I have decided to get some of my stories out there by entering more contests. I know writing contests work for a lot of writers, but I just don't seem to be one of them. My experience in the past has been wildly conflicting scoresheets. One judge usually likes my work, while the other will pick at it. Keeping this in mind, I haven't entered any contests for years because of this although I have judged. Most contests now have it set it to have a third judge look at the entry when there is a wide gap between scores. My entries would have gone to that third judge.
I have chosen a contest a month over the next couple of months to enter. Although, I'm not sure I'm going to meet March's deadline. When I came up with the crazy idea the contest I chose for March had a deadline that was only days away and with all I had going on, I'm not sure I can get my entry polished enough to send out. I might have to choose two contests for April or just place two entries in the contest I decided on for that month.
As I said, I have judged a lot of different contests for many years up until last year when I decided I needed to focus more on my own writing. I learned a lot from judging those entries. Hopefully, enough I can place well one or two of these contests. We'll soon see. So if you have been thinking about becoming trained as a contest judge and you have the time to give, I would say go for it. Not only do you learn the writing craft from entering contests, but from judging them also. However, it can be time consuming, so make certain you have the time to give before you commit.
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