quote:On that note, do you suppose the screener recognizes your name and makes accidentally prejudiced assumptions before she even reads your work?
Hey Zero,
The contest is blind. By that I mean, Joni takes the MS when it arrives and removes the title page. Then the MS is sent to Kathy Wentworth who then actually reads the MS. There is no way for her to know who sent what manuscripts. In fact, after each quarter is judged you can generally catch her fishing for who wrote what story so she can get an idea who wrote which finalists.
quote:"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?"
No. I'm not sure what the logic of this strategy is. if it's shoddy I wouldn't send it out anywhere. What's the point? I'd rather focus my energies and hopes elsewhere.
Now I have sent out stuff that I wasn't sure about. Not that I thought was shoddy, but I hoped was good but wasn't really sure. These I cross my fingers on and send.
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So, I guess I made my comments based on the fact that I send a SASE large enough for my manuscript to get sent back to me. If your story is a "non-winner" then I guess you'd get nothing back. Regular-sized envelopes would probably get the "thank you for entering, but..." letters. And if you're a non-SASE like our darklight, then you just have to keep-on keepin-on and hope that someone gets back to you if you win. That is one plus about living in the US. Cheap postage for this contest. Looking forward to seeing some names next week.
Posts: 599 | Registered: Sep 2007
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Kathy finished her first read-through last night. Moving in to sort out Finalists and Semi-finalists now. Closer! Looks like it's definitely going to be next week that we'll get some announcements.
Posts: 599 | Registered: Sep 2007
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Well congrats, Spaceman. Being a bridesmaid means you get to wear a frilly dress at least once. Ain't all bad. LOL
Posts: 1911 | Registered: Mar 2007
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The top link is for the WotF blog. That's the one that you want to watch. The bottom link is for a site that Kathy posts on to let us know where in the process she is and such.
Now I'm all jittery. Dumb, dumb. Thought I was past the nervousness of wondering what will happen with my story. Just goes to show how slowly I learn.
Good luck this week, everyone.
[This message has been edited by WriterDan (edited September 15, 2008).]
[This message has been edited by WriterDan (edited September 15, 2008).]
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Looks like Anne and Tracy are semi-finalists. Congrats, Anne, and it's unfortunate yours isn't a finalist, Tracy, but the critique will be helpful, no?
Wonder when they'll post the last honorable mentions. Not sure why my hopes were so high
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Congratulations, Anne! I'm not surprised in the least that you made it that far, even if I haven't read that particular story. Posts: 554 | Registered: Jun 2007
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Holy, Cow! Our little crit group here is....awesome. I knew something cool was going to happen soon. I'm a semi-finalist and so are Tracy and Annie. I'm sure Annie and Tracy feel the same: thanks to everyone who did crits, I (we) couldn't have done it without you. Now, in the upcoming quarters, someone here, from our group, has got to win this thing. All of us gotta hang tough and keep plugging along. It's time to break out the James Baldwin quote:
"Beyond talent lie all the usual words discipline, love, luck -- but, most of all, endurance."
I can feel it in my bones. The upcoming writing year is going to be amazing.
*Edited for Typos Writing is Rewriting.
[This message has been edited by Christopher (edited September 15, 2008).]
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Congrats Chris, didn't know the last name. So 3 semi's - really not bad for an online group. Two weeks left to get into the 25th anniversary edition.
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Holy crap. We rock! Three of eight semi-finalists. This is what's called movin on up, peoples. I'm expecting no less than two finalists next quarter. You got me? TWO FINALISTS!!! Ha, ha! We're going to take over the world. Well...you know what I mean.
Congrats to Anne, Tracy, and Christopher!! Can't say it enough, but I won't repeat myself. Dang, I'm excited for you three. You know, I think that we're going to have to gloat. lol. Running count of honors lauded upon the members of this group, and awards from the previous quarter are to be posted in the first post of the group discussion for each new WotF quarter. Which means I need stats people! We'll show those wordos a thing or two. Need a current listing of awards that people won for this quarter (3rd, in 2008). To make things easy, we'll just start this this quarter, and start adding em up from here on out. We'll run the list like the sign-up one. So, here we are:
I know that there have been at least one or two HM awarded for the group this quarter, but I don't remember who they are. If that's you, add you name to our list of winners. And as you are each notified of how your entries have done, let's put em up here. When we've collected them all, I'll transfer the totals to the first posting for this upcoming quarter. Maybe that'll attract a few more people looking to win.
Again, congrats to everyone. Glad to see that this critique group is doing so well.
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Whoo hoo! Dan, Scott, Sara, Deb... those are the names i recognize. Congratulations, you guys!
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coolness! Thanks, BC, I was ready to chew someone's leg off. Probably Chuck's. And he has old legs.
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Good job guys. WriterDan, good job. I was beginning to think the contest was rigged against you. Posts: 65 | Registered: Sep 2007
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Man, our crit group rocks. And, like I said before, those who made SF and HM couldn't have done it without the help of everyone who did crits. Everyone in our crit group should feel proud.
[This message has been edited by Christopher (edited September 23, 2008).]
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Which makes me wonder how many of those stories were critted by Wouldbe. He's an extraordinarily helpful fellow, and he's read for a lot of folks around here. Did I mention what a great reader he is to have on your team? Thanks for all your help, Wouldbe. It wouldn't be nearly as much fun without you.
Posts: 1304 | Registered: May 2007
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Hatrack is taking over! Way to go all! I am both proud and sorry that my participation fell off towards the end, but it was unavoidable I am afraid.
Let's get three Hatrackers into the Twenty-fifth Anthology. Q4 watch out!
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I know I wasn't a member then, but my name is on the list,too. This was the first story I have ever written, so it was really nice to wake up and see my name up there.
I have spent the last twenty minutes jumping around
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Can't say the thought hadn't passed through my mind, Christopher. Think I need to work more on my beginnings, which is very much what I'm currently doing for my Q04 entry.
And congrats to everyone! I've updated our award count on the Q01 2009 post. Looking forward to watching it rise over the upcoming quarters. We rock! Ha, ha, ha, ha! (But of course, I say that in the most humble of tones...)
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That is one plus about living in the US. Cheap postage for this contest. Looking forward to seeing some names next week.
