards the winner $600 and their work will be published in a weekly edition of THOROUGHBRED TIMES in the spring of 2010.
The contest is designed to encourage fiction writing about Thoroughbred racing and to recognize outstanding work. The authors of the second- and third-place selections will receive $300 and $200, respectively, and their works will be published in the weekly magazine.
The work of fiction can pertain to any aspect of the Thoroughbred industry and must be 5,000 words or less. Entries must be submitted by December 31, 2009. No reading or entry fee.
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Beyond Golda: Celebrating Women in Israel Essay Writing Contest
Young adults ages 16 – 30 are invited to submit an essay on women in Israel – past, present or future. The essay may depict the life of an individual woman, her challenges, triumphs and contributions; it may address a general issue such as legislation, values/norms, social developments, its effect on women and the impact of change; the subject may be drawn from women of all backgrounds living in Israel.
Entries must be received no later than 11:59 p.m. on January 17, 2010. First Prize: A round trip airline ticket to Israel and the opportunity to meet with a prominent Israeli female leader. No reading or entry fee.
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SPAWN Writing Competitions
Entries for the 27th Annual 2010 Writers-Editors International Writing Competition are now being accepted. Categories include nonfiction, fiction (short story or novel chapter), children’s literature or poetry. Contest deadline is March 15, 2010. Forms are available at www.writers-editors.com or www.FFWAmembers.com
Achieving the Flow of Great Performance
December 2, 2009 by Mary Anne
Filed under Guest Articles
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(Note from Mary Anne: read this article today and thought it would make a nice follow up tp what I wrote yesterday.)
By Tom Terez
On August 22, 1741, George Frideric Handel shut the door, sat down at his keyboard, picked up a quill, and began to compose. Twenty-four days and nights later, he emerged with 260 ink-filled pages, some of them streaked from his own tears. The result came fully to life on April 13, 1742, at Dublin’s New Music Hall, with the debut of the majestic oratorio now known to the world as Messiah.
Recalling the creation of his two-and-a-half-hour masterpiece, Handel told a friend, “Whether I was in the body or out of my body when I wrote it, I know not.” He worked nonstop, frequently skipping meals. The effort so captured his heart that he often wept as the music flowed. After composing the section known as the “Hallelujah Chorus,” he wrote in his journal, “I think I did see all Heaven before me and the great God Himself.”
What exactly happened in that room during those three weeks and three days in 1741? How did Handel create such a magnificent work in so little time? Are there things we can do in our own lives to create our own Messiah equivalents on a smaller scale?
Part of the answer lies in a concept called “flow.” Made famous in his book by that name, author and psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi explains: “The best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.”
Early in his research, Csikszentmihalyi studied photos of visual artists at work. The photos had been taken at three-minute intervals, allowing him to be a fly on their studio walls — a bit like watching Handel in his composing room. All the photos showed a stunning degree of involvement and absorption, with the artists intensely and exclusively focused on their work. The mental noise and distractions that afflict so many of us appeared to be absent.
Csikszentmihalyi looked beyond the art studio and found that this phenomenon exists elsewhere — among rock climbers, dancers, chess players, athletes, composers, musicians, and others. In fact, wherever he found peak performance, Csikszentmihalyi found “flow.”
Athletes refer to it as “being in the zone.” Basketball champions have left their best games saying that the basket somehow seemed to widen in diameter just for them. Baseball great Ted Williams reported after multi-hit games that he could see the seams on incoming fastballs. Gymnastics standout Carol Johnson once said that the balance beam would seemingly grow wider for her on days when everything came together — to such a degree that “any worry of falling off disappeared.”
Was Handel “in the zone” when he wrote Messiah? Pelé would likely think so. The Brazilian soccer star often experienced “flow” in his Messiah-quality performances on the soccer field. It’s a “euphoria,” he said. “I felt I could run all day without tiring, that I could dribble through any of their teams or all of them, that I could almost pass through them physically. I felt I could not be hurt.”
Perhaps you’d like to run all day without tiring and achieve results like Handel or Pelé. If so, the good news is that you can. The bad news is that flow can’t be turned on like water from a faucet. In fact, thinking too hard about putting yourself “in the zone” is probably the worst way to go about it. That’s because the best performance is largely an unconscious proposition — something that emerges from deep within us.
But there are things you can do to create the right conditions. For starters, you need to like what you’re doing; if you don’t, you’ll never achieve flow. Try to stretch yourself, striving for a performance that is above your skill level but still within the realm of doability. Make a habit of this “stretch” process, always aspiring to a higher level as your performance improves. Remove all removable distractions — so turn off that cell phone and stop the multi-tasking.
As your work unfolds, stay in touch with the emotional feedback you’re getting from yourself. Monitor progress, enjoy the glow of achievement, and roll it back in so you can achieve even more. This is vital if you’re working on a big project that will span several weeks or more.
If it seems like a lot of work, go back to Handel. In the first half of 1741, the 56-year-old composer thought his best days were behind him. Chased by creditors, suffering from rheumatism, and coming off of two poorly received operas, he was planning to pack up and return to his native Germany. Then he received a letter with inspired lyrics. The writer was seeking music for his words and felt that only Handel could do the job. That’s when he picked up the quill and worked miracles.
What about you? Are you staying open to opportunity while exercising a Handel-like work ethic? Are you creating the conditions to turn work into flow? Are you transforming those mundane tasks into a meaningful mission? Are you doing ordinary things in extraordinary ways?
These are the questions that can turn ordinary notes on a page into beautiful music.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Tom Terez (TomTerez.com) is an international consultant and frequent speaker on organizational performance (BetterWorkplaceNow.com) and personal excellence (InnerBest.com)
Day One of the Cure for Writing Malaise
December 1, 2009 by Mary Anne
Filed under From My Desk To Yours
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I must admit, I’ve not been setting a good example for other writers lately. In fact, I haven’t for quite some time.
I’m a huge proponent of making it a habit to write something, anything, daily, if you are truly serious about pursuing a successful writing career. Even if it’s only for 10 or 15 minutes, even if it means squeezing out a few measly sentences, the important thing is to write, write consistently, until it becomes as natural a part of your day as eating meals. It’s about developing writing discipline and putting in daily practice time, just as a pianist or gymnast does. I firmly believe that this one thing alone makes all the difference between the successful writer and the wannabe.
Yet I haven’t been following my own advice. Oh, I write some days, but not every day. I’m too tired, too stressed or too busy. It’s so much easier to read than to write, and books, magazines, e-mail and Web sites call to me. I have a head cold. I need to clean the house top to bottom before the Thanksgiving guests arrive. I would just rather play Spider Solitaire on the computer.
As a result, my writing has gotten flabby, filled with passive verbs and worn out imagery. Worse still, I find myself putting off projects that once excited me. The procrastination compounds until I find the very thought of writing anything at all overwhelming and exhausting. I feel totally uninspired.
I know the antidote for this writing malaise, of course. It’s simply to write, and write daily, even if it’s only for 10 or 15 minutes, even if it means squeezing out just a few measly sentences. The muse does not come unbidden. We need to call to it, and work with it.
And so I begin my journey of getting back into writing shape. I’m feeling a bit better already, and hope this helps some of you as well.
Here’s to your writing success.
Mary Anne
