The Novelist Contest

Well took me a little while to fire off my first real blog post, but here goes nothing!


So over the past three months I have been participating in an incredible contest called the Novelist.  I stumbled upon the app on the iTunes store when I was super bored one day, and decided to give it a download just to check it out.  Initially I thought it was a free writing guide, and I was looking for some guidance for writing my first novel to fill the void I felt after finishing my post-secondary education.  But I quickly found out that it wasn't an app to help your writing, but instead it was actually promoting a contest for writers, where anyone could send in a synopsis of their book with a chance to be entered into this contest.  So I did one day, and then I forgot about it.

Four months later I received an e-mail, telling me that I made the cut into the top 20 and that I would have to send in a picture and an updated synopsis for the first round of the contest.  I was pumped, but a little afraid as well.  First because I was scared that this was some dating site and they were trying to steal a sexy selfie of yours truly, and second because I had never shared my writing with the public.  I wasn't sure how people would respond to my writing since I am an amateur in every sense of the word, plus I was never quite great at taking sexy selfies! *gasp!*

You see, in order to get further into the contest, the public had to vote for their favourite short stories every week, so that meant the contestants had to write a brand spankin' new short story every week (varying in topic and between 2000-8000 words long).  This in itself was incredibly nerve-racking, both having to write something new every week, and then having family, friends and the random public all judge your work  On top of that, each of the contestants still left in the Novelist competition sent you comments regarding your work every week.  I'm a pretty self-conscious person, and taking strong criticism isn't my strong suit, so you can imagine my trepidation.

But I stuck with it, and lo and behold I've made it into the top 3!  I suppose I should have mentioned earlier that the winner receives a publishing deal.  I think I have a pretty decent shot to at least make it into the top 2, because I feel quite strongly about my short story this week.  But I invite anyone who reads this to go to the site and judge for themselves.  If you like the story, chuck me a vote!  If not, go suck a lemon! (kiddin'...hahaha)  But seriously, give the other contestants a look too.  Especially Stuart Howorth.  Guys got some skill!

And if you are interested in writing yourself, I recommend you go and check it out, maybe send in your own entry and take a trip down this exciting road.  You won't regret it!

The website is:  www.gayrightssite.com/Novelist
Click on "Newest Issue"
Voila!

I know the web address seems suspicious.  The people who put on this contest have rights to that domain name, so they chose to piggy back the ".com" they owned already, just by adding an extension.  Trust me.  I'm a stranger.  It's safe!

Until next time!  Don't be afraid to check back now and then, because trust me.. I'll be busy writing nothing as usual :)

Dustin