Different folks, different strokes.

I got score sheets back from two contest entries today. A third is a finalist in that contest. I skimmed through the sheets and read the comments, refusing to let myself be depressed.

I think one judge got all three of my entries, that's fine because at least she liked my stuff and gave me decent scores for each. A couple of the judges gave me fairly low scores and that's fine too.

What's always interesting is the comments on my h/h. I'll read about how someone can't bond with my hero at all, but love my heroine. Then next score sheet they love my hero but my heroine is bland. I'm sure many authors have the same problem, but is there a happy medium?

Or, should I be glad that readers have strong opinions one way or the other?

My Contest Resolutions

I feel very proud of myself today - not only did I send out the last handful of thanks to judges for a contest I'd coordinated (with apologies for my tardiness) BUT I finished up my outstanding thank you notes as well.

I therefore resolve:

As a contestant -
*I will try to enter BEFORE the last minute. Like at least one day before entries close!
*I will send thanks to ALL my judges (even the ones that hated my work) as soon as I get the score sheets back. Well - within a few days ; )

As a contest judge -
*I will get my entries back to the coordinator in speedy order and NOT wait until she's tearing her hair out!
*I will be constructive and not destructive, encouraging and not belittling.

As a contest coordinator -
*I will continue to assist my contestants and answer questions / allow entry fixing until the cows come home. Or at least until entries close.
*I will celebrate with those that final and be supportive of those that don't.
*I will keep excellent records and get those score sheets back post haste.
*I will forward thanks ASAP.

Whew - I feel better now!

Seeing the light - and it's a train

I was a little disappointed today. Make that a lot. In the first round of a recent contest I was a finalist in two categories. I scored highest with one MS and tied for highest with another. Can't get much more promising than that!

I've been eagerly awaiting results and comments from the final round judges.

Well, today I got the results. 3rd out of five with the one I thought needed the most work and Honorable Mention with the other. She apparently couldn't bear to place me fifth so I guess I got the HM by default. It's been a while since I received a failing grade and a little hard to swallow.

This is the second MS (of mine) the latter editor has seen. She does not like my work, will never like my work. I understand and that's okay. She probably enjoys stuff I hate to read.

These entries plus a third are (courtesy contest finals) under review by other editors at that particular, and my dream, publishing house, but it's occurred to me I'm wasting my time there.

I know there are, and will be, other dreams. But it's always sad when something turns to dust.

Win a Sony eReader from White Rose Publishing

I'm not sure why I'm posting this because I intend to win BUT - ; )

Cross-posted with permission:

Visit www.WhiteRosePublishing.com between April 1, 2009 and May 30, 2009 and purchase any title from any of the sponsoring authors. It's easy to enter: Once you purchase a book or short story from any of the participating authors (free read downloads, excluded), email your order number to sonyreader@thewildrosepress.com. That's it. In addition to the wonderful inspirational stories available at White Rose Publishing, SONY will include $25 worth of free downloads from their site with every reader we give away. So enter now!If you purchase more than one title, you can enter more than one time. For questions regarding the contest contact Rhonda Penders at rpenders@whiterosepublishing.com*Full details, the list of participating authors, and no purchase necessary rules are on the website www.WhiteRosePublishing.com Winners will be announced on our website on June 1, 2009! Good Luck!

(One day you can go here to buy MY book!)

The Joys of Renovation - or - the hurricane continues

Sometime in a previous life (or perhaps last year), I had the joy of surviving Hurricane Ike. Which, I suppose, is a lot better than the alternative!

FINALLY we're on stage two of the repairs (stage one being a new roof), which means my torn and otherwise disgusting carpet is being replaced with tile. Yay!

And aaarrgghh!!

Right now all my downstairs possessions are in the garage, master bedroom, or small corner of the living room. Supposed to take three or four days - let's add a week to that. At least we've only spent one night in a motel (the rest have been spent sleeping on recliners) and my two "youngest" kids cleaned their upstairs bathrooms so hubby and I could use them without shuddering. Replacing the master shower is stage three. It's all torn out but I guess a new one will be put in eventually.

Problem is - when it's all done I'm not going to want to move the junk back in! And boy, do we have a lot of junk. At least we can unpack at a slower pace and throw a lot of it away.

We now have a new stage four - removing the baseboards pretty much trashed the paint and wallpaper. Time to redecorate!

My writing time has been very meager this week and the dust and mold that the workers uncovered have given me a nice cough. All good fodder for my hurricane WIP though!

I'm still waiting for the signed contract to arrive from WRP, I have a feeling that will perk me right up and get me motivated!

Plus - I found three contests I can enter - happiness!!

I'm a 'Tweenie

It's hitting home I have a contract (or will when it shows up in the mail, anyway) and have shuffled a very small step from the pre-published to the almost-published!

But - right now - I'm in between published and unpublished.

For me that means - NO CONTESTS! And I am, after all, a contest junkie.

Yes - there are a few that accept entries from published authors (or us 'tweenies), but not many.

Never mind - I'm going to have plenty of work (and edits) to keep me busy.

Now - what to do with all that money I'll save? Hmmm.

More conferences!

Patting Myself on the Back

I'm celebrating a major accomplishment. On Friday, I sent two contest entries winging off into cyberspace. Woo~Hoo! Let the Cyber Champagne flow, the Cyber chocolate makes its rounds. And, of course, send in the Cyber cowboys!

Yes, I know I haven't WON any contest. Merely entered. However, every time I attempt to enter contests there's major hurdles to overcome.

1) Self-Doubt: Suddenly my wonderful story doesn't seem that wonderful anymore. I obsess over every word choice until the last minute. I can't believe I wrote this drivel. I want to call up all my writing friends and seek reassurance. But I like having friends, so I don't.

2)When upset or nervous, I cook or bake. So I spend precious writing time in the kitchen. This time, it was a Pumpkin Spice Bread, pumpkin muffins and pumpkin pudding. I'm really getting into October here.

3)My computer sabotages me. Really. I'm not making this up. Whenever I'm on contest deadline, my computer acts up: the word processor refuses to do the requested formatting, the e-mail goes down etc. etc. What? Operator difficulties, you say? Nope. It's the computer's fault.

So win or lose, just entering contests is a major accomplishment. And I'm celebrating!

Golden Heart

Go ahead everyone, get your GH entries in now! You can enter on-line. Actual entry has to be in their hands by December 2nd (I think).

I got my inspie entered which means I need to finish it. Which I needed to do anyway. I'd hoped to have more than one entry but - oh well. The stuff that happened wasn't all writing.

At least I have been writing, trying to make up for lost time. Which means I'm missing out on sleep but can't have everything!

Three hours yesterday and one so far today. And some of this was REAL writing and not editing and rewriting the stuff I'd already written!

A view of contests

Contests. Love ‘em or hate ‘em they have their place. I’ve been entering them for almost a year and have crawled from the dregs to making the finals (not with everything!) although it is still a game of chance. Or - contests are like a box of chocolates!

Judge’s feedback makes you laugh, makes you happy, makes you cry. Sometimes you wonder what they were reading because they will say “Who is Pattie?” when one paragraph above you clearly introduced Ms. Peppermint. They will give you radical ideas for your story that make you want to give up writing all together. They will constructively point out all your problems and give wonderful ideas on how to fix them. They will tell you how much fun they had reading your work and absolutely make your day.

The best contests – my opinion only – are as follows:
1. Wide range of categories. Who wants to put their inspirational in competition with a sensual contemporary or their romantic suspense in with a paranormal?
2. Electronic entries, including payment. Folks like me have trouble finding the post office.
3. Closing dates on Sundays or holidays with the time zone stated.
4. Fantastic coordinators that immediately respond (almost immediately anyway) and say yes they did receive your entry and yes it did open okay.
5. At least fifteen MS pages and at least three synopsis pages. The more the better though.
6. Three judges or two judges and a discrepancy judge if needed. There is nothing more “fun” than receiving a contest entry that got 95 from one judge and 64 from another. A third judge could have also given a low score, yes, but maybe not!
7. Timely results and notification if the results are delayed. It is nice when the results are available on a wide group of lists, as well as the contest-holding-chapter's home page.

Synopsis vs. no synopsis.
Sometimes the first few pages (like the Gotcha! Contest) are great to try out a new idea. More pages, more of the story in front of the reader. I used to hate doing a synopsis and avoided every contest that mentioned it. Then an editor saw my work and thought “something” happened when “something” didn’t really happen. She said I could never have “something” happen in a romance novel and I didn’t! If there had been a synopsis involved then she would have known that “something” wasn’t anything at all!

Final Judges
I never used to look at these. I’d never make the finals. Then I did, oops. SO – now I look. And while I don’t care about who it is if they haven’t seen my stuff, I will avoid the editor above (unless there is a synopsis) at all costs. I think if someone sees your work, doesn’t like, but comments then you can fix it. If they don’t like it the second time then save your money!

There are a LOT of contests. My fave site to check them out is www.stephiesmith.com. She has a perpetual rolling list which is very useful.

My favorite "all about contests" group is CONTESTALERT (Yahoo).

Gotta go now, need to get my contest entries in!