4 in 36

I’m in until disqualified! I have a novella coming out from a small press and plan to release a self-pubbed reader magnet sometime in 2019 to support it, but I’ll still be eligible until they exceed a certain amount of sales.

I'm in!

*cracks knuckles*

I'm in.

2 in 36?

Just kidding. I'm always optimistic.

I'll give it a shot! Still looking for my first four-fer.

Intriguing. I may try it. I stopped submitting for a while, concentrating on a self-publishing career which has, sadly, not disqualified me yet. I'm also trying to get another novel out, but I've caught both the short story & WOTF bugs again.

Yeah, this sounds like a fun idea to me -- I already have my Q1 underway, and a solid idea of what I'd like my Q2 to be too. Count me in.

I know these challenges are meant to be fun and motivational, but just to spoil that a little, I have a rules question.... Do repeat submissions count? I personally would say yes, but I'm open to hearing thoughts otherwise. Is the challenge more about writing or submitting? This will be my first quarter doing a repeat, though I've submitted a couple of trunk stories when I was short on time. It seems like even submitting the exact same manuscript as a previous quarter would be better than submitting nothing at all - might catch Dave on a good day! In that regard, I'm planning on being "in" every quarter to WOPO. But I'm not sure if that lines up with the intent of these challenges.

I know these challenges are meant to be fun and motivational, but just to spoil that a little, I have a rules question.... Do repeat submissions count? I personally would say yes, but I'm open to hearing thoughts otherwise. Is the challenge more about writing or submitting? This will be my first quarter doing a repeat, though I've submitted a couple of trunk stories when I was short on time. It seems like even submitting the exact same manuscript as a previous quarter would be better than submitting nothing at all - might catch Dave on a good day! In that regard, I'm planning on being "in" every quarter to WOPO. But I'm not sure if that lines up with the intent of these challenges.

The challenge is about submitting. Repeats definitely count, especially if you edit.

Backing up Michael, the challenge is to make sure we enter every quarter. You can't win if you don't enter. Enter every quarter? Odds get better. Just the facts, ma'm.

Some have won rewriting, getting a rejection, workshopping and rewriting, getting an HM, workshopping and rewriting, making finalist and the ultimate win. Amy Henrie Gillett's "All Light and Darkness" in Volume 35 is one of those. So there's a good example of how to turn a rejection into a win.

Really, it's whatever will get you to the ultimate win, publication, workshop, and gala. Me? I'm trying to write fresh each quarter, which gives me new stories to shop around should they not win, and I definitely feel improves my writing, as each new story takes me to a new vista in my skills. Your mileage may vary, so to quote Obiwan, "You must do what you feel is right, of course."

Fortune favor the brave!

~Moon~

Right -- Thanksgiving's down, and so it's time to get full steam into editing my Q1 submission. I have the bones of the story down, and my first edit sweep is some refinements, a whole lot of next-sweep edit notes, and essentially sanity-checking everything to make sure it still stands up...

I'm pretty sure I'll be running this quarter to the wire, though.

Alright I'm going for it again

I’m in, though I’ll definitely be resubmitting this year. I have a book to edit/pitch and three others to finish.

Onward!

I'm going to do my best but working on historical fiction is, well, work. Who knew? I'm hoping to wrap up the book in time to squeeze a rewrite into Q1 but I'm full on in the murky middles and wrestling with plot bears. But I plan to make the attempt and not break my streak.

Things didn't align for me last year, but I'm strangely tempted to give this another shot.

All you can do is try, right? 🙂 My last sub was at the end of v.33, but I'm still going to tilt at this full steam and do my damnedest to make it stick.

I'm a complete newbie here, but I'm the kind to jump in with full force and both feet, so I'm in. The dates are Jan 1, April 1, Aug 1 and Oct 1, right?

That's the spirit, Dr. Jest! I took on that mindset almost four years ago, and it was in the midst of all kinds of troubles, like my wife's cancer surgeries and treatments. I just said to hell with it. If I wait for everything to be perfect, it's never going to happen. I made a personal commitment to enter every quarter. Some, like the last Q, had me writing up to 11:56 PM on the last day to get a story in. On one Q, I wrote a story in four hours on the last day (got an HM!). A couple times there were just too many hospital and doctor visits and caregiving needs that made it impossible, but as a whole, I got my stories in.

When you commit to a challenging goal, you find out you are capable of much more than you ever believed possible.

Fortune favor the brave,

~Moon~

I'm a complete newbie here, but I'm the kind to jump in with full force and both feet, so I'm in. The dates are Jan 1, April 1, Aug 1 and Oct 1, right?

I believe those are the beginnings of each new quarter. The due dates for each previous quarter is one day before; ie Dec 31, March 30, June 30, and September 30.

And don’t worry too much. If you’re setup to get notifications on this thread and each quarterly thread, you’ll know when the deadline is coming up. 😉

I should be in on this thread as well as Wulf's. I'm all out of previously written stories, My Q1 entry is already in - took 2 or 3 weeks to write. My quarter 2 entry is creeping forward a line a day. (I finished my Q4 entry the day before the Q finished, hope to be faster than that,)

I'm in. For as long I'm able to.

Already subbed to Q1 a piece I'd been writing and working on initially to sub to v35 Q4 but it wasn't ready yet so here I am for v36 instead.

I'm in. For as long I'm able to.

Already subbed to Q1 a piece I'd been writing and working on initially to sub to v35 Q4 but it wasn't ready yet so here I am for v36 instead.

Sounds good! (And I completely understand about not having the story ready for Q4 yet, I've been there myself.)

Let's do this thing! I'm in.

From Dave's blog - As a judge, I’ve just finished my second pass through the Writers of the Future contest stories for the first quarter... Does that mean rejections coming soon?

From Dave's blog - As a judge, I’ve just finished my second pass through the Writers of the Future contest stories for the first quarter... Does that mean rejections coming soon?

I can’t imagine so; isn’t the end of the quarter December 31st?

From Dave's blog - As a judge, I’ve just finished my second pass through the Writers of the Future contest stories for the first quarter... Does that mean rejections coming soon?

I can’t imagine so; isn’t the end of the quarter December 31st?

'course it is. Silly me. My entry was in so early, I've lost track of time - It must be a regurgitated article in his blog.

I'm in too!

Q1 story submitted.

Let's make it so everyone!

This may sound weird, but I think what I'm going to try to do in order to make sure 4 in 36 happens is basically start a new short story once the previous one is done up until I've got all 4. If it takes a full quarter every time, oh well, but if I can hit the point of done in closer to a month and a half for each that will give me time to work on a longer project once I've got all four done. I have officially decided that if I can manage twins (and thus far I'm doing okay with that), that means I can write novels and that's all there is to it.

It's good to have starts prepped and ready to go. Flash works good for this. You can test ideas in flash, and in a pinch, expand on one that keeps crying out to be brought to the fullness of story. My winner in Q4 was from a one page intro I had written six months before. When I figured out my theme, that intro was a seed just waiting for water and sunlight to burst forth into quivering life.

I posted all the other places but not in this place.

I skidded in to Q1! So, 4 in 36 is ON!
I still have burn marks to show from it.

I entered 4 in 35 and immediately fell into a pit of despair with non-writing life. I climbed my way out by last June and finished a hard re-write of a novel, plotted a new one, and roughed out the first draft. So, spending the holidays on a short story seemed like a good way to keep writing without committing to a new novel before finishing the last.

Then came the challenge...so Here I Am!
Out of the Pit of Despair and climbing the Mountain of Desire!