Discussion: Q3 Volume 40

Happy Thursday! I just triggered the auto emails from the WizeHive submission system for Q3, cycle 40C... They should start showing up soon!

@jason Thanks - can't wait!

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

@jason wait, does this mean notifications are coming now? That's much earlier than usual, isn't it? I was expecting mid October based on information from previous ones in the forums.

congrats to all who entered!

Woohoo!

That was my goal as a first time submitter.

Now I can submit it to pro markets and see what happens!

A very disappointing HM. 

I don't think my writing fits with the new judge. I'll probably change my mind but I think Q4 will be my last for a while, and that only because I've already entered. 

My pattern holds! Haha! Hopefully next quarter will break that with a SF or F, but for now I'm pleased. Congrats to everyone who placed! And to those who didn't don't give up!! The learning experience here is invaluable ❤️.

Now on a real note I think I'm actually going to go make scones ? . 

Well, maybe next time. Even when you get rejected, as long as you keep working to improve, you can reach the top.   

Got a Silver and just signed up to say it! This was my first entry and I'm sure I'll be back.

Could some kind person link me to a page that explains the different possible results (HM, SHM, etc)? I'm sure I read something about them when I entered, but that was awhile ago and I can't find it again now. Silver Honorable Mention sounds nice enough that I'm satisfied with it, anyway

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

Congratulations to everyone who submitted, and a gleeful eek for everyone who placed.

Posted by: @pdblake

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A very disappointing HM. 

I don't think my writing fits with the new judge. I'll probably change my mind but I think Q4 will be my last for a while, and that only because I've already entered. 

@ease Oh, interesting they still evaluated your story.

And now, we can all engage in the guessing-game...

Posted by: @ease

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

Congratulations to everyone who submitted, and a gleeful eek for everyone who placed.

It's THURSDAY this Thursday.

R, my first since they incorporated "feedback" -was actually interested until I realized it's just an exhaustive list of the "most common" reasons. I reckon I know those by now!

Posted by: @pdblake

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A very disappointing HM. 

I don't think my writing fits with the new judge. I'll probably change my mind but I think Q4 will be my last for a while, and that only because I've already entered. 

If you need some time out from the competition, absolutely you should take it. However, I hope you can give yourself a couple of days, be kind to yourself in that time, and maybe regroup your energy or a strategy for continuing. I think every single one of us hopes for that call from Joni, rather than an email. Especially when its a story you yourself really believe in, the sting is hard. 

I got an HM on a story that was previously my SHM. I thought I improved it quite a bit and had some top notch critiques. 

I’ve been entering a long time and I’m definitely feeling more discouraged with each quarter lately.

No news on Illustration yet but I didn’t get the phone call this time. 

Congratulations to everyone for entering and for placing well or otherwise. Consolations for all those feeling disappointed and frustrated like me. 

Posted by: @angelslayah

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It's THURSDAY this Thursday.

R, my first since they incorporated "feedback" -was actually interested until I realized it's just an exhaustive list of the "most common" reasons. I reckon I know those by now!

Posted by: @clfors

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I got an HM on a story that was previously my SHM. I thought I improved it quite a bit and had some top notch critiques. 

I’ve been entering a long time and I’m definitely feeling more discouraged with each quarter lately.

No news on Illustration yet but I didn’t get the phone call this time. 

Congratulations to everyone for entering and for placing well or otherwise. Consolations for all those feeling disappointed and frustrated like me. 

Posted by: @dommichaels

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Posted by: @clfors

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I got an HM on a story that was previously my SHM. I thought I improved it quite a bit and had some top notch critiques. 

I’ve been entering a long time and I’m definitely feeling more discouraged with each quarter lately.

No news on Illustration yet but I didn’t get the phone call this time. 

Congratulations to everyone for entering and for placing well or otherwise. Consolations for all those feeling disappointed and frustrated like me. 

My impression is that they're getting a lot of pro-level entries in this contest, things that are worthy of being published in the right market. The problem right now, even for professionals (my sister is a professional fiction writer) is that the market overall is terrible. Trad publishing is all but dead except for celebrities and big names. Amazon is a mess. Lots of really good, frustrated writers out there these days. Hang in there, there will be a sea change at some point.

 

Lots of people wanting to write, less people wanting to read, and the robots are coming to eat us all. I've been wondering if I should pivot to narrative games, but then I read that less than 50% of games on Steam ever make more than $1,000. It's a really tough world out there. Good thing we're all nuts.

RWC this quarter which is better than last quarter which was just a flat out R.

Posted by: @dommichaels

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Posted by: @pdblake

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A very disappointing HM. 

I don't think my writing fits with the new judge. I'll probably change my mind but I think Q4 will be my last for a while, and that only because I've already entered. 

I know it can sting, but don't be too discouraged. I think it's inevitable that the tastes of a new head judge change the character of the winning entries somewhat. But an HM in this contest still means it's a good story, just not perfect for this market as it stands today. WotF is a distinct market, and your HM might be a great fit somewhere else.

 

Oh I'm not stopping writing. I mean it just seems what I write doesn't fit here. 

I'm busy writing a novel anyway. 

ETA: I'll be back when I stop whining at myself. Just feeling a tad tender this week. 

Don't anyone else go feeling put off by my moaning. Keep at it.  

@dommichaels thanks for the encouragement. It really does feel like beating my head against a brick wall.

I have to admit I’d hoped for better. Sigh. But I still appreciate the HM…

I'm happy it's not a RWC but still, I have really been trying to move out of HM and see improvement. I guess not this time. I really liked the characters I had for this and the premise so I'll go straight to trying to fix what is wrong with it and see how it fares elsewhere since I'm almost done with my Q4

@delliot It’s hard when what you do best is art…several types but the world doesn’t want it. Those robots should be doing all the jobs humans don’t want to do! And I realize the issues are more complex than just AI.

@writersaraho Good idea! I bet it’s a cool story ?

@michelle-d 

Hang in there,

I have been writing since the 6th grade and been working on honing my writing skills to make it as a writer.