posted
I still have one story to do. Problem is I need to go back over it, I've only found one thing to say about it.
And I need to redo my story one more time. This story won't take long but the Q4 story, which also needs one more revision, will.
And now I can't find the original E-mail for that story someone sent, Most have deleted it by accident when I was cleaning out some old E-mails Or I'm just not seeing it, which sometimes happens. I apologize for that. It's not in the trash file either.
A nice WWII story with a twist too.
[This message has been edited by LDWriter2 (edited September 03, 2011).]
posted
I've received stories from Snapper and Owasm. I've returned feedback for Snapper and am reading through Owasm's stories.
I'm happy to exchange with anyone else who'd like to do so. I've revised my own story considerably since I sent it out initially, so wouldn't mind feedback on the revised version.
I sent in my story. With all the help it should get further than my previous entries. Of course there's only been one or two. And getting further probably isn't saying much because of where my story and writing started with this story.
posted
Utahute I have the story. I don't have a return e-mail address. But now that I know for sure who it is I can use the address that is connected to your posts.
I have some extra stuff to do today so expect it late afternoon or evening today. My time that is.
posted
Submitted mine. Thanks to everyone who gave it the once over. As always when I get around to submitting, the coinfidence I had for it has depleted. Oh well, someone has to win.
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posted
So how many of us have or will submit? Looks like four at the most, which means we could all get something. HM at least. Three HMs or was that just for the mini-contest?
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posted
I'm definitely submitting, but I'm trying to get in as much revision as possible, so I won't submit until the 29th.
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posted
OK, a question about OTP. I entered the mini contest and the submission was received. When I checked after I submitted the current story I saw that the entry was now marked declined. Is that because it didn't win, or because there was a glitch in the submission process. Only asking to see if I need to worry about the current contest.
Posts: 459 | Registered: Mar 2010
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posted
I'm not sure if this is the reason but OTP did announce the winners of the mini contest. You should have received a E-mail. I got that and a separate Newsletter. I think there was 87 entries, three place winners and maybe six (there seemed to be a contradiction there) HMs.
I also entered but didn't even get close my story is now on my blog even though you would have to scroll down a bit. Some day I will get around to putting it on my story page. I've posted a couple of stories there I don't mind not getting published.
There's also a rejection mini story I gave up on. Couldn't get it under 50 words.
posted
Yea, LD, I didn't get the separate e-mail, only read the results in the newsletter. It appears that there is an issue with smishsmash for me. I'll give this one the weekend and then send a query to them.
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posted
In my experience with other magazines with online tracking systems, 'declined' means they do not want the story.
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posted
I would agree with the meaning of the word declined even though I have never seen it in a rejection E-mail. Hmm maybe once.
However, I believe we will know how we do way before we, over on the WotF Q4 thread will know about that contest.
And I would be surprised if at least one of us does get at least to the HMs. There are a couple good writers here and I think we all kept to the premise. Well, three of us anyway. I don't think I read the other two but there's a good chance they did too.
posted
Well I've had a on-going e-mail conversation with them and evidently they did get the flash fiction entry, it made the finals but wasn't selected. They apologized for me not getting the e-mail result.
One thing they did say working against it was they get a number that are kid's point of view that are either their imaginings or daydreams. Mine was in that vein and that probably cost me.
posted
Wow. Congrats, Ute. That meant you made the top 10%. I was sure my mini-entry had a shot. I was wrong.
Nice work. Hope you do better in the main contest.
BTW, expect answers around the tenth, everyone. I know from experience they read them as they come on, so the entries that were turned in at least a week before were read and teh better ones were set aside for the final decision.
posted
Thanks, but again not holding out much hope. I didn't get a lot of time to work on it given a busy schedule, computer problems and my incessant reworking of the WOTF entry. I think I got most of the comments from both of you in though, so we'll see.
Posts: 459 | Registered: Mar 2010
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posted
I sent in my money and critique request last night. I also wrote him an email to accompany it. Now the editor is a guy I've talked to quite a bit, so I could describe our relationship as more of a personal one. It allowed me to respond, in my usual charming yet thinly sarcastic style (okay thinly may be a stretch), to whine about my rejection (so cool when you can get away with that to an editor). He sent me back a very enlightening response. I liked it so much I requested permission to post excerpts of it here.
If anyone would like to know what it said, email me and I'll fill you in.
posted
Tarl Kudrick, editor, has granted me premission to post excerpts of his email. I will omit the personal commentary on my writing but offer you this bit about his publication and the difficulty of selling to it.
quote:The second thing working against you is, it's getting hard for ANYBODY to get into our magazine. In 14 published issues, we've had, what, five authors appear more than once? We've published something like 72 stories by somewhere around 67 different authors. Compare that to other magazines, in which the same authors show up again and again. More than that, every author we've published more than once (Ken Liu, Laura Loomis, you, Neil James Hudson, and somebody else I forget) have received at least one rejection letter AFTER having a story accepted by us. Ken, Laura, and Neil have all taken first place, and still had a story rejected by us after winning first place!
Why? Because we're dead serious about basing our judgments on stories, not authors. We might be the only fiction market where past success as a writer doesn't help you one bit. If Stephen King sends us an okay-but-not-great story for the next contest, his story isn't getting in. You think F&SF will say that? Even Ploughshares, a magazine known for its rotating guest editors (and therefore widely different kinds of stories in each issue), lets guest editors solicit up to half of each issue's works.
[This message has been edited by snapper (edited October 10, 2011).]
posted
I was going to ask if you meant Tarl? I've e-mailed him a few times even though I've only entered a couple of contests. I have asked permission to posts excerpts from his Newsletter. He seems pretty nice.
But I'm not sure if their rules make it that much harder to get in. They don't go by the writer's name so pervious publishing or lack thereof doesn't matter but that doesn't influence how I write a story.
Boy, that means none of us even made it to the finalist stage. That is a surprise. You guys had some good stories and I was sure the writing wasn't bad either.
There will be having another contest at the beginning of next month.
posted
I received my critique from Tarl. It is helpful, and I'll see if he minds if I share some of it with you all if you are interested. It might be neat, in fact, if we all shared the critiques with each other so we can learn from each other. Anyone interested?
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posted
I am in Osiris and I wouldn't worry about permission. You paid for it. It's yours to do with as you wish.
Posts: 3072 | Registered: Dec 2007
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posted
Ugh, really? This is becoming a reoccurring problem with this e-mail account I set up for my writerly business. Okay, I'll resend in the morning, too sleepy right now.
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