Kate Copeseeley's Blog - Posts Tagged "contest"
I've thrown in the Towel.
Not in life, or writing, thank goodness, although I've been nice and busy with a sick baby the past week. Sick babies are the saddest creatures in the world, with their sad eyes, and upset tummies or runny noses.
No, I've given up, instead, on Writing Contests. They are not worth the energy, it seems to me. I spend hours and hours and hours on my entry, refining and editing, only to find that the winner is some blind woman who taught herself how to spin ordinary orange wool into bread for homeless children.
Which is fine. I can lose a contest with the best of them. The frustrating part to me is not knowing how I did overall. Did I suck? Was I okay with a weak plot? Was the dialogue great, but the prose terrible? Was it the subject matter -i.e. is Fantasy a dumb subject to take up?
I've made a private resolution. No more contests without feedback. Contests are great, and motivating, but if you don't have the chance of hearing what is good and bad about your entry, I've got no interest.
Good luck to all you writers with blind weavers of bread.
No, I've given up, instead, on Writing Contests. They are not worth the energy, it seems to me. I spend hours and hours and hours on my entry, refining and editing, only to find that the winner is some blind woman who taught herself how to spin ordinary orange wool into bread for homeless children.
Which is fine. I can lose a contest with the best of them. The frustrating part to me is not knowing how I did overall. Did I suck? Was I okay with a weak plot? Was the dialogue great, but the prose terrible? Was it the subject matter -i.e. is Fantasy a dumb subject to take up?
I've made a private resolution. No more contests without feedback. Contests are great, and motivating, but if you don't have the chance of hearing what is good and bad about your entry, I've got no interest.
Good luck to all you writers with blind weavers of bread.
Dilemma
So, thanks to a comment posted by a reader, and some research, I did decide to enter my new book in the Breakthrough Novel Award that Amazon is sponsoring. Why you ask? I so decisively stated earlier that I would never enter a contest again.
I don't have a icicles chance in hell of winning it, I know that. I've looked at the other contestants from previous years. But I don't care, because all I have to do is make it to the 2nd round. If I make it to the 2nd round, I will get 2 reviews by their panel of expert. Can you imagine? Actual feedback from someone who isn't a family member or friend.
It's too tempting to pass up. But in order to do so, I had to have a product. I originally planned for this new novel to include 4 sections. The total product would be over 400 pages. I thought that would be a nice hefty size for a novel, and it would leave me with a trilogy.
If I end the new novel (which is revised up to part 2) after the first two sections, tidying it up for the contest, I have two options. I can hold onto it until I've finished the next two sections or I can release it now, at about 200 pages -it has a cover. It would also mean my trilogy would have 5 books, and the wait for each part would be a little longer, as I would have to write a new section at a time, instead of sandwiching 4 together for one big read.
I'm torn. It is my new dilemma. Which is more palatable for an ebook? 200 pages or 400 pages? I haven't read enough to have a decent opinion.
I don't have a icicles chance in hell of winning it, I know that. I've looked at the other contestants from previous years. But I don't care, because all I have to do is make it to the 2nd round. If I make it to the 2nd round, I will get 2 reviews by their panel of expert. Can you imagine? Actual feedback from someone who isn't a family member or friend.
It's too tempting to pass up. But in order to do so, I had to have a product. I originally planned for this new novel to include 4 sections. The total product would be over 400 pages. I thought that would be a nice hefty size for a novel, and it would leave me with a trilogy.
If I end the new novel (which is revised up to part 2) after the first two sections, tidying it up for the contest, I have two options. I can hold onto it until I've finished the next two sections or I can release it now, at about 200 pages -it has a cover. It would also mean my trilogy would have 5 books, and the wait for each part would be a little longer, as I would have to write a new section at a time, instead of sandwiching 4 together for one big read.
I'm torn. It is my new dilemma. Which is more palatable for an ebook? 200 pages or 400 pages? I haven't read enough to have a decent opinion.
