WRITERSoftheFUTURE.com

A friend sent me a writing prompt from a group she's in. It immediately made me think of a short story, nearly completely formed. I wrote the first draft in one sitting. After reading it, and rereading it, I decided that I loved it. Congrats! It's wonderful when a story comes to you fully formed. G...

Dustin Adams wrote:Scott,
I'm glad you got in at all! That's firing at the target...

I felt off-kilter writing-wise the past few months and missed it. Now I don't get to twitch with everyone this Q. I feel like I did something wrong. Working on Q4 now. Maybe you'll have one as well.

Stay on target!

A friend sent me a writing prompt from a group she's in. It immediately made me think of a short story, nearly completely formed. I wrote the first draft in one sitting. After reading it, and rereading it, I decided that I loved it. I'm a sporadic WOTF contestant. I've had a few rejections and a few...

Long time lurker here. Been following the thread and enjoying it, while also trying to stay distracted with a new novel WIP. That said, I happened to be over on Submission Grinder and noticed a rejection report had been filed for Writers of the Future. A 132-day form rejection, posted today, 07/14....

Another HM for me.

This is probably digressing. But while I always knew this contest was important, I didn't realize how much till I joined this forum. So many great writers, all with held breath that its so important to. Waiting and watching. Man. It feels good to be part of a crowd like this. Makes me just feel the...

Is this how the results progress? 1. Joni phones the finalists. Finalists are requested not to disclose their status, so they go semi-silent in the forum. 2. Email notifications of Rs, HMs, and SHMs (If people start reporting receiving these and you didn't get a call from Joni, you know you aren't ...

Why is nobody twitching? Oh, I'm twitching, but I can't afford to twitch too much because I need to finish my Q3 (which is proving to be a tough write). I am a bit though another R is a near certainty for me. I knew nothing about the contest when I did my Q2 and it crosses some lines--one line I wo...

(Super late reply, woops. I suck at checking social media/forums... but I feel like I have more info now!) So I just found out I got SF and I'm 99% sure I didn't ever actually get the notification email for that - only just found out because Joni sent me my critique. Not sure what was up with that ...

Why is nobody twitching?

I did it again.

I thought I submitted for Q1. But it was actually Q2. The way WOTF tracks time still confuses me.

Looking forward to the final Q1 results so I can begin to twitch properly.

I take my poem back. It IS Thursday, after all. I got an HM. My 3rd one. This is one I specifically wrote for WOTF, after a long hiatus from submitting. I may shop it around. This is the first time I've felt compelled to submit again right away. So I may try that. Congrats to all the HMs and above. ...

I twitch and I hope
as I refresh and pray
Then I sigh and I mope
It's not yet Thursday

It sure is quiet. Must be Wednesday.

Intriguing. I may try it. I stopped submitting for a while, concentrating on a self-publishing career which has, sadly, not disqualified me yet. I'm also trying to get another novel out, but I've caught both the short story & WOTF bugs again.

I just sent you a PM, but it still shows in my Outbox. I tried the "Send Email" feature too, which seems to have worked. Let me know if you don't get either.

Anyone care to speculate what place you'll receive? ...yes, I know some y'all will view this as sick or perhaps cruel.... But let's roll with it. In the past three months, I've gone from thinking "I'm sure to win"... To "I'll be lucky to get HM". Now, I'm thinking SF. Reason: my...

I think I'm finally satisfied with my Q4. Ended up being around 6000 words, which is a lot shorter than my almost 15k Q3. It's definitely on the weird side, and I'm worried this isn't the right market for it, but I wanted something to submit this quarter, and at least I'm reaching that goal. It's t...

I'm in. Final word count is 7,970.

And now.... we wait.

And wait.

And..... is it Thursday, yet?

Welp, My 2nd draft was about 6,400 words. I had four sets of eyes on it. One of them, the one I trust the most, didn't like it at all, but gave me some things to fix. The other three people liked it. Two of them gave me some additional things to fix, which included the ending. Reading it over again,...

So... I've not received any "rejection" or "first pass" emails yet. Anyone else out there in the same situation? Email Joni, she'll be happy to let you know if you're still in. I'm not entered into Q3. BUT, I've had the same thing in past contest quarters. It all gets sorted out...

Finished my second draft! Letting my critique partner have a go at it and then I'll send it off. I think it's better than my two HMs. But then, I've thought that about other stories that got rejected in the first batch. No. NO! Don't think like that. This story is the one.

Thanks, StorySinger and DylCary. I knew I could count on (the collective) you. Personally, I'm pulling for Brittany. wotf009 Well, I'm pulling for everyone. It's always been a supportive community. But what a story! Just crossed the 5K mark. Have one more writing session tonight, I think. Might be a...

wotf006 At nearly the last moment, I've decided to write a story to enter this quarter. Haven't entered in a while. It's time. A friend that is still in the running for Q3 encouraged me to try again. That, wwo previous HMs, several no places, and not nearly enough Amazon sales was enough to get me g...

I'm guessing it's a higher tier of standard rejection, if so. I know that Analog has at least two different standard rejections, one of which adds the line "I rather like your style of writing and suggest you try us again" - which I received both from Trevor and Stanley, word for word. Bu...

That makes me feel better, Bob. I'm quite certain my stories can hold most readers past the first two lines. Some of them can probably hold out past a few paragraphs too.

Gossamer: No, it's been something like 30 years since I haven't gotten a fast report. I don't sell everything the first time out, about 10% bounce, but it saves me the trouble of having to simultaneously submit. As an editor, I've run into it a couple of times (not with Galaxy's Edge), and I just s...

HM

I think I've introduced myself before. But, I've finally taken the time to include an avatar. Hi. It's me.

Rejection. This one stunned me. I got an honorary mention in Q1 on a much weaker story. Ah well. Back to the writing table.