Why Didn't My Essay Win?

When you hate to hurt people’s feelings, it’s killer to spell out why an essay didn’t win. But a few people have wondered, even gone as far as hinting it would help their future chances and future writing. So, briefly, I’ll hit on a few reasons essays didn’t win our contests, and perhaps it will help in other contests and opportunities, too.


We’re a Christian magazine that believes in religious tolerance. We’re not anti-any religion, including our own. A few entries have been clearly anti-Christian. I’m so sorry. No matter how well it’s written, that just doesn’t work for us.

Conversely, some entries had a purpose of trying to convert people. They had a strong ‘my way, the only way’ feel to them. For some reason, that pushes us away.

Some really good entries have had some fatal traits. One writer has almost won twice, and both times lost because of repeating the same word or phrase so many times, it lost its impact and became an obstacle to the story. It was too bad, because they were deep messages.

I blush at this one, because I admit I’ve done this myself, and swear I will never do it again. Taking a well-written essay and tacking on the theme doesn’t work. Again, some well-written entries didn’t win, because they simply weren’t about our topic. Adding a line or two just didn’t make it work.

I’m also guilty of this next one: preaching. We love essays that are personal and show your vulnerable side. Those preachy essays are easily corrected by admitting you’ve been there.

Not going deep enough into yourself is another problem I’d love to see corrected by some talented writers. Several writers, some with professional credentials, seemed to keep their essays superficial. It’s another flaw I struggle with. Here’s my suggestion. As you write and re-read, ask yourself, “Why is that?” several times throughout the story. You might be surprised at what you realize. It also allows you to be vulnerable, which makes your story personal.

Finally, a call for essays is a call for essays. We turned down some good fiction and poetry, because it wasn’t what we wanted. But if that’s your specialty, when we call for fiction, I hope you’ll still submit to us.

It’s Like Martial Arts

    When I taught martial arts, you had to perfect the basics before you could move on to the higher levels. My students always thought it was fun when they started learning flying kicks and techniques like that. But when it comes down to a street fight, to protecting yourself, you always go back to the basics. Bruce Lee even said that. You can learn advanced techniques and earn degrees of black belts in different styles, but when you need it, the only thing that counts is how well you do the basics.
    Our book is like that, too. It's basic, easy reading. It's not filled with big words and theories. It's all things you can read and use immediately, today. "The Right to God" really is about your right to God, one of the most basic concepts there is. But when it comes right down to it, that's what's most important … the basics.
    ---Ron Dugan

What We Loved About the Winners

If you wonder why we chose the winning essays in our first contest, here's a short rundown. We'll also drop a few hints at what doesn't hit us quite right. And while we're at it, we'll let you know where we're willing to expand our borders.

The winners were the ones we kept thinking about when we put the essays down and walked away. A nugget, a truth, an image lingered in our minds as we went to work or cooked supper. For Darlene Pistocchi's essay, our First Place, it was that single line that kept echoing in our minds: "What had I done to my canvas?" That one line sums up her entire essay and struck a chord. How many times have we felt like we really messed up the canvas this time? I loved the idea that it was a masterpiece once and could be again.

Virgil Youngblood's Second Place essay was a different story. His created an image of a set-jawed, hard-lipped old time Christian, who then gave it all over to God, and watched a slow, miraculous change in his life. One after another, his realities shifted as he became a different person.

Stephanie Beck's Third Place essay, Peanut Butter Sandwiches, took another track entirely. Stephanie had that profound spiritual experience we were hoping to find in the essays. A moment swept over her and changed her life in a day. But something subtle lingered with us. When someone has an intense spiritual experience, people sometimes try to rationalize why it happened to "you, and not me." It ranges from, "It must have been because…" to disbelief to anger. On the radio recently, I heard a speaker passionately urging listeners to talk about their spiritual experiences, bordering on accusing people of being selfish by keeping it to themselves. The talk show host quickly called him on it, pointing to her own experience of people thinking she was crazy. "Besides," she said simply in a New York accent. "Not every experience is meant to be shared. Some are for us alone."

Thomas Fuhrman raised just that question in his Fourth Place essay when he said, "I would like someone to believe me." Thomas did the most incredible thing. He prayed what, to us, is one of the hardest prayers. He said to God, if anything in his life stood between him and God, he wanted God to take it away. He didn't pick and choose. He said, "Anything." Sometimes when God answers a prayer, you alone have the strong sense of "God did this." It's personal, and no one else gets it like you do. As Thomas wrote, regardless of whether God actually "did this," Thomas's prayer and his reaction to a series of thefts brought him closer to God. We loved that. Instead of resenting God for something lost, he let it take him further down God's path.

Charity Vester's Fifth Place essay did something few entries did. It made us laugh. It had humor. Why not? Isn't the spiritual path about losing burdens? But it also had that one line that carried on when we walked away. "I was supposed to be in Peru." That line has already become a metaphor for something that clearly wasn't on our agenda, but appears to be on God's plan. I hadn't planned to write a book about God. I had planned to write a novel. "I was supposed to be in Peru," I think, and I smile, because while Charity was cleaning up after dogs instead of wandering Peru, she was quietly spreading the truth, that relationship with God makes us happy, no matter how much the circumstance conflicts with our original plan.

For all of the winners, a common thread was the way they applied to everyday spirituality. We had some well-written, passionate entries that addressed hot-button issues. But our focus is the everyday walk, the people we love, the daily prayers and trials. We're unlikely to publish polarizing issues, unless it's part of the Both Sides Now column. We like the personal story, the one that makes us feel something, the line that lingers after we put down the paper. We are open to essays that explore walking with God in so many ways. It doesn't have to be distinctly Christian, but if it feels anti-Christian, it's not right for us. A few people have written and asked if we're open on certain things, like blog entries or fiction. (Yes, to blog entries, and no, not doing fiction right now.) If you have a question, feel free to shoot us an email.

We want to bring people closer to God, and we're open on how that happens. This month's contest already has some interesting entries, some potential winners rising to the top. The deadline is August 15. If you have a story to tell, this is a great place for it. Check out the rules here: Echoes Essay Contest.

Announcement: Essay Contest, And It Pays!

 

Ron and I have launched an essay contest and an on-line magazine to showcase it. And here's the gold key: It pays! $100 first prize.

The topic is "Echoes of The Right to God." What that means is we want to hear stories that reflect our God-given right to walk with God. You don't have to read our book to enter the contest. Come on! We have no way of tracking who orders our book, unless they order direct from the author. But we do want essays that get it, if you know what I mean.

The whole contest has multiple purposes. It's to promote our book, sure, but it's also to promote the entire concept of having God's love, and using that as your launch point in life, instead of struggling with the many "rules" put on us by people who have something to gain personally from us buying into their rules. But here's where it gets tricky, and here's where you have to get it. We're not anti-church. Far from it. Original Christianity is beautiful and liberating. It seems ironic that returning to a liberating, spiritual state is actually considered renegade Christianity by some.

Be fair warned! We've already been told some of our beliefs are outside of the mainstream of Christian thought. So be it. We believe it's completely Biblical, but when you read our book or our on-line journal, that's why we encourage you to look up every verse. See what it says around it. Pray on it, and see what you think. We've also been told by other Christians in the mainstream that they completely agree with our views. One close friend confided that she had a crisis of faith about a year ago ---I'm sorry I didn't pick up on it. Part of that crisis was some of the teachings that she just can't reconcile.

Our on-line journal is going to take on some of those topics, those hard questions dividing Christians. We're not out to attack anybody. We're after respectful discussion and insightful thinking. Christians are whispering that they're divided on issues. Worse, some of these rules and thought lines are creating a place where some people believe they're too bad even for God.

The other day, I heard someone speaking on the radio about a set of rules laid out in Ephesians that are inviolable. The speaker was spelling out the hard rules, the big daddies, where you have no tolerance for other opinions, and beneath that were soft rules, where you had your beliefs but could have tolerance for other thoughts. I've read Ephesians, and I didn't remember these rules, but, hey, I'm no Bible scholar, so I looked the verses up. What I found was that the author, Paul, was talking about fruits of the spirit. He didn't call them rules, couched in threats. They reflected God's love growing in us, not the other way around, where we prove our love to God.

So many of the current thoughts subtly ---sometimes not so subtly--- encourage a belief of 'good Christian', 'bad Christian.' But C.S. Lewis said it best in Mere Christianity when he said good Christian or bad Christian is a myth. Christian is a noun. You are or you aren't. It's not a measurement, but a definition.

We're out to undo some of the misconceptions pushing people away from God, away from Christianity, sometimes out of ignorance, sometimes out of greed. Agree with us or not, why not join in?

Here's our site. There's a link on the first page to the essay contest and on-line journal. www.RightToGod.com.

Welcome aboard. Let's have fun.