Jibber Jabber - Q1 - 29

[steffenwolf]

Hm, trying to decide what I'm going to submit. Usually I have a pretty good idea what I want to submit before the quarter starts. I have three candidates that I really like, but they're all somewhat unsuitable for WotF because of trends in what is historically liked. But once a quarter starts I fret about it until I submit, and I don't really feel like fretting about an unwritten story (too much stress at work, want to keep other stresses to a minimum), so I'll probably submit one of those three. In moments of indecision I tend towards deciding past on superficial patterns of attributes rather than more rational means, so I'll probably do that. In this case, all three are at other markets right now. The first one of the three to get rejected after January 1st will be the story I submit.

[Dustin Adams]

Whew... Finally sealed the envelope on my story. No more tinkering!
I'm going to bring it to the post office and watch them stamp today's date on it.

Good luck to everyone!

[Dame]

In!! Just submitted electronically! Wow - that's a relief. I hadn't believed I could do it, despite setting aside the time tonight for final tweaks and edits. Now to wait. Funfunfun.

This is probably my sixth or seventh entry and I always get ludicrously excited. Hee hee.

Happy New Year, and good luck to all.

Damon Shaw.

[Martin L. Shoemaker]

A friendly reminder for the last-minute e-submitters: don't forget to anonymize your doc files! Here are my tips from last quarter:

The Simple Way: Save as RTF

The Thorough Way: The Properties Window

Don't let a simple oversight get your story disqualified!

[Martin L. Shoemaker]

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd my story is in. I reread it one last time. I still like it, better than when I wrote it. It still has a questionable element. But I don't care, it is what it is.

[Kary English]

Huzzah!!

Congrats to everyone who's in for Q1. May we all meet triumphant at the workshop. :)

[Ember]

I'm in too. Even though I don't think this story is a "WotF story" as such it is still exciting to click submit! It's another shorty, coming in at 3500 words. I have one that I am thinking is more along WotF lines, but it got bumped to Q2, what with the not being written yet and all.

Goodluck everyone, and happy last-hours-of-2011!

[Serrain]

Mine's in. :D I experimented a bit this time around, ended up with a shorter piece (just over 5k instead of my usual 10k+ beasts), which might be a good thing, orrr it might not... lol. Who knows. But I'm pretty happy with how it ended up. We'll see.

Happy new year, all!

[MJNL]

Ah, yes, Happy New Year all! Figure lots of us might be celebrating tomorrow, so better get the greetings in early.

Subbed my Q1 entry little over a week ago, and it made it to LA, so let's do this thing!

[AMcCarter]

And, I'm in, for better or for worse, I'm in.

[Grayson Morris]

Oh, Damon, YAY! You're in! So glad to hear it.

[Dame]

Thanks Grayson. I take it you entered, too? Good luck to all. :)

[francisbruno]

Hi all,
I sent in mine late last night. One last round of edits prior and it is in. Here's to not procrastinating this quarter and getting my next one in soon.

Good luck to everyone.

-Francis

[greenroom]

I just got mine in, and I'm still trying to unwind from the last minute edits. Good luck all!

[AlistairKimble]

Just submitted. I do this every quarter--wait until the last minute. It's always so agonizing to hit that submit button and wonder over the mistakes and if my name is anywhere on there! Thank goodness that's over!

Good luck to everyone who entered, and have a Happy New Year! Now it's time to drink some champagne and watch some old movies, maybe The Thin Man or something!

Sheesh, I used a lot of exclamations in there, and I haven't even had a drink yet.

[Martin L. Shoemaker]

Good luck to everyone who entered, and have a Happy New Year! Now it's time to drink some champagne and watch some old movies, maybe The Thin Man or something!

I'm still on Writer's Retreat until the 3rd. It hasn't been as productive as I had hoped, but I've got a prologue and a chapter on a new YA SF novel series. So I'll be working on that tonight.

[bwthomason]

Took a quarter off, but am officially back in the game for Q1! Good luck to all and happy new year!

[gower21]

Been trying to submit for the last few hours, but it says the contest is closed when I try to submit online. This is a total bummer!

[Martin L. Shoemaker]

Been trying to submit for the last few hours, but it says the contest is closed when I try to submit online. This is a total bummer!

I thought two things that are both apparently wrong...

I thought it automatically rolled over to the next quarter.

I thought the deadline was Pacific time.

Here's a wild suggestion: set your computer clock's time zone to Pacific. Maybe it uses local midnight. I give this less than 5% chance of working; but what else do you have to do with your time at this point? (Besides catch up on your reading...)

[Patrick S. McGinnity]

I'm in, with 20 or so minutes of 2011 to spare (when I posted, that is). Congrats to those of you who know you deserve them for Q4 (even if you were rejected like me--hey, you wrote a story, so congrats). At least this time I'm not waiting 2 years to try again. On the upside, my rejection left me with plenty of time to send the story around, and so far I've gotten some helpful advice from a couple of editors, though no sales. Interestingly I sent out more submissions in the second half of that quarter than in the rest of 2011, and I have WOTF to thank for motivating me. I specifically want to thank everyone here for being so positive and supportive of everyone else--it really makes a difference. Happy new year and good luck in Q1!

[Patrick S. McGinnity]

Been trying to submit for the last few hours, but it says the contest is closed when I try to submit online. This is a total bummer!

That is a bummer! Do you have any friends on the west coast? Email the story to them, and beg them to submit it in your name. As long as they enter your information instead of their own, it should be kosher, right?

[gower21]

I'm on the west cost (California). I've been trying since 8pm.

I sent Joni an email, but there isn't much that can be done about it. I'll probably end up sending the story around to other markets until the Q2 deadline gets closer.

[gower21]

Been trying to submit for the last few hours, but it says the contest is closed when I try to submit online. This is a total bummer!

I thought two things that are both apparently wrong...

I thought it automatically rolled over to the next quarter.

I thought the deadline was Pacific time.

Here's a wild suggestion: set your computer clock's time zone to Pacific. Maybe it uses local midnight. I give this less than 5% chance of working; but what else do you have to do with your time at this point? (Besides catch up on your reading...)

You have no idea! I have so much reading I was looking forward to when I got the application in (like MOTHER ANTHONY!!). Now we are trying weird ways to get the story in instead. The problem with rolling our time back is that we already live in Pacific Time. I should have had a few more hours to get my story in (heck even now I should still have two hours.)

I emailed my story to Joni, but I am super doubtful that will work or is even legal (plus I wish I could take the email back...because now I feel like sending a story by email is bugging her and really rude.)'

My husband is trying every server in CA through his work and they all say the same thing. We even checked the Texas server before we realized it is already midnight there...

[Martin L. Shoemaker]

I'm on the west cost (California). I've been trying since 8pm.

Bummer. So much for my hare-brained scheme...

[Martin L. Shoemaker]

My husband is trying every server in CA through his work and they all say the same thing. We even checked the Texas server before we realized it is already midnight there...

Hard copy and a post office that's open late? Sometimes around here they process mail at the service desk at 24 hour grocery stores. As long as it's post-marked by midnight, it's good.

[gower21]

We don't know of any 24 hour post offices in our town, but you bet we are googling it now!

We texted some friends in Texas and a friend in Colorado and they both said the webpage said the same thing "Closed for applications." -- Texas had just turned midnight though and Colorado still has an hour.

Looks like I'm out of luck. Maybe the universe is trying to tell me the story is not ready or that I need to send it other places first or maybe...I should have sent it in sooner, it was done and I just wanted to read it one last time. Let me serve as a lesson for all of you. I hope nobody has the same problem in future quarters.

[Martin L. Shoemaker]

We don't know of any 24 hour post offices in our town, but you bet we are googling it now!

Does your husband work in an office with a postage meter? Does anyone you know? I know someone who works in an office with their own meter, so they can purchase and apply postage right in the office.

Also, many post offices around here have self-service machines in the outer lobby, accessible 24 hours a day. I've used those on time critical shipments before.

[Martin L. Shoemaker]

Here's a search page where you can search for Automated Postal Centers, etc.

[gower21]

We found one!

It's getting pretty dramatic around here as I type up a cover page, print, addressing ect!! It's like the climax of a movie.

[Martin L. Shoemaker]

We found one!

It's getting pretty dramatic around here as I type up a cover page, print, addressing ect!! It's like the climax of a movie.

It's like the climactic scene of a mad chase caper movie! And we get to experience it vicariously!

Go, Tina, go!