NEW USERS! INTRODUCE YOURSELVES!

[Brad R. Torgersen]

Hey Mr. Brad, I think we need a real stickied Introductions thread, so everyone has a proper place to introduce themselves .

(*poof*)

[Louis Corsair]

Hey Torgersen!

My pen name is Louis Corsair. I'm an 8 year veteran of the U.S. Army. I'm a resident of Los Angeles where I attend Long Beach State University; I'm trying in an Engineering Program as well as a Creative Writing Program.

My 4th Quarter entry is my third in the contest. My two other entries were shot out of the sky and there were no survivors!


LC

[Brad R. Torgersen]

HOOAH, Lou! Welcome to the forum! Keep pitching stories at the Contest! Glad to have you here.

[AMcCarter]

I suddenly have this image of K.D. with a shotgun full of bird shot aiming high in the sky for a flapping manuscript.

[Pat R Steiner]

Hello Brad and Everyone,

I'm Pat R. Steiner from little old South Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I know many of you from Baen's Bar. (Where I've gone by RedKearney.) I submitted my first WOTF story and IOTF set of illustration Q3. I've got my Q4 story in, but have yet to decide on Q1. As for illustrations--I just got off my behind a few days ago and started a new one and hope to have three completed for Q2. I've enjoyed reading the various threads here (as a guest) but thought I best join up and not hide in the shadows anymore.

[katsincommand]

Shadows are good for no one.. glad you're here. Welcome.

[f5iver]

Hi, I'm F5iver.

I'm simply amazed how many people submit to both parts of the competition. I've submitted to both, but I currently only have art in Q4 out there at the moment. Waiting is AWFUL.

[Brad R. Torgersen]

Welcome Mr. Steiner and F5iver! Man, I do need to spend more time at Baen's Bar. I am slacking.

I also need to get my own set of illustrations in to Joni before January.

The Contest was so much fun in August, I want to go back and do it again!

[soulmirror]

I submitted my first WOTF story and IOTF set of illustration Q3.

I've submitted to both, but I currently only have art in Q4 out there

I also need to get my own set of illustrations in to Joni before January.

Welcomes x2 to you both, Pat R. Steiner and F5iver! Great to have you join the conversation -- Greater still to have more Illustration IOTF folks coming along!

And of course, when Brad mentions sending in his Illustrations, a certain frisson of delight and trepidation stirs the contest cosmos, since a win there would make him only the second person to win both contests!

Illustrious, indeed. May we all be illustrious, whether we paint our imaginations' visions in word or pigment, ink or ink or electron.

And welcome, again!

[thewriterben]

Thank you for the thread Brad, I been lurking for a while and decided to go ahead and join the forum and start posting. I am a proud father who is married to the most wonderful woman ever, and I am is going to school to become a teacher in special education. I currently have an entry in Q4 and am writing for my next entry if WOTF do not pick it up, but I am an optimist and have confidence so i wish for the best!

[Snow]

Hello all. I'm Michael, though my friends all call me Snow. I currently reside in Sterling, IL, recently turned 21 unfortunately, and 2011 will be the first year I enter the contest.

I've loved reading and writing ever since I was a youngin', and it was a funny happenstance that I found out about this contest. See, I'm working to becoming a police officer, and for that I'd like to attend college, so my girlfriend showed me this contest as a scholarship initially, but I became interested in the contest itself after I read about it, seeing as how I have multiple ideas for different books, this would be a wonderful place to learn from (and I've already learned a lot.)

[thewriterben]

Snow, you do not have to feel bad about submitting your first story at 21, I am 24 and just submitted my first entry. It is my first completed short story that was not an assignment for school (K-12). Growing up I always had talent and there were a few people who encouraged my writing, mostly teachers but I was dragged down by those who normally are supposed to encourage me. It was not until I met my wife that I really got into flexing my talent, it is her support and believing in me that has me where I am.

[Brad R. Torgersen]

Welcome Ben! Good luck! Supportive spouses are vital. It's a bona fide fact I'd have given up if my wife hadn't insisted I keep going with my own writing. Hopefully it doesn't take some of you as long as it took me to get your first sales. But then, I am a serial procrastinator.

[Snow]

Oh I don't mind beginning to write seriously at 21, I just don't like being 21 in general . Every person I know wants to get me drunk to see what I'm like! lol.

[Meredith]

I'm Meredith on this and a couple of other forums. I just hit the submit button on my very first entry yesterday.

[kyle]

Kyle here. From Fresno, CA. Previously from Los Angeles, CA. Before that from Tabernacle, NJ. Before that from an even smaller town in CT. Can't remember much before that, but I'm told I also lived in ME, SC, and NH. Navy brat, in case you wondered what sort of parent would do that to a child.

I entered the contest more times than I can recall when I was in high school and college. Gave up. Got a "real" career. Got laid off. Got back to writing. I've had one professional short-story sale, but upon confirming that I'm still eligible, I decided to see if I'll fare better as a grownup than I did as a kid. Entered for the "first" time Q4 2010.

Thrilled to see there's an active forum here. Been lurking for a while but figured I should set up an account to make it easier to only read the new posts.

Nice to meet y'all!

[AMcCarter]

Welcome and good luck!

[Brad R. Torgersen]

Yay Meredith, welcome aboard!

[Spader]

Hello, I'm an 18 year old Student, who just recently read through Orson Scott Card's "Keeper of Dreams" Anthology. It really brightened up my dull Winter Break and pretty much made me want to write Sci-Fi Short stories for the rest of my life, haha. I also just took my first creative writing class in college, so I'm really excited to just write about random and maybe important things and see how I can become a better writer!

[MJNL]

Awesome! Sounds great, Spader, welcome

And welcome to all the other newbies as well!

[kyle]

Welcome, Spader, and good luck! Don't be discouraged if your first efforts aren't spectacular. The important thing is to keep getting better, and it sounds to me like you're already on the right track there!

[Brad R. Torgersen]

Kyle, welcome aboard. Never too late to enter the Contest. Just ask Carl Frederick.

I suspect more people could enter the contest than realize. The rule is, 3 pro-pay (SFWA level) publications, so you could technically be professionally sold three times, and still enter. You only get DQ'd on that final, 3rd publication.

Good luck!

[kyle]

Kyle, welcome aboard. Never too late to enter the Contest. Just ask Carl Frederick.

I suspect more people could enter the contest than realize. The rule is, 3 pro-pay (SFWA level) publications, so you could technically be professionally sold three times, and still enter. You only get DQ'd on that final, 3rd publication.

Good luck!

Thanks, Brad!

And, yeah, I read the rules about a dozen times before firing an e-mail off to Joni to confirm I could still enter. (I have a few non-pro publications as well.) I suspect there are quite a few people who read the rules, see the ambiguity, and decide to err on the side of not entering instead of inquiring.

[Brentcg]

Fresh blood for the contest here. Brent C. Green to be more precise. I'm an eighteen year-old English (Creative Writing) major in Texas. I have self-published my first novel (I dived headfirst into writing with a novel, with no experience or even a short story before) through the company Createspace. What I learned from writing that novel I hope to use effectively in this contest and beyond. I have never before been this excited for my writing and it's hard to see the buzz I get from writing ever dissipating.

Truth be told, my (as yet undiminished) aspiration is to be a Science-Fiction novelist. Let's see how my life's unwritten pages develop, shall we.

[Brad R. Torgersen]

Welcome, brent!

[kyle]

Fresh blood for the contest here. Brent C. Green to be more precise. I'm an eighteen year-old English (Creative Writing) major in Texas. I have self-published my first novel (I dived headfirst into writing with a novel, with no experience or even a short story before) through the company Createspace. What I learned from writing that novel I hope to use effectively in this contest and beyond. I have never before been this excited for my writing and it's hard to see the buzz I get from writing ever dissipating.

Truth be told, my (as yet undiminished) aspiration is to be a Science-Fiction novelist. Let's see how my life's unwritten pages develop, shall we.

Welcome, Brent! I hope that enthusiasm never dies!

[A.R.Williams]

Welcome, Brent and Kyle (and any new posters that I haven't said hi to)!

Good luck with the contest.

[alphadogkc]

Happy New Year 2011!

My resolution this year is to become PROFESSIONALLY published.

My name is Jerry and I've been writing business and marketing materials for years while based in Kansas City. However, fiction is my first love. I'd love to make it a second career and retire from my day job! I've written two science fiction novels (unpublished at this point but open to interested inquires) and I submitted on December 31st my first short story to the WOTF contest.

If you've not done so already, I highly recommend joining a local writing group where you can interact with your writing peers. I belong to the Summit Scribes in Lee's Summit, MO. I have a resolution to become even more active in the local writing community in 2011.

I've chuckled as I've read several threads and comments referencing the age of the commentator. I get comfort from a quote in the first Indiana Jones movie where Indy says it's "not the age, but the mileage" that counts. I've met many "old" souls in young bodies and many "kids" stuck inside older bodies. I'm somewhere in between hoping I always stay that way.

[kyle]

Welcome, Brent and Kyle (and any new posters that I haven't said hi to)!

Good luck with the contest.

Thank you!

[kyle]

Happy New Year 2011!

Welcome, and Happy New Year. Best of luck in the contest.

My resolution this year is to become PROFESSIONALLY published.

May I suggest a brief modification? Resolve to consistently turn out new, publishable material and to have it always under consideration somewhere. Getting published is something of a crap shoot, so resolve to do the part of it that you can control.

I say this as one who made that resolution last year and, though I pulled it off, discovered the hard way that I had set myself up for disappointment.

But I do wish every writer would make a similar resolution instead of just wishing for it...