My RWA national contest stories to judge were delivered last night!! I was super psyched. Then I grew a bit intimidated when I opened the box to find EIGHT books to read. Wow. I thought I'd have four, maybe five. Finishing all these in time might be a challenge. But I feel up to it.
I didn't get any novels under the first preference of sub-genre I chose, but that's okay. I did get a book I'd actually planned on buying one of these days. I'd read other stories by one author I received so I'm familiar with her, and I'd heard of two other authors. The rest in the package will be a happy surprises.
I also recently received scores back from some contests I'd entered. They were low but gave a couple useful tidbits I can use in the future. With one story, I had shared the first chapter with my local group during open critique. They all simply adored it.
Energized by such positive comments, I hurriedly spit out another chapter and entered it into one of these contests. But, yeah, none of the judges liked it. One judge said it didn't feel as if I even liked my own heroine (which I really love her), and another judge said things didn't pick up until chapter two. How funny, huh?!
It kind of buzz killed the progress on that story for a while. But, oh well. Thank goodness I have another WIP I really want to work on anyway.
Do you ever let outsides forces energize or deflate your enthusiasm about any of your WIPs?? How do you deal with all that?
Sometimes a bad review will deflate my desire to write. If reviewers think I suck why bother? lol But then I get my confidence back and go back to writing.
ReplyDeleteGood luck. Sorry about the contest scores.
Hugs
Sometimes I get derailed, too. When I do, I leave writing alone for a day and do everything I can to psych myself back up. The next day I just plunge in. The longest time I was ever really down about my writing was for about a week. It was a long week.
ReplyDeleteI figure you can't please all of the people all of the time. Bad reviews really suck and surprisingly hurt, we put so much effort into what we do and it's a "labor of love". We really love our heroes/heroines like they are real people and our friends. I would wait a few days like Carol advised and go back to the story. You are a great writer. Remember there are a lot of people out there who DO like your books. Hugs!!
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