I write every day. I have a computer full of non blog stuff. And that’s the issue: I have a computer full of stuff that just sits there…

So I entered a writing contest.

You have no idea how hard it was for me to do that.

You know that the scariest moment of my day is when I hit “schedule”. There is not a day that I press that I do not have second thoughts about. But I’ve established a pattern and now it’s all part of the process- write, tag, schedule. Done.

Now I have to expand. Now I have to get my other work out there. It’s my carpe scriptum verbum.

So I picked my least polished piece of creative non fiction- seriously it was a battle for the least polished– I dusted it off a little, paid an entry fee and sent my essay off into the void that is known as wait and see publishing hell.

Then I sat at my desk and blew a sigh…relief, gratitude, fear…

It’s done. My first piece is sent off to judging…

And now I’m finishing up the next piece to be sent off…

I needed to be proactive- the writing is fun and easy. Doing something with it is hard.

Do I need to do anything with my writing?

No.

But can I really say I’m a writer if it just sits in my google doc file?

That’s debatable…

For now, I’m choosing to send it off. It was time to shake things up a bit.

82 thoughts on “Anything Can Happen Friday: Carpe Scriptum Verbum”

  10. Good for you! Good writing should be shared, even with just 1 person. This is coming from someone who hasn’t posted in about 6 months. I’ve written, but overthinking has prevented posting. Hope you win!

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  18. Good luck! I love to get rid of things. At work, we have lost several key people who walked away-lots of anxiety over things, I guess and now I do my paperwork on my own. The good thing: I am learning how to do it and the bad thing is I feel scared I will do the wrong thing but it is forcing me to pare down, clean up papers at work which went over to my home office space, so it is all good. As Laura says, “You’re in the game!” It is a win for both of us.

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  20. There’s this quote “And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” from Sylvia Plath. I’m glad you conquered the worst enemy to creativity!

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  23. Yay! Cheers for you sending it off and yes I know how scary that is to send something off to be judged.
    When I sent the first 3 chapters of my manuscript off I literally sat at the computer staring at the submit button and my husband came over to me and is like. “Are you Okay?” LOL! I am like, “yeah,” just gathering up courage. Good luck to you and the most important thing is that you did it. 🙂

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  24. I did the same damn thing the other day. Claudette posted something about an essay contest on aging and I went for it! So crazy. My hands shook when I hit send. Good luck to you, I love the way you write, and from all these comments, so do many others. Keep us posted! Hugs, C

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  26. I think it is awesome that you submitted one of your pieces. Publishing takes place in many ways and places, and you are publishing when you post something on your blog. It even comes with a copyright. What I was naively unaware of is that you submit a fee when you enter a contest. It makes sense but I had just never thought about it. I wish you well with your entry, but I have to wonder why you would not pick what you consider your best work. You write every day for your blog. I can’t imagine your submission being anything but interesting and well written!

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    1. Because I’m not ready to have my best work rejected. I have to ease into it. This was a symbolic sending something off to break me in and teach me rejection won’t kill me.

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  27. Yes, you are a writer! Not least because you write every day – that is a big deal. Congratulations on taking the next step and broadening your horizons. I know how tough the wait can be, but you’re on a roll.

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  29. I have something to say on this as I always have….sorry for being so self opinionated. Writing and getting published are two different things. When you send something to be published, it is no more yours but the editor’s prerogative. Whether it suits the ism that the magazine upholds, whether it appeals to the editor’s sense of propriety so on and so forth.But when you write you speak your heart out. Now it is for you to decide whether you want to please yourself or someone else. This nugget of wisdom has been acquired after scrolls of rejection. So don’t contempt me as a pessimistic loser. But I tell you once one editor wrote back saying you write so well but your thoughts don’t go with what our mag subscribes to. Another one gave me a long lecture on how a piece of fiction should have a beginning, a middle and an end. Felt like giving him back but my angelic side took over in the long run.

    However, don’t get disheartened by my experience. You may be the next rising star of non-fictions. Who knows? All the very best from the bottom of my heart.

    Again a very long comment….sigh

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  32. Big step to take – well done. Looking forward to hearing more about your experience.

    I’d planned to submit my short fiction to contests this year, but have been holding the fort on my co-hosted fiction site due to my writing partner’s illness. Producing content for three sites is always a challenge, but being solely responsible for the third meant something had to give – and that was it.

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