I entered a World Poetry Movement contest, received a letter stating my poem had been chosen to be published in their next anthology, and was thrilled. I had my doubts when they asked me to pay for the book and thought it was strange that they weren't sending me a copy for free. My husband was so proud of me and knew how excited I was and how much this meant to me, so he bought a copy for us.
I soon found another writer on Twitter who had also entered the contest and had also received a letter that he would be published. He sent me a link to an article about writing contests to watch out for, and this contest was one of them. Writing contests should not require the entrant to purchase anything. I still felt okay because I had pretty much figured out on my own that something wasn't quite right, thus the reason I used Twitter to seek out anyone else who had also entered this contest.
The book just came in the mail on Monday, and it looks even better than I thought it would. I will post a picture of the cover as soon as I can--I really like it. The way I feel about this whole experience is actually positive. I was surprised and touched by how supportive and excited my husband was even when I shared my doubts about this being a true contest. He didn't care; he still wanted the book.
Seeing my poem printed in a book with an entire page dedicated to my work has given me twice the amount of motivation to keep going, to keep working as hard as I can to reach my goal of becoming an author. This is a victory for me, a small one, but a victory nonetheless. I am proud of this accomplishment. I wrote this poem over ten years ago, and I still find it one of my best pieces to this day.
I would like to share my poem with all of you, and I will tomorrow!
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That's great for you! Congratulations!
ReplyDeleteThank you! :D
DeleteIt is a great feeling to see your work in professional print, but yeah, that's the problem with some anthologies. I've done that too. Congrats though, it makes for a great keepsake. :)
ReplyDeleteIt is a great feeling, that's for sure. :) It's made me even more determined to become published "for real." lol Did you end up buying the anthology? Was it for poetry, short stories, or...?
DeleteThank you, it is something I'm definitely keeping forever. I love the cover! :D
Congrats on having your work published. They probably couldn't offer every author a free copy because, depending on how many authors they selected, it would have burned a hole into their plan to at least break even with the amount it costs to print the book. It's neat how supportive your husband is. Way to go, hubby! :)
ReplyDeleteThank you! I thought about that, too, and I think you're right--I'm sure they couldn't offer free copies. The book is so nice and is even nicer than I thought it would be. My husband is awesome! He's the one who suggested I begin a blog, and it was exactly what I needed to get myself started in a proactive direction. Thank you again! :D
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