I am skipping over
weeks eight and nine of ANGA because neither week was extremely important in my
eyes. It wasn’t some of my best or worst writing, and I didn’t find the prompts
as exciting as some of the other weeks. Week eight we had to write a story
based around color/colors, and week nine we had to write a story inspired from
a piece we chose from the ELAC literary Milestone Anthology. I got third week
eight with Avahline going home and tied for second week nine with no one going
home.
Week ten was the finale of ANGA and
the last three contestants were myself, Lori, and Victoria. The challenge was
titled “Your Universe or Mine?” and we had the task of going back to our
original audition piece and creating and alternate universe or timeline from
our original story.
I was particularly really excited for this challenge because my
audition piece was an excerpt from The
Unusual Isles. Because of this, the challenge basically amounted to me
writing a fanfiction about my own book which I found awesome. It only helped
that the excerpt was a part of Ellary’s story line, which is my favorite one
from the book.
I don’t want to give away too much about the excerpt from the
book I entered or the story I wrote for the challenge to avoid spoilers. I’m
also not going to post my entry because this prompt actually gave me an idea to
write a series of stories that take
place during the “two week gap” in the book, and the piece I wrote would be
included in that collection.
As you’ve probably already heard from my Facebook page, I ended
up coming in second for ANGA and I couldn’t have been happier about it. Sure, I
would’ve loved to win the whole competition, but I knew that Lori had it in the
bag since day one. She was at a skill level with her writing that was just
beyond the rest everyone else in the competition and she really deserved to
win.
Out
of all of the contestants in the competition, I probably had the lowest
self-confidence about my writing. Although it may not come off that way, I am
one my harshest critics and I think almost everything I write is terrible, and
that almost everyone out there is a better writer than me. Throughout the
competition the judges and the other contestants told me to have more
confidence in my writing, but I still got extreme anxiety waiting for the
results each week. Even coming in the top three a few times didn’t do anything
to raise my confidence.
Overall, I am so happy I got to be a
part of this competition this year and last year. I honestly believe that this
competition has helped me improve my creative writing skills more than any
other workshop, Figment group, competition, or even English class I’ve even
been a part of before. The prompts each week are always unique and challenging
and they really helped me to improve my writing skills. Looking back at my
entries from last year to the ones this year, I can see a substantial amount of
improvement in my writing. The final reviews I got back from the judges said
the same thing. They said I was the most improved out of all of the contestants
in the competition, and I agree with them. Some people may see that as a bad
thing, but I don’t. I take it as a
compliment.
Where would I be today if I had
never improved in my writing? Improvement is part of the journey of being a
writer. Participating in contests like these on Figment are all about
improvement. Some people may see it as a way to see if you’re writing is better
than others, but it’s much more than that. In my mind, I would rather go home
halfway in a challenging competition knowing that my writing had improved leaps
and bounds from when I started, then end up winning an easy competition because
everyone else failed to improve their writing.
I don’t know if I’ll end up
competing in next year’s season or not. I’m leaning towards no because I feel
like I already did so well this season, but I guess I’ll decide later when the
time comes down to it.
For getting second places I get a
winner’s certificate, a copy of ELAC: Milestone 2013 literary magazine, and
$15. Keep updated on my Facebooks page because I’ll be sure to post a picture
once I receive my prize!
~K.M.D.
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