Santa has come and gone for another year...
We had a lovely Christmas - just the four of us. It was quiet and calm... the kids had the presents opened by 8am and we spent the day in our pajamas, playing with our bounty.
Me - Apple TV! Very cool.
I haven't able to get much writing done, but I did enter my very first contest. Evah. EEK! Because I'm in the home stretch of my current wip, this seemed like a good time to send the baby out and get some good old contructive feedback.
The contest required the first 25 pages of the ms... so of course I agonized, tweaked every word... hated it... tweaked again... loved it... sent it to my compadre to look over... tweaked again... took a match to it... then swallowed my pride and sent it off. I've already bitten eight fingernails off and have two months to wittle away the last two. LOL
Red sent me this very cool contest chart (thanks!) should I want to put myself through the agony again :)
Have you entered contests? If so, did you find it helpful, intimidating, degrading, uplifting, ... ??
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8 comments:
Wowie! Awesome that you entered a contest! Good luck, my friend! :-D
I've never entered a contest, but that might change soon -- I'm seriously considering joining RWA this year and participating in the online chapter! :)
Good for you! I have entered one contest (the Fab Five). I'm not sure they're for me. I get too anxious and then I got completely mixed results. One judge said one thing and another one said the opposite. I'd rather bite my nails on submissions (which, other than epub, I've been too scared to do either LOL)
Heya TL. I think that's a swell plan. Even if what you write isn't 'stricly romance' - it has romantic elements (and plenty of them from what I've read *hee*) it's a GREAT *Tony Tiger voice* resource for writers in terms of on-line workshops, contest opps, networking, etc...
So, we'll see you at Nationals in Nashville in 2010, yes?? ;)
Hey MG!
That's the thing that's kept me away in the past... the rumor of the conflicting scores/feedback. But I figure I can just take the feedback I feel is useful and burn the rest... ;)
Definite love/hate relationship for me. Got results from NYC contest back yesterday - out of a possible 70 points, one judge assigned 41, one 58 and one 69 (saying she took one point off because she figured there had to be a flaw in the MS somewhere but she loved it). Don't really know what to make of it except tear out hair and wonder if the $30 incremental cost of each successive contest is worth it.
Good for you, Wylie. I found contests great for giving me deadlines. My results were sketchy. I seemed to write stuff that people either love or hate so I'd have some really high marks and some really low marks. Some judges give great feedback while others give feedback that is plain wrong. Contests are a bit of a crapshoot, but they result in sales for some writers, so they're worth entering.
I used to enter contests and I found them helpful for a time. The last year I entered I didn't get much from them. I did the Golden Heart and that was my swan song. I do judge, however.
I think contests can be very helpful. On the flip, I think they can be very destructive. The problem is there has been a shortage of judges and I think too often the judges are inexperienced and have no idea how to judge. Plus they are given little guidance.
Hope it works well for you. Right now I'm waiting for the GH entries I said I'd judge. I'm not sure how many I'm getting.
I've only entered two. Since I write stories that are not regular romance, I waited for contests that seemed to suit my stuff a bit better. I didn't place in either, but got interesting feedback both times. The thing that stopped me from entering contests for the most part is the cost. I just plain couldn't affort it.
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