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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

P.O.M.P.O.M.S. For The Post-Contest Cheers

Yesterday Pepper brought us yummy chocolate to ease the Post-Contest Blues. Well, today I am bring you the tools to celebrate your Post-Contest Cheers. All cheerleaders have tools of the trade: their pompoms. So grab your tools and get to celebrating!

P   -  Praise - 1 Chronicles - 16:34 "Give thanks to God—he is good and his love never quits."

Praise your Father in heaven, who gifted you to write and in His own time, has given you success. I am sure you turn to God first and give him thanks, but truly He is our audience and He is the one who opens the door of opportunity for us.

O  -  Order thank you notes - Colossians 3:15 "And cultivate thankfulness." 

You don't really need to order thank you notes, but you do need to send thank you's to your contest judges. Even if your scores were not what you had hoped, the judges may have families and obligations just like you and gave up their valuable time to volunteer in this way. Forward your thank you to your contest coordinator, making sure you include the judge's number, and she will forward it to the correct address.

M  - MassageProverbs 1:30 -  "First pay attention to me, and then relax. Now you can take it easy—you're in good hands."

Oh, this may be my favorite. Treat yourself to a massage. You know you've been feeling those kinks in your shoulders for all that polishing and synopsis writing. Splurge a little. You deserve it!

 P  - Polish your manuscript.- Isaiah 5:27 - "None drag their feet, no one stumbles, no one sleeps or dawdles. Shirts are on and pants buckled, every boot is spit-polished and tied."

Oh yes. Don't wait until the winner is announced to get your manuscript ready. Buckle down and polish that baby up. Who knows? A big name editor or agent might request a full and you want to be able to send that shining manuscript their way.

O - Oscillate: Keep looking around, back and forth, for the next great idea.  1 Thessalonians 1:11 - "Pray that our God will make you fit for what he's called you to be, pray that he'll fill your good ideas and acts of faith with his own energy so that it all amounts to something."

Yeah, I had trouble finding a word...and scripture...for this O. But don't sit on your laurels (not sure what that is, but it's a nice sounding word, don't you think?) dwelling on the same manuscript. Keep your eyes open for the next big idea for a story. You never know what will spark the germ for a fascinating tale. 

M - Microphone: Grab a mic and give a shout out to other finalists and encourage those who didn’t final. – 1 Thessalonians 5:9 - "So speak encouraging words to one another. Build up hope so you'll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind."

Be a gracious winner. I confess, I am not good in this, but I had some wonderful examples of it this week. I had other finalists facebook me, requesting friendship and congratulating me. I had a couple of authors email me congratulations and encouraged me in my writing. I had twitter messages sent and comments on my blog. It was an outpouring of love. Reach out to others. Share their joy. Commiserate with their pain.

S  - Sit your behind in a chair and write. – Galations 6:4 - "Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don't be impressed with yourself. Don't compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own life."

You should know this by heart, because it is the hallmark of a writer. Sit down and write. Keep writing new stories. Keep filling the page with ink. The more you write, the better you get. The better you get, the greater your chances are of making that sale. 

So as you cheer and celebrate, remember first who enabled you and give Him thanks. Then look to others, affirming and encouraging them. Finally, keep pursuing your dream. Keep writing. 

Write to your heart's content.

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Scripture from The Message (and taken WAY out of context for my purposes)

13 comments:

  1. I'm not a writer, but I love all the encouraging words with a Bible verse that matches it perfectly. I'll have to share them with others.

    plhouston(at)bellsouth(dot)net

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  2. LOL. Very creative, Sherrinda. There's so much to learn about good contest entry etiquette! If I ever get the courage (and a synopsis together) I'll have to try entering one and then I'll be able to apply your Post Contest Cheers rules. LOL.

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  3. Great advice, Sherrinda! Will work on my thank you notes today!

    Congrats again on being a semi-finalist!

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  4. Great post, Sherrinda! Where you came up with Oscillate, I'll never know. lol... *waves pompoms at you*

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  5. Love this post, Sherrinda! Especially Galatians 6:4 where it talks about doing your creative best. Wow. That totally pumped me up. Now I need to figure out how to type with these monstrous pompoms in my hands. :)

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  6. Patsy, you don't need to be a writer to understand the power of affirmation. We all get affirmation from God in different ways. :)

    Kav, you can do it! It is hard to put your stuff out there, but at some point you just have to. You learn so much even if you don't final. (I just got my scores back from my other entry that I entered...yikes! But the feedback was incredible and I can use it to make it better.)

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  7. Ralene! Oscillate just came to me...I was thinking about looking for ideas and just kind of shaking my head back and forth...and it came to me. Back and forth, back and forth... lolol

    Sarah, thanks. I loved the Galations 6 verse. Seriously, Galations is becoming my favorite chapter these days. Happy PomPom typing!

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  8. Absolutely LOVE this post, Sherrinda.
    Twix Twin!
    The ying to my yang. LOL.

    Oh man, and I'm liking the idea of a massage. Wow. Wouldn't that be great! My 5 year old offers, but it's just not the same thing.

    What a great paraphrase of Galatians 6:4. THAT should be a new writing mantra.

    Love you - and BEST. OF. LUCK with May!!!

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  9. Ditto, Pepper aka Twinkie ;)

    Good Luck to YOU!

    And you are right...it SHOULD be our writing mantra! It fits perfect, doesn't it?

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  10. A Pepper Twinkie?
    Hmmm....
    Nah, that would taste awful ;-)

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  11. Such a creative post, Sherrinda. Well done!
    And congrats again.

    Add me to the list of people appreciating Galatians as a mantra.

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  12. Loved your post. I always understood "resting on your laurels" to be from the ancient Olympic games when the winner received a laurel wreath instead of the gold medals they give today. So resting on your laurels is being satisfied with past achievements.

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  13. MaryC....Congratulations to YOU! Isn't it such an affirmation? :)

    Terrie, thank you for that reminder of our laurels! Perfect!

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