Jibber Jabber - Q1 - 29

And they critique these? For real?? That's way more work and feedback than I expected. Wonderful!

Yep the Semi-Finalist get critiques. There are 10 Semi-Finalist spot if I remember correctly. However, a story that has received a critique will not be eligible to be entered again because it would give that story an unfair advantage, though the author may continue to enter other stories until they win.

You can enter the same story twice??! I always figured when I got a rejection from WOTF it was time to move on to some fresh rejections. That figures...

Hey, I broke the 120 barrier!

If Martin's weathervane is blowing correctly, maybe it'll be the last page!

You can re-submit anything but a semi-finalist or finalist.

Whether it's a good idea is up for debate--after all, it probably didn't win for a reason.

JD,
You may enter the story as often as you wish, but the consensus is not to as in theory you've moved on and written something better.

However, at times, the story or the writer his/herself has grown sufficiently as to warrant a resubmission.

MO Muriel won last year with a resub of a reworked rejection.
I believe "The Hangar Queen" from a few years back was also a resubbed reject.

D

Yey, it's good to see more news coming in! Congrats Kary and Bluestocking and NoTimeToThink and Preston!

These people haven't heard yet. I expect Finalist results any day now. (Disclaimer: I do not know anything. Any expectation mentioned is pure, unbridled wishful thinking.)

1 LAMPS
Isto

1 Hold Pile
Michael B.

1 NNiNN
David K

According to Joni, ALL should have their results by now. Mine went astray, but it's a big fat R (which tells me absolutely nothing). Such is life.

Sorry to hear about the R, Isto.

Looks like query time for Michael B and David K.

ETA: Only two semis here on the board? I wonder where the rest are?

Bummer.

Good to hear that all the results (save winners) should be out, though. That's your license to e-mail, people!

Answered her so as to preserve the results-onlyness of the Results Only thread.

According to Joni, my result went astray. Straight rejection. No surprise there. I didn't name my character until the second page. It is definitely not Dave's cup of tea. Or does he only drink coffee?

I believe diet soda is his caff of choice.

It's so weird to hear that Q1 is over*. I've spent literally my entire contest existence waiting for Q1 and now it's gone. I feel...adrift somehow.

*except for announcing the Winners

Ouch! Sorry, Isto. Despite my better judgment, I really did hope that No News Meant Good News for the remaining unknowns here.

Answered her so as to preserve the results-onlyness of the Results Only thread.

According to Joni, my result went astray. Straight rejection. No surprise there. I didn't name my character until the second page. It is definitely not Dave's cup of tea. Or does he only drink coffee?

I believe diet soda is his caff of choice.

but he totally went off about soda and how it turns your insides black. He went on about it for like a half hour. But now that I think of it I do think he had a diet soda...

Also sorry to hear Isto about the R. No bid deal, off and on to the next story. You'll get there.

Sorry to hear about the R, Isto.

Looks like query time for Michael B and David K.

ETA: Only two semis here on the board? I wonder where the rest are?

I just emailed Joni.

Sorry Isto on your results. Can't be long then before we find out who were the winning 3...

Commiserations, Isto. Nothing to do but turn around and submit it elsewhere and write your next entry. Good luck next quarter.

Sorry to hear the bad news, Isto. Keep writing and keep submitting!

Joni's GREAT! My results are now in!

Although, I don't think she sleeps, because she went right out of her way and emailed me quite late to advise me that I actually hadn't entered Q1

How silly did I feel after all the hype and anticipation the 280 days of build up for this quarter delivered.

But I did enter Q1.

On the second day, way back in November, I received acknowledgement to that effect, and there you go.

It would seem the submission machine has some flaws.

Crunch.

Ouch! Sorry, David!

Ouch! Sorry, David!

But you're right (from another thread) I do have a nice sparkly story ready to submit for Q4 ( just not one that KD had seen and voted on even though it was submitted early). That would have been something. Both my Q1 and Q2 stories were written for her. My Q3 is unclear until we know how the new judge, DF, works. Q4 would have been better aligned by then, but everything is still all out of sync, and now it will be my Q1 30 by the time I'm writing for Dave F.

I'll submit KD's story for Q4 no matter the consequences. My disappointment comes from missed opportunities. I'm thrilled you got bumped to Finalist from her.

Commiserations Isto, and ouch David.

But you're right (from another thread) I do have a nice sparkly story ready to submit for Q4 ( just not one that KD had seen and voted on even though it was submitted early). That would have been something. Both my Q1 and Q2 stories were written for her. My Q3 is unclear until we know how the new judge, DF, works. Q4 would have been better aligned by then, but everything is still all out of sync, and now it will be my Q1 30 by the time I'm writing for Dave F.

Another small bonus: you don't have to worry about Q4 and your thesis at the same time.

Sorry to hear that David. That sort of thing seems more painful to me, especially after submitting super early and waiting well beyond 6 months. *wince*

Oh, ouch, David. That's rough.

Commiserations.

David - ouch!! So is your story lost or does this mean you have two stories in a different quarter?

Geeze Dave...that's awful. And I guess this puts you even more ahead. I think I remember reading that story way back in the 450s or maybe it was your Q2? Ah, worst feeling. I hope they invest some time into figuring out the system bugs. I can't image that many people are entering it wrong or having email bounce trouble.

Aw, that sucks, David. I think a similar thing happened to Jordan Lapp a few years back. He rendered the story in another quarter and won.

And I had a very vivid WotF dream last night. Tina won first place, Holly second, and Martin third.

Aw, that sucks, David. I think a similar thing happened to Jordan Lapp a few years back. He rendered the story in another quarter and won.

And I had a very vivid WotF dream last night. Tina won first place, Holly second, and Martin third.

I think a few others have done this too who've ended up as finalists. So good luck, David!

So we know now about everyone but Michael B. Who we might not hear from -- didn't he say this quarter would be his last due to pro'ing out?

*nice dream, Marina...but where were you? 🙁 *

Yeah, Marina, you can't dream yourself a win? Have more confidence than that!

Hey, as long as we're jibber-jabbering, I'll take some advice: should I pull my Q4 Semi from Naked Reader Press? They're really late at responding. They promised me they would have answers last week, which would still be late, but it would at least be an answer; but still no response. To be fair, I understand a number of their staff have had to deal with the Colorado wildfires. Plus they're working writers themselves, and busy people, and a small press. I'd love to work with them. They're good people, and they have some PR reach.

But that story could be the linchpin of the collection I have in mind; and I've seen some sales of short stories and the Lounge just due to the Finalist announcement. It might be good to be ready just in case -- not counting chickens here, but... -- just in case there's a Winners announcement with my name on it.

On the other hand, if I DO have a winner, there will be even more sales potential when the anthology comes out. That's the really big rush potential. Plus if I don't win, I've got three more quarters to hope for. (Just so you're all warned: my Q3 and my Q4 kick ass!) So releasing now isn't as urgent as releasing by next April would be.

On the gripping hand, as Dean points out, it's never too soon to get more stories up where people can find them. Delay means delaying revenue growth,

Decisions, decisions...

I think my previous losses have deflated my ego when it comes to the contest. Technically, I could be a finalist over and over and never win. Clearly my subconcious is trying to prepare me for a personal loss by building up my confidence that you guys'll win.

I'd wait, Martin. But that's just me. I don't think you have to time it exactly with the announcement, but you could just get everything ready and assume that if you win you'll have a few days between knowing and publicizing the fact, in which you could withdraw and publish the collection.

Or, consider if the sale might be influenced by the win. Depending on what rights they buy, it might be smarter to sell to them, then release the story in a collection around April, and just insert a different story into this collection (perhaps your pulled Q2).

David, after six months, you probably have new insight on the story. Give it a looksee before resubmitting for Q4. 😉 Sometimes things happen for a reason.