So, have any of you guys entered any writing contests? Particularly Writers of the Future? I have the dubious pleasure of having submitted a story at the worst possible time, i.e. right as this COVID thing got kickin'. I submitted before the end of March, and since that's the end of the quarter, all people who submitted then were supposed to find out before the end of June. It's very nearly July 11 as I post this. I suppose I could have some purpose to publishing this thread, but really I just want sympathy for my plight. Though feel free to talk about y'all's contest experiences, because such stories are indeed entertaining.
Sorry to hear this as thats obviously going to be pretty frustrating. At least you can say you are not alone with this one as everyone is affected by COVID-19 somehow. I miss going out for pizza or fish and chips personally, or just a bus ride up to my nearest town, so I could be out of the house. But I have to make do. I would offer free hugs out of sympathy but I am social distancing at the moment. It’s all part of the “I really like you- but touch me and you die!” strangeness we have to deal with for 2020. You’ll have to accept an imaginary, online hug instead. I hope things work out soon enough.
Thanks for imaginary hugs. I did some research, and apparently there's rumors that the results will be out at the end of this week. We'll see what happens then.
I don't do contests, but I had a good friend who won Writers of the Future a long time ago. Didn't do a thing for her career.
Honestly, I'm mostly doing it for tax purposes. I want to make sure to earn money this year, because I'm counting my writing as a job. Honestly, if anyone has any tax tips for writing, I'm all ears. Well, that, and it'll be nice to have something to add to my writer's resume. And apparently you get money both for winning and for publication in their book.
Yes, you do, $1000 for first place, but it's up to you to parlay that into something bigger and my friend... didn't. She took a hard left into near fanfic land and never came back to reality.
I did everything but submit a story to The Owl Canyon Press Story Hackathon a few years back. I really liked my story but it needed to much work to meet the deadline. (Still needs a bit more work!) Interesting idea they have. 50 paragraph limit. They give you a really weird prompt in para 1 and 20, then you do the rest. Very challenging and focuses the writing in a different way. I have decided I don't do contests unless its just for fun. I am not good enough to get uptight about it.
Well, it's official, I didn't place. Upsetting. I really liked my story this go round. *Sigh* Sometimes I think that my own view of what is good is just too different from everybody else's.
Bummer. On the subject of “what is good”, if you had fun and enjoyed writing it, then it is good. It usually comes across in the writing itself.
I got an HM. That’s my third ever entry and I have three HMs now so I guess that’s good but I had thought this entry was much better than the last two so was kind of hoping for more.
Well, that's what I thought, except my schtick is weird speculative fiction, and I've found that's not necessarily other people's schtick. That, and there is an inherent goofiness to everything I write. Goofy speculation is perhaps not the most popular things these days. And that's not counting the possibility that my story has other problems. It's so hard to know the minds of judges. And honestly, it may in fact be that the negative emotions of this whole COVID thing are influencing how our works are judged. Emotions are weird that way. But in any case, if you like, we can do a beta swap. Maybe see what our issues are.
