Discussion: Q3 Volume 39

I just got my first silver honorable mention!

I’ve had a streak of honorable mentions and was wondering how to break through to silver! I guess that’s how! Now I’ll have to figure out what I did other than reading, writing, and working on my confidence.

HM for me

The wait on this one almost flew past me. I was so wrapped up on QTR 4 entry, I forgot to watch email

 Proof that this is a subjective business and each story is on an individual journey. Congratulations to all who entered, extra congrats to those who place, and super congrats to the finalists and winners! 

  This one was a surprise (a good one). 

SHM here.

Wasn't planning on entering Q4 but I think I might!

Gosh, these results came out nowhere! I checked my spam folder for another email I was expecting and there it was.

Also, I just had my first story sale to a pro market. I'm beyond excited.

Now, I need to concentrate and get my Q4 completed.  

Congratulations to all who placed and to all the winners. I hope some on the forum are among them.  

Congratulations everyone!!!!!!!

I don't keep stats, but it definitely feels like this forum saw a lot more silver than we normally do. Great work, everyone I hope to join y'all one day.

Got my first HM out of nowhere after many rejections!

Yay!

Feeling conflicted about it though. The problem is that the story that won something was actually first thing I ever wrote, many years ago, and I considered it way too low quality for submission (poorly written, not much going on, little character development) but I didn't finish what I was going to submit otherwise in time, so I thought I might as well toss that story in...

Does everything else being rejected but my first scribbles getting HM mean I actually became a worse writer over the past years? ?

Anyway, going to try to submit something again for this quarter, either edit this thing to see if it can earn something more or finish what I wanted to write last quarter... Still a few days left...

This was the first time I submitted.  I got an honorable mention.

There are a few days left on quarter four.  I may put in something for that.

Wow. So, a weird thing happened. I was just notified that I received this for Q3:

The thing is, I had submitted for Q2 (before midnight, before the deadline), but never heard back. I thought the sub was lost or that it was not formatted correctly? So, I kind of shrugged it off and went about re-working the story. It just received a nice, fuzzy, warm rejection from Analog (post-revisions), and I put it away for the time to focus on my academic work. (Currently working on a Ph.D.) 

I imagine I did not get the story submitted on time as I thought, or, some kind of technical snafu occurred. I'm pretty blown away that this little story got a Silver Honorable Mention. I  reworked it after cringing at some of my missteps. (I am my very worst critic.) Not gonna lie, I was a bit relieved I never heard back. But, here we are. 

I received a finalist nod back in 2018 for v.31 (Q2), and placed 4th. This was a huge deal for me as I was just coming out of a literary MFA and wondered if I could still write epic fantasy. (Spoiler alert: I could!) I also met some amazing folks in my group here: Kary, Martin, C. Stewart, etc. (Waves if you are reading this.)

Then life kind of fell apart. I lost both of my grandmothers in the same year. Then, my uncle (to cancer), my nephew (an infant--to a virus), and at the end of that run, I lost my mother unexpectedly. It's absurd writing this out now because of how much grief is piled into a short amount of time. It was a funeral a month for a while there. Then, three years later, I lost my younger brother (genetic heart condition), got divorced (not a bad thing), and lost my dog. I stopped writing somewhere in there. I remember thinking, "I could pour all of this grief into something, right?" But nothing ever came out. I was soul-sick and I needed time to work through my grief, to set my life back on course, and to find my stories again. 

I submitted this story (which was on the longer end and is now novella-length), struggling with a lot of imposter syndrome nonsense. Second-guessing everything. Wondering why I bothered at all. And, even though I thought it belonged in Q2 and I never heard back, it helped me get my writing 'legs' under me again. I needed that, y'all. I so needed that.

And today, I open up an email telling me that I got this wonderful Silver Honorable Mention. That's a big deal to me. I'm sitting here with happy tears. This made my whole day. 

Thank you for reading and I'm so happy to share this status with others who are celebrating their own victories now. And, I'm happy to share space with folks who are still at it, even after a rejection, even after life woes. I see you as well and I'm rooting for you.

--Steph

  HM for me as well.

(not sure where to find the HM sign emoji and too tired to look) /p>

Nothing yet for me, but wanted to say at least that much, as I know we have folks here watching to see who didn't post and guessing at finalists (not I, said the cat).

I'll keep an eye on my inbox, and hope that the wild web has not devoured my response.

@clfors Congrats a step up

Got my first Semi-finalist.

A big "thank you" goes out to @wulfmoon for helping move my writing along. This was one of the first stories he worked with me on before submitting. 

Another RWC for me.  I seem to be hovering around the certificate border.  Good luck to everyone!

Posted by: @chwalter

Another RWC for me.  I seem to be hovering around the certificate border.  Good luck to everyone!

Keep working at it.

I almost gave up writing, since I felt like I was just spinning my wheels. My stories never felt like I was getting the idea on paper the way I wanted. Then I found WoTF and submitted a story in 2020, which was rejected. I added to the pile of rejections I've received over the years and started reading through the Forum.  I applied some of the suggestions and earned my first HM in 2021. 

I see you have several HMs, so keep at it. 

Another HM for me.  Congrats to all!

I didn't even have time to twitch this quarter because I was so busy whipping my Q4 into shape!

I got my fifth HM. Honestly, I'm pleasantly surprised because my speculative element was so slight in this one (I had nothing else ready to submit at the time). I'm hoping to level up to silver soon, though. Congrats to everyone who submitted and placed, and fingers crossed that we have some finalists amongst us!

Posted by: @adrian

  HM for me as well.

(not sure where to find the HM sign emoji and too tired to look) /p>

Here you go! In the bottom right of the text box there is a blue icon for the emoji library (WotF Smilies). This one gives you more options versus the default one at the top.

My first RWC. Not sure what's wrong with it. It's one of my best yet as far as I can see. I like it more than the SHMs I've had. 

Posted by: @cube

Does everything else being rejected but my first scribbles getting HM mean I actually became a worse writer over the past years? ?

Not at all, but it may mean that there are some things right in that old story of yours, beyond the flaws you see in it. It might be interesting to sit with it and see if you can find what it actually did well.

HM

First time applying in awhile, second time total, second HM. 

I just want to apologize in advance this coming year for upping my game to the point where I’ll win the contest entirely. My bad guys. Maybe in 2 years you’ll have your shot. 

?

After an RWC last quarter with a great story (with insufficient speculative nature), I am back to HM. Feels good. Always hope for better, but I just keep writing.

It's a straight R for me this go around. ? 

Ain't gonna lie, this one stings a little; I had such a fun time with this story. Some pretty high hopes too. But what ya gonna do? If it doesn't hit, it doesn't hit. I figure I'll do a quick post-mortem, see if there's anything obvious I did wrong, and then move on to the next one.

Truth be told, I think Rs are more beneficial to me than the customary HM; keeps me humble, hones my craft and such.  At least, that's the sour-grape salad I'm choosing to feast on at the moment!  

Silver on a mildly edited previous silver. Glad to know Jody also liked it well enough...

Got an R this go around, and I think I figured out why. This one hurts after a string of HMs and an SHM. Know your market!

I'm detecting a pattern in which of my stories place best. Of course my upcoming Q4 doesn't fit the pattern  Onward and upward!