Discussion: Q3 Volume 40

Posted by: @ehonour

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Posted by: @wulfmoon

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Posted by: @ehonour

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Yay hooray! After a bunch of HMs, this is a big jump! I am pumped, and ready to do more. Strange thing was ... I wasn't really very confident about this story. But there you go.

 

Great news and a great sign, Doc! Once you hit Semifinalist, you’ve achieved a major milepost. You were in the running! Try to get pro eyes on that story and figure out if there’s something that held it back. Find your blind spot—we all have them. Fixing the issue can get you past a hurdle and help you achieve your goals … like a win right here! 

Kudos to you! 

All the beast!

Wulf Moon

 

Thanks, Wulf. I just looked at the list of winners on the blog and was astonished to see how few SFs there were. Floated away on a cloud, and can't wait to share it with my writing group this morning. I'm also very interested to see what Jody has to say about the story!

 

Congrats again! Those brief comments from the coordinating judge are insightful, and are one of the greatest unsung gifts of this contest. Dave’s comments on my Semifinalist showed me what to focus on so I could fix my blind spot, and it made all the difference in leading me to my win. I have faith Jody’s will do the same for you. 😊

Fortune favor the brave … and the studious! 

All the best, Doc!

Posted by: @chwalter

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First time!    Thanks to @babooher for the great critique.  Best of luck everyone.

Right on! Congrats!

Congratulations to everyone that submitted a story in Q3, Volume 40! It’s not always easy putting your work up for review. It does take courage, and if your results weren’t what you hoped for, it can sting for a bit. 

But here’s the good news. Q4 is a whole new mix, a whole new bag of tricks. Your turn to be the tricksy one!

Get those new stories in! It’s how you win. 🏆

All the beast!

Wulf Moon

Posted by: @gideonpsmith

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congrats to all who entered!

Congrats, dude!

Posted by: @undreamedages

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Woohoo!

 

That was my goal as a first time submitter.

Woohoo, indeed! Congrats!

@kz_richards, another great result! Well done!

Posted by: @watt_writes

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My pattern holds!

You're circling that bull's eye! Great job! 

Posted by: @delliot

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Got a Silver and just signed up to say it!

That certainly is an impressive first entry! Congrats! & welcome to the forum, an absolute fantastic community! 

Posted by: @ease

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Oops, looks like I'm on the decline. Guess I better stop submitting 😉😆

Well, a silver is definitely a dang good story, so hardly much of a decline.   After I won, I immediately asked @jason to withdraw my next submission cuz admittedly I didn't want to know. Wanted to end on that high.  

Posted by: @chwalter

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@ease Oh, interesting they still evaluated your story.

It's all anonymous on the judging end. 

Posted by: @delliot

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Good thing we're all nuts.

Truth! & life's much richer that way.  

Posted by: @clfors

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but the world doesn’t want it.

I feel this, feel this hard sometimes. But we have to keep being creative, for ourselves and the world. It needs our art, our stories, our interpretations. It needs all we put into our craft. The world is better for it, more rich and softer and kinder. Your audience will come. Patience and Persistence. That's what I tell myself. The long game. That's what I'm in it for. Despite all the rejections that bleeds my heart and ego. Despite the self-doubt, which will probably persist until the end. Patience and persistence. Our audience will come. 

Posted by: @ehonour

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Yay hooray! After a bunch of HMs, this is a big jump! I am pumped, and ready to do more. Strange thing was ... I wasn't really very confident about this story. But there you go.

Heck yeah!!!!! Many congrats!

Posted by: @writhmic

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I'm pleasantly surprised on this one! I really thought I'd get an HM or RWC on this one since I'm aware of it's flaws. Editing it should be simple, now.

Woohoo! Way to go!

Posted by: @selsozhu

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First time submitting to WOTF, and I'm honestly kind of shocked. Such a motivating contest, though, and I'm really looking forwards to participating more. 

That's a kick-butt first time entry! Well done & welcome! I heart this contest and its community and credit it for much of my growth with this craft. Best of fortune with your next entry & happy writing!

Posted by: @leaw

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congratulations to all who entered! exciting to see a few SFs in the forum. #goals

Congrats! 

First call from Joni last Wednesday disappeared. If it rang, I didn't hear it as I spent the day doing construction and maintenance work around the house and kept the phone safe upstairs. Checked the phone later - no recent calls, no voicemails.

Thursday, wonderful Thursday arrived on Thursday as regularly scheduled. "Woo-hoo!" I wondered how well I'd done after receiving a glowing endorsement from Lori, my wonderful fiancée. [Lori, days before the Q3 deadline. After reading through a second time: "It's great. Everything is clear and vivid. Nothing there that doesn't belong. I like it.] Checked email - nothing.

Friday - more nothing.

Saturday - same. Thought, *This ain't right.* Checked again in the afternoon - nothing. *Did I send it?* Looked up confirmation email - yes, I sent it. Found Jason Toth's email and inquired. Checked an hour later - nothing. *Well, it's the weekend, can't expect anything till Monday.* Disrobed for a shower, so of course, Joni called. I'm a finalist. <Lori and I dance> Might have had a tequila or two - don't quite remember. Had fun!

Sunday - Worked most of the day on Q4 entry, needed the perfect lead-in to the climax and finally found it. Wrote a little over two thousand words to finish up and made a pronoun pass, and then the first major content pass. Joni's Wednesday voicemail dinged through on the phone; still no call info.

Monday - Up at 6am, completed the second major content pass on Q4 and submitted. Just into the afternoon, Joni called with commiserations (I was clothed this time.).

Congratulations to the winners. Read lots, hone every skill, and try again to the rest of us.

Fun stuff

Tuesday - Up at 6am outlining V41, Q1.

Posted by: @alexh

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SHM for an edited previous entry.

A relief after my first R in a while (for a previous HM) but kind of disappointing, because I submitted too early and came up with a way better idea for part of the story before the deadline date.

Good work for entering everyone, whatever the outcome!

Congrats on your SHM! I totally get your disappointment though with your idea on better the story. Lovely though w/ this contest is that you can always submit it again with the revision. 

Posted by: @sandy

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I wrote this story in three days and submitted it without any feedback, since there wasn't any time.

Super impressive! Well done and good luck with it in the future. It's clear you wrote a fantastic story!

Posted by: @toddjones

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I really need to kick my pantser style and learn to write faster. Writing isn't so bad, but the editing and re-editing time kills me.

 

My process too. Add in some pacing and gritting teeth and reading it over and over and over ad nauseam to get that cadence I desire. Kidding about the gritting of teeth. Kind of.  

Posted by: @pmg

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Proud to say   

 

After x5 R/RWC this is my first HM Can't wait to get the certificate and frame it! It's going up on the wall above my desk. 

Congrats! I always did the same with my certificates. Does a world of wonders to the confidence and keeps the eyes on the prize. Well done! 

Posted by: @wahlquistj

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I guess this story needs to find another market, because I don’t know how to edit it to make it any better.

Congrats! On the SHM and good luck on it finding its home! An SHM is a fantastic story, clearly worthy of a pro market.  

@jeschleicher Yeah, I just wondered if the system would be set up to kick it out.  I always figured if I ever win this thing my pending entry would give me a nice DQ to complete my portfolio.

Dang, @kent. Sorry that second call wasn't different. A big congrats of course on writing a finalist. & fingers crossed it is a published finalist. I hope to read it whenever it does find its home, whether that is WotF or another market. It's gotta be fantastic! 

Posted by: @chwalter

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Yeah, I just wondered if the system would be set up to kick it out. 

Gotcha. Maybe something then for them to change in the future. I reached out to Jason to manually pull my pending entry after I won. 

Congratulations to all the winners and finalist.

Posted by: @jeschleicher

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Posted by: @chwalter

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Yeah, I just wondered if the system would be set up to kick it out. 

Gotcha. Maybe something then for them to change in the future. I reached out to Jason to manually pull my pending entry after I won. 

I thought of doing that. I should have, too. But I was too danged curious.

The judging results are in!

And here are the 3rd Quarter 2023 Writers of the Future Contest winners for Volume 40.

Congratulations to you all!

All auto email notifications went out, but there is also a link to the blog post in case anyone didn't see the auto email:

https://www.writersofthefuture.com/writers-of-the-future-3rd-quarter-winners-announced-for-volume-40/