Writing Contests/Memoir/Celebrating Writers
Starting Over: A Sneak Peek at the Writers, the Stories, and the Final Days of The Memoirist Competition
OK. And a little bit about me...and my baby.
We are almost there—the end of the month.
The Memoirist is still what I like to call a baby pub — although I suppose I should accept she is now growing up. She has evolved quickly since I opened her up in…November? October? I believe right on the cusp of the two.
Most of you know the story. Memoir being my sweet spot, I had a difficult time finding a publication on Medium that was the right fit for my style of writing. I’m not one to sit by idly whinging about stuff (please don’t fact check that statement with my significant other), so I dove in blindly. Absolutely no idea what I was doing. No Medium experience. No Medium clique. Just my stories and me. Would it work? I wasn’t sure.
But it worked. It worked better than I ever dreamed it would.
It seems I wasn’t the only one looking for a memoir publication. And every day I still hear from writers, “I wish I knew about your pub before!”
I’m still not sure how to promote it to writers more widely across Medium other than to keep doing what I’m doing. If anyone has any advice, please send it my way.
The Contest
As 2022 approached, and my baby entered her terrible toddler stage, I started to think about ways I could engage some of that energy building up. I have quite a few creative ideas pinging around my head, but the easiest thing I could think of to start the year off with a bang was to generate some excitement for our writers with a fun competition.
One $50.00 cash prize plush several fun superlative titles.
The Response
As of this writing, we have 42 entries with one more day to go, assuming writers have tagged their stories correctly. [Reminder to those who have submitted to the contest: Please make sure you have one tag with “Starting Over” or it will not filter to the page for judging!]
The Writers and the Stories
Submissions so far include:
- Unforgettable Memories Of High School Football by Patrick Witz
- One Birthday Card by Rebecca Morton
- Letting Go of an Old Friend by Sheon Little
- It’s Always Sunny in Santa Barbara by Mark Tulin
- Starting Over, Back in the Same Place by Karen Rand Anderson
- Remembering Where the Hell the Bank Book Is to Write My One Check a Year by Heather S. Wargo
- All Of My Life I Dreamed Of a Big Wedding by Ruby Lee
- It Can Happen to Anyone!! (or The Hardest Thing I’ve Ever Written) by C.A. Jaymes
- A Challenge to Be Cheerful by Katharine Valentino
- The Perils of a Nomadic Childhood by Rodrigo S-C
- The Young Woman Was in Love, then Wasn’t by Meryl Baer
- How I Learned to Treasure What I Have, No Matter How Imperfect by Sally Prag
- She’s Walking on Imported Air for the First Time by Adelina Vasile
- Starting Over: Giving Birth and Becoming a Mother by Catherine Dunn
- Finding My Way Back To Me by Sandy Gold
- Lessons on the Fly by Wendy Snyder
- Do Not Collect $200. Do Not Pass Go. But You Have Won Second Prize in a Beauty Contest by Amy Von Blickhahn
- Starting Over by Jo An Fox-Wright Maddox
- Coping With Loss During a Pandemic from Opposite Ends of the World by Bernie Pullen
- Starting Over by Catherine Dunn
- Rebooted, Not Retired by Mary Lou Heater
- When Private Became Public by Laura Lind
- Life After Divorce by Julie Ringwood
- Starting Over With Grief by Hope Carter
- The Sacred Lot by Kartika Lestari
- Moving to the Other Side of the World — With a 5-Month Old by Barb Dalton
- Starting Over SMART by Alayne Unterberger
- Mi Scusi. I’d Like to Start Over. by Kausik Datta
- Quicksand by Kristine Laco
- Something Old, Something New, Something Broken, and I’m No Longer Blue by Cathylouise
- The Good, Bad, And The Gruff. Starting Over In A New Country. by Slow train
- Blasphemy! by Rane Kelze
- How My Midlife Crisis at 30 Prepared Me for My Midlife Crisis at 50 by Janet Mary Cobb (she/her)
- Memories of a Long Ago Alaskan Childhood by Cindy Heath
- Starting Over for (Almost) the Last Time by KM Fullerton
- Feeling Like Job by Lena Quinn
- Turns Out I’m Autistic, and I Missed The Signs for 52 Years by Scot Butwell
- Advice from the 18-Year-Old Version of Me by Tammy Hader
- Survival Mode by Sadee Bee
- How to Re-Make a Memory by Ann van der Giessen
- Half a World Away by Janet Meisel
- Little Gold Anchors. Away. by Susan McCorkindale
If you submitted a story (before January 30th) and it is not in this list, please check your tags and make sure you have one for “Starting Over.”
The Dynamic Judges
Our judges need no introduction, but I’ll do it anyway:
Gaurav Jain, Preeti Ramachandran, Alex Frederickson, Rebecca Matthews, Anjali Joshi, and KiKi Walter.
Two Days Left
There is still time to submit your piece! I live in California, so January 31st stretches nice and long for a lot of you. Remember the theme, and please remember to tag your post!
And if you don’t have time to enter this contest, we’ll be doing more!
Thank you to all writers who submitted and who have supported The Memoirist over the past few months. I’m so proud of the community we’ve become!