Contests

So, I'm judging another contest. I think this will be my last for a while. The first entry was pretty good. I gave what I hoped was some constructive feedback, and moved onto the second.

By the end of the pages I was staring at the words with my mouth open, my thoughts in turmoil. What the heck was I supposed to say to this writer? The first thing that popped into my head was that it was a joke. The writer had decided to enter the contest and do everything wrong. Then it occurred to me that someone doesn't shell out hard earned money for no reason and that this was a legitimate entry. Yikes. So, lets go back to my original dilema: what the heck was I supposed to say to this writer?

I believe my job as a judge is to score the entry and give feedback. I hope the feedback is constructive, but sometimes the writing is so different from what I see being published that I don't know if that's a good thing or not. So, I go back to the old standards, GMC, characterization, grammer, and stay far away from commenting on style and voice.

The Desire pitch loglines go to Diana V today. I'm far from hopeful she'll pick mine. I don't think it's complicated enough. By that I mean there's not enough external conflict. And my gut is telling me to be nervous. I think most of the reason I'm nervous is after completely bombing with 3 entries in the Presents contest, I'm feeling as if the stars don't align properly for me with this sort of contest. After working like a mad woman for so many years to try and break in, someone who's never written a book before will take on the challenge of writing for Desire and break in. Sigh. But that's the way it goes. At least the window of waiting is short.

Meanwhile, I'm struggling with the Paranormal so I've decided to table it for a while. I'm sort of stuck for a project at the moment. Maybe if I read some, I'll feel inspired.

Do you judge contests? Have you been stuck for what to say about an entry?

Today's goal: Finish the feedback for the entry I read yesterday
Yesterday's accomplishment: 1 entry judged
What I'm grateful for: That friends are doing well in contests.
Quote: "We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don't like?" -Jean Cocteau (1889 - 1963)