Discussion: Q1 Volume 40

Well, just for me personally, the earliest I ever received a Q1 result was mid-April, and last year I have it recorded as having come in mid-May. Q1 usually is the slowest, to accommodate both the final preparations of the book, and the winners' Gala. So, we may be in for a bit of a wait...

There's wine in the cupboard, cheese in the fridge, and a selection of crackers in the pantry. 

I'm with you on that Anna X. Who on the forum knows the earliest time of a new year results were posted?

Beth Powers would know. She's got the stats.

In my list I saw a 3/10, a 3/10 and a 3/19 over the years...

The earliest response I've gotten for Q1 was...January 28th! But don't get too excited because that was in 2015 On the other end, the latest I've heard back for Q1 was July 1st! But both of those were outliers (and not recent). According to my notes (which go all the way back to the early days of electronic subs in 2011), here's how many times I've gotten Q1 results in each month:

January: 1 (2015)
February: 1 (2014)
March: 3
April: 5
May: 1 (last year)
July: 1 (2011)

Other than last year in May, most of the recent years have been mid to the end of April. But also, out of my 50ish electronic subs, I've only ever gotten results twice on the same date, so Thursdays remain unpredictable as always!

We can only hope Feb will be your second for that month. It's cool that you keep track of stuff like that.  

Posted by: @bethpowers

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According to my notes

That is some good data! You decide you want to share it, I'd have students turn it into infographics and make them publicly available. Jessayin!

I am hoping for March. 

My bday is March 10th and I have my fingers crossed that I'll receive my first call from WotF this year on or before my bday.  I do feel Q1 submission is one of my best stories, or at least that's what I keep telling myself.

Keeping fingers crossed.

Posted by: @toddjones

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I am hoping for March. 

My bday is March 10th and I have my fingers crossed that I'll receive my first call from WotF this year on or before my bday.  I do feel Q1 submission is one of my best stories, or at least that's what I keep telling myself.

Keeping fingers crossed.

My fingers are crossed for you too! I wish you the best of luck! 😊

This is how I visualize the judging process. I'm thinking that Kary is still slushing even though Jody has begun judging Q1 stories that have been passed on to her.

@physa 

Seems pretty accurate, Amy, and a much nicer way to show it than just "Kary does this ... Jody does that ...".

A picture is worth a thousand words, eh?

@toddjones Eeeeeey I'm an early march baby too! It is not on a Thursday though...or is it? Is it maybe a WoTF Thursday which can be any day, but is most irrefutably a Thursday? Only Thursday can tell.

@physa I find it hilarious that you included a "Major Twitching" box.  I'd speculate after getting the call there would be a "Overwhelming Twitching!" going on there too.

Been so deep in my Q2 work I couldn't even remember if I had submitted to Q1 (I did). Literally had to check my spreadsheet to remember what I had submitted. It helps to try to get the next quarter written before the results come out. Most relaxed I've been about the judging in quite a minute. Write on, write on, write on.

Trying to keep going on my WIP, but I keep feeling like it’s not good enough. Who knows though that how I felt about about my first SHM.

@craydimensional So true, I thought my SHM was going to be a straight R haha. I literally sprayed my phone laughing when I got the email.

@craydimensional Absolutely. I sent my winning story as an afterthought, thinking I had nothing "good" to send that quarter. You never know!

Posted by: @spencer_s

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@craydimensional Absolutely. I sent my winning story as an afterthought, thinking I had nothing "good" to send that quarter. You never know!

No way. For real? When did you write it for/what was it originally targeted at?

@watt_writes, that's hilarious. Maybe I need to work on my conceit/hubris, as I've been certain my story would win with every entry at time of submission (though a second after the mouse click all that confidence disappears).

@craydimensional - happy to take a look, if you want. I'm no expert, but I've studied the frack out of WOTF recently, and my critique to one of V39's winners just before they won was "heck, this feels like a WOTF story" - so apparently even if I can't write a winner, I know one when I read it.

Posted by: @spencer_s

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@craydimensional Absolutely. I sent my winning story as an afterthought, thinking I had nothing "good" to send that quarter. You never know!

I'd echo that! I didn't quite reach this height, but I submitted my Finalist because the story I wanted to send wasn't working out--I sent that one instead, firmly expecting I'd earn my first straight R. I clearly know nothing, and it's always worth being in with a story.

@ease I think I wrote the first draft a year before submitting it. I put it through a few drafts, submitted it to magazines, got rejected from all of them. After that I had some beta readers take a look, applied some changes, and added some more depth to the story, especially for the main character / antagonist. I felt like it was still too long, but I had nothing else to send that quarter, so I tossed the story in thinking it would get an HM. Surprise surprise, haha.

@doctorjest That's awesome, congrats on that! Indeed that's the lesson. We're often the worst judges of our own work.

Posted by: @doctorjest

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Posted by: @spencer_s

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-craydimensional Absolutely. I sent my winning story as an afterthought, thinking I had nothing "good" to send that quarter. You never know!

I'd echo that! I didn't quite reach this height, but I submitted my Finalist because the story I wanted to send wasn't working out--I sent that one instead, firmly expecting I'd earn my first straight R. I clearly know nothing, and it's always worth being in with a story.

I love the dichotomy!

I worked on my story for eleven years. Rewrote it half a dozen times (Look at the Q4 thread and see what I wrote just after I hit the submit button). Submitted it four times - here - and was bummed each of the first three times it came back because I was convinced it would win.

Posted by: @tj_knight

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Submitted it four times - here - and was bummed each of the first three times it came back because I was convinced it would win.

I remember Joni mentioning the fact we have a new judge so send in stories that were non winners.

I sent one that was an HM for David but has garnered two R's since then.

Your fourth for D and the T is awesome. Glad you made it a winner.

My SMH was also out of my usual comfort zone of fantasy, which is funny, I have a degree in science and worked in research so you'd think I'd be drawn to Sci-fi but I just get so hung up on making things "possible" that I get stuck. Fantasy I feel like I can just dance over those "what's possible" thresholds with *magic*. But maybe having that humility going in makes it better writing. Has anyone else experienced that? Doing better out of their comfort zones?

On that note my Q2 entry is soooooooo far out of my comfort zone, I really wanted to challenge myself with something crazy. My first beta reader really loved it, but I'm going into revisions I'm like 😰.

If it helps a little...last week, Kary said she was about 2/3rds of the way through her stack. So, we can settle in, partake of @doctorjest's wine and cheese, and wait it our together. 

I'll take a topper on my wine please.

Posted by: @jvashley

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If it helps a little...last week, Kary said she was about 2/3rds of the way through her stack. So, we can settle in, partake of @doctorjest's wine and cheese, and wait it our together. 

I'll take a topper on my wine please.

Wow! Thanks for the update @jvashley. So Kary's about at the 2/3rds mark... That's pretty awesome progress. I'd say we are about a month's away before we get serious about twitching and such. However, I would never say no to a cheese snack, ;). I predict Kary will be done on her end by mid march and Jody will be sending her list of finalists to Joni for calls last week of March/ first week of April. I predict results will be released second or third week of April.

@jvashley Thank you for the update!! I'll shunt the twitching to my March calendar then, because the prophet @physa is generally correct within a span of a week or two. For now, @doctorjest, I'm lactose intolerant so an extra helping of wine for me please.

Pours @watt_writes a nice tall glass.

I refuse to give in to twitching tent yet.

Posted by: @babooher

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Been so deep in my Q2 work I couldn't even remember if I had submitted to Q1 (I did). Literally had to check my spreadsheet to remember what I had submitted. It helps to try to get the next quarter written before the results come out. Most relaxed I've been about the judging in quite a minute. Write on, write on, write on.

I get it.

I'll wait a couple weeks before starting to chew my nails for results of Q1.

Be safe and write on my friends.

Now that I send stories to other markets I twitch daily waiting for results. Getting a sale, or even a personalized R would be a new experience for me.