Guest Blogger: Merrillee Whren

Should You Enter Contests?

This is a question writers often ask. I answer with a hearty “Yes.” After I joined RWA and Georgia Romance Writers in the mid-1980s, I entered the “Maggie Contest” at a time when the judges for this contest actually talked in person to the contestants about their entries. My judge was Diana Palmer, a multi-published author and a very gracious lady who handled this newby with great diplomacy. She pointed out my weaknesses but gave me a reason to believe that I had some writing talent when she told me that she loved my heroine. Thankfully, this first experience as a contest entrant was a good one.

In the ensuing twenty years, (Yes, it took me 20 years to finally make that first sale.) I entered many more contests. Some experiences were good, others not so good, but I learned something from all of them. I’m going to share three things that I have learned.

1. Don’t let contest judges rewrite your story.
When I first started entering contests, I took the judge’s word as final. I was new. What did I know? I would change my entry according to their comments and enter it again in another contest. I finally realized my mistake. After I entered this particular manuscript in numerous contests, each time hoping that I had finally gotten it right, I discovered that it was no longer my story but a story dictated by a compilation of a dozen judges’ opinions. I look back on that experience and realized I had “contested” that manuscript to death. That’s not to say that you can’t get instructive criticism that will make your story better. Just be sure that you believe the change will make it better.

2. All writing contests are subjective.

When you get score sheets back from multiple judges and one of them tells you that your dialogue sparkles, but another one tells you it is stilted, which one should you believe? Sometimes, that’s a hard call, but the differing opinions made me realize that not all judges agree. Not all editors agree. Not all readers agree. We have to get used to that part of the writing business. So as a contest entrant look at all the contests you’ve entered and see where most of the comments concur. If seventy percent of the time, the judges give you high marks for dialogue, forget the ones that say your dialogue isn’t up to par. You have to make some judgments about the judging.

3. Enter contests that will give you the most for your entry fee.
In the beginning I entered contests indiscriminately. As the contests offered by RWA chapters proliferated, I started to be more selective, especially after I started to write inspirational romance. I looked for contests with inspirational categories. That isn’t to say that I never entered a manuscript in a non-inspirational category. I received a couple a very good critiques from the Indiana Romance Writers’ “Indiana’s Golden Opportunity Contest.” I entered this particular contest, even though it had no inspirational category, because I got a critique on the 55 pages I intended to enter in the “Golden Heart Contest.” These critiques helped me with the manuscript that won the Golden Heart in 2003. The other things I looked for in a contest included published, as well as unpublished judges, and an editor from the house I was targeting as a final judge.

I want to emphasize the importance of the final judge being an editor from the house you are targeting. In 2003 I entered a manuscript in the Magnolia State Romance Writers’ “Dixie First Chapter Contest.” The final judge was an editor from Steeple Hill, and she requested a full manuscript. (Just as an aside that goes back to point number 2. That same manuscript was a finalist in another contest. That editor gave me 5th place out of five finalists. Editors do not always agree.) A few months later while I was waiting to hear on that full request, I entered the first chapter of a different manuscript in another contest. I also received a request for a full manuscript from that contest. Before I sent the second manuscript, I contacted the editor and explained that I already had another manuscript at Steeple Hill and asked whether she still wanted me to send the second manuscript. She said to send it. A few weeks later, I got “the call” on the first manuscript. The second manuscript became my second sale.

Finally, I want to reiterate that you should make the most of your contest entries. It’s not always easy to interpret the judges’ comments, but try to learn something from them. Now I have a greater appreciate for contest judges, especially the published ones who took time out of their writing schedules to read my entries. Keep writing. Keep learning. Keep entering those contests.

Thanks to Glynna for inviting me to Seekerville. If you have comments or questions, I’d love to hear them.
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Merrillee Whren is an award-winning author who writes for Steeple Hill Love Inspired. She is the winner of the 2003 Golden Heart Award for best inspirational romance manuscript presented by Romance Writers of America. Her second book, An Unexpected Blessing, won the RT Reviewers’ Choice Award and the Maggie Award. She is married to her own personal hero, her husband of thirty plus years, and has two grown daughters. She has lived in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas and Chicago but now makes her home on one of God’s most beautiful creations, an island off the east coast of Florida. When she’s not writing or working for her husband’s recruiting firm, she spends her free time playing tennis or walking the beach, where she does the plotting for her novels. Please visit her Web site at http://www.merrilleewhren.com/.

Homecoming Blessings (Steeple Hill Love Inspired – April 2009): Big-city businessman Peter Dalton doesn't think he and fresh-from-the-field missionary Ashley Hiatt have anything in common. Until his boss—her father—pairs them together on a special project to help those less fortunate. Suddenly, instead of making money, Peter is making dreams come true. He's a changed man. Well, maybe not when comes to settling down. With his past, he's just not cut out for family life. But lovely Ashley seems to think otherwise...and is making it her mission to prove it for good.