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Nope, but from experience I always get mine 2-3 weeks after the deadline for the next quarter (which would make it mid-January).
Posts: 1075 | Registered: Sep 2004
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I haven't recieved anything yet either. For every quarter this year mine have always come back by now--roughly by the 18th of the month. Two were quarter finalists and the third was a simple reject, but all three came back about the same time so who knows how it works? I do know that they've had some changes recently and that they seem a bit disorganized this quarter. It's also Christmas, and the last quarter of the year for the contest, so that might have something to do with it. You know, slow mail or something.
Posts: 326 | Registered: Sep 2005
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Mine are never back by this date, but that may be because I live in France, so there's the postage problem Posts: 1075 | Registered: Sep 2004
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I got an email late last night notifying me of quarter-finalist status. So they've definitely started letting people know.
Posts: 818 | Registered: Aug 2004
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Stands for Writers of the Future, a major speculative fiction writing competition that publishes an anthology. Several of the writers here have entered, and at least one has won in the past. Winning this competition is very good for your career.
Posts: 491 | Registered: Oct 2004
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Congradulations autumnmuse. From your posts I know you work very hard at writing so it is well deserved.
I hope you, and everyone else here, has entered a new story in the next quarter, and good luck to everyone!
As a final question, I was wondering if anyone has ever recieved an email for quarter-finalist status before? I also got an email this time for placing in the quarter-finals for the quarter, but this is the first time they've sent an email. The other two times I didn't find out until it came back in the mail. I'm just wondering what to expect.
posted
I just received my quarter-finals rejection today also.
Quarter-finals are supposed to be in the top 10-15% range, which I guess would make it something like a C+ to a B-, at least according to my old high school's grading scale.
I'm kind of suspicious though, everyone seems to be in the quarter-finals. The cynical part of me wonders if everyone who doesn't make the cut gets a Quarter-finalist rejection.
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I know for a fact that isn't true, Chris...or at least it wasn't a couple of rounds ago; my first submission was flat-out rejected. Posts: 1041 | Registered: Aug 2004
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posted
I do know that the contest gets over 2500 entries every quarter so even if a story makes it to the quarter-finals, it still means it's somewhere among 250 to 375 stories or more. There's probably a higher percentage of writers on this forum that will place higher in the contest due to their commitment to writing, which might be one reason to see a lot of quarter-finalist finishes from here.
While I do know that a lot of stories are straight rejects (from personal experience), even making the quarter-finals may not mean a lot depending on whether the story is closer to the top or bottom of that still massive pile. All I know is that I'll keep trying as long as I'm elligible and hopefully my next story will be a semi-finalist, and from there to finalist and maybe even a winner. I hope everyone here does the same.
Persistence is the key to publication and improving a writer's skill, so the only thing to do is keep writing and keep submitting.
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I had not realized they received so many subs. But yeah, I agree. I placed several times in quarter finals, and in my opinion some of the stories concerned were not so good, while one was seriously considered by several pro markets. Just goes to show that, yes, quarter-finals by itself does not mean much. No word as yet on my sub. Ah well, guess I'll have to wait for the mail Posts: 1075 | Registered: Sep 2004
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On another site I belong to, a lot of people do get QF. It starts to become expected, so when someone you know is a great writer with publication credits doesn't even get QF, it kind of hurts.
As far as the quarter ending Dec. 31st is concerned, I went to the post office yesterday to submit my story, and found out I missed having it postmarked on time by one hour. AAARGH. So I didn't send my story, because otherwise it will be for the quarter ending March, and I'll have to wait absolutely forever to hear back.
In that same amount of time, I can send the same story to probably two markets, and if they both reject, then go ahead and enter it at WOTF. Besides, I don't think the particular story was a perfect fit for WOTF, but it was ready and available at the deadline when some other stuff wasn't.
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You know, it might be worth emailing and explaining what happened. The contest administrator was really nice about letting me resubmit my story after it went missing in the mail.
Posts: 2022 | Registered: Jul 2003
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I received my rejection today. "Your entry did not place in the final selections for the 4th quarter 2005 (July 1 - September 30, 2005)."
But, there were three handwritten words of encouragement on the form letter! Now, I need to decide whether or not to post it on Fragments and Feedback, or to send it to a magazine.
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Spaceman: No, just a plain vanilla reject! That's the way I interpret it, although it could have been written more clearly!
Posts: 136 | Registered: Nov 2005
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I vote with you, Beth. If you're going to get rejected, I'd much rather get a laugh out of it than have to cry over it!
Posts: 326 | Registered: Sep 2005
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Yeah, it's disapointing to learn that I'm in the group of "definitely" automatic quarterfinalists.
The higher quality quarterfinalists must be in the pool of potential semifinalists, which has to be reread and then weeded out, since there is only room for 10 semifinalists.
Perhaps there should be a category between quarterfinalist and semifinalists. Maybe semi-semifinalists?
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Today I got the same form letter with probably the same three hand-written words on the bottom postmarked on January 3. I'm out for Q4.
Posts: 2 | Registered: Aug 2010
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posted
For QFs and rejects, if you included an SASE with your ms, you get snail mail. Otherwise you get emails. I believe SFs and Fs are notified by mail regardless of the decisions taken afterwards, but I could be wrong, since this never happened to me
BUT it may be different 'cause of the new postal rates.
posted
I vote for the crack in her desk And I'm used to waiting for them, although this has to be one of my longest waiting times (but not by much). Guess I'll get mine sometime next week.
[This message has been edited by Silver3 (edited January 13, 2006).]
posted
They must have looked in that desk crack. I got an email last night--my story has been selected as a finalist. I am just plain floored. The results will back within the next couple of weeks.
[This message has been edited by Kickle (edited January 21, 2006).]
posted
Boy, was I confused. I looked back at the mail I got 12/31. It said, Congratulations, you made it to the quarter-finals. So I thought it was still in the running. But then they said that if I sent an SASE they were returning it. It was a rejection letter so nice I thought it was an acceptance!
Posts: 2830 | Registered: Dec 2004
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Kickle, congratulations! But for what it's worth, I know from the experiences of several of my friends that you should take 'a few weeks' with a very large grain of salt. In some cases it has taken months to find out the final rankings. And once you are ranked, if you end up as a finalist and not in the top 3, it could take as long as a year for them to decide whether to include your story in the published anthology. Just FYI.
Posts: 818 | Registered: Aug 2004
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That's fantastic news! I know all of us here are envious, but pulling for you to win one of the top three places!
Hey wbriggs,
I was just wondering about something. I also got an email the same as yours about the same time, and was wondering if you got your manuscript back. I still haven't gotten mine and was thinking it got lost in the mail or something. Anbody else got theirs back?
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Might have to email them at some point if I still don't get anything).
