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Artists sometimes need to be given deadlines in order for them to
stick to their work to finish a longstanding work or to complete an
unfinished work. Everybody needs to have a deadline in one way or
another and at certain points in time.
Among all artists, the writer is perhaps the
most familiar with that dreaded deadline. The deadline is either a
self-imposed one (e.g. “I have to finish five stories to publish
my book this year) or one that the publication dictated upon the
writer (e.g. “I should finish that article on Angel Locsin today
or else I won’t get paid and my editor will sack me”). Either
way, it works for writers—or perhaps I should say it should work
for writers.
But when it comes to
submitting entries to writing competitions, it always works. Take
the case of the Palanca deadline.
The end of April is a very important deadline
for literary writers in the Philippines as it is the fixed deadline
of the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, the highest
literary honor of the country that writers aim to snag at least once
in their lifetime. I’m sure all writers out there right now are
scribbling their hearts out to complete entries, revise manuscripts
and acquire the necessary forms and documents that go with the
submission.
While some writers beat their keyboards to beat
this Palanca deadline, others have resisted this urge. I’ve heard
poets and fictionists claim that the awards are biased, present an
unequal assessment of one’s artistry and so on. They also don’t
believe in writing for the sole sake of submitting entries for a
contest deadline. They believe writers should follow their natural
path of creativity, to write as long as they want and without such a
fixed deadline to follow. They don’t believe in writing for the
sole sake of winning a contest either.
But what’s wrong with writing for a contest
deadline? Some writers are totally okay with the idea, saying that
at least, because of their perseverance to beat a contest deadline,
they are able to produce new works or revise old works in the
process. I am all for that.
Whatever process works for you as a writer, then
so be it. The most important thing for us writers is—deadline or
no deadline, and contest or no contest—we are able to produce more
works. That always helps Philippine literature. I am all for that.
Good luck to all Palanca hopefuls.
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Comments? Suggestions? E-mail
libay.scribevibe@gmail.com.
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