posted
Finally got notified. Seven times in a row, as a matter of fact. I think whoever hit the send button must have been drinking A LOT of coffee!
Posts: 1304 | Registered: May 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
Congrats Tracy on your current placement in the WOTF. (I haven't been on this site in a while and just heard.)
Hoping you win (mostly so you will get published and then I will be able to read a story that is so good it can be placed at the top of the list well before reading is over, but also, so that I won't have to compete with you anymore in these amatuer contests. LOL.).
posted
well I'm on holiday right now and am replying using my phone while sitting in front of the yosemite gift shop. When I get back home on the 8th I'll send you a copy. Sorry if text is choppy... This is tricky from a phone. Thanks for the support guys. Go hatrack. Let's dominate this comp and take it away from Wordos. Tired of them placing every quarter.
[This message has been edited by tnwilz (edited July 28, 2008).]
posted
Now I know that many of you are deeply troubled by the possibility of my untimely demise due to the fire that has been raging 12 miles west of Yosemite NP. Lose no more sleep, apart from some smoke that invades the valley for a few hours in the early evenings we're fine. My pants give no indication of imminently bursting into flames. Getting lots of writing done in the trailer and had a burst of creative brilliance over eggs benedict in the Yosemite hotel resturant this morning. Gina struggled to see the vision I related like someone trying to verbally recount a movie they had seen the night before. Her eyes involunterally glazed slightly as she offered encouraging hums whilst spreading perfectly whipped butter on a still warm scone. Hmmph she'll see... one day
posted
So after a long chat with Kathy last night she revealed that she still has only read half of Q3 because she hasn’t been able to get home since early July with everything that’s been on her plate for the last five weeks. Two workshops, Budry's death and of course the awards.
She warned me not to tell her anything about my story so she wouldn’t know which was mine but explained that what Joni meant was that my story has been held back at her house in the finalists pile. When she’s done reading Q3 she will then sort them into Semi-finalist and Finalist. If she ends up with more than 16 she will have to bump the extras to HM. 99% of the HMs apparently get read and go straight into an HM box and sent back to Joni. The very late listed HMs probably had actually been in the finalist pile at one point. That's straight from Kathy.
So when Joni called me and said I was first, she must have meant that my story was the first to go into the finalist pile. Makes sense because I sent it on APR 15th (very early).
So expect the Q3 results to be slow in coming, she just headed home today.
posted
Thanks for the info, Tracy. I appreciate your frankness.
I'm reminded of something a mentor of mine said a while back about applying for jobs: Be the first, best candidate they have. I think that applies here, too. I think it's harder to get knocked down once you've been selected as a top contender. Similarly, it's harder to knock an already choses piece down. You have to be good enough to make the editor (or KDW in this case) reassess her previous choice.
posted
KD Wentworth said she should be done in the next two weeks, so I suspect mid to late September the results will start rolling in.
Posts: 1275 | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Yeah, she sent out a few more boxes at the end of the week after the ceremonies. I suspect that the HMs and Finalists from that bunch will be getting calls any day now.
I'm hoping they haven't yet, because if they haven't I should be receiving my rejection notice any day now.
KDW did mention that she wasn't done yet then so it's possible I'm in the last bunch although not likely.
posted
I had a dream I received an email from Joni. It either said I had insulted the judges with my story, or that I had won. The problem was, in my dream, I couldn't tell which they meant in the email!
Posts: 2185 | Registered: Aug 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
Oh yeah, I had that dream about you too. It was that you had insulted the judges. If I remember the dream right you called the story 'Why I think the judges are dummies.'
Or wait, did that really happen........(theme from twilight zone)
I wonder when those people sent their manuscripts. I've not received my rejection back yet but I'm guessing with that list, a lot of rejection slips went out. Maybe in the next few days, or better yet, it hasn't been read yet and I still have a chance.
posted
You know... I can't decide if I care to be honest.
The way I see it, every rejection letter is a testament to my own courage. When I got my first one, only a month ago or so, I read it with delight.
I'd love to do well in the contest; an HM would be fantastic, and anything higher seems unthinkable. In the end I'll accept what I get and just write something else.
I don't like to wait however which is why I sent out my Q4 story last week. I figure, the earlier I get it in, the earlier I hear back.
posted
I regonize Andy Spackman and Brenta Blevins--both were finalists back in Q407. Brenta has had a pro sale since then, and placed third in the Return to Luna contest.
Edited to add: And Laurie Gailunas was finalist last quarter. I should've regonized her name. She's on my Livejournal friendlist.
[This message has been edited by ChrisOwens (edited September 02, 2008).]
posted
Was happy to see that Utah is representing as usual. Seven HM's in this bunch for us funny Utahans. Crazy bunches of us in this state.
Posts: 599 | Registered: Sep 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
You guys can now see one of the perils of posting under a User Name other than your own. If you get anywhere, how will the rest of us realize it's you?
Posts: 8809 | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Congrats to all the HM'S. I would just like to say that my real name is Stinkywhizzleteets... so you can see why I prefer to go by Tracy.
Posts: 556 | Registered: Oct 2006
| IP: Logged |
posted
Got my first straight reject from WOTF. I've often said I'd a creative meltdown--this proves the point...
Posts: 1275 | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Haven't gotten one yet - I live in the sticks, though, and it sometimes takes an extra day or two. I thought I got my reject yesterday when I opened up my email and saw something from Galaxy Press, but it turned out to just be a promo on the reading they had at Author Services. The suspense continues . . .
Posts: 1304 | Registered: May 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
I hope I remembered to put in a SASE! I can't remember anymore... It seems like just the sort of thing I'd forget.
Posts: 2185 | Registered: Aug 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
Join the club, Anthony. I think I've had six entries so far (five returned to me, one in for Q03) and we pretty much have the exact same average. In fact, I've only gotten two "no-win" letters. The other three have been straight turnarounds. So, I think that your zero is even better than mine. You're like 1E-10, and I'm more in the realm of 1E-50. lol Have to love the contest though.
Posts: 599 | Registered: Sep 2007
| IP: Logged |
posted
You just get your manuscript sent back to you. No letter, or anything. This typically happens when the speculative element doesn't come in early enough, from what I understand. Took me a while to learn that lesson. If Kathy recognizes it as a speculative story, but not good enough to place, then you end up getting a "sorry you didn't win this quarter, but please try again" letter. At least, that's been my experience so far. And like I said, I'm sitting at a whopping six entries now so far. So, I don't know how comprehensive my experience is. Still trying to learn how this all works.
ck: I don't think I've ever gotten an email back from WotF about how my story did for a give quarter. But I know that Joni has been calling people for HM's and up. So, I'm waiting for either a call (yeah right...) or my MS back in the mail, with or without a letter.
posted
Ah, ok. I was checking my email periodically so I guess I'll just have to keep an eye out for something in the mail. Next time I'll have to include an envelope big enough for my manuscript, too, since I just sent a letter sized SASE.
Posts: 179 | Registered: Mar 2005
| IP: Logged |
posted
Since I live in the UK, and it costs enough just to send the story in the first place, I don't send an SAE with my entry. I can't afford return postage too. So I guess if I don't get placed, I won't hear anything back from them.
So, for all I know, my story is already out of the running.
posted
It seems tough to come up with brilliant short stories and perfect them four times a year. Do any of you ever end up sending shoddy stuff that you have mixed feelings about, just to make sure you're always in the running?
On that note, do you suppose the screener recognizes your name and makes accidentally prejudiced assumptions before she even reads your work?
posted
"Do any of you ever end up sending shoddy stuff that you have mixed feelings about, just to make sure you're always in the running?"
I'm probably going to this next time around, simply because I haven't written anything in about a month and a half. I'm poor at revising, anyway.
On the finalists, I think that'll come in about a month or so. You might google "writers of the future blog" and look in those archives to see when the finalists were posted there in relation to the last quarter's deadline.
Printer-friendly view of this topic
