In having coffee with a local writer, we started talking contests. She has a goal of entering one per month with her works in progress. She writes mainstream and romance, so she has to select contests open to other than literary fiction (which makes up a lot of contests).

She’d heard me say that I once entered contests, before being published, in order to take measure of how well my writing had advanced. I felt once I started placing or winning contests, I must be improved enough to risk pitching agents and publishers. It was a good challenge and, actually, the agent who signed me up said my contest wins had helped show her that I was serious about this writing thing.

This friend of mine was hoping the same would happen with her. Try harder, submit, try harder, submit. Additionally, she was entering contests that gave critiques and feedback, to help her along her journey.

Contest turn-downs are less painful than those of agents and publishers, for some reason. Most of the time you only know you didn’t win when the winners are announced. However, the critiques are worth the rejection, IMHO. Keep that in mind when scrolling through the contests in FundsforWriters.