So as I may have mentioned once or twice, I have entered a handful of contests so far and submitted a few stories and poems to “literary” magazines/publications. And so far I am running, well, let’s just say on a less than stellar percentage… To date I have won one thing I entered (more on that here), and that was, I rather suspect, a result of pressing everyone I know (and a few people I barely know) into involuntary-ish servitude via a series of “click here to help me!” emails. In other words, I won by knowing a larger number of people who like me and are willing to do something relatively painless and easy for me than the other entrants did. In other other words, it was a popularity contest (of sorts). It was also a poetry contest. I am not really so much what I would consider a poet.

Well, GRR, she said.

I don’t want to win popularity contests like that – I want to win because I write better than other people, not because people like me as a person. I mean, sure, I want people to like me as a person too, don’t get me wrong. And if I had an actual book, I’d be perfectly willing to have people buy it because they like me – the money goes into the ol’ bank account the same way whether it was put there by high-brow literary critics or the kids I used to babysit who may feel a bizarre loyalty, know what I’m sayin’?
Continue reading Okay, Um, So What (if anything) Does This Mean?