i won nothing at the local, art nouveau-themed local literature contest.
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there were 93 entries for poems and prose.
as it was legible, i entered two poems (a haiku and another one) and a short story.
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i'm telling you, i was disappointed - i mean, i'm not used to failures, but not to wins, either. go figure that it still felt a disappointment.
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okay, lament is over.
the good thing is that i had the chance to talk with one of the judges (a 40 something poet) about the reasons for not getting into the final 3.
(both my haiku, and my short story got into the final 15 - whoa, i just reconsider my disappointment, hee-hee.)
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so, this man was kind enough to give details about where, just exactly at what paragraph went my writing astray. he pointed out just the way i understood.
he did not give me the method, any method to correct the wrong, but he explained me what went wrong.
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wow, it took me a week to go from feeling miserable for not winning to feeling lucky to have been given a short, but thorough analysis of my writing.
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geez, i am lucky.
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4 comments:
especially poetry is so subjective. I would hate to be a poetry judge for a contest. Sounds like you did pretty well all things considered.
it is subjective, especially when there are no objective features (such as rhyming or pace as with a sonet for example).
yes, you are right and thank you for your words of acknowledgement, Charles. Getting into the final 15, even with no position, no mentioning or anything special of that kind, of 90+ entries doesn't sound bad.
:)
see, how the situation changes depending on the way you look at it?
and i'm especially thankful for that poet for pointing me the flaws of my story out for me.
Getting into the final 15! That's a great accomplishment!!! Yes, this is how you have to see it although I know how disappointing it is not getting into the final 3... I'm glad you're over it. :-)
Very nice of that judge to give you some details about the judging... Like Charles said, this type of thing is always subjective, be it poetry or prose. It depends so much on the judges' tastes... The next one will be better!
Yes, his (the judge's) words of advice are still ringing within, and I keep thinking of how can I make good use of them, how can I improve my writing (that one writing in particular, and all future writings) with bearing his words in my mind.
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