By Jennifer Blanchard
It’s the moment you’ve been waiting for—The unveiling of the official details for the first Procrastinating Writers “How I Overcame My Procrastination This Year” essay contest.
Details
From December 1 until 11:59 p.m. on December 31, Procrastinating Writers will be accepting essays.
Essays must:
- Be 500 words or less.
- Address how you overcame your procrastination this year and got writing done.
Now this isn’t to say that you have to be completely over your procrastination to enter this contest. You don’t have to be. If you’re a procrastinator, these behaviors are probably something you will always have to work on. This essay contest is about how you took steps toward overcoming your procrastination.
Some ideas for things you can talk about include:
- Goals you set and hit.
- Behaviors you’ve overcome that were holding you back.
- Self-set limitations you’ve let go of.
- Accomplishments you’ve achieved this year.
- The writing projects you completed.
- Steps you took toward getting your writing done.
- Challenges you took on.
- Changes you’ve made.
- Roadblocks you’ve pushed through.
- Fears you’ve overcome.
Overcoming procrastination is a day-by-day process. It takes a lot of focus, commitment and practice to overcome procrastination once and for all. And even then you may run into times when these behaviors resurface.
This essay contest isn’t about being perfect. It’s about making mistakes, being human and continuing to overcome the behaviors and challenges that cause writers to procrastinate. It’s about taking what you’ve learned and accomplished this year and using it to inspire others.
Prizes
One grand-prize winner will receive:
- A copy of My Story Writer software—Donated to the contest by its creator, Lara Wells, My Story Writer software allows you to: brainstorm from idea to story concept, plan your calendar so you work in time to write, outline your story, maintain and track all your story research, use a built-in tool to create your story and track your query letters and the stories you’ve submitted. To find out more, visit the site. Also, you can download a free trial and give the software a test drive yourself.
- Larry Brooks’ eBook: Story Structure–Demystified—Donated to the contest by Larry Brooks, this is the go-to book on structuring a story. I reviewed the book in October, prior to the start of NaNoWriMo. Every writer should own this e-book. Especially if you plan on publishing a novel in the future.
- Holly Lisle’s The Writing Craft: How To Motivate Yourself video course—This video course is amazing. It will get you moving on your writing goals faster than you can say “procrastination.” Lisle knows her stuff and is great at motivating people with her simple techniques and effective tools.
- Dr. Grip Gel Pen—Dr. Grips are by far my favorite writing tools. Every writer should own one.
- Hardcover journal—Since it’s impossible for a writer to own too many notebooks, I had to throw one in here.
A second and third place winner will also receive a Dr. Grip Gel Pen and a hardcover journal.
All winning essays will be published on Procrastinating Writers.
Rules
- Your essay must be original, which means it cannot have been published anywhere else, including on your blog or Web site.
- If we select your essay as one of the three winners, you grant Procrastinating Writers exclusive rights to publish it. All winning essays will be edited before publication, if necessary.
- If we don’t choose your essay as one of the three winners, the rights return to you and you can feel free to post it or submit it somewhere else.
- Winners are responsible for any taxes associated with the prizes.
Please send all essays to: essaycontest@procrastinatingwriters.com. Be sure to include your full name and your e-mail address.
Winners will be contacted and announced in February.
If you have additional questions, leave them in the comments below. Good luck!
About the Author: Jennifer Blanchard is founder of Procrastinating Writers. Be sure to follow her on Twitter.
