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This is my first time............am curious to find out what this is all about! I have a question too. How many entrants are there usually to the magazines' competitions? I have been really pleased to have been short-listed 3 times recently and am wondering how many others submit stories. Does anybody know?
I think the number of entries can vary widely, but it certainly sounds as if you're doing very well. My only reservation is that if these competitions are run by the same people (in which case you are obviously doing very well in theirs and just a little tweaking could make you an outright winner), you would have to test your stories in different competitions to see how they get on in those before you could judge.
Wow! This is going to be another form of displacement activity....thanks for all your comments. Sorry if my question whiffed of just the inciest bit of pride but .....I was! I know we should write for ourselves but it gets lonely at times and it's good to get feedback. Do you all belong to writing groups?
Hello dreamer.
You are doing well. I don't know about how many enter the writing mag comp' but some web sites give figures like Writer's inc. Which I think you should have a go at.
I can't answer for the WM/WN competitions, but I was judge of the Speakeasy creative writing competitions in 2005 and 2006. We're one of the smaller competitions and last year we had 185 poems and 116 short stories.
One poetry competition I enter regularly gets about 700 entries.
I'd guess that the WM/WN competitions fall somewhere between these two numbers. If you've been shortlisted 3 times in a row you're clearly doing something right.
Some people running competitions , which may be advertised in magazines like Writing Magazine,also have web sites and sometimes they give numbers of entrants on there.
to answer your question, I don't think many of us belong to writing groups, I certainly don't. Time would not permit it even if there was one locally. There is a group of Isle of Wight Writers I have managed to avoid for the past 12+ years! Time is so precious, writing time that is, there would not be enough hours in a week to read other people's work and go to a meeting as well. So Talkback is my consolation, I drop in and out all day, when I get bored with editing or sorting out work here.
I was asked to leave both the writing groups that I'd tried to infiltrate myself into.
One beacuse I swore too much and the other because I didn't swear enough.
Oh, and apparetnly my grammar sucks.
Standing in a first floor window and looking out onto a busy market place, I only see small children looking upwards, occasionally. Maybe they'll grow into the few adults who'll remember there's a sky above the buildings. Everyone else is too busy looking down at their own feet that I doubt they'd notice mine. Only my oldest friend (and now you) know I have a black pair for walking in the grass.
Morning Dreamer, I'm one of those that does belong to a Writers' Club, and I'm on the Committee of the club. We have about 60+ members local and distant, old and young.
They don't suit everyone, and sometimes that's to do with the people in it or running it.
Comments
losest I an get you is Bruges. You may notice I have a problem with one of my keys!
And Jay, please give your keyboard a shake and a hoover.
Sorry, only kidding. Sounds like you're doing well. Keep up the good work and welcome to Talkback. I hope you stick around. -IG
You are doing well. I don't know about how many enter the writing mag comp' but some web sites give figures like Writer's inc. Which I think you should have a go at.
One poetry competition I enter regularly gets about 700 entries.
I'd guess that the WM/WN competitions fall somewhere between these two numbers. If you've been shortlisted 3 times in a row you're clearly doing something right.
One beacuse I swore too much and the other because I didn't swear enough.
Oh, and apparetnly my grammar sucks.
They don't suit everyone, and sometimes that's to do with the people in it or running it.