I'm currently feasting on over cooked despondency with lashings of doubt, topped with self deprecation about my writing, and looking for a glimmer of hope that perhaps I can do it and it's worth persevering.
Please could you give me feedback on the piece which I submitted to the Bath Short Story Competition (not long listed) - The Face of a Life. I've posted it on my profile.
It's the 3rd competition submission I've not even touched the selected long list.
Much appreciated.
Hahaha well I do appreciate the support Mark!
The difficulty is though that they have to give the prize to the best entry, which is what we'd expect too. Imagine if you looked and saw the winning entry wasn't as good as yours but the person was a 'regular'. That wouldn't be good either.
Now it's over I can admit my faux pas.....
My piece had a HUGE historical inaccuracy. I put a window in a long house. I did that 'send it off before I have a crisis in confidence and never do it' thing. It was part of a novel I was working on and when I got round to reading through my first 3 chapters I realised what I'd managed to do and scrapped the whole thing in a funk.
You can imagine my surprise when weeks later the thing is shortlisted hahahaha
The good news is I've since picked up the novel again and completely rewritten it without the window. So the shortlisting was just what I needed. But I had been banging my head against the desk thinking I was never going to get anywhere only an hour before the shortlist came out!
Since I've started sharing my own writers journey with others - fears, insecurities, self doubt and valuable positive learning, I've been amazed at the warm support and encouragement this industry offers one another.
Thank you for all the comments and support I've received.
Hi Katie, I agree and without wishing to diss any of the successful entries did you notice that the winner had no profile. I would have at least liked to have seen a winner who regularly contributes to the community! Apologies - that sounds like sour grapes from me. But if yours had won I would at least feel elated that someone who plays an active part in helping keep our struggling writers chins up - which you do - has been successful. I guess the bottom line is that anyone can spot the W&A competitions, sign up with the site, post their best work, walk off with the prize and never have to contribute. Don't get me wrong, I thought the winning story was a stunning piece of work, it just seemed very professional and I would have liked to have seen a profile that reflected that.
Right, winge over - onwards and upwards!