NEW USERS! INTRODUCE YOURSELVES!

[pcmccollum]

Hello WOTF writers!

I've been following the contest for a few years, but I have yet to make my first submission. I had all sorts of good reasons - no time, need to get better, no great idea for a short story et al.

This quarter I've finally given myself a kick in the behind and am putting the finishing touches on my submission. I have a short story planned for every quarter in this cycle, so I'll be around for a while!

I'm excited to join you all on this adventure!

Olivia

Glad you're jumping in, Olivia! The water's great. The best way to 'get better' is to write, write, write. I've learned this after dilly-dallying too long. Looking forward to hearing about your experiences.

-Phillip

[simplify]

The best way to 'get better' is to write, write, write.

Couldn't agree more! I've always been writing, just not with the intent to publish or submit. But I think ultimately it's unhealthy to keep everything to myself, so I'm gonna start putting it out there and see how it fares in the wild.

By the way, I've checked out your blog and read some of your "52 in 52". Can I just say - kudos! Not only on the discipline it takes to keep it going, but also the general quality of your stories. I've only read a few so far, but I'll be back for more. My favourite so far was Andreiana - I absolutely did not see that reveal coming. It's also fascinating to see your scratchpad-entries. Overall, very very cool project!

[pcmccollum]

The best way to 'get better' is to write, write, write.

Couldn't agree more! I've always been writing, just not with the intent to publish or submit. But I think ultimately it's unhealthy to keep everything to myself, so I'm gonna start putting it out there and see how it fares in the wild.

By the way, I've checked out your blog and read some of your "52 in 52". Can I just say - kudos! Not only on the discipline it takes to keep it going, but also the general quality of your stories. I've only read a few so far, but I'll be back for more. My favourite so far was Andreiana - I absolutely did not see that reveal coming. It's also fascinating to see your scratchpad-entries. Overall, very very cool project!

Wow, thank you so much for the kind words! The whole '52 in 52' experiment has been a great way to build the writing and submission habit. I'd recommend it to anyone who's just not producing like they wished they would.

Also, I think it's great that you're going to start putting your work out there. I just received my first paid acceptance after quite a few rejections, so I think tenacity is the word of the day.

-Phillip

[Andrew L. Roberts]

Hello Brad (and everyone ),
My name is Andrew L. Roberts. Like all f you, I am a writer and was fortunate to win 3rd place in last year's 4th Quarter.
The entire experience was incredible and I hope to share whatever I can with any of you who are writing and submitting your work to the contest.
Feel free to call me Andy.

[pcmccollum]

Hello Brad (and everyone ),
My name is Andrew L. Roberts. Like all f you, I am a writer and was fortunate to win 3rd place in last year's 4th Quarter.
The entire experience was incredible and I hope to share whatever I can with any of you who are writing and submitting your work to the contest.
Feel free to call me Andy.

Hello, Andy! Thanks for posting and congratulations on last year's success. I'm sure we'd all love to hear about your experience, especially those of us just getting involved in the contest.

-Phillip

[graceghost]

Hello all! My name is Grace. I'm an English/Creative Writing student and fledgeling writer and I had never heard about the WOTF contest until a month ago; I discovered it sort of by accident and just submitted my story for Q1 and since then I've been fully absorbed in this forum. The contest itself is incredible, but it's so cool, also, to see all the support and passion here in the forums. I'm really excited to be here and I'm already working on my story for Q2 (I've seen a lot of 4 in 35 posts going around and I'm very inspired...we'll see how far I get!).

[pcmccollum]

Hello all! My name is Grace. I'm an English/Creative Writing student and fledgeling writer and I had never heard about the WOTF contest until a month ago; I discovered it sort of by accident and just submitted my story for Q1 and since then I've been fully absorbed in this forum. The contest itself is incredible, but it's so cool, also, to see all the support and passion here in the forums. I'm really excited to be here and I'm already working on my story for Q2 (I've seen a lot of 4 in 35 posts going around and I'm very inspired...we'll see how far I get!).

Welcome, Grace! Great to have you aboard! The camaraderie here really is refreshing. Glad to hear that you submitted a story for Q1. Best of luck with it. I hope to see your name in a future anthology!

-Phillip

[disgruntledpeony]

Hello all! My name is Grace. I'm an English/Creative Writing student and fledgeling writer and I had never heard about the WOTF contest until a month ago; I discovered it sort of by accident and just submitted my story for Q1 and since then I've been fully absorbed in this forum. The contest itself is incredible, but it's so cool, also, to see all the support and passion here in the forums. I'm really excited to be here and I'm already working on my story for Q2 (I've seen a lot of 4 in 35 posts going around and I'm very inspired...we'll see how far I get!).

Hello and welcome.

[kentagions]

Welcome Grace,
Good luck!

Kent

[Wulf Moon]

Welcome Olivia and Grace and everyone else I may have missed! It's good you realize the need to submit your stories, here, or anywhere else. Writing is communication. To communicate, you need a message, a transmitter, and a receiver. Your story is your message. Getting it published in something is the transmitter. And your reader is the receiver--the person that will hear your message in their own unique way. It is indeed healthy to send those stories out, because you will find fulfillment both in entering that second stage of communication--finding a transmitter for your message--and ultimately when your story gets published, getting receivers in the form of readers who are engaged by your message. Some of them will broadcast back to you that they enjoyed your work. Communication fulfilled! And writers are driven by a need to communicate. It's good you feel the drive, and it's better you are doing something about it, because that is being true to your nature.

Best of success with your submissions...here, or anywhere else! Remember, there are many roads to Mecca...this certainly is an excellent one, but there are many ways to find fulfillment as a writer.

Keep writing. Keep sending. Keep learning.

All the beast!

~Moon!

[swallow]

Right at the very beginning, aiming at short stories - have submitted one and had it rejected, but know why, have now submitted another which i had a hoot writing, but have read you need to get about 30 to 50 under your belt to expect any sort of acceptance - New Years resolution to keep going!
Started off looking at competitions, but although they were excellent prompts, they were not what I was really after doing - found this forum after a lot of searching for 'SF forum' and the like and realised this is the place to be! Have a happy and peaceful new Year

[pcmccollum]

Right at the very beginning, aiming at short stories - have submitted one and had it rejected, but know why, have now submitted another which i had a hoot writing, but have read you need to get about 30 to 50 under your belt to expect any sort of acceptance - New Years resolution to keep going!
Started off looking at competitions, but although they were excellent prompts, they were not what I was really after doing - found this forum after a lot of searching for 'SF forum' and the like and realised this is the place to be! Have a happy and peaceful new Year

Welcome, swallow! I haven't heard the 30-50 story rule before, but if that gets you writing more in 2018, I'm all for it. Best of luck and thanks for joining the forum.

-Phillip

[TLBenjamin]

Hi everybody. I’m Tony. Submitted for the first in December. I’m from Utah, I write mostly SF. Seems like a pretty friendly forum.

[disgruntledpeony]

Hi everybody. I’m Tony. Submitted for the first in December. I’m from Utah, I write mostly SF. Seems like a pretty friendly forum.

Hello and welcome! We do try for friendly, and I think we generally manage to succeed. Also, just so you know, December (a.k.a. Q1) is generally the longest wait for results.

[pcmccollum]

Hi everybody. I’m Tony. Submitted for the first in December. I’m from Utah, I write mostly SF. Seems like a pretty friendly forum.

Hiya Tony! Good luck on the sub and thanks for hopping in the forum.

[TLBenjamin]

Thank you! The wait is killing me, but I knew it would be a while. Thanks again for the warm welcome!

[thegreengreatdragon]

Hi everyone! I'm Toto (a silly name, but my friends started calling me Toto one day and the name just kind of stuck haha), and I am a senior at Penn State University. I'm a biochemistry major, and I'll be starting medical school in July (so pumped!). I write lots of things, not just SF/F, but I've lately been writing a lot of nonfiction. Not a bad thing, but I'd like to get back into fiction, since that's what inspired me to get writing in the first place. I'm more of a short story kind of gal, but I'd like to maybe one day write a novel. I write both sci-fi and fantasy (think more Neil Gaiman or Lovecraft; I enjoy high fantasy but could never write it). I'd love to enter Q2, but I don't think that's feasible, especially since I kind of want to finish a non-SF/F story I've got going right now. Q3 is probably a better goal.
I've been meaning to submit to the contest for at least 2 or 3 years now. I have several story ideas. I kept telling myself that school came first, but frankly, with that kind of attitude, I'll never write anything. Figure I may as well double down now. Plus, I'm floored by the changes I'm seeing at WotF's website. They finally replaced the clunky old one! There is a forum now? Was this here before and I never saw it? At any rate, this forum seems very helpful, and I love that there's a community of writers here all supporting each other.

[pcmccollum]

Hi Toto! Welcome to the forum and contest in general. I'm relatively new to both myself, but I think the forum has been around for at least several years. Looking forward to having you join us all on our WotF journey. You'll be hard pressed to find a more supportive and friendlier bunch, so don't hesitate to ask any questions you may have!

Phillip

[AmytheAuthor]

Real name is Amy... I have six kids and basically went 15 years without writing, even though it was a passion middle school and high school. There was a short story I had written in high school, my teacher said I needed to get it published. It sat in a pile of nothing and became lost. I couldn't find the paper or digital copy on my parent's computers (pretty sure they don't even have the same computer)...

I breathed some life into it, keeping parts I felt were essential from my memory, adding a new world and back story to it to submit for this contest... I made it fit as a prequel to a series I've been inspired to write the last two years.

I thought I had three separate book ideas and they came together into one. It took me by surprise, so I hope it's a delight for the public as I hope the message inspires others to be the best version of themselves.

This was way more than I intended to write here. Still getting familiar with these message boards.

Thank you

[amoskalik]

Real name is Amy... I have six kids and basically went 15 years without writing, even though it was a passion middle school and high school. There was a short story I had written in high school, my teacher said I needed to get it published. It sat in a pile of nothing and became lost. I couldn't find the paper or digital copy on my parent's computers (pretty sure they don't even have the same computer)...

I breathed some life into it, keeping parts I felt were essential from my memory, adding a new world and back story to it to submit for this contest... I made it fit as a prequel to a series I've been inspired to write the last two years.

I thought I had three separate book ideas and they came together into one. It took me by surprise, so I hope it's a delight for the public as I hope the message inspires others to be the best version of themselves.

This was way more than I intended to write here. Still getting familiar with these message boards.

Thank you

Welcome Amy, and best of luck to you in this contest and more importantly, the eternal quest for readers who delight in your stories.

[pcmccollum]

Real name is Amy... I have six kids and basically went 15 years without writing, even though it was a passion middle school and high school. There was a short story I had written in high school, my teacher said I needed to get it published. It sat in a pile of nothing and became lost. I couldn't find the paper or digital copy on my parent's computers (pretty sure they don't even have the same computer)...

I breathed some life into it, keeping parts I felt were essential from my memory, adding a new world and back story to it to submit for this contest... I made it fit as a prequel to a series I've been inspired to write the last two years.

I thought I had three separate book ideas and they came together into one. It took me by surprise, so I hope it's a delight for the public as I hope the message inspires others to be the best version of themselves.

This was way more than I intended to write here. Still getting familiar with these message boards.

Thank you

Welcome, Amy! Wow, six kids. I can't imagine how one would get writing done under such circumstances without a sophisticated command and control system (replete with electric fences), so kudos to you for coming back to the fold!

[RSchibler]

Girl, six kids? I can barely write with two. You're a super hero!

I've found that my best ideas come when two disparate ones smash headlong into one another and create something freakish and new. That's how it's done!

Welcome to all the newcomers and good luck! This is a very friendly and helpful group with a lot of expertise to be borrowed.

[AmytheAuthor]

Thank you all...yes, I discovered I CANNOT write at home... So, I email myself ideas I do not want to forget. I also wrote the prequel on a 3-day solo getaway. I went out and got 2,400 words out in two hours on Monday because I told my husband I NEEDED to get these ideas from my mind typed up! I developed an anchor unintentionally at the swimming pool, so I literally took my laptop to the pool and got the first 1,000... I was sick of the splashes and finished at zupas (all I need is an outlet). Lol

[DragonRider]

Hi all!
I just subscribed to this forum and am so excited to see so many creative geniuses here. :)
I've been a WOTF fan forever, but only recently put on my superhero cape to brave entering the contest itself.
My V34 Q2 entry was "thank you very much but it got lost in the circular file", which I was fully expecting. But I surprised myself with an HM on my Q3 entry.
I'm working toward at least one entry per quarter, since the only way to become a writer is "write!"
Just started a new one which should make it into Q2...
I'll let y'all know how it goes -- and good luck to everyone else! :)
-- CJ

[YM Pang]

Hello everyone,

I'm Y.M. Pang. You can also call me Michelle. It feels odd to type in a thread titled "New Users! Introduce Yourselves!" Because, well...

I'm not exactly new to the contest. I made my first WotF submission in 2009, back when I was in high school, subs were done by snail mail, and the late K.D. Wentworth was coordinating judge. That story received an HM.

Over the years I've submitted to the contest sixteen times, the latest being Q1 2018 (AKA the quarter we're all twitching about right now). Under K.D. I received Rs mixed with a few HMs. Under Dave I've received a consistent slew of HMs (I did get two Rs, one from a story that received an HM from K.D., one which I turned with an HM with some editing). In Q3 2012, I received my lone, surprising, delightful Finalist. The evil part of my brain still thinks that was a fluke, since until my recent sales I haven't had any story come that close in any market.

I can't say I'm new to the forums either. I've lurked here occasionally from at least as far back as 2011. (Now that doesn't sound creepy or stalkerish at all...) After pulling myself out of a three-year rut and resuming with submissions in 2016, I vowed to register for these forums... once I've sold a story.

After 200 rejections over ten years, I finally have made some sales. And, in an achievement my technophobic hermit-dinosaur brain finds almost as incredible: I actually made a website at http://www.ympang.com/ and got on Twitter as @YMPangWriter. I am really excited to join these forums at last, and to support each other on this writing journey!

- Michelle

[kentagions]

Hello Rider and Y.M.,
Thank you for joining. Hope you both find the community you're looking for, here.
Best of luck in the contest,
Kent

[Sataris]

Hi all!

Figured I'd drop by and say hello. I've been following the contest for a while now, but my first entry was Q4 of 2017, and I was lucky enough to get a SHM. Like everyone else, I'm sitting here twitching over the Q1 results.

I've sold a couple of stories, most recently to DSF, but I've mostly shifted gears towards WotF alongside a novel that's way, way off from seeing the light of day. I'm also a reader at Apex Magazine, so if anyone has any questions about slush reading etc, feel free to message me!

Anyway, best of luck to everyone! And Michelle, congratulations on your sales!

[YM Pang]

Thanks! Only took ten freaking years. And congrats on your sale to DSF.

[michaeljwyantjr]

Welcome to all the new forum folk! Welcome to Twitch Central.

[Madam_Luck]

Hello all! My name is Laura, and I am on my third entry this quarter. I thought it was time to introduce myself. I write both science fiction and fantasy, but have more of an interest in social science fiction. I am currently, as I'm sure many of you are, twitching. Time has never moved so slowly!

Good luck to you all!