By Janyre Tromp
I was in kindergarten when I first published an award-winning story. Well, kind of.
I did write a story that my school published in a mimeographed affair, and I won an award for my grade. But the paper certificate was quickly lost, and no one remembered much about my story or my award. I hung up my pen and satiated my love of story by reading anything I could get my hands on. After all, I wasn’t a real writer, was I? I hadn’t won an Edgar, I wasn’t a New York Times Bestseller, I was ... nothing.
Sound familiar?
A lot of years, multiple writing credits, awards and even best-selling author status later, I’m still uncomfortable wearing the title “writer.”
Which leads me to probably the biggest hang-up writers often have as they contemplate entering the Write Michigan Contest: Am I good enough to be called a writer?
I’ve spent almost thirty years in the publishing industry, and I’m here to say:
My friend, if you put words on a page, you are a writer.
Now that we’ve dealt with what is often a writer’s biggest fear, let’s move on to:
Why should you write a short story and enter the Write Michigan Short Story Contest?
Provides a low-risk way to sharpen craft.
Short stories give you a great way to practice your craft — tight prose, impactful character development and interesting plot arcs — all without the year-long commitment of writing a full-length book. Plus, getting feedback from reviewers and judges is absolutely priceless.
Helps find an audience.
Libraries are a haven for book lovers and word nerds. Winning or being featured can get your work in front of new readers and gives you a byline to build recognition throughout the state of Michigan.
Forces completion.
Can I be honest for a hot second? I often have all the good intentions in the world to write, edit, submit, whatever, but I am terrible at finishing anything. But give me a deadline, and I’m suddenly superhuman and incredibly professional. Having a hard turn-in date helps us writerly types to just
press send.
Creates professional habits.
In addition to actually finishing stories, one of the hardest parts of writing and publishing is finding folks who will critique us honestly and then applying those critiques to our work so that we can become better writers. Write Michigan is one of the absolute best (and cheapest) ways to receive and learn to apply constructive criticism.
Changes who we are.
This is my absolute favorite reason to write in general. Yes, it’s crazy, but it’s also 100% backed up by brain scans. When I wake up in the morning, if I tell myself it’s going to be a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day ... it will be! My brain is programmed to look for the really awful things.
But if I decide I’m going to find good things, suddenly I see the golden light catching on the tips of the trees. I see the smile my son gives me. And can we talk about the glorious smell of Schuil Coffee’s Michigan Maple Syrup beans? It’s why if you are researching to see if you want to buy a Toyota minivan, you start seeing them everywhere.
My friend, if you tell yourself you’re a writer by turning in a story, you suddenly see yourself as a writer. And there’s almost nothing more powerful than that.
So, grab your pencil, pen, laptop or dictation device, and start your story, one word at a
time. I’ll be cheering you on, waiting to read it on the other side.
Janyre Tromp is an award-winning book editor by day. By night, she spins deliciously suspenseful historical novels that, at their core, hunt for beauty, even when it isn’t pretty. She’s the best-selling author of Darkness Calls the Tiger, Shadows in the Mind’s Eye, and Lovely Life and co-author of O Little Town. And that all happens from her unfinished basement when she’s not wrangling all the things — including her fantastic teens and crazy fur babies. You can find her as @JanyreTromp across all social media platforms and her website, www.JanyreTromp.com (where you can grab a free copy of her novella Wide Open).
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