How Not To Win a Contest and Still Come Out a Winner

On February 23, 2026February 24, 2026 By rdean2014In Californium, Creative Nonfiction, Delicate Men, fiction, R Dean JohnsonLeave a comment

I never win writing contests. Not in middle or high school. Not in college. Not even in my MFA program. (Though years later they did ask me to judge the contest I never won, and I was honored to do so). Even post-MFA, with my first two manuscripts–Delicate Men: Stories, and Californium: A Novel of Punk Rock, Growing Up, and Other Dangerous Things–I entered a few contests and came close with the story collection (getting short-listed twice). And that’s what is great about contests; they give you goals and deadlines (writers need deadlines, especially for big projects), and you know your manuscript will be read with care.

Eventually, both of my first two books found publication in the (for me) more traditional way: Delicate Men through soliciting indie presses on my own and Californium through the imprint of a big New York press solicited by my agent. Yet, I’d argue that having to get them ready for contests was a great way to get them ready for acquisitions editors and literary agents.

So, when my third book, Poser: A Mostly-True Memoir-in-Essays, was ready to shop, did I think things would be any different? Not exactly. I’m a realistic optimist. I thought the fact that I’d published two books might mean I could write a third that could, perhaps, be contest-worthy, but I also know how hard it is to win a contest no matter how great the manuscript it. I tried ot be thoughtful about the contests I entered in terms of who the judges and press were and how my book aligned with that, and when I was a Finalist for the Permafrost Book Prize but didn’t win, I wasn’t shocked or too disappointed. It was affirming that this manuscript was almost good enough to win, and that had me looking at more contests, especially the ones that also give themselves the option of publishing not just the winner but some of the finalists.

That’s what lead me to enter Vine Leaves Press’s 2026 International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition (applications are now open for the 2027 competition, by the way). They only guarantee they’ll publish the winner, but the option to publish the finalists is there. After being long-listed, I was pleased. After being short-listed, and therefore a finalist, I was excited but still realistic. Afterall, I don’t win contests. There were five finalists, so a 20% chance I’d win and an 80% chance I would not.

Weeks later, when I received an email informing me I, in fact, did not win, I wasn’t surprised and once again was only a little disappointed. My writing, this book, was once again affirmed. And it’s nice to have your name and book title listed in the company of teriffic authors.

The email kept going, however, which was a surprise. There was this extra bit about how I had finished runner-up, and how much Vine Leaves Press liked Poser, and how they’d very much like to publish it and would be offering me a contract. At that moment, I didn’t know how to feel. I hadn’t been here before. This wonderful, Athens, Greece-based press hadn’t just named me runner-up, they’d just awarded me a silver medal (metaphorically, of course).

And so I didn’t win, and yet I won. My third book, Poser, will be published in February, 2028, by Vine Leaves Press. In the time between now and then, I’ll work with the editing team and, on my own, work on my fourth book, a novel, and fifth book, a story collection. And yes, when the time comes to shop those books, I’ll think about entering some contests, certain I won’t win, and still enter them anyway, because there’s more than one way to be a winner.

A Free Chapbook for Your Thoughts.

On October 27, 2018 By rdean2014In Chapbook, Creative Nonfiction, Giveaway, R Dean JohnsonLeave a comment

So I have this chapbook, Something L.A., and I’d love to see it actually get a review or FullSizeRender ten on GoodReads. (Yes, I’m giving away at least 10). If you’re up for a true, funny story about a modeling agency party in Hollywood that also features two famous people making cameos (no spoilers, but one’s an actor and one’s a musician), and you wouldn’t mind writing a short review (like, 2-5 sentences) and posting it, I’ll send you the chapbook for free. Just message me with your address from my website (rdeanwriter.com), Facebook (R Dean Johnson), Instagram or Twitter (both @rdeanwriter), or good old-fashioned email (r-dean.johnson@eku.edu). I’ve even sign it to you (unless you plan to re-gift or sell it, then I won’t; just let me know).

Book Review: Hallow This Ground

On December 7, 2017 By rdean2014In Creative Nonfiction, R Dean JohnsonLeave a comment

In essays that take us from the field where flight 93 crashed on 9/11 to a bumpy road between two concentration camps at Treblinka, Colin Rafferty contemplates the personal in the public memorials marking some of history’s most tragic events. Part memoir, part new journalism, part lyric, and part immersion, Hallow This Ground (Indiana University Press, 2016) is more than a collection of essays. Rafferty leads the reader to a complete whole as thematic ties bind these essays together even as, individually, they stand alone.

At a time when Civil War monuments are hotly debated, Rafferty reminds us that a memorial, no matter which side of history you are on, is at best an approximation of the people and events it attempts to honor. And as we see the experience of each place grow personal for the author, we can’t help but bring our own experience to the read as well, creating a book that is so many things at once—warm, thoughtful, timely, informative, and wholly enjoyable.

hallow

A tease of The Journal (Winter 2017)

On February 17, 2017February 17, 2017 By rdean2014In Creative Nonfiction, fiction, poetry, R Dean JohnsonLeave a comment

To say there’s a bit of sex weaving its way through this latest issue of The Journal (issue 41.1) would be too crass, too sh the-journal allow, and only somewhat near the mark.

Poets Miguel Murphy (p. 18) and Adam Day (p. 66) are turning sex around (yes, all puns intended), turning it sideways (literally, you’ll see), making it new yet familiar, painful yet pleasurable, and you’ll be conflicted, unsure if you should be smirking or feeling guilty when it’s over. Then you’ll go back for more, wondering if you should but unable to stop yourself.

And don’t think you can slip away into some prose when someone starts reading over your shoulder. Kathryn Nuernberger’s nonfiction (26) will turn on you in pleasing ways as well, bring even more meaning to what the French call, “the little death.”

There’s much, much more to be loved in this issue but this is, after all, just a tease.

Errors

On May 27, 2016 By rdean2014In Creative Nonfiction, R Dean Johnson, Reading, UncategorizedLeave a comment

This spring they’ve been adding up:

Soooooo many typos. In emails and manuscripts. On Facebook and Twitter. Maybe because I’m left-handed. Perhaps because I’m a four-finger and two-thumbs typist. Probably because I’m forever in a hurry and rushing through things without proof-reading well enough.
There was that bike crash I had right before AWP. The one where I broke my left wrist and pinky finger, got a concussion (which only added to the typos), cracked my mandible, added three manly new scars to my face, and made me miss AWP.
Like, a month ago, my essay “Errors” came out in the journal, Salt Hill, along with a lot of other excellent work (I’m really digging the story “Bald Bear” by Becky Mandelbaum), and I really should have thanked Jacob Collins-Wilson, the nonfiction editor at SH) and mentioned all of this a lot sooner, like, a month ago.

Where I’m Going. Where I’ve Been.

On January 18, 2016January 18, 2016 By rdean2014In Chapbook, Creative Nonfiction, Delicate Men, fiction, Novel, R Dean Johnson, Reading, Short Story Collection2 Comments

DM_Trinity College This is supposed to be my 2015 writerly wrap-up. It probably should have posted a month ago. But that’s kind of what 2015 was all about. My story collection, DELICATE MEN, came out so late in 2014 (December 29) it felt more like 2015. And so, the year began with things arriving late and that never really went away.
I finished my MFA in 2003, and here it was, just twelve short years later, and I was giving readings with my brand new book. My first book. Better late than… well, it was just really great to see it arrive, and then to see where it went—those readings with me, into the hands of people I’ve never met but who were kind enough to email me their impressions, and to far-flung places like Brasil, England, and Scotland. DELICATE MEN even visited, courtesy of my old college roommate whom I hadn’t heard from in years, its distant cousins at Trinity College Library in Dublin.

Delicate Men_Scotland Also in 2015, my agent, Mackenzie Brady Watson, sold my first novel, CALIFORNIUM, to Plume-Penguin. I’d taken long gaps in working on the novel and taken a long time revising it. In fact, technically it’s the first book I ever wrote, but it will be the third book published with my name on it. (There’s a collection of pedagogical essays I edited, TEACHABLE MOMENTS, floating around this world too).

Late in 2015, my essay, “Something L.A.” was published as a chapbook through Blue Cubicle Press’s Overtime Series. I’d written the early drafts of that essay four years earlier.
At first glance, it may look like 2015 was this extraordinarily productive year for me. And it was in terms of publishing. But I spent most of the year revising the manuscripts of Something L.A. and Californium for my editors, another big chunk of the year it reading from and promoting DELICATE MEN, and far too little of it writing.
Apollo Reading 1

I’m not complaining. In discussing where to start a story, I ask my beginning writing students all the time: When is the best time to arrive at a party? There’s usually one polite, attentive, pleasant student who says, “On time” or “When it’s scheduled to start.” And there’s usually one mostly polite, fairly attentive, slightly unpredictable student who says, “Late” or “When things are really getting good.” Yep.

My essay, “Errors,” will be out in the Spring 2016 issue of Salt Hill. CALIFORNIUM, now with the subtitle: A Novel of Punk Rock, Growing Up, and Other Dangerous Things, will be out July 19, 2016. I’ve got a few readings planned already, and I get to spend three weeks with my MFA students in Lisbon this coming July too. (I’ll be getting some selfies with both books). If 2015 was the year of Late, I’d like to think 2016 is the year of things really getting good. Californium_WSub

What November Really Means in Publishing

On September 3, 2015 By rdean2014In Chapbook, Creative NonfictionLeave a comment

So when your editor says your chapbook will most likely be out in November, you figure there’s a 75% chance that will actually happen, a 20% chance it will be out in December, and a 5% chance it will be some other time, like January or February, or maybe part of a two-year backlog. What you don’t expect, or at least I didn’t, is that the chapbook would be out in early September, a full two months early, and both look and read with the quality you expected it would when you expected it to be out in November.
I can’t say enough how much I appreciate Blue Cubicle Press and its publisher, David LaBounty. And even if you couldn’t care less about some chapbook titled, Something L.A., the press has a great collection of work-themed books, chapbooks, and journals. All worth reading unless, of course, you’re Paris Hilton and you’ve never actually worked a day in your life. Then, all that stuff about work and the various comedies and dramas that play out in that world may just seem alien to you.

So, if you’re not Paris Hilton, here’s the link to the press: Blue Cubicle Press

And if you’re not averse to a chapbook about interning at an advertising agency in L.A. and meeting a few famous people in a rather awkward way, here’s the link to that: Something L.A.