Won 1st place for my non-fiction story in the Oregon Writers Colony Contest!!

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Katitas

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I just won first place in the Oregon Writers Colony contest for a non-fiction short story that I submitted back in June. I have been walking around smiling all week!

I entered this same contest last year, with this same story, and won exactly nothing, but I had asked for critiques (for an extra $10.00), and I received 4 3x5 notecards in the mail, some with conflicting suggestions, but all helpful.

I set the story aside for 11 months, and at the 11[SUP]th[/SUP] hour I studied those little cards, and made some changes to the story. 100% of the story was still my story (hard to change the content of non-fiction), but I followed many of the suggestions of the 3x5 critics… add more emotion, stay in the moment, change the order here, lose the adverbs, etc. My husband was also a most helpful editor, and my biggest fan.

I submitted the story for this year’s Oregon Writers Colony contest (again asking for critiques), but I received no critiques… just first place! I am grateful for editors and the encouragement I feel to keep on writing… this smile just won’t go away!
 

Anusia_S

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This is so cool! Congratulations! :hooray:

Your thread caught my eye, because I'm also preparing my novel for a contest. Wish me luck!

I think it's great that you were able to receive comments on your work. As far as I know, it's very rare for the jury to comment on stories that didn't make it into the finals, even if you ask for it. Or maybe it's just how things are in my country.

Your experience also shows how valuable those comments can be. You went from rags to riches in that contest :tongue I don't know whether you showed your work to any of your friends, but they probably are not literary critics and any input they could have is important as input from readers, but not as input from professionals. You asked for a professional opinion and voila, first place it is.

Once again congrats! :)
 

Katitas

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Thank you so much... and good luck to you with your novel!!
 

mrsmig

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So many congratulations!
 

Altiv

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Congratulations!! :snoopy:
 

Katitas

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Thank you all for your kind words! it has been a most interesting week... people who knew that I like to write, but had never asked to read anything I had written, now want to read my short story. I have shared it with many of my friends and acquaintances and am getting wonderful feedback from them! It means even more than winning the prize, though (ironically... or not) it took getting a prize for them to notice. Regardless, a few more people are reading words that I wrote, and that feels fantastic!
 
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