stock-vector-welcome-to-england-red-round-ribbon-stamp-285269771 — still doing the vacay thing

The winners of April’s Word Weaver Writing Contest share their thoughts on the contest, writing in general, and other stuff.

Today our fourth place winner, Richard Ewald, answers a few questions about our contest and other writerly things.

(Click HERE to read his contest entry)

I’m not sure why Richard’s answers came out red, but I found it interesting and decided to leave them as is.

1. Did you write your story for the contest or was it part of a larger piece or something you had written before?

I had written the story a few months prior to the contest, and when I heard about the travel theme, I thought I’d submit it.

2. Tell us about your writing process. What is the journey from idea to published piece /completed story?

Circuitous. Tortuous. Like trying to walk across a mine field using only a map of downtown Toledo. I usually make an outline, and it ALWAYS gets completely butchered before I’m halfway through. And then I feel bad that I am not keeping the outline in sync with the writing, but not bad enough to go and edit it. The endings are usually fait accompli by that time, so I just go for it.

3. Where do you do your writing?

Atlanta. Come visit me. My current preferred mode / location is on my MacBook Air while sitting in Starbucks.

4. Do you have a writing goal you want to achieve?

Mostly just to have fun. But beyond that, I have a massive story arc that I’ve been trying to eek a small enough story out of to fit into three or four books. However, I’ve once again put that one on hold. My current passion (and hopefully new book project) is to document the Empower Women of India Tour, which is about to start. It’s a yearlong tour by my close friend Ruxandra. She’ll be visiting 38 cities in India, giving free speeches and trainings to women to help them in the face of severe societal opposition to women’s rights. I’ll join her for six weeks later this year, and I intend to turn the whole experience into a book. (Shameless plug … check out our GoFundMe campaign, and please consider donating to help empower the women of India. (Click HERE for more info – Dan)

5. What helps you the most when it comes to writing?

Coffee!!! Seriously. That and the absence of screaming babies.

6. What does writing success look like?

Lots of dancing girls wearing Hawaiian skirts. Or sometimes just finally being able to sleep because you don’t have to think about the book anymore.

7. What are you working on now?

I’m building a writing resources website … (click HERE to view ePrompts.com – Dan) … as a way of paying it forward to others who want to improve their writing.

8. There are a lot of writing contest out there. What drew you to this one?

Dan’s humor. Seriously. This guy cracks me up. And the really awesome and truly useful prizes. And mostly his offer to provide critiques for entries. That’s really amazing.

9. Have you ever entered a writing contest before?

Nope. First one.

10. Will we see you again in the July Word Weaver Writing Contest?

I will consider it. Did Dan announce the theme yet? (Not yet – Dan)

11. Did you know the piece you submitted was special?

Well my mom thought it …. never mind. I did feel it had some very good vibes going on. I’m excited to use Dan’s feedback to improve it.

12. What’s next for you?

More screaming babies. Thanks for asking. But really I’m focused on fundraising for this India project at the moment. I just finished writing an email to Bill Gates.