Squeezing Through The Contest Wringer

By Nicole Young
Every writer’s loop seems to eventually debate the importance of contests. I’m impartial on most writing issues, but this is one topic on which I have a definite opinion. I am completely in favor of writing contests.
If you’re a fledgling writer still sensitive about your work, still protecting your words like a mother lion guards her cubs, afraid to share your manuscript in fear of attracting criticism, and paranoid that someone will steal your idea or swipe your self-esteem, there’s only one word for you: contests.
Enter them. Lots of them. Contests are the cure for both a bloated writer’s ego and a woe-is-me attitude. There’s nothing as liberating as being told, in so many words, that your work stinks. It takes pounds off an overinflated head. And, flipside, there’s nothing more encouraging than hearing that your audience was moved to tears – in the best possible sense.
Contests develop that trait which all artists must possess to one day collect a paycheck for their work: a backbone. The purpose of a backbone is to hold your head upright when you would otherwise collapse into a pile of unsupported cells. The meltdown is generally accompanied by a wailing and gnashing of teeth as the brain rants against criticism, real or implied, from anyone who does not gush and coo over your masterpiece.
With a backbone firmly in place, an author can sift through the words of a critic for useful comments, apply the information, and emerge a more confident, succinct writer. The buffing and polishing brought by disappoint, rejection, and criticism is blended with equal parts of encouragement, compliments, and awards. And in time, the writer graduates from the amateur arena to the professional realm.
How do I know this? I’m a three-time published author whose big break was a contest win. The first chapter of Kill Me If You Can won Best of Show at a writing conference. The agent who sponsored the event found a home for the Patricia Amble Mystery Series. But that contest wasn’t my first. In my quest for progress, if not perfection, I squeezed myself through the contest wringer. And with a final turn of the crank, I emerged with a backbone and a three-book contract.
Of course there’s more to be said on the topic of contests and there’s plenty of writers out there to say it. Do some research and plot your best course. After all, if you can’t handle the comments of contest judges, how are you going to handle criticism of your newly published novel? Now get to work on that backbone!

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Nicole Young is the winner of the American Christian Fiction Writer’s Noble Theme Contest (now the Genesis Contest) for Best Romantic Suspense and she won the overall prize, too. What was the name of that category, Nicole? Monster-Big Shot-Best-Book-Ever-Written, something like that. Beating…who else...ME-Mary Connealy. That’s the year I won for best historical romance. And Nicole and I were critique partners so I knew what I was up against. I love her work. After Love Me If You Must came her prize winning Kill Me If You Can and now here she is AT LAST with the third book her Patricia Amblin series Kiss Me If You Dare and I’ve loved the first two and the third just came in the mail this week. YAY! I have got to find out what happens to Patricia.