I actually submitted something!
I got an email in my inbox the other day from Gather.com, a website I’ve been a member of for a few months, but haven’t really participated in at all. There’s a contest going on through the end of April, whose grand prize winners (voted on at the end of May and announced in June) will go on a 13-day research trip to a sustainable coffee farm in Costa Rica. To be honest, I don’t really know how a two-week trip to a foreign country to work on a farm will fit into my life — but, dang it, I’d be willing to give it a shot if my little essay were to win me a slot. It sounds like great fun. 
I wrote a 348-word essay (the requirement was no more than 350) and submitted it yesterday. I don’t know how long it took — an hour, if that — and I already have a rating of 8. Not as good a rating as some of the others, but it’s not the greatest essay ever, either (at least, in content — I have to swallow my pride over the fact that most of the people rating these essays are rating on content over quality of writing. Not yet sure if the judges will be any different). You can read the other submissions here.
I’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, I’m working on another story I’m planning to submit for an anthology. It’s due in August, and I’ve recently made some progress on it. Again, however, I’m stuck on the end. These huge, climactic endings trip me up. I want to milk them for all they’re worth, which involves lots of planning and moving pieces around just so — almost like one of those little slide puzzles. When it all moves into place, it’s fantastic, but it takes a lot of time and patience to get it there. Sometimes, you have to forcibly rip it all out and put it back to make it work, which is what I’ve already done two or three times now. I’m getting closer, though! I’ll post more about that one later, too.
Hasta!
August 18th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Excellent site, It was pleasant to me.
August 19th, 2009 at 1:36 am
Зер гуд уÑтанавливаю 5 балов.