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DoctorJest
(@doctorjest)
Posts: 869
Platinum Member
 

Welcome, new folks! For @ambiguousnomad -- next quarter's a great goal, but it's always worth trying to get something in for the current quarter if you can! With a couple of weeks to spare, you can either look at a story you already have (if you have one), or try to rough something up in time from scratch. More than one of us has thrown together a story in the space of a day and just thrown it into the contest, to give themselves a shot. It's always better to be entered than not be entered, and because WotF allows you to revise and resubmit any story that places below Semi-Finalist, you don't have much to risk by trying it, even if you don't feel your story is ready yet.

(Case in point--the last time I entered a story I didn't think was ready, it made Finalist. You never can tell exactly what the judges will think!)

And welcome also, @malazoth! The free course is great, and gives a lot of wonderful pointers to help tighten and improve a story for entry into the Contest, or for submission to other markets. Do you already have an entry in for this quarter?

DQ:0 / R:0 / RWC:0 / HM:15 / SHM:7 / SF:1 / F:1
Published prior WotF entries: PodCastle, HFQ, Abyss & Apex
Pending: Q1.V42, Q2.V42 / Q3.V42 in limbo while I work on other things...

 
Posted : March 13, 2022 10:43 pm
Wulf Moon reacted
storysinger
(@storysinger)
Posts: 1545
Platinum Plus
 

Welcome to the forum (@malazoth). Drive toward the gulf coast and you'll come to LA(Lower Alabama), or what's called the Florida Panhandle.

We're practically neighbors.

DoctorJest is giving good advice about subbing. Besides, if you're not entered how can you participate in the quarterly twitchathon.  bananarama  

Today's science fiction is tomorrow's reality-D.R.Sweeney
HM x5
Published Poetry
2012 Stars in Our Hearts
Silver Ships

 
Posted : March 14, 2022 3:20 am
Wulf Moon reacted
Todd Jones
(@toddjones)
Posts: 741
Platinum Member
 

@malazoth Welcome

"Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right."~ Henry Ford

2025 V42: Submitted, WIP, ?, ?
2024 V41: RWC (Resubmitted "HM"), HM, RWC, Finalist (RWC Resubmit)
2023 V40: HM, HM, R, HM
2022 V39: SHM, HM, Semi-finalist, HM (HM Resubmit)
2021 V38: ---HM (R Resubmit)
2020 V37: -R--

 
Posted : March 14, 2022 4:14 am
Wulf Moon reacted
(@wulfmoon)
Posts: 3293
Platinum Plus Moderator
 

Welcome Han Do and Victor. Looks like the welcomes have been cared for by our Forumites, and at least one of you is already taking part in the WotF Online Workshop, so you’re well on your way! Welcome aboard!

Wulf Moon

Forum Moderator 

Click here to JOIN THE WULF PACK!
"Super-Duper Moongirl and the Amazing Moon Dawdler" won Best SFF Story of 2019! Read it in Writers of the Future, Vol. 35. Order HERE!
Need writing help? My award-winning SUPER SECRETS articles are FREE in DreamForge.
IT’S HERE! Many have been begged me to publish the Super Secrets of Writing. How to Write a Howling Good Story is now a #1 BESTSELLING BOOK! Get yours at your favorite retailer HERE!

 
Posted : March 14, 2022 9:31 pm
(@malazoth)
Posts: 5
Active Member
 

@storysinger Haha! Yes. Lower Alabama which properly starts just south of Montgomery and goes to the Gulf. The REAL L.A. laughing  

I amble that way quite a bit, though often I veer right at Mobile, head west, and land in New Orleans more often than not. I'm not a huge drinker, but the people watching in the French Quarter is wonderful and inspirational. People taking the free workshop on this site will recognize this from L. Ron Hubbard's essay Circulate in lesson 3.

Do you get to New Orleans much? Great town.

 
Posted : March 15, 2022 5:26 am
(@malazoth)
Posts: 5
Active Member
 

@doctorjest I've got a piece in contention for Q1 but I'm not prolific with my fiction at present because I'm working on a Ph.D. There's a lot of demands on writing and research time and the doctorate must come first. 

 
Posted : March 15, 2022 5:37 am
DoctorJest reacted
(@literaryserenity)
Posts: 4
Active Member
 

Hello everyone, my name is Joyce.

I'm a 33-year-old legal transcriptionist from SoCal who has undergraduate and graduate degrees in Literature & Writing Studies. My dream is to become a professional creative and freelance writer, and I have plans to self-publish some of my works later on this year. Entering the Writers of the Future Contest strikes me as a great way to continue building my skills and hopefully connect with other writers. 

 

I love to experiment with all the possibilities fiction has to offer, especially when it comes to metafictional content.

 

It's nice to meet you!

 

 
Posted : March 28, 2022 2:47 pm
(@wulfmoon)
Posts: 3293
Platinum Plus Moderator
 

@literaryserenity 

Welcome to the Forum, Joyce!

Sounds like you have much education in writing. I'll add one more class to your curriculum--the Writers of the Future Online Workshop. You get to learn the craft from three masters, and you finish the course with a story you can submit to the Contest. Best part of all? It's FREE!

Do post to the quarter you are entering, as most of the support happens there. And updates that are often exclusive to the Forum! If you'd like to see what the workshop and gala is all about, do follow along with the WotF blogs as the winners arrive in Hollywood next week. April 8th is the gala, and it will be live-streamed, so don't miss it! It's like the Oscars of science fiction and fantasy!

Best of success!

Wulf Moon
Forum Moderator

Click here to JOIN THE WULF PACK!
"Super-Duper Moongirl and the Amazing Moon Dawdler" won Best SFF Story of 2019! Read it in Writers of the Future, Vol. 35. Order HERE!
Need writing help? My award-winning SUPER SECRETS articles are FREE in DreamForge.
IT’S HERE! Many have been begged me to publish the Super Secrets of Writing. How to Write a Howling Good Story is now a #1 BESTSELLING BOOK! Get yours at your favorite retailer HERE!

 
Posted : March 29, 2022 4:55 pm
Todd Jones
(@toddjones)
Posts: 741
Platinum Member
 

@literaryserenity Welcome to the forum.  Read through the forum and ask questions.  I've found people here to be friendly and full of sound advice. 

"Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right."~ Henry Ford

2025 V42: Submitted, WIP, ?, ?
2024 V41: RWC (Resubmitted "HM"), HM, RWC, Finalist (RWC Resubmit)
2023 V40: HM, HM, R, HM
2022 V39: SHM, HM, Semi-finalist, HM (HM Resubmit)
2021 V38: ---HM (R Resubmit)
2020 V37: -R--

 
Posted : March 30, 2022 7:29 am
Dragonchef
(@dragonchef)
Posts: 390
Silver Star Member
 

@literaryserenity - Well met, Joyce! And welcome to the best of the rest of your life (as a WotF contestant . . . and writer). Hope you enjoy hanging out in here. Lots to learn and great people to learn from. And to just speak your mind - as long as it's clean.

3 HMs
6 SHMs
Umpteen Rs
Still hoping and working toward better -
One of these days, Alice . . . POW! We're going to the moon!

 
Posted : March 31, 2022 5:31 am
(@literaryserenity)
Posts: 4
Active Member
 

@toddjones, @wulfmoon, and @dragonchef Thank you so much for the warm welcome! I've wanted to join these forums for a while, and it's exciting to get a chance to connect with other writers in this kind of environment and learn what I can. 

 
Posted : March 31, 2022 8:00 am
storysinger
(@storysinger)
Posts: 1545
Platinum Plus
 

(@literaryserenity) Hello everyone, my name is Joyce.

It's nice to meet you!

Welcome to the forum Joyce. You may have accelerated your learning curve when you joined us.

We have multiple winners that still frequently post thoughts and suggestions. It's called paying it forward. 

Explore the many threads and get to meet everyone, we really want to help you ascend the podium.

Today's science fiction is tomorrow's reality-D.R.Sweeney
HM x5
Published Poetry
2012 Stars in Our Hearts
Silver Ships

 
Posted : March 31, 2022 2:22 pm
Mark Wilkinson
(@markwilx)
Posts: 22
Advanced Member
 

Greetings all.  I'm not new to the contest, but I'm new to the forum.

I submitted a couple of stories to WotF back in 2008 and got honorable mentions for both.  From one of those two, I wrote a novel (110k words!) but it wasn't  that good.  No publishers were interested in it.  Plus, you can't expect much when you submit a story full of conservative themes to a publisher in New York!  I learned that you don't write what your audience wants to read; write what the publisher wants to sell!

I submitted another story to WotF in 2018, and I'm sure it died in the slush pile.  I submitted another last December and one this month.  Of course, I'm eagerly waiting to hear on the first quarter results.  I understand gala preparations are keeping them busy.

With my brother and a couple of artist friends, we created a science fiction role playing game titled, "Universe."  Nobody was interested in publishing it, so we stared our own publishing company and got it on the market (ISBN 0-9729563-0-1).  The adage is that the way to make a small fortune in the gaming industry is to start with a large one.  Ha!  So true.  The game reviewed well (particularly in Europe, which surprised us), and we sold almost 1,000 copies between the two continents.  (That's pretty average for a new indie role-playing game.)  We had a lot of fun for the short run that we had.  Unfortunately, our distributor went out of business and *poof* our remaining inventory vanished overnight.  C'est la vie.

While the game wasn't designed as an educational game, it was developed to teach STEM and other topics.  Educators would have been horrified that players learned human anatomy with our critical hit system.  Bwahahaha!  Some of our educational aims were captured in a paper I published at the Life, the Universe, and Everything Symposium back in 1999.

Other than technical publications in my day job that's the sum total of my credits over the last many years.

Science fiction writers who aren't really that good wind up becoming engineers, which is what I did.  I've been a spacecraft avionics design engineer for a lot of years.  It's been a fun career, but writing is what I really enjoy.

Best of luck, everybody, in your writing aspirations!

Mark

https://www.MarkWilx.com

 
Posted : April 2, 2022 7:56 am
Elaine Midcoh
(@elainemidcoh)
Posts: 29
Bronze Member
 

Hi all,

I'm Elaine Midcoh (a pen name). I've been a lurker on the forum for a while and have learned much! I'll probably mostly stay a lurker, but may post a little too. About five years ago I retired from my job (college professor-taught law) and began submitting to WotF. My story "The Battle of Donasi," was a published finalist in WotF v. 37!! That was a huge thrill. I mostly write short stories - typically science fiction, but occasionally other genres. One of my sci-fi stories, "Man on the Moon," won the 2022 Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award (will be published on the Baen Books web page in June or July) and two other sci-fi stories have been accepted by magazines, but have not been published yet.

Glad to be part of the forum!

Elaine Midcoh
Winner - WotF v. 39. ("A Trickle in History")
Published Finalist - WotF v. 37 ("The Battle of Donasi")
2 SHM's / a few HM's / some R's
2022 Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award ("Man on the Moon" - reprinted in "Escape Pod" magazine, June 2023 - read/listen for free at Escape Pod 895: Man on the Moon )
More sci-fi stories published in magazines MetaStellar, Galaxy's Edge, Daily Science Fiction and in anthology, "Compelling Science Fiction Short Stories" (Flame Tree Press-Oct. 2022)
ELAINE MIDCOH – Sci-Fi Author & Short Story Writer (wordpress.com)

 
Posted : April 2, 2022 11:50 am
Joyce Jacobo, DoctorJest, David Hankins and 1 people reacted
storysinger
(@storysinger)
Posts: 1545
Platinum Plus
 

Welcome to the forum former lurker Elaine. Judging by the info in your signature you are writing at the top tier.

I look forward to snapping up every morsel of knowledge you share.

Today's science fiction is tomorrow's reality-D.R.Sweeney
HM x5
Published Poetry
2012 Stars in Our Hearts
Silver Ships

 
Posted : April 2, 2022 11:58 am
DoctorJest
(@doctorjest)
Posts: 869
Platinum Member
 

Welcome, @elainemidcoh! I think there's more than one of us here who got started with a little bit of lurking, so happy to see you join the crowd a little more officially! I'll keep an eye-out for that forthcoming award-winner too, it sounds like you're on a roll at the moment!

DQ:0 / R:0 / RWC:0 / HM:15 / SHM:7 / SF:1 / F:1
Published prior WotF entries: PodCastle, HFQ, Abyss & Apex
Pending: Q1.V42, Q2.V42 / Q3.V42 in limbo while I work on other things...

 
Posted : April 2, 2022 6:47 pm
Elaine Midcoh
(@elainemidcoh)
Posts: 29
Bronze Member
 
Posted by: @storysinger

Welcome to the forum former lurker Elaine. Judging by the info in your signature you are writing at the top tier.

I look forward to snapping up every morsel of knowledge you share.

Thank you "StorySinger" (great handle!!). And thanks for telling me how to add my signature line. As for morsels of knowledge...Yikes! What pressure! But here's one that you've probably already done - do/listen to the free online WotF course. I thought it was tremendously helpful. I've told writer friends - who don't write sci-fi/fantasy - about the course because it gives many useful tips appropriate for anyone who wishes to write fiction. And it's free. Useful and free - my favorite type of writing workshop!!

Again, thanks for the warm welcome!! 

Elaine Midcoh
Winner - WotF v. 39. ("A Trickle in History")
Published Finalist - WotF v. 37 ("The Battle of Donasi")
2 SHM's / a few HM's / some R's
2022 Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Award ("Man on the Moon" - reprinted in "Escape Pod" magazine, June 2023 - read/listen for free at Escape Pod 895: Man on the Moon )
More sci-fi stories published in magazines MetaStellar, Galaxy's Edge, Daily Science Fiction and in anthology, "Compelling Science Fiction Short Stories" (Flame Tree Press-Oct. 2022)
ELAINE MIDCOH – Sci-Fi Author & Short Story Writer (wordpress.com)

 
Posted : April 3, 2022 4:04 am
(@wulfmoon)
Posts: 3293
Platinum Plus Moderator
 

@markwilx 

Welcome to the Forum, Mark!

I'm sorry the RPG game didn't work out as planned, and that you lost your distributor ... and inventory! Business is always risky, and it usually takes many tries before we succeed. But it's not all loss--I've found we learn as much from what didn't work as we learn from what does. May some of that knowledge find application to your writing career--especially if you go the indie route!

As to writing, you'll find plenty of support here. And the Contest offers no risk, just write your story and send it in each quarter. They even provide a free workshop with some of the best to help you write a successful story--the Writers of the Future Online Workshop. Do tap into that. It's important to know what makes stories work, and you'll be getting that knowledge from some of the top writers in the industry.

Do post in the quarterly topic you plan to enter. Most of the day-to-day support goes on there. There's other folders for sharing successes, asking writing questions, and even swapping stories for critiques. 

Come on in, the water is fine!

Wulf Moon
Forum Moderator

Click here to JOIN THE WULF PACK!
"Super-Duper Moongirl and the Amazing Moon Dawdler" won Best SFF Story of 2019! Read it in Writers of the Future, Vol. 35. Order HERE!
Need writing help? My award-winning SUPER SECRETS articles are FREE in DreamForge.
IT’S HERE! Many have been begged me to publish the Super Secrets of Writing. How to Write a Howling Good Story is now a #1 BESTSELLING BOOK! Get yours at your favorite retailer HERE!

 
Posted : April 3, 2022 1:42 pm
DoctorJest
(@doctorjest)
Posts: 869
Platinum Member
 
Posted by: @markwilx

Science fiction writers who aren't really that good wind up becoming engineers, which is what I did.  I've been a spacecraft avionics design engineer for a lot of years.  It's been a fun career, but writing is what I really enjoy.

And there are plenty of great engineers who go on to be great science fiction writers too! The trick is to do it often enough until you get good. Stubborn pays off here!

Welcome to the Forum, Mark--and good luck with both entries!

DQ:0 / R:0 / RWC:0 / HM:15 / SHM:7 / SF:1 / F:1
Published prior WotF entries: PodCastle, HFQ, Abyss & Apex
Pending: Q1.V42, Q2.V42 / Q3.V42 in limbo while I work on other things...

 
Posted : April 3, 2022 4:34 pm
(@lusine)
Posts: 9
Advanced Member
 

Hi everyone! I'm new to the forum, but I've been following WOTF for years and have purchased many of the anthologies! I've been so impressed with all the talent! I write fantasy and scifi. It's always very nice to meet other writers! 

 
Posted : April 3, 2022 6:05 pm
(@wulfmoon)
Posts: 3293
Platinum Plus Moderator
 
Posted by: @lusine

Hi everyone! I'm new to the forum, but I've been following WOTF for years and have purchased many of the anthologies! I've been so impressed with all the talent! I write fantasy and scifi. It's always very nice to meet other writers! 

Welcome to the Forum, Loretta!

Good to know you’re reading the anthologies, that really helps. Another thing that will help is the Writers of the Future Online Workshop. It's important to know what makes stories work, and you learn from the best.

Do post in the quarterly topic you plan to enter. Most of the day-to-day support goes on there. There's other folders for sharing successes, asking writing questions, and even swapping stories for critiques. But the Forum is mostly about getting the support to stay the course.

Welcome aboard!

Wulf Moon

Forum Moderator 

Click here to JOIN THE WULF PACK!
"Super-Duper Moongirl and the Amazing Moon Dawdler" won Best SFF Story of 2019! Read it in Writers of the Future, Vol. 35. Order HERE!
Need writing help? My award-winning SUPER SECRETS articles are FREE in DreamForge.
IT’S HERE! Many have been begged me to publish the Super Secrets of Writing. How to Write a Howling Good Story is now a #1 BESTSELLING BOOK! Get yours at your favorite retailer HERE!

 
Posted : April 3, 2022 10:00 pm
storysinger
(@storysinger)
Posts: 1545
Platinum Plus
 

Welcome Mark. With your background the descriptions of spaceships and machines should be exemplary.

Today's science fiction is tomorrow's reality-D.R.Sweeney
HM x5
Published Poetry
2012 Stars in Our Hearts
Silver Ships

 
Posted : April 4, 2022 5:04 am
storysinger
(@storysinger)
Posts: 1545
Platinum Plus
 

It's nice to meet you, Lorreta. Reading the anthologies is a great way to gain insight when submitting to the contest.

Like Wulf says explore the many threads and mingle with everyone, we're a helpful bunch of people.

Today's science fiction is tomorrow's reality-D.R.Sweeney
HM x5
Published Poetry
2012 Stars in Our Hearts
Silver Ships

 
Posted : April 4, 2022 5:09 am
Wulf Moon reacted
Mark Wilkinson
(@markwilx)
Posts: 22
Advanced Member
 
Posted by: @wulfmoon

@markwilx 

I'm sorry the RPG game didn't work out as planned, and that you lost your distributor ... and inventory! Business is always risky, and it usually takes many tries before we succeed. But it's not all loss--I've found we learn as much from what didn't work as we learn from what does. May some of that knowledge find application to your writing career--especially if you go the indie route!

Thanks for the sympathy, but I'd followed the wisdom I learned and gained wisdom I hadn't.  We never went into debt we couldn't handle (and there are some who have argued that if we'd stretched ourselves further we would have mede it), and the primary goal wasn't commercial success.  We were determined to publish a science fiction RPG.  We had a lot of fun doing it, never compromised our day jobs, and the few fans we had really enjoyed the game.  We attended trade shows and game conventions, and built a lot of relationships.

Yes!  You're right.  We learn from experience, not success or failure.  I learned about the industry and it mechanizations.  I learned how to form and manage a Limited Liability Company and register trademarks.  I learned desktop publishing and how to work with a printer (both traditional and print-on-demand).  I learned how to build servers, websites, databases, protocols, and apps ... and pesky things like domain name registration and search engine optimization.  I found out how to get editing and proofreading on the cheap.  Most importantly, we had fun doing it. 

It was a fantastic experience.

 

Posted by: @doctorjest

And there are plenty of great engineers who go on to be great science fiction writers too! The trick is to do it often enough until you get good. Stubborn pays off here!

Welcome to the Forum, Mark--and good luck with both entries!

Posted by: @storysinger

Welcome Mark. With your background the descriptions of spaceships and machines should be exemplary.

Thank you both for the encouragement.  The idea of incorporating engineering knowledge into fiction raises a huge topic.  After I've lurked for awhile, I'll raise in the appropriate forum subgroup.  But let me summarize.  My favorite authors are Arthur C. Clarke (and I had a chance to work briefly with his co-author Gentry Lee while I was at NASA JPL) and Issac Asimov.  What drew me to them was the way they wove into the reader's mind an understanding of the technology in their stories.  This is no surprise.  Asimov was a professor of biochemistry and Clarke had degrees in mathematics and physics.  Their stories required little 'suspension of disbelief.'  In my writing, I've tried to emulate that.  Nobody wants a textbook, but the background kinetics in the story can be informative, not just thought-provoking.

Indeed, a year ago, I took one of my short stories, lengthened it to a novella to experiment with ebook publishing (on Amazon, Google, B&N, Rakuten, and Drive Thru).  In the back of the book, I included a STEM primer that outlined the mathematics of acceleration, velocity, and time-of-flight that I'd calculated in writing the story.  I wrote the math appropriate to high school physics students.  I was thinking about marketing it to home school and other educators, but haven't done that yet.

In modern sci-fi writing, I've seen very little of this focus on technical accuracy.  Indeed, most of what I read and watched I wouldn't even call science fiction, rather future fantasy.  (That might get a flame war going, so I'll stop there.)

What is germane in this is that the last two short stories I've submitted (V39Q1 and Q2) are what I'd call future fantasy instead of science fiction.  I'm very curious to see how these stores resonate with the judges.

Mark

https://www.MarkWilx.com

 
Posted : April 4, 2022 7:24 am
Wulf Moon reacted
James (Ease)
(@ease)
Posts: 535
Gold Star Member
 

Welcome @markwilx, @elainemidcoh, and @lusine! You have quite the writing creds between you. I look forward to discussing the in's and out's of great story-telling with all of you.

VOL 40 2nd Quarter: Third Place ("Ashes to Ashes, Blood to Carbonfiber")
Past submissions: R - HM - HM - HM - HM - HM - SHM - SHM
www.jd-writes.com
Kindle Vella - Ashes to Ashes, Earth to Kaybee

 
Posted : April 4, 2022 7:59 am
(@zappey1)
Posts: 18
Advanced Member
 

Hello everyone. I entered the quarterly contest and saw this forum the other day. I was reading the profiles and accolades and I was very impressed by everyone's accomplishments. 

I love both writing and reading and recently self-published my first book. Sales have been okay and I'm always looking to refine my writing craft for the next book.

Right now I write mainly horror and local mythology short stories. I also did about half the art for my book. I'm a good artist but I don't enjoy it as much as writing (I also submitted for the illustrator contest). I have written science fiction short stories in the past but never published them.

 

 
Posted : April 8, 2022 7:48 am
catherine
(@cweaver)
Posts: 78
Bronze Star Member
 

Hello, my name is Catherine Weaver,

I've been writing and submitting to this contest off and on since it was started. I just never joined the forum. I used to belong to Critters way back in the 1990s. I have been just having friends and family read my stories since then. I think it would be useful and fun to be part of the writer's critique exchange group, and some of the discussions and workshops.

I won an Honorable Mention for a story I sent in in 2020. I'm not sure which Volume or quarter it was for, but I found out in July 2020.

I have self-published a few books, but I want to get into the professional market. I am a professional copy editor, and have edited a lot of other people's stories, books, and blogs.

I have loved Sci Fi and fantasy since I could read. As a matter of fact, my first Sci Fi book was Stranger in a Strange Land, which I read when I was 10. I read The Hobbit that same year, and have never stopped.

Author of MG Fantasy Adventures:
Gold Dust
Phoenix Down
Author of an English/Japanese bilingual fantasy for 4-6 year-olds:
Ray and Mia's Adventure
I'm a professional copy editor and also a trained mime. Please don't hold either of these against me.
V37 Q2 HM
V39 Q2 HM, Q3 SHM, Q4 HM
V40 Q1 HM, Q2 HM, Q3 RWC, Q4 HM
V41 Q1 HM
https://catherineweaverauthor.com/

 
Posted : April 9, 2022 7:06 am
Joyce Jacobo, Wulf Moon, storysinger and 1 people reacted
DoctorJest
(@doctorjest)
Posts: 869
Platinum Member
 

Welcome, @zappey1 and @cweaver both!

Jacob, if you've written SF stories in the past, you have nothing to lose by trying to enter one of them into this Contest! And if you like, you can look around on the crit feedback board, request a story exchange and get some folks' insights into how your story might perform here. Like other short-story markets, the Contest is its own animal with its own rules, and there are definitely a few do's and dont's to be aware of for a Contest story. You can't win if you aren't entered, and if you do enter, the worst thing that can happen is that you don't win--which is exactly what happens if you don't enter anyway, so why not give it a try?

And Catherine, welcome! I took a quick look in the Blog, and it looks like you picked up an Honorable Mention in Q2 of Vol. 37 -- 

Writers of the Future 2nd Quarter Winners Announced for Volume 37 – Writers & Illustrators of the Future

Professional editing is definitely a skill that'll serve you well! Editing definitely makes or breaks a story, and can turn even a rough hunk of junk into something that really sparkles. And speaking of The Hobbit, one of my own first memories of fantasy fiction is the chapter "Riddles in the Dark"--the chapter was included in one of my primary school books (it was purple, a super useful detail no doubt), and it stuck with me as the only piece of writing I remember from any of them.

DQ:0 / R:0 / RWC:0 / HM:15 / SHM:7 / SF:1 / F:1
Published prior WotF entries: PodCastle, HFQ, Abyss & Apex
Pending: Q1.V42, Q2.V42 / Q3.V42 in limbo while I work on other things...

 
Posted : April 9, 2022 7:34 pm
Joyce Jacobo, Wulf Moon, catherine and 1 people reacted
Wahlquistj
(@wahlquistj)
Posts: 82
Bronze Star Member
 

Hello!

My name is Jillian Wahlquist. I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember, but I’ve decided to finally ‘get serious’.

I’ve won semi-finalist, silver honorable mention, and honorable mention in the WotF contest and I’m looking to hone my skills for my next entry.

I’m also interested in middle grade sci-fi/fantasy and am currently finishing the final draft of my first novel.

I had the opportunity to attend the banquet this past weekend and it was so much fun! I’m currently reading through volume 38 and thoroughly enjoying all the winners’ stories. 

V33- SF
V38- SHM, HM
V39- HM,R
V40- HM
V41- Q2-SHM, Q3-SHM, Q4-SHM

 
Posted : April 10, 2022 8:06 am
Cherrie, crlisle, Wulf Moon and 1 people reacted
catherine
(@cweaver)
Posts: 78
Bronze Star Member
 

@doctorjest It's nice to meet you! Editing my own work is easier said than done, but thanks for reminding me how important it is. I think my best short story so far is one I wrote originally five years ago, then took it up recently and unmercifully edited it. Now I just have to be able to separate myself from a story enough to edit it without having to add five years to the process!

Author of MG Fantasy Adventures:
Gold Dust
Phoenix Down
Author of an English/Japanese bilingual fantasy for 4-6 year-olds:
Ray and Mia's Adventure
I'm a professional copy editor and also a trained mime. Please don't hold either of these against me.
V37 Q2 HM
V39 Q2 HM, Q3 SHM, Q4 HM
V40 Q1 HM, Q2 HM, Q3 RWC, Q4 HM
V41 Q1 HM
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Posted : April 10, 2022 8:44 am
Wahlquistj, Wulf Moon, DoctorJest and 1 people reacted
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