C.M. Simpson's Blog, page 179

6 Reasons I Don’t Enter Writing Competitions with Entry Fees

I know, I know, you’re going to say, I should, that competitions need to pay their administrative costs and their judges—and I agree, but I no longer enter them, and here are six reasons why:

Poor return on investment: I write with the aim of making a living. Even if I stick to a minimum potential return rule of 5-1, the time the entry spends not earning money outweighs the gain. This time is usually due to the wait for place getters to be announced, the exclusive first-rights release of the competition anthology and the wait time before I can release the entry myself after the competition anthology is release.No guaranteed return on investment:Usually only the top three placings earn prize money. Runners-up and Honourable Mentions don’t usually earn a dime, but often come under the same restrictions for publication as place-getters.Market limitations resulting from publication in competitions: Many magazine markets count publication as a result of placing in a competition as being published, even if no prize money was earned. This means that the competition piece no longer has first-rights to offer, but must compete for reprint spaces in a market.I don’t need to pay to compete: I compete every time I submit work to a publisher or agent. I compete every time I publish my own work, and I can do that for free.Limited competition tarnishes the award: When there is an entry fee, the competition is no longer against an open playing field. Paying to enter a competition, might give you limited prestige if you place or win, but it does not mean you have competed against the best in the field; only against those who cared to pay to compete for the award – and that diminishes an award for me. While no entry fee does not guarantee a wide field, it does, at least mean the field was open to all.I don’t pay for validation: If readers like my work, they can buy it, or download it for nothing if it’s on my free list. I publish independently because I like the benefits of doing so, and because I love the concept of the reader voting for themselves, rather than a third party. While judges and editors can be considered third parties, an open competition allows anyone to compete, just as publishing does, but a paid competition has an extra gatekeeper in the form of a fee, similar to the limits a traditional publisher faces when coordinating what they accept against the places in their publishing schedule. However, an editor sometimes rejects good work because it doesn’t quite match the market they have chosen, but a paid competition can reject good work before the judges even see it, based on the writer’s ability or willingness to pay.

Introduced Insect—The Honeybee

While I was busy chasing wattlebirds and silver-eyed wrens, I noticed that the bees also liked the cherry blossoms - and who could blame them. Here are a few shots taken with the close-up lens (as I don't own a macro).


It was a beautiful day in the last fortnight of winter, and the bees were enjoying the blossoms and the sunshine.

I didn't know they liked cherry blossoms, quite this much,

but they hummed busily around, stopping to investigate each bloom thoroughly,

completely ignoring the camera as they did so,

although, I;m sure they were aware of me.

Poetry Challenge—Introducing the Englyn: Form 10—the Englyn Toddaid

An englyn is a form of Welsh or Cornish verse, with a reputation of being hard to master. It has several different variants, all of which are governed by strict rules. This week, we’ll look at the englyn toddaid, which is a cross between the toddaid form and the englyn.
The englyn toddaid consists of a verse at least four-lines long. The first line has 10 syllables, the second has 7, and the remaining two or more lines have ten syllables each. The rhyme is introduced in the seventh, eighth or ninth syllable of the first line, and repeated at the end of the remaining lines. The fourth syllable of the second lines uses rhyme or consonance to echo the last syllable of the first line.
Dragon’s Wrath
Furious, the dragon marred the blue skies.I saw him fly, far too soon.I saw him setting fire, felt fear anew.I saw his shadow and knew what to do.
Who had stirred his angry heart to warraided his stores, golden art,and fled, the dragon’s vengeance, war to start?Now wizards we must call to do their part.
And when we the culprits hunt down and findthen we will bind those who clownwith dragon’s horde, thus reaping dragon’s frownfor ev’ry man who dwells within this town.
And thus the dragon’s peace we seek to earn—winter is bleak when crops burn—and wizards will with dragon speak to learnwhat must be done, the great beast’s wrath to turn.

Why don’t you give it a try? Try writing at least one englyn toddaid for each day of the week. You can find out more about how to write englyns from the following sites:http://www.volecentral.co.uk/vf/englyn.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Englynhttp://www.poetrysoup.com/poems/englynhttp://www.poetrysoup.com/dictionary/englynhttp://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/188329/englynhttp://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/zoebrigley/entry/the_measures_of_1/http://dversepoets.com/2012/10/11/formforall-englyn/http://www.oocities.org/sca_bard/childrensenglynmilwr.htmlhttp://www.oocities.org/sca_bard/chil...

Progress Report: Week 5 August 2014

Well, the week started well, but ended without reaching the 7,000-word mark. Between getting sick and then trying to catch up, I didn’t get any writing done – not even on Saturday. So, we’re a good 3k behind schedule. Next week is university break, but I have a 2,500-word research essay to do, and a presentation, so probably not going to get a lot of writing done before the next round of madness starts… and THEN I get a break. Wish me luck and self discipline.
Overview
New words produced: 2,530
Old words revised: 426
Works completed: 8 (for inclusion in longer works)
Works revised: 0
Covers created: 0
Works published: 0
Works submitted: 0
Competitions Entered: 0
Bloggery: 1,267


Tier 1 Tasks
Annual 13: Added 1,000 wordsAnnual 14: Added 2,448 wordsAnnual 23: Added 1,388 words
Publishing Tasks
Created 6 blog posts for this blog;
New ArrivalsThe following ideas arrived this week:
ShortStory361—Black Dogs and Pixie Luck: another piece of flash urban fantasy fiction set in the pixie-dust world;ShortStory362—The Death of Miss Delight: another piece of flash science fiction set in the world of Odyssey, Oberon and Miss Delight.ShortStory363—A Delightful Revenant: another piece of flash science fiction set in the world of Odyssey, Oberon and Miss DelightShortStory364—I Live for Winter:a piece of flash science fiction about a rescue gone wrongShortStory365—Whale Song: a piece of flash futuristic fiction about whalesPoem433—The Troll Lord’s Queen: a fantasy poem about trolls;Poem434—The Koschade’s Grove Treaty: a science fiction fantasy poem about dragons and star pirates;Poem435—The Bladesman’s Lament: a fantasy poem about a cursed sword;

Blogs Read in August 2014

As with the books read this month, I didn't get to read a lot of bloggery. Here are the few I got to:
http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2014/08/18/polling-your-intestinal-flora-how-a-writer-cultivates-instinct/http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2014/08/17/progress-report-penmonkeys/http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2014/08/15/flash-fiction-challenge-color-title-challenge/http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2014/08/09/in-which-amazon-calls-you-to-defend-the-realm/You might notice a theme here, but, hey, there are some days when I just need to be challenged, or to gather courage, and this is one of the first places I go.

Books Completed in August 2014

I finished the pre-edit draft of Annual 13—365 Days of Poetry this month. It is on schedule to being edited, formatted and uploaded on time. To celebrate the occasion, here’s one of my favourite poems from the night of completion:





 
The Fairy and the Pixie Flew
The fairy and the pixie flew,through the grass tops,o’er the stream.Flew they low,and hard,and swift,small wings beating,hearts a-fit to burst,to save the goblin king.
Why strove they to save his life,to bring the light,back to his eyes?Why flew theyso hard,so swift,hearts fit to burst,wings fit to split?Why did the good of fairy kindstrive to save an evil line?
To save the goblin king they flew,hard and fast,swift and true.To save his kingdom, and their own,to keep the right kings on their thronesto keep the good,o’er power to sway,to keep the evil,from the day,the pixie and the fairy flew,swift and hard,fast and true.
And saved they the goblin’s life,preserved his child,preserved his wife,and thus was the Dark-Bridge Treaty bornthat keeps the trolls in check,the payment by all goblins sworn.

Books Read in August 2014

Not a lot of reading happened this month—well, not a lot of not class-related reading. Still, I managed to chunk my way through the last Laurell K. Hamilton I own and was pleasantly surprised. This book is something special. Yes, there’s a lot of sex in it, but it all serves a story purpose, and some of those annoying kinks were ironed out—the werewolf boyfriend starts to show grown-up traits, the main character starts to work herself out, relationships are explored and deepened. It’s a book to enjoy, and it’s a book with the added dimension that I was able to learn from it…<sigh> and it’s a book that has made me determined to go out and buy the rest of the series.It’s also a book, I nearly turned around and started re-reading straight away; there is just so much to savour, so many things the writer does right, so much I should take note of as a writer and apply to my own work.It is, of course, Incubus Dreams.
You can find out more about Laurell K. Hamilton and her work from: http://www.laurellkhamilton.org/

Australian Birds—Red Wattlebird (Anthochaera carunculata)

It's coming up to Spring in Canberra, and the cherry trees are out in bloom. There will be cherry blossom festivals - one in Cowra and the Nara candlelight festival in Canberra itself. Worth going to, if you're in the area. I can't make the Cowra festival, but I have hopes for this year's Nara.

In the meantime, we're having a lot of visitors to the garden that love the nectar to be found in the cherry blossom. This is a red wattlebird. The one's in our area are very shy so I was pleased this one decided the nectar was more important than worrying about me.

At first all I could see was movement, and then I realised I had a visitor.

He was cautious, at first,

and stopped feeding to take a good look at the pest with the camera,

but soon, the cherry blossoms caught his eye, again,

and he went back to feeding,

before flying away to investigate the blossoms on another tree.

You can find out more about wattlebirds at the following sites:

http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Anthochaera-carunculatahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_wattlebirdhttp://birdlife.org.au/bird-profile/Red-Wattlebirdhttp://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~carlo/suburbia-images-j.htmlhttp://www.survival.org.au/birds_red_wattlebird.php
I also found a couple of Youtube videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIDuVIKkOJghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gee5BozKcCg

Progress Report: Week 4 August 2014

Busy week this week, but I *did* get some writing done—I even managed to get the minimum 7,000 words done, so I’m pretty pleased with that. I completed the first draft of 365 Days of Poetry with editing time in hand, and I progressed 365 Days of Flash Fiction . Assignments were handed in, and I started on the next ones that are due, because they are quite large. AND I got some photography out of the way, so, overall a good week. And work was good. Now to see what next week brings—and to bring something of my own in return.


 
Overview
New words produced: 7,156Old words revised: 0Works completed: 1 major, 18 minor (for inclusion in 3 other works)Works revised: 0Covers created: 0Works published: 0Works submitted: 0Competitions Entered: 0Bloggery: 185
Tier 1 Tasks
Annual 13: Added 673 words—COMPLETEDAnnual 14: Added 3,068 wordsAnnual 23: Added 1,845 words
Publishing Tasks
Created 1 blog posts for this blog;
New Arrivals
The following ideas arrived this week:

Annual23: more poetryPoem423—The Blank Page and the Words: a poem about writing;Poem 424—Determination: a poem about keeping to the decisions we make;Poem425—Inspiration: a poem about the challenge of inspiration;Poem426—Changes, Changes, Changes: a poem about the vagaries of life;Poem427—The Pixie and the Fairy Flew: a poem about a deal struck between the good and evil of fairy kind;Poem428—Separated from the Stars: a poem about a stranded starfarer.Poem429—Medilo Overlook: another poem drawn from the annals of Medilo Swamp;Poem429—Medilo Overlook: another poem drawn from the annals of Medilo Swamp;Poem430—Vive la Morte, Vive la Guerre: a poem about war and war mottos;Poem431—Learning how to Fly: another dragon poem;ShortStory353—The Hunter: a piece of flash, urban, science fantasy fiction about a hunter;ShortStory354—The Way Station Survivors: a piece of flash horror fiction set in the world of a zombie apocalypse;ShortStory355—Harbinger: a piece of flash urban science fiction about the start of a resistance;ShortStory356—Recruitment 101: a piece of flash science fiction about an invasion;ShortStory357—Tick Tock: a piece of flash science fiction about a jail break;ShortStory358—Accidental Truth: a piece of flash urban fiction about a writery oops.ShortStory359—The Pixies and the Pirates: more flash urban fiction from the pixie-dust world.ShortStory360—The Irregulars: more flash urban fiction from the pixie-dust world

Poetry Challenge—Introducing the Englyn: Form 9—the Englyn Proest Cadwynog

An englyn is a form of Welsh or Cornish verse, with a reputation of being hard to master. It has several different variants, all of which are governed by strict rules. This week, we’ll look at the englyn proest cadwynog.
The englyn proest cadwynog consists of a four-line verse. Each line has seven syllables. The first and third lines rhyme and the second and fourth lines half rhyme on the same vowel sound as the first and third lines.
The Troll Lord’s Queen
The troll lord’s queen came stalkingSet beasts and babies bawlinginto the darkness walkingBehind her alarms calling
We followed her through night darkWe followed her to sun startWe followed her to lair darkAnd then tor her world apart
Why don’t you give it a try? Try writing at least one englyn proest cadwynog for each day of the week. You can find out more about how to write englyns from the following sites:http://www.volecentral.co.uk/vf/englyn.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Englynhttp://www.poetrysoup.com/poems/englynhttp://www.poetrysoup.com/dictionary/englynhttp://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/188329/englynhttp://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/zoebrigley/entry/the_measures_of_1/http://dversepoets.com/2012/10/11/formforall-englyn/http://www.oocities.org/sca_bard/childrensenglynmilwr.htmlhttp://www.oocities.org/sca_bard/chil...