This free writing competition is open to writers from around the world.
Write us a 600-word piece on the theme: The best writing tip I’ve ever received. We’ll publish the best piece in our newsletter and on our blog, plus the winner receives $200 (R2 000 or £100).
Send your entries to Nichola Meyer at nichola@nzwriterscollege.co.nz.
CLOSING DATE: 31 December 2022
Rules and Guidelines for Entries
Send in your entry in the body of the email, not as an attachment.
Use the subject line ‘My Writing Journey Competition’ in your email.
Entries must be no more than 600 words and must be the author’s original work.
Use Times New Roman size 12 or Arial size 11.
Read our January 2022 Winner here: Write About Things You Can Drop – by Kelly Eden:
https://www.thewriterscollege.com/best-writing-advice-write-about-things-you-can-drop/
Read our September 2021 Winner here: Don’t Wait for The Muse – by Terri Mulholland:
https://www.thewriterscollege.com/best-writing-tip-dont-wait-for-the-muse/
Read more past winning entries in our e-anthology ’22 Best Essays to Inspire New Writers’ – free to download. CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW to grab your copy.
Read the individual essays from past winners for the ‘My Writing Journey’ Competition below:
My Journey as a Writer
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How I Learned to Write Garbage
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Best Writing Advice: For more dynamic prose, replace “to be” and “to have.”
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HAYMAKER – by Clinton Matos
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Best Writing Advice: Find Your Voice
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Best Writing Advice: Ditch the Filters
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The One Surprising Tip That Will Make You A Better Writer
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Meeting the Potato Farmer on the Road to Publication
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Best Writing Advice: Do the Work
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The Writer in the Closet
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Best Writing Advice: The Power of Revision
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Best Writing Tip: Write as if Everyone You Know Is Dead
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Best Writing Advice: Mix Up Those Sentence Lengths
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Best Writing Advice: Show, Do Not Tell
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Best Writing Advice: Let your Characters Tell Their Story
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Best Writing Advice: Keep it Simple
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Best Writing Advice: Don’t Stop Writing
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Best Writing Advice – Learn through Reading
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The Greatest Writing Tip: Say What You Mean
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Best Writing Advice: Find the Story in the Pudgy Centre
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Best Writing Advice: Walking Through Other Worlds
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Best Writing Advice: Shattering Fictional Boundaries
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Best Writing Advice: If You’re Lucky
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Best Writing Advice: Use Simple Sentences
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The Earworm
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The Writer’s Muse is a Myth
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The Best Writing Advice: The Effectiveness of Rejection
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I heard DITCH but spelled B****
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To All The Words I’ve Yet To Write
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Best Writing Tip: Kill Your Adverbs
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E’s and F’s
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‘Give It to Yourself in a Story’ – the Best Writing Tip I Ever Received
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Words Like Butterflies
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Both Feet and No Safety Net
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The Best Writing Tip I’ve Ever Received: Keep it Real
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My Writing Journey – by Nkaela Mocumi
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My Movie Moment
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Weird, Minus One House-Point
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My Writing Journey
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My Big Fat Regret
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Neuroses & Nirvana
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Full Circle
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The Hundredth Day
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The Writing Lobe
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MY WRITING CHOPS
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Swan Lake – My Writing Journey
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African Dream
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MAGIC – by Thorne Busakwe
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It Started With a Bang – by Marianne Saddington
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Home – by Lyllie Colway
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Without a Hitch – by Kyle Rush
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My Writing Journey – By Alison Benge
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Making Magic – by HM Gruendler-Schierloh
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Bullies In My Pages – by Nthepa Moitsheki
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My Writing Journey – by Françoise Lempereur
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In a Moment – By Michele M. van Eck
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My persistent muse: the tortoise – by Keren Hoy
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All the way up to Cairo: a writer’s journey – by Adriaan Odendaal
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Born to be a Writer – by Michael Taylor
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What would my mother say?! By Hilary Murray
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Scribbler’s Progress: my writing journey – by Trish Nicholson
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Those wobbly days as a writer – by Louis Greenberg
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How a disastrous first job helped me find my passion for writing – by Varsha Lalla
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Making a Dream Come True – by Helen Yuretich
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Writing’s not for sissies! – by Nadia Kamies
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Dreams Come True – by Andrea Stitson
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The Other Woman – by Amanda Bidwell
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Just for Fun – By Helen Yuretich
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In Search of the Poetic Impulse – by Ross Fleming
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My Writing Journey – by Christie Williams
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‘The Best Writing Advice: How I Learned to Write Garbage’ by Sarah Kelleher – winner May 2021
‘The Best Writing Advice: Find Your Voice’ by Sandy Kline – winner September 2020
‘The Best Writing Advice: Ditch the Filters’ by John Tipper – winner May 2020
‘The Best Writing Advice: Do The Work’ by Nohlee Cloete – winner January 2020
‘The Best Writing Advice: The Power of Revision’ by Rosie Sorenson – joint winner September
and
‘The Best Writing Advice: Mix Up Those Sentence Lengths’ by Ginny Stone – winner May 2019
‘The Best Writing Tip: Say What You Mean’ by Danielle Ramaekers – winner January 2019
‘The Best Writing Tip: Kill Your Adverbs’ by Nikky Lee – winner September 2018
‘‘The Best Writing Tip I’ve Ever Received’ by Anna Stroud – winner June 2018
‘My Movie Moment’ by Tracy Solea – winner January 2018
‘‘Weird, Minus One House-Point’ by Carmen Marcus – winner September 2017
‘My Big Fat Regret‘ by Leonie Fourie and ‘My Writing Journey‘ by Glenn McGoldrick – joint winners May 2017
‘My Journey as a Writer’ by Heinrich van der Walt and
‘Neuroses and Nirvana‘ by David Whitaker – joint winners January 2017
‘Full Circle’ by Natalie Swain – winner September 2016
‘The Hundredth Day’ by Do Hyun Kang – Winner July 2016
‘The Writing Lobe’ by Eileen Kennedy – Winner March 2016
‘Meeting the Potato Farmer on the Road to Publication’ by Gabriella Brand – Winner Dec 2015
‘Haymaker’ by Clinton Matos – Winner September 2015
‘African Dream’ by Olakunle Oladiran – Winner May 2015
‘Magic’ by Thorne Busakwe – Winner January 2015
‘My Writing Journey’ by Nkaela Mocumi – Winner September 2014
‘It Started with a Bang’ by Marianne Saddington – Winner June 2014
Read the March 2014 winning entry here.
Read the December 2013 winning entry here.
Read the September 2013 joint winning entry here.
Read the September 2013 joint winning entry here.
Read the May 2013 winning entry here.
Read the February 2013 winning entry here.
Read the December 2012 winning entry here.
Read the September 2012 winning entry here.
Read the June 2012 winning entry here.
Read the February 2012 winning entry here.
Read the November 2011 winning entry here.
Read the September 2011 winning entry here.
Read the June 2011 winning entry here.
Read the April 2011 winning entry here.
Read the February 2011 winning entry here.
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