My favorite writing contest is called: Pen & Paint

This year was my first time actually entering this competition, and I won! I love the concept and was so excited.

It is a unique opportunity to submit stories that are visually stimulating for a chance to have local artists illustrate the work, have both the artwork and the story featured in an art show. Five authors are selected in each category.

I like to pretend to be an artist sometimes. My husband’s an artist, some of my kids have a good hand at visual art, and writing is an art in itself.

But not only did I win in the prose category…

I also won in poetry too!

Sure I’m becoming a bit of a name since I write for my local paper, BUT these were all cold submissions– meaning we subbed without our name on them. Then after being judged, our info was sought in the submission form. This was all based on merit alone. NO big name success necessary!!! (And I am def no big name when it comes down to it, maybe a little small potato that gets mashed around once in a while)

Any of my readers know that I generally HATE poetry. I decry (most) modern poetry and it’s vacuous nature. I prefer epics and am no hand for that at ALL.

But when I do write a little of it, it usually hits pretty hard.

My winning poem for the Pen & Paint competition is all about an abandoned building. I love old houses and feel bad that our culture has embraced the throw-away society model. So I envisioned what it would be like if my home were empty and haunted by memories.

My story “A Capella Memories” is more of a nonfiction-fiction mash up. That whole, based on a true story silliness about a singer (yes I used to be a singer) who walked away from the industry (yep) and goes to a local karaoke night and stuns the crowd and remembers her love of music before sitting down and going back to being just another face in the crowd (because music is better when it’s not industrialized).

I’m so thrilled that these little ideas grew into something real so they could be illustrated and showcased in May!

I know I talk up local writers guilds a LOT.

There’s a reason for that. Having a community of nearby authors who come together to share work and help each other is so wonderful in this profession. As a dyslexic author, I definitely need it.

But my local writers guild, the Saturday Writers, helps keep me grounded and focused. They host monthly, yearly, and biannual writing competitions that offer writers an opportunity to test our skills and also have our work published in a yearly anthology.

In August there is a Pen & Paint II competition where the artists submit their pictures and we can write stories based on their work for a chance to have the same art show experience. None of my work was selected for that last year. I’m more of an idea person, but who knows what this year will bring.