Competitions vs. Challenges vs. Prompts

There's all sorts of ways to be motivated or inspired to write.  I just wanted to quickly highlight a few.

Writing Competitions - This is the bread and butter of this blog.  Nothing like money to motivate you.  The only way to have a chance is to take them seriously, so they will take up a bit of time. They come in all sorts of shapes an sizes, so there's a good chance one will be a great fit for you.

Writing Challenges. - Like the Poem A Day Challenge sponsored by Writer's Digest, or Story a Day, or NaNoWriMo.  These may have prizes associated with them, but don't have to.  These are great tool to really force a writer to write.  They are challenges for a reason, they hard and take a lot of work.  Make it through, and you might come away with something special.

Writing Prompts - These are everywhere. They are controversial. Some writers think they are waste of time.  Others find them to be welcome reliefs from writers block.  I'm pretty neutral on them.They're a lot less work than the other two, so if a quick dose of creative spark is needed, a prompt is the way to go

To use an athletic analogy - Prompts are like a light workout or casual pick-up game, Challenges are like conditioning drills or official practice, Competitions are game day, time to bring your best and come away a winner or a loser.

They all have something to offer and it just matters where you are in your writing journey.