comps

[Heather]

Yes, but if you do enter the competitions Stephen (and Leonie does) then, you need to know the rules of the competitions you are entering - else you could be in trouble!

That said, competitions are not the be all and end all. There's a lot of fun and challenge in writing and sharing with your mates.

It's that woman thing again Stephen! You have NO hope. No hope I tell you!

Heather

[Stephen Whiteside]

...and you can write for publication without entering any competitions. Or for performance.

I'm increasingly coming to the view that competitions are a distraction, and not the main game at all. A few good performances in comps are handy to tuck under your belt, but there's a great danger in focussing too much on competitions. IMO.

[Heather]

In my life competitions are never the main game. I never, ever write for a competition; never have and never will. I only enter if I have something already written that I think is worth entering. My enjoyment always comes from the writing.
I believe most of us think along similar lines.

Heather Who is working on a poem today that is finally coming together!!! YES!!

[Heather]

Sorry Glenny. Did I give you hives with all those exclamation marks?

[Stephen Whiteside]

No, I didn't mean to accuse anybody of anything, I just do feel sometimes that people worry or think or whatever too much about them, that's all.

[Mal McLean]

Winning the odd comp gave me a buzz but it wasn't as important as the knowledge that irregardless of the result, I had done the best job I could do. Sometimes, we will ask ourselves why a poem won that comp or another? Here is the secret. Shhh. The judge liked it more than the others. Read the rules and decide with some thought as to what outcomes you want to achieve, just like Heather says.

Write for your own satisfaction and if that happens to tickle some judges fancy, well good for you.

I have written some truly bad poems that I really loved and knew they were duffers but if I wanted someone else to share them I have put them in comps or on this and other websites.

Ah well, that's all I have to rabbit on with for now.

BB all

Mal

[Glenny Palmer]

Not at all Heather....I am on considerably better terms with exclamation marks than apostrophes!!.....'....

[Leonie]

Not to worry Stephen, I probably should have said the more I learn about poetry competitions the less I know. I was scribbling poetry long before I knew bush poetry competitions even existed and will no doubt be still scribbling when I have lost interest in them. I think the main reason I enter comps is for some sort of acknowledgement that my scribbles aren't total crap. Of course the cheque that comes with the acknowledgement isn't too hard to take either.

[Heather]

Duffer poems! I like that Mal.

[David Campbell]

Okay, here’s another perspective…written competitions are the main driving force behind bush poetry. I’m not talking about entertainment value here, but rather the motivation for writing in the first place. Performers would argue that they do a lot to spread the popularity of bush verse, and that’s perfectly true, but most writers are not public performers. So what keeps them going? Where do they find an outlet for their work?

It’s possible to simply write for your own enjoyment or perhaps entertain family, friends, and work colleagues. I know all about that as I did it for decades. Sooner or later, though, there comes the urge to go a bit further. Next there’s publication. I have a long, long list of magazines and journals to which I can submit free verse and short stories, but they’re not interested in bush poetry. When it comes to getting bush poetry published in an adult market there’s the ABPA magazine, this website, and FreeXpresSion. And maybe a local newspaper. That’s pretty much all there is. There’s also the Melbourne Books anthology I’ve just edited, but that only exists because it’s based on the one remaining opportunity…written competitions. There are plenty of those.

Given the choice between winning a major award and getting published in the ABPA magazine or on the website, which do you reckon the vast majority of bush poets would choose? As it is, Neil has a constant fight to get people to submit to the magazine (copy deadline is May 31, by the way).

I’d argue that it’s the challenge of the written competition, of testing work against that of others, that keeps a heck of a lot of poets writing…and improving. The written comps scattered throughout the year set the benchmark and provide something to aim for. Consider how many people on this website have noted an upcoming competition and commented: “Must get going and write something!”

Then there’s the organising. Glenny has just got the Copper Croc up and running, Zondrae is encouraging us to enter the Kembla Flame, and Stephen is busy promoting the Toolangi C. J. Dennis festival. At the heart of these events (and many others) is a written competition…it’s usually what brings in most of the money, and success is linked to the number and quality of entries. That’s why a fair and reasonable set of competition rules is so important.

In other words, written competitions ARE the main game.

Cheers
David