this isn';t the first writing contest i've tried. i won one of the big ones at unc. you know. for five hundred bucks.
and i was weirded out by that -- but 90k? i think they're poisoning the contest by throwing out that much money. it's too serious, and i'm foregone-conclusioning myself out of any sort of enthusiasm.

I dated a writer for a brief time. He was in his early 40's and still had to keep his day job, even though he's had tons of good reviews and has won some "big" (think $6,000) prizes for his poetry. He's moving into fiction and has two books being put out soon by a major publisher. He's pretty prolific, in that he writes quickly, and beautifully.

And he still can't afford to quit teaching.

What I learned from him: you HAVE to market yourself AGGRESSIVELY, meaning use every contact you have, don't be ashamed to beg (though try not to seem too agressive), and submit, submit, submit. Not just to the biggies but to the small ones too. A track record of publication (even in smaller journals or chapbooks) and prize-winning (even in $50 contests) always looks good.

Also, writing has to be a passion, something you cannot live without. He was a fascinating person to be around because his mind was ALWAYS attuned to his writing. He would see something, hear something, touch something, think of something and immediately start writing (and nearly crashed the car once). Watching the process (for which I have no talent) was truly interesting. I got sucked into being his editor briefly because he got me to start writing stuff down when we were driving places.

good resource (which you've probably discovered) is "poets and writers", basically an industry mag that lists contests, etc.

Re: Texas: I think they got some kind of jumbo grant for their library, since they've been snapping up every writer's personal papers they can get their hands on. They want to be the go-to resource for such things. However, they're doing it in a typical obnoxious Texan way--"we've got more money, neener! Watch us spend it!"

I think a prize of that magnitude will draw out the moldy oldies, the big guns who have already made major names (and major dollars) for themselves.

Oh, whoops. Didn't pay attention to the fact that it's a UT STUDENT that is to win.

Then I alter my comment: I think a prize of that magnitude will do what it's probably designed to do--make getting INTO the UT MFA program much much harder. Looks like they're trying to trump Iowa.

so that I can take the check stub and go bang on the door at The Atlantic Monthly and Harper's and Rollingstone adn demand jobs.

They'll laugh at you. There's no reason you can't go bang on their doors right now; if you're good enough, they'll give you oral sex.

They don't give oral sex very often.