After a Contest Win

As mentioned in the April 18, 2018 blog post “When Contests Work,” Member Joyce B. Hicks’ recent novel, One More Foxtrot, placed first in the Books & Creative Writing category for the Woman’s Press Club of Indiana’s annual contest. As a state winner, the book qualified to go on to the national level. We are proud to announce that it won at that level, too. One More Foxtrot placed first in the Fiction for Adult Readers: Novel category at the National Federation of Press Women’s 2018 National Communications Contest. Congratulations, Joyce!

But this blog post isn’t about Joyce in particular—it’s about any writer who wins a contest. What comes next? What good is a contest win? Yes, it can make a writer feel good about himself or herself. And sometimes a win comes with money or subsequent publication. But the biggest advantage to a contest win is in the promotional opportunities. 

So what should you do after you win a contest? If the award is for a book that is already out or soon will be, mention it on the book cover and in the description posted on Amazon and other book sites. Do the same with any good review. Don’t let them just sit when they can be working for you. And whether the piece is published or unpublished, mention it in your submission letters to publishers and agents. 

Now go out and make the most of that contest win.

When Contests Work

by

Joyce B. Hicks

www.joycebhicks.com

My book One More Foxtrot, a tale of second chances placed first in the Books & Creative Writing category of the Woman’s Press Club of Indiana’s annual Communications Contest. First place entries will advance to the national level—the National Federation of Press Women’s Communications Contest.

I was thrilled to hear this news in April. It’s proof entering contests is worthwhile. You have to get past the feeling of self-promotion and the expenses that may be involved, such as the entry fee and the cost of printing and mailing several copies of the book.

Do some research before entering to be sure your book will meet reasonable competition. For example, if it is indie or small press published, you could look for a contest limited to these entries. Another avenue is to look for contests with regional or genre divisions. Also consider how winners will be publicized and whether the contest is merely a way to raise funds with little publicity for the winners. Many contests are meant to gain new subscribers or readers. This may be fine with you as long as winning or even entering may draw people to your book.

To find contests, simply do an Internet search for contests for indie and small press books.

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Joyce B. Hicks is the author of Escape from Assisted Living, One More Foxtrot, and a number of short stories. You can learn more about Joyce at www.joycebhicks.com.

Four New Years Promises

As January draws to an end, many of us may be asking if it is too late to make our writing resolutions for this year. The answer is simple: it’s never too late. To get you inspired, IWC is reprinting a post by Joyce B. Hicks that was originally published on January 21, 2015. You’ll be happy to know that she did finish her sequel, which came out earlier this year as One More Foxtrot. As you read this post and apply it to yourself, just substitute 2018 for 2015.

Four New Years Promises

by

Joyce B. Hicks

Since New Years I’ve spent time at coffee shops attending to my resolution of writing a sequel to my first novel. I counted on the industry of others clacking away and high-octane coffee to bring inspiration. However, about $25 has yielded a paltry dozen pages. How can one keep up enthusiasm for a commitment to writing in the face of such meager output? 

The blog Changing Aging provides four resolutions that can help immensely with staying committed. Let me thank Jeanette Leardi for providing her thoughtful essay at http://changingaging.org/blog/how-should-we-change-aging-in-2015/.  She writes of her New Years resolutions: “I promised to try, as often as possible, to 1) create something, 2) maintain something, 3) repair something, and 4) let go of something.” I’d like to propose that these promises may be more effective than caffeine in making 2015 a good writing year. 

Create something—Sure, that’s what I was trying to do at my laptop! But for a writer maybe this doesn’t have to mean a poem, story, or chapter; in fact, Leardi includes writing a letter to a friend as an example of creating, among others non-literary. Perhaps one could include any activities that result in the same kind of satisfaction or exhilaration felt when words do flow. Like writing, the activity ought to require concentration and be a visible step to a completed project. 

Maintaining something definitely applies to the writing life if the goal is publication. A website, Facebook page, or author entries on Goodreads and Amazon require a lot of maintenance. And what about keeping up with blogs in one’s genre or interest area? Or scoping out deadlines, contests, and new publications—this is definitely writing-life maintenance. In fact, maintenance can take up all one’s writing time and energy. So don’t get too carried away about this resolution, although performing maintaining first could be so satisfying that it gets the juices going for create something. 

Repairing something could mean fixing a broken link on one’s website, but really the writer should use this resolution for editing and polishing. These activities are fun for me. Spotting a shifted point-of-view may bring a story in line and suggest a more developed plot, an area I struggle with. Even fixing a dangling modifier makes me feel sanctified! A feeling that may return me to step one. 

Letting go of something can be pretty tough or exhilarating. I’m sure that doesn’t mean, “Be realistic. You’ll never write something publishable.” It might mean letting go of a favorite character or plot line; or one might let go of discouragement over another Glimmer Train rejection. Or a writer might have to get over an attitude that is standing in the way of success. 

Publications about writing are not the only place to seek inspiration for commitment to the writing life. In fact, for me sometimes they have a repressive effect since I feel overwhelmed by good advice other writers are following. For 2015 I’m trying to include these four resolutions each day, rather than have “get busy writing” as my only mantra. Please consider reading the full essay on the blog Changing Aging since Leardi provides many thoughtful examples of the resolutions. 

­­­__________

Joyce B. Hicks is the author of Escape from Assisted Living, One More Foxtrot, and a number of short stories. You can learn more about Joyce at www.joycebhicks.com.

Jessamyn West: Indiana Writer at Heart

by

Joyce B. Hicks

 

www.joycebhicks.com

 

Though she grew up in California, Indiana considers Jessamyn West (1902-1984) an Indiana writer. She was born in Vernon, Indiana and some of her short stories and her most well-known book, The Friendly Persuasion, are based on the life of Southern Indiana Quakers. Though she may not have experienced these times herself, they were clearly conveyed to her, during bed rest for tuberculosis, by her mother and by a grandmother who was devoted to books. Her parents practiced the Quaker faith in California, and Jessamyn attended Whittier College as an undergraduate. The values of charity and kindness, as well a sly Quaker humor, bred the interest in people that comes through clearly in her stories.

 

In an interesting interview with the Paris Review (1977), Jessamyn West commented she didn’t think she was a very good plotter. For evidence she recalled that, while in Hollywood working with director William Wyler on the film Friendly Persuasion (starring Gary Cooper and nominated for an Academy Award, 1956), he said to her, “’We’ve got to get one more ‘will he? won’t he?’ into this.’” She went on to say, “I think this is what a reader wants” (Paris Review). However, her wide praise as a storyteller, as well as the popularity of the film in its time and the enduring popularity of the book (1945) contradict this self-criticism.

 

When asked in the 1977 interview whether she agreed that contemporary fiction was in trouble, she concurred saying, “So many novelists no longer seem to care what happens to other human beings,” a description at odds with her own sensibilities. She observed that the modern novel was “a metaphysical composition” (Paris Review). Indeed, it may be her genuine interest in familiar people in familiar dilemmas that makes some of her stories saccharine today, though she is clearly interested in questions we could term metaphysical.

 

IWC members should be happy to claim West for Indiana and feel a kinship with her efforts. Though filling notebooks with story plots as a child, West was not published until her late thirties, starting with small magazines in 1939 and moving to literary fiction in magazines like the New Yorker. She published collections and many novels, among these the very popular Cress Delahanty (1955), which today might be called YA.

 

Though thrilled with Cress as a teen, I began my reading of West again with The Friendly Persuasion. It took a chapter or two before I was caught up in the life of a Quaker family in a small Indiana town and in the evolution of their faith over their lifetime. From the Civil War to their old age, the stories record the lives of Eliza Birdwell, a Quaker minister, and her husband Jess in Vernon, Indiana, West’s birthplace.

 

Whether riding with their sons as they break Quaker tradition to join the local defense against Morgan’s Raiders or following the ruminations of father Jess, I was awed by West’s skill of getting to the heart of our experiences, often through analogy. For example, at eighty Jess befriends a foster child. His wife says his pleasure stems from seeing himself in the boy at that age, but he disagrees. He accounts for his interest this way: “It was meeting a human being at first hand, not as was the case with most grown-ups, second hand, if at all: not meeting a person assembled, put together so’s to present to the inspecting eye the very object for which it was searching” (The Friendly Persuasion, 209). Speaking with adults he says is like “peering through the chinks and knotholes” to see inside the “makeshift building” (209).

 

I’d like to come back to West’s comments about plot, a frequent topic of advice for writers. Her prescription is simple. When asked where she began with a story or novel, she said, “I think of a character in a situation. The character must be involved. I mean, he can’t just stand there. . . So, the two, character and situation, go together” (Paris Review). She goes on to say that she has found the novel to be an easier form because of less tight organization. “With the novel you simply live with the people for a considerable length of time and you write as things happen, whereas the short story, like the poem, must be convoluted for a purpose . . . a shaft of light into that particular happening” (Paris Review). What a perfect analogy for what she does so well.

 

Your library may have to request her books from other branches. I’d suggest beginning with The Friendly Persuasion, the book, not the movie, acclaimed in its time. The Paris Review interview linked here is also good preparation, as is looking at portraits of Jessamyn West on line or on her book jackets. She is a gracious-looking, lovely woman in waved hair and dresses, definitely a writer to claim for Indiana.

 

West, Jessamyn. The Friendly Persuasion. New York: Harcourt, Brace, and Company,           1940.

 

 

__________

 

Joyce B. Hicks is a member of Blank Slate Writers and the Indiana Writers’ Consortium. You can find her website at www.joycebhicks.com and can contact her at joyce.hicks@valpo.edu.

The Savvy Submitter

by

Joyce B. Hicks

 

www.joycebhicks.com

 

The spreadsheet I’ve kept of submissions shows more entries in the red “Accepted” column in the last three years. Naturally, one hopes more acceptances indicate better writing, but I’m also much more savvy about how to find markets and match my submissions to them. Let me share a few observations, and perhaps other IWC readers will add more.

 

Though your entry may meet submission descriptions of “seeking excellent writing, etc.”, you may have the best luck in markets where you or your submission has a distinct life-phase (or other) relationship. For example, your fiction about a woman feeling depleted by a new baby may be more appealing to Literary Mama or Brain, Child than to the Alaska Quarterly Review.  As another example, poetry, narrative, or fiction about life events or illness could go to the Bellevue Literary Review that “examines human existence through the prism of health and healing, illness and disease.” Exploring markets beyond simple genre matches is definitely worthwhile.

 

In another angle related to life-stage, new markets are centering on the Boomer generation for readers, writers, and themes. Passager, an attractive print magazine, looks for writers over fifty. The Boomer Café offers short narratives weekly; Still Crazy appeals to the Simon & Garfunkel set, both readers and writers. These outlets respond to more traditional story telling and poetry.

Markets for younger to mid-life writers and readers may be edgier and encourage experimentation. This may explain why my story, “Harvest Time,” about an Indiana farmer who retired to Florida, was rejected by academic literary magazines in these states. Their readers, and maybe the editorial boards, were not vested in this life phase, and the style was character-driven narrative. The story found a home in a less competitive online magazine, The Feathered Flounder, for an older generation.

Right now the Midwest is hot! Flyover Country and Great Lakes Review are relatively new markets for fiction and personal narrative. So exploiting your Midwest connection is worthwhile. In fact, until September 1, there is a call for narratives for Undeniably Indiana, a crowd-sourced book by Indiana University Press to celebrate the bicentennial. August 31 is the deadline to enter the Lake Prize, and Midwestern Gothic is open to submissions on August 1.

Editors say that they receive many entries that ignore the spelled-out parameters. However, something that meets them in new way may be welcomed. Literary Mama: Reading for the Maternally Inclined published my story “An Outing for Betty”  about an octogenarian and her daughter—not the usual mother for the magazine. This success spurred me to use the story for the first chapter of my debut novel, Escape from Assisted Living. Another time, after rejection by two magazines and a contest that seemed like perfect fits, I took a chance on an environmental magazine’s invitation for stories on the theme “feral lands or feral people.” “The Bookstore,” about books falling out of the sky, appeared in the summer edition of Kudzu.

The lesson is be creative in matching your work to a market, and include details in your bio the show the authenticity of your voice for that market.

I’ll be trolling sites like Duotrope, Poets & Writers, Every Writer's Resource, and the September calls list on Literary Mama again to place my story “Waiting for Santa” that’s chalked up only rejections. It’s about a grandmother’s fears about dementia as she visits Santa in a Chicago store with her grandkids. An unusual holiday tale, it’s still looking for a home. All suggestions are welcome!

__________

Joyce B. Hicks is a member of Blank Slate Writers and the Indiana Writers’ Consortium. You can find her website at www.joycebhicks.com and can contact her at joyce.hicks@valpo.edu.

Four New Years Promises

by

Joyce B. Hicks

 

www.joycebhicks.com

 

Since New Years I’ve spent time at coffee shops attending to my resolution of writing a sequel to my first novel. I counted on the industry of others clacking away and high-octane coffee to bring inspiration. However, about $25 has yielded a paltry dozen pages. How can one keep up enthusiasm for a commitment to writing in the face of such meager output?

 

The blog Changing Aging provides four resolutions that can help immensely with staying committed. Let me thank Jeanette Leardi for providing her thoughtful essay at http://changingaging.org/blog/how-should-we-change-aging-in-2015/.  She writes of her New Years resolutions: “I promised to try, as often as possible, to 1) create something, 2) maintain something, 3) repair something, and 4) let go of something.” I’d like to propose that these promises may be more effective than caffeine in making 2015 a good writing year. 

 

Create something—Sure, that’s what I was trying to do at my laptop! But for a writer maybe this doesn’t have to mean a poem, story, or chapter; in fact, Leardi includes writing a letter to a friend as an example of creating, among others non-literary. Perhaps one could include any activities that result in the same kind of satisfaction or exhilaration felt when words do flow. Like writing, the activity ought to require concentration and be a visible step to a completed project.

 

Maintaining something definitely applies to the writing life if the goal is publication. A website, facebook page, or author entries on Goodreads and Amazon require a lot of maintenance. And what about keeping up with blogs in one’s genre or interest area? Or scoping out deadlines, contests, and new publications—this is definitely writing-life maintenance. In fact, maintenance can take up all one’s writing time and energy. So don’t get too carried away about this resolution, although performing maintaining first could be so satisfying that it gets the juices going for create something.

 

Repairing something could mean fixing a broken link on one’s website, but really the writer should use this resolution for editing and polishing. These activities are fun for me. Spotting a shifted point-of-view may bring a story in line and suggest a more developed plot, an area I struggle with. Even fixing a dangling modifier makes me feel sanctified! A feeling that may return me to step one.

 

Letting go of something can be pretty tough or exhilarating. I’m sure that doesn’t mean, “Be realistic. You’ll never write something publishable.” It might mean letting go of a favorite character or plot line; or one might let go of discouragement over another Glimmer Train rejection. Or a writer might have to get over an attitude that is standing in the way of success.

 

Publications about writing are not the only place to seek inspiration for commitment to the writing life. In fact for me sometimes they have a repressive effect since I feel overwhelmed by good advice other writers are following. For 2015 I’m trying to include these four resolutions each day, rather than have “get busy writing” as my only mantra. Please consider reading the full essay on the blog Changing Aging since Leardi provides many thoughtful examples of the resolutions. 

 

__________

 

Joyce B. Hicks is the author of Escape from Assisted Living and a member of Blank Slate Writers, Valparaiso, IN. She’s in her second year of retirement from Valparaiso University where she worked with student writers in a help center. You can find her on the web at www.joycebhicks.com.