Contest Winner - Sue Stormoen

Welcome to the Winner’s Circle where we celebrate the success of our ICL students. Today’s the day to celebrate with contest winner Sue Stormoen!

What contest was your winning entry submitted to?
Poetry Contest

How has entering this contest helped your writing?
The most difficult thing for me, and the best thing for my writing, is a word limit. I have learned that staying within a word limit forces me to stay on topic.

How long have you been writing?
I journal every day and I never know where journaling will lead. Sometimes it’s poetry, sometimes it’s little stories. I just go where it takes me. But since I took a Children’s Literature class back in prehistoric days when I was in college, I have always wanted to write a children’s book.

What will you do with your piece now that it’s been recognized?
Keep writing.

What advice would you give the writers thinking about entering an ICL contest?

First and foremost, be brave and enter. Winning is the goal, but following a strict set of rules when writing improves your writing. Word count is always difficult for me and I literally edited words one by one until I reached the exact number allowed! It made the poem tighter.

Any fun plans for the prize money?
Yes! But it’s a secret.

If you could go to the yard sale of any character in the history of children’s literature, whose would you go to, and what would you buy?
Margaret Wise Brown – But I would go to the yard sale at either the West Village farmhouse where she had a studio, or “The Only House” in Maine, to sneak inside her house and poke around!

I think I would buy the rocking chair in Goodnight Moon. I recently bought an antique rocker that reminded me of that chair. I just couldn’t resist.

Anything else you’d like to share about your ICL experience?
I adore ICL. It’s my happy place. Jan Fields has done several critiques on stories I submitted for assignments. Her critiques were detailed and thoughtful. She makes me want to rewrite until I get it right! I also just watched my first podcast with Katie Davis. I was shocked how much information was in one podcast and can’t wait to watch more. ICL is a very supportive community.