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The Ins and Outs of Free Writing Contests
(free writing contests)
Free writing contests are available by the thousands. They are virtually a dime a dozen on the Internet. No matter what your niche is in the writing community there is a free writing contests out there for you. How do you know which ones to enter and which ones are legitimate? That’s simple. You do what you do best-- research.
While providing the story for the free writing contest will probably be the easy part, researching the thousands of available contests will be a daunting task. If this is un-chartered water for you, you have the start at the beginning. Finding what free writing contests are available. Grab a notebook or start a word document and list the contests that are available. Beside each contest name you will want to put what kind of writing they are looking for and when it needs to be done by. By doing this first you will be able to eliminate any that do not coincide with your writing niche or with your schedule.
Now the free writing contest research begins. Finding out if a contest is worthwhile and legitimate is comparable to running a background check on a person. First check the contest website. Do they have all contact information available? Do they tell you what company is hosting the contest? If they are not, you will have likely found warning number one that it is a scam. So scratch those off your list or at least move them to the bottom until you can find out more information on them. Start asking around to colleagues and writers groups. Search the writing forums and the Internet scam sites. The Better Business Bureau is also a good place to look.
Once you narrowed the free writing contests down to the legitimate ones, read the contest rules and regulations. Some contests require you signing over all rights to a story even if you don’t win. Are you willing to do this? Giving up rights to you writing is a lot easier to do when you are getting something in return. After you enter there is no going back, so make sure this is what you want to do.
The final thing you need to look for is if the contest is just a cover up to get you to buy services or products. This does not necessarily mean they are a scam or don’t actually award winners. It simply means that they will try to entice you to use their critiquing services or offer you a book at a reduced fee that your work will be published in. Being published sounds like a great deal but is it a book that carries prestige that people are going to see?
Many authors think that writing contests will launch their career into a successful endeavor. This is not the case, especially for free writing contests. Even winning the grand prize of a smaller known contest is not going to affect your literary journey. Even though they may not springboard your career, there are good reasons to join writing contests. You will get unbiased opinions and valuable feedback from the judges. If you make it into the higher rounds, editors could also see your writing.
Ultimately whether you enter a free writing contest the choice is yours. Just ask you self if the time spent writing and researching the piece you choose to enter is worth writing for free in most cases. The critique and feedback may be the most worthwhile thing you receive from the contest. But then again the judges opinions are a dime a dozen just like the contests.
Copyright lawyer guild What exactly is a copyright lawyer guild? A copyright lawyer guild is just like any other guild, it a is club just for copyright lawyers. Many times you can find a list of names of all the copyright lawyers that have joined, as well as all their contact info and if they have a website or not. Sometimes you will have to be invited to join, while others it is free for you to look around. However as a guest you may only be able to view certain information, once you pay though you’ll get to look at all the goodies the guild holds. There will most likely be a select amount of newsletters put out by the guild, the number depends on the guild itself and how many they want. In a way this is very much like a writer’s guild, you will have a list of every writer in a certain state and their information about them. Any client can find a copyright lawyer’s guild online, this is basically a site that lists all types of information about copyrights, cases, lawyers, releases and much more. A client may even find out if the their copyright lawyer has been acknowledged for any special awards in the at-a-guy section, not all have this but most will. There will probably be a lot of articles on copyright issues and might explain to you what it is you need. You can also find cases that are currently going on and others that have already been through trial, this is a great way to stay up to date with all the latest copyrighting issue. If you are lawyer it is great so you always know what is going on and what is being added to the laws that already exist. One may even find a forum inside an online copyright lawyer’s guild; this opens doors to both clients and lawyers. A lawyer may be able to find help in an area they aren’t 100% about and a client is able to ask for help without being charged. A copyright lawyer guild may also be a group that meets every couple of months at a restaurant, office or a number of different places to discuss things. Topics may include things they are dealing with, cases in the press or inside the office, or hot topics in the field. How to help a client that is upset, how to use etiquette in emails, etc. They may watch a short film on copyrights and how they effect the business. There may be a few seminars that they are invited too or asked to actually give speeches at, the topics are endless but will all reflect on their field of expertise. Guilds are a great way for a person to meet and greet others in their profession and share stories or experiences with one another. Not all copyright lawyer guild list every lawyer, only those that pay for membership are. Which means if your lawyer hasn’t paid his dues than he won’t be listed, however this doesn’t make him a bad lawyer. Your lawyer may just be starting up and hasn’t got around to joining a guild or if he’s been around for a while maybe he hasn’t had much luck in finding clients through guilds and would rather do it the way he’s been doing it. Can Job Sharing Boost your Employee Profile? Job sharing is one of the newer occurring work arrangements on the job market. It means that two or more people share one full time position. Most often it is two people that work part time on the same position. This kind of work sharing is a great invention for all parents that want to spend more time with their children or for people that are just not made for a full time job. Job sharing is a flexible job option that shares one person’s responsibilities between two people. So, can job sharing boost your employee profile? Yes, of course is the answer to that. The reasons why job sharing boosts your employee profile are widely spread. Job sharing can bring benefits not only to employees but also to employers and companies. Start by looking at the aspect of sharing your work. If you are sharing a full time position load with another person, pressure is less on you. You still have the same deadline, but the pressure is shared and you can work more efficiently on your work assignments. Less stress makes for a happier more relaxed employee that can tackle the work given to him or her easily. This makes the employee a more balanced person. The possibility to stay at home while still having a chance to be part of a company can further your career and keep your skills up to date and this makes for a well balanced worker. Another reason why job sharing might boost your employee profile is that two people working part time actually can get more work done as one full time employee. Why is that? Well, that is very easy. While the full time employee is very tired in the mid afternoon from his already long day, the person coming in for the second half of the day has had time to relax all morning long and therefore can start with new end fresh energy and thoughts on the shared work. Should the position not be shared in half days, but in each taking a few full days, then the people sharing the position are still more relaxed and motivated. They are able to be with their family, able to rest and regenerate or have fun with some of their favorite hobbies. Psychologists and researchers have long praised the effect that a fun family filled time and enough time to be you and relax can boost your employees’ work input as well as their efficiency. In countries where employees have fewer hours per week and more vacation days a year, the work output per person is in general higher and employees are happy and motivated and stay with their company for long periods of time, if not all the way up to retirement. Additionally, if you have a good amount of time off from work, you are most likely a very motivated and happy employee and your boss and fellow employees will see you as a positive person to be around at the work place. Being a leader and motivator is all that a boss can hope for and therefore, sharing the position can immensely boost your profile. For employers, there is also the consideration of your benefits. Some companies might not pay benefits to part time employees and two part time positions will save you money. In this case, your profile is simply boosted by the fact that your employer saves money. Although in some companies, there are benefits for part-time employees and those can be based on different facts, such as hours worked, full-time benefits and more. Before considering sharing your job and entering the world of part-time employment, make sure that this is exactly what you are looking for in a job. Once you are sharing your position, there might not be a way back to full time, at least not within your own company. |