Jibber Jabber - Q4 - Volume 34

[morganb]

It varies. Considering how many entries the contest has been getting, we might not need to sweat until November or December.

November starts next week! LOL


~Morgan

[disgruntledpeony]

It varies. Considering how many entries the contest has been getting, we might not need to sweat until November or December.

November starts next week! LOL


~Morgan

That still gives us a week off. Seriously, though, I'm more inclined to expect late November than early November.

[RSchibler]

Last year was earlier than usual, like mid October for the first wave. The year before that it was December before the finalists heard I believe. I’m unable to suppress the twitching but rationally Peony is probably right.

[KD Julicher]

RSchibler is correct on both points. I believe last year they were trying to get things finished up earlier than the year before (for v32, Q4 finalists were notified Christmas Eve and the winners didn't get notified til mid-January, then I got the PF notification in early February, which made things pretty tight for getting to the workshop)

So I'm hoping we get a first wave Any Time Now and the finalists not too far off from that. By Thanksgiving would be lovely...

[morganb]

I can't even imagine what it must be like for Dave to get through THOUSANDS of stories every single quarter like that. Does he read them all electronically with a special REJECT button, or are they all printed out and he sorts them into piles? Then maybe the piles are sent to Joni at the end of every week so she can contact the authors.

Ha ha...I can just picture him sitting on his living room floor with piles of manuscripts teetering precariously all around him. "Reject...Looks promising, save for later...Reject...Reject...Oh, this looks good...Nope..."


~Morgan

[jficke13]

I can't even imagine what it must be like for Dave to get through THOUSANDS of stories every single quarter like that. Does he read them all electronically with a special REJECT button, or are they all printed out and he sorts them into piles? Then maybe the piles are sent to Joni at the end of every week so she can contact the authors.

Ha ha...I can just picture him sitting on his living room floor with piles of manuscripts teetering precariously all around him. "Reject...Looks promising, save for later...Reject...Reject...Oh, this looks good...Nope..."


~Morgan

I think there would have to be some kind of a digital triage system set up. Plus I swear I read somewhere that he said a decent number of entries are so wildly off base (essays, poems, recipes for dog treats, etc.) that he can reject in one line. It'd be a sad use of paper to print each of those, no?

[RSchibler]

In one of his blog posts, DF talks about how he hates to hit "the reject button" so there is a digital system. Also, entries that encountered difficulties with the submissions system in the past have been emailed to Joni, who then prints them off and gives them to DF with the paper submissions. I don't recall where, but I read that they prefer digital and non-paper subs.

[Wulf Moon]

I'll just add that good stories are good stories, no matter how they get submitted. The only reason you might not want it to become a paper story is when the submission site closes early and Joni has to print your submission by hand. When the first wave goes out, you never know if you're in the final pile, or the last minute submission pile. But if you submitted early electronically, it's a pretty good bet if you're not in the first wave of rejections, you're in Dave's final selection stack.

Also, just a reminder to those thinking Dave has to read all 2000 or so stories. He doesn't. Many, as has been already said, can be rejected by reading the first line. More, by reading the first paragraph. The rest, after a page or two when it's obvious the story is going nowhere. It's a fast process for rejection. And there's a word to the wise: make everything shine, but especially those first two pages.

Fortune favor the brave,

~Moon~

[MDInkley]

Quick question: do the certificates for Silver HM look the same as the reg HM?

[thegirlintheglasses]

Quick question: do the certificates for Silver HM look the same as the reg HM?

I think they're pretty close. I just got mine in the mail. I've only entered the contest twice before (1 R, 1 SHM) but from what I can tell from online photos, it looks the same... minus that it says Sliver Honorable Mention on it.

[michaeljwyantjr]

Having seen pictures of SHM and owning a few HM awards, I can confirm that they're exactly the same in design and layout.

[Wulf Moon]

They don't *really* change until you stand on the stage.

[KD Julicher]

They don't *really* change until you stand on the stage.

Yeah, the Finalist certificates look exactly the same as the HMs except they say Finalist on them. I do display my finalist certificates and just have a stack of the HMs in a drawer somewhere...

[morganb]

I didn't know they gave out certificates for HM and SHM. That's kind of cool for framing and hanging in your writing space!

~Morgan

[amoskalik]

Tomorrow is Thursday.

[michaeljwyantjr]

:twitch:

[RSchibler]

Tomorrow is Thursday.

It feels like a Thursday kind of week.

[Wulf Moon]

I didn't know they gave out certificates for HM and SHM. That's kind of cool for framing and hanging in your writing space!

~Morgan

Yep. HM, SHM, Semi, and Finalist. Hang them up on your ego wall--it's a reminder you're on the right track. When you start getting a bunch, hang up your best. When you start selling to anthologies, you can sometimes get the cover flats. Frame those. They will remind you you're an author when you need a pick me up.

Then, go back to being a writer.

~Moon~

[Wulf Moon]

You guys all saw Dave's latest post about what AJ (Algis Budrys) taught him? It's all about contest entries, you can assume last Q, so freak out and go read your first two pages again!

~Moon~

[disgruntledpeony]

Tomorrow is Thursday.

It feels like a Thursday kind of week.

*cracks knuckles* I got a rejection from Asimov's the other day. I'm ready for it.

You guys all saw Dave's latest post about what AJ (Algis Budrys) taught him? It's all about contest entries, you can assume last Q, so freak out and go read your first two pages again!

~Moon~

Dude, I always freak out about my first two pages. I have a bad habit of trying to pack too much into them, in fact.

[morganb]

*cracks knuckles* I got a rejection from Asimov's the other day. I'm ready for it.

Oh man, that just made my day. Love the attitude. You rock.

~Morgan

[AliciaCay]

Not to increase the twitch factor, but Dave is teaching a workshop this weekend, so he may not be reading/judging/getting results out for us folks because of this.

Also, I'm going to the workshop! I'm a little nervous to meet someone in person who has been (unknowingly) reading my stories for a couple of years, but on the other hand, it's exciting to meet other writerly folks and to glean some insights from a long established teacher.

That is all - keep calm and write on!

♥ Alicia

[Wulf Moon]

Not to increase the twitch factor, but Dave is teaching a workshop this weekend, so he may not be reading/judging/getting results out for us folks because of this.

Also, I'm going to the workshop! I'm a little nervous to meet someone in person who has been (unknowingly) reading my stories for a couple of years, but on the other hand, it's exciting to meet other writerly folks and to glean some insights from a long established teacher.

That is all - keep calm and write on!

♥ Alicia

Have fun, Alicia! Wish I was closer, I'd love to go! Take good notes, write good stories, and get past those gosh wows as quick as you can and make a new friend.

Cheers!

~Moon~

[carmarky]

You guys all saw Dave's latest post about what AJ (Algis Budrys) taught him? It's all about contest entries, you can assume last Q, so freak out and go read your first two pages again!

~Moon~

Dude, I always freak out about my first two pages. I have a bad habit of trying to pack too much into them, in fact.

*frantically rereads first two pages for the 500th time*
*finds glaring grammatical error several pages in*

[disgruntledpeony]

*frantically rereads first two pages for the 500th time*
*finds glaring grammatical error several pages in*

See, that's why I never read my entries after I submit them until I know the results.

[vsutherland01]

Two weeks. I need two weeks before I want to start thinking seriously about the contest again. I hope wave 1 goes out on or after the 16th.

[AliciaCay]

I always appreciated getting details from others who have heard from Dave in person at different events, so it is in that spirit that I share this gleaned tidbit with you lovely forum folks.

I hope this isn't giving too much away, but I don't think it is... Today in class Dave mentioned he's got this quarter down to 21 entries, and how he enjoys it when he gets the pile down to around that amount because he said he can really read, focus on, and select which 8 he wants to choose to go on as Finalists.

The time is almost upon us!

[disgruntledpeony]

I always appreciated getting details from others who have heard from Dave in person at different events, so it is in that spirit that I share this gleaned tidbit with you lovely forum folks.

I hope this isn't giving too much away, but I don't think it is... Today in class Dave mentioned he's got this quarter down to 21 entries, and how he enjoys it when he gets the pile down to around that amount because he said he can really read, focus on, and select which 8 he wants to choose to go on as Finalists.

The time is almost upon us!

*hunkers*

[Dustin Adams]

You know what's completely maddening, is that five of those will be silver HMs.
Not that there's anything wrong with silver, it's damn impressive, but what I mean is, if there's say, 10 silvers, you won't know if you were one of these five. Like, you could literally be (and one of the silvers is every quarter) the seventeenth story!

A few years back, before Dave re-started the practice of silvers, I watched wave after wave go by without an e-mail. Then, similar to Alicia's report I learned there were 32 stories left. I was definitely one of them, because calls, semis, and the other sixteen HMs came all at once. I got an HM. Could have been the seventeenth story - I'll never know.

He began awarding silvers the very next quarter.

[jbaugher001]

I always appreciated getting details from others who have heard from Dave in person at different events, so it is in that spirit that I share this gleaned tidbit with you lovely forum folks.

I hope this isn't giving too much away, but I don't think it is... Today in class Dave mentioned he's got this quarter down to 21 entries, and how he enjoys it when he gets the pile down to around that amount because he said he can really read, focus on, and select which 8 he wants to choose to go on as Finalists.

The time is almost upon us!

But no one has gotten ant rejections yet?