Writers Unbound

How do you know a contest is fair?

Most writers enter a contest at some point, and it’s often hard to tell when a contest is fair. The poetry world, aka Po-Biz, experienced a severe shakeup several years ago when a librarian founded the site Foetry to help poets make wise decisions before parting with entry fees as high as $35. Poets and Writers recently featured an article about two poetry contests that left entrants empty-handed.

There’s never a perfect method for determining fairness. But along the way I learned to be cautious. Here are some tips I learned the hard way:
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For some writers, reading is just as natural as writing. And studying a publication prior to pitching the editor is a must.

The first thing I do every morning after I find a cup of coffee and pry my eyes open is read the metro section of our daily newspaper The Florida Times Union. I do visit the paper’s Web site during the day for breaking news, but I value the feel of the day’s news in my hands. I’d read the paper even if I didn’t write for it.

I read a lot of different magazines and newspapers, in part because I write for some of them. The Christian Science Monitor is a favorite. This Pulitzer-winning newspaper, is in my opinion, one of the most level-headed publications about world affairs. I’ve published there several times.

I also read The Writer. I’ve read that magazine since I was 17 years old. As an aspiring writer, I determined one day I’d be published there. It took some years and hard work, but I met that goal. And if I had to pick one publication that influenced my career beyond all others, it would be this magazine.

Other magazines that get my subscription bucks include Time, National Geographic, The Atlantic, Reader’s Digest and Inc. Still others come in the mail by way of my daughter and husband’s subscriptions.

I spot surf Web sites like The Drudge Report and Google® News throughout the day.

The latest books I’ve read are George Tenet’s “At the Center of the Storm� and I’m working my way through a bio of Hillary Clinton at the moment. For poetry, I just ordered Shoshauna Shy’s new poetry book “What the Postcard Didn’t Say,� and I’ll write about her poetry in an upcoming column.

Sometimes I have writers tell me they don’t like to read. That’s hard for me to understand. Courtesy of print and Web, I not only learn about what’s happening in the news but also how other people write. I wish sometimes I could read without paying attention to the way writers structure their work. I guess that would be like a car enthusiast looking at a ’57 Chevrolet, without thinking about the engine.

So many of the articles, essays and poems I write are inspired by words written by others.

And naturally, if I want to write for a publication or Web site, I read it diligently. That’s the best method for market study I’ve found yet.

So what’s on your reading agenda?

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