NEW USERS! INTRODUCE YOURSELVES!

That's a good way to put it, Kyle

Hello to all the newbies since I last posted! Glad to have you with us

Welcome, WFABZDNLDBT, and glad you decided to speak up!

Yes, all entrants should receive a notification of how they fared in the contest, which usually takes the form of a form letter saying that you weren't a winner, though sometimes comes as an honorable mention, etc. As for how long it takes for the winners to be announced, I think the best answer for that is, "too long"

Thanks for answering that question. I was pretty sure they did, but I only entered once before now and that was a long time ago, so things could've changed since then. That too long statement is so true too, cuz I go a little nuts with the mail. I check the box as soon as I see the mailman leaving...haha...anyways, thanks again.

WFABZDNLDBT,

To be more specific, the first round of results usually takes ~3 months, and then the finalists wait another couple weeks after that before the winners are announced. So for the 4th Quarter in 2010 (submissions received July 1-Sept 31), the honorable mentions, semi-finalists, and finalists were announced in early January and the winners got their phone calls in late January. So basically, what Kyle said: it's a lot of waiting. Forget about your last submission and start working on the next one!

For me, I subbed for the Jun30th cut off, and found out around September 7th or so that I was a finalist. I found out sometime around Oct18th or so that I'd won... maybe as late as November. From what I hear, this is a pretty fast turn around. I think it's a lot longer for others.

Semi-Finalists and Finalists almost never hear before 3 months is up.

So basically, what Kyle said: it's a lot of waiting. Forget about your last submission and start working on the next one!

Boy oh boy, I triplicate that one! If you let the waiting get to you, it can derail you. We wait each quarter for some news of how we did and sometimes it never even shows up on the blog. (well, we know the Finalists for the 3rd quarter Illustrators, and the 4th quarter WotF Finalists, blogwise ... but ... )

The point is what others said:

Don't wait -- create your next thing.

We who are powerless if we live in the limbo of the Waiting Dept. ... become the gods of the blank page or canvas again when we stop waiting and resume creating!If you want to fully taste Waiting, win the first quarter! Ha! Not lamenting even our small glimmer of good luck (Mr. 2 1/2 Men ) but then you don't even have future contest submissions to occupy you anymore! You just wait and wait to get a story to finally (yayyyyyy!) sink yer teeth into!

Yep ... we all might as well get used to JUGGLING, which means tossing the NEXT ball up before the other one ever comes back down (it's pretty sad Juggling, if you wait to catch the first one first)

Now THAT is one heck of a user handle.

Welcome!

Now THAT is one heck of a user handle.

Welcome!

thanks for all the advice everyone gave me...and yea...it's actually just the abbreviations for some of my short stories...well, the ones i ended up really liking anyway.

i had another question...i was wondering if it would be easier to publish a book that's been reviewed by some people and if so, where do you have people review your prospective book?

i was wondering if it would be easier to publish a book that's been reviewed by some people and if so, where do you have people review your prospective book?

In short, I don't think so. An editor or agent would only care if your book was reviewed by a well-known professional reviewer, and a person who writes reviews for the New York Times is not going to have any interest in reading an unpublished manuscript. The opinion of some blogger the editor has never heard of before is worth approximately nothing. So unless you're already close personal friends with a successful novelist or a NYT reviewer, you have to sell your book the old fashioned way: based on the quality of the content alone.

Good steps to take include researching how to write query letters and compile submissions packages, finding out which editors buy books in your genre, deciding whether you want to go the literary agent route or not (and researching good agents), and writing the best darn book you can. Also, don't get discouraged if your first manuscript doesn't get published -- most professional writers worked their way through a few crap novels or a whole lot of crap short stories before they figured out how to write at a professional level. There's a steep learning curve and a lot of competition in this field, so rejection's an inherent part of the process.

Gwen gives good advice about using a book reviewer (or not using one as she states).

Another caveat to consider is that you can send your submission package directly to the editor. Ignore all "submission guidelines" that say you have to have an agent, because that's just corporate speak and the editors really do want your submissions (assuming you've written a good novel and can write a good submission package, which is much harder than it looks.)

Hello All,

I'm seeing a few familiar names from Hatrack and Farlands.

I'm Mark Wolf. I also go by Mark Keigley.

I have a few pubs in for the love upward to pro-venue, one of my latest being here:

http://3crowpress.wordpress.com/

I'm looking forward to learning more about this "writing thingie"

Welcome, WFABZDNLDBT and honu! Mark, I recognize you from Hatrack, where you've been pretty much monopolizing the "Publications" thread. Nice to have you both here!

Welcome, WFABZDNLDBT and honu! Mark, I recognize you from Hatrack, where you've been pretty much monopolizing the "Publications" thread. Nice to have you both here!

Thanks for the welcome, Grayson!! Nice to be here!

Hi, Mark, and welcome!

thanks for the welcomes and thanks for the advice about book reviews. that'll come in handy and all advice in the future.

Welcome everyone -- even Those Whose Names Cannot Be Uttered, Let Alone Spelled!

(Unless you are a spambot who has infiltrated our forum; in which case, Welcome Spambot Messengers of the Coming A.I. Overlords!)

Howdy everyone,

I just joined at the suggestion of a friend at another forum. I've been writing off and on since the 80s, "did time" at a pair of university papers in the 90s, and have been nose-down in an IT career ever since. The main gig is computer forensics and litigation support, but the passion remains with reading and writing. Last year, with a group of other like-minded folks, I successfully incorporated a 501(c)3 non profit that is dedicated to creative writing education. It's still in the early stages, but things are looking quite promising.

Best regards,

Welcome to the forums, Karl! Sounds like you've got plenty to keep you busy.

Welcome, Karl! Best of luck to you!

Hi, Mark, and welcome!

Thanks, Kyle!

Hello,

A newbie to this forum, but I recognize some of the folks posting here.

I am excited to say that I recently submitted my first entry to WOTF and look forward to communicating with all of you.

Well done, Wordcaster! Welcome, and good luck!

Welcome, Wordcaster! Nice to see you here.

Welcome, Wordcaster, and good luck with your entry!

Welcome to the forums, Karl! Sounds like you've got plenty to keep you busy.

Oh I certainly do, and I'm always on the quest for volunteers as well. Reading subs might help the reader in question polish their own work.

This is just me blundering through this thing without a clue:
I have just got myself put into this system and have nothing at all to say about anything. My name, by the way, is Gary Davis. I have lived my entire life up here in the Northwest, best place in the universe to be at any given time. I am a pretty old codger and have been wasting my precious time doing something for which I am eminently unqualified for; being a creative writer. It's a lotta fun to do but it takes forever to get done, so I do Art too. Art is my first love but writing - telling yarns is very close. I have at this time submitted twice to the competition, to no avail. And I talk far too much. Apologies.
Best
Gary Davis

Welcome users!

Gary, what are these "qualifications" you speak of? All it takes is a little imagination and a decent grasp of English grammar .

And people have entered the contest for years to no avail, until, one day... surprise, they won! So, just keep pounding away at those keys.

being a creative writer. It's a lotta fun to do but it takes forever to get done, so I do Art too. Art is my first love but writing - telling yarns is very close.

Double the contests, double the pleasure is what they say! (Or, if you only have one mail box to stare at yearningly awaiting news ... ya might as well stare waiting for two contests worth of news! )

Welcome to you Gary, Wordcaster, and all new forum folk!

Hello, Gary Davis! Welcome!

Welcome, Gary! I can see from your post you've got a flair for storytelling. Nice to have you here!

Not qualified? That simply means I wonder if I have enough inventiveness in me to pull off this sort of thing. But never mind, it was all just false modesty and a lot of vanity, vanity, all is vanity. In fact I think I am really hot stuff. Which is really arrogance, arrogance, all is arrogance. There, I said it.

Thank you, thank you, all is thank you,
Gary Davis