Applications
It's finally my turn to do all these things. UNIVERSITY AND SCHOLARSHIPS APPLICATIONS. There's so much to do. >__< University applications aren't available until the 3rd...but I've been looking scholarship stuff...and gosh, there's so much to do. I need to start doing more volunteer work to make my applications look pretty. I don't do much except for school choir, badminton manager and tutoring. My sister's saturday school's principal offered last year a spot for me to help teach...I should tell her I want to start now. =.= Then my photography teacher's first period class has FSL kids...so I guess I should also tell her that she can ask me for help whenever she needs it because I have first spare. Then...maybe I should look for volunteer work at the library or something...I would prefer working at the library my mom's friend works at...but that's downtown and way too far. A lot of my volunteering oppurtunities are like confined within the school because I don't have a car...and I have to take my sister most weeknights. That kinda sucks. Honestly...if I don't find more volunteering oppurtunities...my applications won't look that impressive. Gah. That's just sad.
It's also really hard finding good scholarships to apply to because 85% of them need the applicant to show financial need...then like at least 20% of the ones I found are contests...so I have to do a lot more than just filling in an application and write a short essay. At the moment, I have 9 scholarships/contests that I want to apply for...3 of them being writing contests/award. That leads to my other point of this entry.
One of the contests I want to join is CBC Literary Awards. The deadline is November 1st, 2006. Basically I have to submit original and unpublished work in one of the three categories: short story (2,000 - 2,500 words), creative nonfiction (2,000 - 2,500 words), or poetry (1,000 - 2,000 words). I can submit as many entries as I like just as long as I don't submit one entry into two categories. I don't really know what I want to write though... I think I want to write a memoir piece which falls under creative nonfiction and a short story. I just need to brainstorm some interesting topics. A problem with this contest...the level is extremely high. I mean...all the winners are adults...and most of them are published writers. The main reason I want to join is to gain some experience. I have a month. Not too long. Not good. T_________T
Which leads me to the next contest. Delacorte Press Contest for a First Young Adult Novel. T___________T Again another freakin' hard contest because there's no age limit for writers/applicants. For all I care, I can be competing against published authors again. Any Canadian or American writer can join just as long as they have never published a young adult novel before. I need to submit a unpublished 100 - 224 page manuscript that has a contemporary setting, for readers ages 12-18. I personally think I'm crazy for wanting to join...but again...EXPERIENCE. =P What would people ages 12-18 be interested in reading anyways? Because I'm pretty sure the Agatha Christie books I'm reading right now does not fall into that category. The deadline is on December 31st, 2006. That's 3 months away. >________< I'm going to die...but I really want to try...because I've never written an original piece of work that's novel length... I mean...I have a multi-chaptered piece that I've neglected...but I'm not especially proud of it. A topic I really want to try writing is someone who is suffering from a serious disease...totally influenced by 1 Litre of Tears, 24Hr Terebi - Yuuki...etc. =P I want to stay away from love stories...mainly because I'm a romantic at heart and I'll end up writing something that's fluffy and sappy which is not a good idea. I want to write something more general but yet maybe inspirational. I don't know.
Last writing contest. The Fountainhead Essay Contest. Basically...read the book by Ayn Rand called The Fountainhead and write a 800-1600 words essay on given topic. My Eng Lit teacher told me the book was pretty...controversial and stuff. This contest is just for Gr.11s and 12s so at least I have a better chance at getting something compared to the last two. I need to go borrow the book from the library now. Though the deadline is a bit faraway - April 25th, 2007. So I still have time. First prize gets $10 000...while I doubt my essay-writing skills are that great...it's still nice to dream. =P A total of 244 awards are given...so just as long as I place somewhere within those 244...I'll a bit of money. Of course...it would be best to place first, second or third. At least there's multiple second and third prizes.
I shall die soon.
So people. THROW ME IDEAS FOR THE SHORT STORY AND/OR THE YOUNG ADULT NOVEL. Or at least give me some opinion about the ideas I gave.
It's also really hard finding good scholarships to apply to because 85% of them need the applicant to show financial need...then like at least 20% of the ones I found are contests...so I have to do a lot more than just filling in an application and write a short essay. At the moment, I have 9 scholarships/contests that I want to apply for...3 of them being writing contests/award. That leads to my other point of this entry.
One of the contests I want to join is CBC Literary Awards. The deadline is November 1st, 2006. Basically I have to submit original and unpublished work in one of the three categories: short story (2,000 - 2,500 words), creative nonfiction (2,000 - 2,500 words), or poetry (1,000 - 2,000 words). I can submit as many entries as I like just as long as I don't submit one entry into two categories. I don't really know what I want to write though... I think I want to write a memoir piece which falls under creative nonfiction and a short story. I just need to brainstorm some interesting topics. A problem with this contest...the level is extremely high. I mean...all the winners are adults...and most of them are published writers. The main reason I want to join is to gain some experience. I have a month. Not too long. Not good. T_________T
Which leads me to the next contest. Delacorte Press Contest for a First Young Adult Novel. T___________T Again another freakin' hard contest because there's no age limit for writers/applicants. For all I care, I can be competing against published authors again. Any Canadian or American writer can join just as long as they have never published a young adult novel before. I need to submit a unpublished 100 - 224 page manuscript that has a contemporary setting, for readers ages 12-18. I personally think I'm crazy for wanting to join...but again...EXPERIENCE. =P What would people ages 12-18 be interested in reading anyways? Because I'm pretty sure the Agatha Christie books I'm reading right now does not fall into that category. The deadline is on December 31st, 2006. That's 3 months away. >________< I'm going to die...but I really want to try...because I've never written an original piece of work that's novel length... I mean...I have a multi-chaptered piece that I've neglected...but I'm not especially proud of it. A topic I really want to try writing is someone who is suffering from a serious disease...totally influenced by 1 Litre of Tears, 24Hr Terebi - Yuuki...etc. =P I want to stay away from love stories...mainly because I'm a romantic at heart and I'll end up writing something that's fluffy and sappy which is not a good idea. I want to write something more general but yet maybe inspirational. I don't know.
Last writing contest. The Fountainhead Essay Contest. Basically...read the book by Ayn Rand called The Fountainhead and write a 800-1600 words essay on given topic. My Eng Lit teacher told me the book was pretty...controversial and stuff. This contest is just for Gr.11s and 12s so at least I have a better chance at getting something compared to the last two. I need to go borrow the book from the library now. Though the deadline is a bit faraway - April 25th, 2007. So I still have time. First prize gets $10 000...while I doubt my essay-writing skills are that great...it's still nice to dream. =P A total of 244 awards are given...so just as long as I place somewhere within those 244...I'll a bit of money. Of course...it would be best to place first, second or third. At least there's multiple second and third prizes.
I shall die soon.
So people. THROW ME IDEAS FOR THE SHORT STORY AND/OR THE YOUNG ADULT NOVEL. Or at least give me some opinion about the ideas I gave.