Contest Judging

Wednesday, January 18, 2012
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?

3 comments:

  1. 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.
    Good luck. Sorry about the contest scores.
    Hugs

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  2. 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.

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  3. I 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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