Discussion Q2 Volume 39

@rschibler The characters discuss how they're escaping the situation (through magic), but you don't SEE it for a while. Do you think that was a problem?

@martin-l-shoemaker We know the Big Bad is a mage, but he doesn't appear until the end. Again, I refer to magic throughout, but you don't SEE it until close to the climax.

@wahlquistj You will! If your first attempt was an SHM, you'll get there.

@physa Brownieeees. Nomnomnom

@empressed as long as it's clearly speculative I think you're okay.

Personally, I've felt a little better about rejection since renaming it/them. I'll share:

Returned: Unfinished - work on your opening/ending.
Returned: Good - fine story, not for us.
Returned: Close - we can only choose 8 for possible publication, this one just missed.

[pops head out of pillow fort.]
[the room was clear]
[did she just imagine the Thursday trauma?]
[checks watch and realizes today is Thursday]
[pops head back in fort]

I wonder if they would be okay with letting us know what’s up? Just dropping a…

“All finalists have been contacted. Just struggling with emails at the moment”

…or even a…

“Choosing finalists has been more difficult than expected. Still waiting to make final calls. Emails soon.”

Just a nugget of info. But if not, I understand. No pressure.

@jmabey They are usually good about letting us know, even if Jason puts out blog post results before email.

I was fine until I subscribed to this thread. Now I get emails that say "Writers of the Future" every few minutes. I'm still hoping for a phone call  

It's also worth noting that the Writers of the Future contest admin team lives and operates in a parallel timeline, and it can be tricky for them to correctly intersect with us and deliver the updates at the appropriate moment. Chrono gates are notoriously sketchy, especially the really old ones. Nobody even understands how they work any more.

Careful, or I'll start telling tales of Q1V29...

@martin-l-shoemaker I’d love to hear that tale.

This is the thread that never ends

It just goes on and on my friends

Some people started posting here not knowing what it was

And they'll continue posting here because

 

This is the thread that never ends

It just goes on and on my friends

Some people started posting here not knowing what it was

And they'll continue posting here because

 

This is the thread that never ends...

Q1V29 was the longest quarter most of us will ever see. Or ever want to.

It started with an amusing, inspirational night. As some of you have experienced, sometimes the Contest portal shuts down early on the last day: midnight Eastern, not midnight Pacific. For most of us, this was the first time it ever happened.

And it happened to Forum regular Tina Smith (who in fact started the V29Q1 thread). She jumped into the Forum, distraught. People tried to help her find a tech problem, but to no avail.

Then I had a thought: if you send a paper submission, the manuscript is on time if it's postmarked by midnight; and I knew from experience that there are some automated Post Office stations that allow 24-hour shipping. So while Tina's husband, IT guru Tyler Smith, printed the manuscript, I looked up the 24-hour station nearest to them. Then Tyler jumped in his car and sped to the Post Office, while Tina stayed on the Forum and kept us appraised. At about 20 minutes to midnight Pacific, Tina posted a photo of her postmarked manuscript. She was in! And there was much rejoicing. (And Tyler was declared HOTY: Husband of the Year!)

--------

That was the good news of the quarter...

--------

The next news (for me) was good, but also horrible. As Coordinating Judge K.D. Wentworth might have called it, tragically beautiful.

We still didn't have any calls, and it was the workshop week. We were all following the workshop news online, and we knew K.D. wasn't there. We heard she had been sick. We all wished her well.

Tuesday night, as everyone was hanging out on the thread and chatting, I got a call. From Joni. You know the drill. It was a Finalist call. She wanted to give me the good news right away. Joni is a fellow Michigander, and we always have good conversations. It was a good night.

And the next day, we got the word. K.D. had died of cancer the day before. She had literally been judging entries on her deathbed. The last significant decision she had made was to select my story as a Finalist.

I couldn't tell anyone, of course. We all know the rules. But I could figure out what happened behind the scenes. Joni's friend had just died, and she needed SOMETHING positive for her day. She called me so she could carry K.D.'s legacy one step forward.

And shortly after that we learned that, officially, no Finalists had been selected yet. It was too soon for calls. And I realized that my call had been Joni managing her grief.

So I had Secret Knowledge that I had to protect. I decided to do so by becoming the Forum cheerleader. We were all devastated. Even those of us who never met K.D. felt some connection through the Contest. And some of our entrants were her former students. People were hurting.

And on top of hurting: the waiting. Much like this year, everyone understood that the loss of our Coordinating Judge meant an unspecified delay; but that didn't change the anxiety. People understood, and at the same time, people were waiting. Patiently, but waiting.

Except me. I already knew my results. I had the grief, but not the anxiety. I had an edge. So I took it upon myself to cheer up the others. I started posting even more frequently, and with more lighthearted humor. I did everything possible to lift spirits and keep people focused on writing and on mutual support.

And the rest picked up on it. As we got past the worst of the grief, people started adding more jokes to the thread. More encouragement. More funny pictures and stories. It became an ongoing flood of mutual support and fun.

And also a side project. My sister was an organizer for the local American Cancer Society Relay for Life. Every year she formed a team to walk and raise funds, and to remember those who had recovered and those we had lost. That year, the Forum members contributed and raised about $400 in K.D.'s name. That felt like we did something.

It took three months for results to trickle out. First they had to get Dave to agree to return as Coordinating Judge. He had already left once so he would have more time for his own writing. He agreed to come back for a quarter, maybe two, to help them through. Of the many reasons I love and respect and miss Dave, one of the biggest is he stuck with the Contest from that day until we lost him. He didn't have to stay; but he cared about the Contest and all of you too much to leave. Just like K.D. judging stories on her death bed.

And once Dave was signed up, he needed months to catch up. He had to start practically from scratch--save for one, the Finalist K.D. had selected. He honored that.

When calls finally went out, we all cheered, especially when we learned that Tina's postal sub was a Finalist. And I could FINALLY come clean on my news.

And a month later, we learned that Tina had won, first place for the quarter. We CHEERED! But there was also a bittersweet side to that story: she got the second call at a family funeral. That quarter had its ups and downs, for sure.

We also learned that I wasn't a winner. And I just couldn't care. That quarter, the way we all came together to support each other, felt like the best win possible. I would have another chance. I would never have another quarter like that.

At the awards gala, Tina had an online cheering section as she told the story of her last-minute submission. And we rocked the internet when she took the Golden Pen! That was us, our crew, up there on that stage. It was magical.

And we decided never to let that thread die if we could help it. The latest post was in February of this year, and it's up to 168 pages.

Nearly 11 years from the start of that thread. Almost my whole writing career is captured in that span. So it--and everyone in it--is kinda special to me.

@martin-l-shoemaker Thank you for sharing. I loved the story. It reminds me why I love the forum.

@martin-l-shoemaker 

That’s a beautifully tragic story, thank you for sharing it. 

I can see why you’re a winner, I was definitely chopping onions while reading your comment.

@martin-l-shoemaker 

What an uplifting story, Martin! Thanks for sharing it.

I didn't submit a story for Q2 this year, but still check in from time to time, rooting for all my virtual friends on the forum!

Now, I should probably get back to my writing!

[After the wonderful story about QTR's past. Lays head on pillow, puts in ear buds, and falls asleep, dreaming of calls, and galas. Tomorrow, she would lay off all the snacks] 

@martin-l-shoemaker Beautiful story. Thank you for sharing it.

@martin-l-shoemaker Thank you for sharing. What a beautiful example of community.

@martin-l-shoemaker darn onions! 

@martin-l-shoemaker Thank you for the beautiful post, Martin. That brings back so many memories. *wipes eyes* Bittersweet. Love you all.

So many onions! Cough, cough. Thanks for telling a story about the community of story tellers. It was so touching, I shared it with my husband.

Is it just me, or did someone named Edith used to do Joni's job? At least maybe signing rejections? 

@martin-l-shoemaker Awesome story, well told and timed.

Taking a little stroll outside thinking 💭 about QTR 4 entry and it’s heartbeat while we wait for QTR 2 results.

[Looks around pillow fort. All seems quiet. Wonders where everyone went]

Posted by: @craydimensional

[Looks around pillow fort. All seems quiet. Wonders where everyone went]

Busy writing. Writers write!

Posted by: @ehonour

Posted by: @craydimensional

[Looks around pillow fort. All seems quiet. Wonders where everyone went]

Busy writing. Writers write!

And/or reading. Or catching up on Star Trek Discovery and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Posted by: @craydimensional

[Looks around pillow fort. All seems quiet. Wonders where everyone went]

Trying to watch the new Predator movie called Prey, after hearing some good reviews on Youtube. I've been dying for a good predator movie. I would so love an Alien 5 that isn't Prometheus. I disliked the Prometheus films. Ridley Scott did amazing with Alien, then butchered the franchise with Prometheus.

@annax Oh, I politely wholly disagree on that  

BUT what I really want is Neil Blomkamp’s Alien 3 script he wrote. It was going to be fantastic! Ugh! A direct sequel to Aliens with the all the surviving cast (literally, as in they didn’t get killed by the Aliens 😆)