Friday, September 16, 2005
LRHWOTF
Two of the workshops that I attended at GenCon were run by Brad Beaulieu (he's posted his notes on the site, in case anyone's interested), who won the WOTF contest for the 20th anthology (last year, I think). In one session, he asked if anyone else had entered the contest. Of 15 or so audience members, I was the only person who had entered a selection. I was surprised because entering this contest seems like such a logical thing to do. There's no reading fee. The judges are established authors in the sci-fi & fantasy genres. There are quarterly deadlines throughout the year. If your story places in any quarter, it's published in an anthology. There's a sizeable check involved if your work is the big winner for the year. Seems like a no brainer.
The story I entered last year is one I'm rather fond of. While it didn't place high enough to be considered for publication, I was informed that it had reached the quarter-finals, that the judges were impressed by it, and that I was encouraged to keep writing. That made for quite the positive experience.
The piece I've been working on with the aim to submit it to LRHWOTF this year (ooh, the end of the quarter is this month!) is also fantasy but quite different in tone and flavor of fantasy (modern rather than medievalesque). I like the piece, and I'm curious to see how readers respond to it. I feel like it's a winner, but I'm less and less convinced it's right for LRHWOTF. We'll see what happens... I have to decide it's finished first!
I need to follow the lessons I've learned from Marcy Rockwell and Harley Stroh. Write something every day. Keep sending stuff out regularly. Sleep is for folks who don't have aspirations to write for a living.
The story I entered last year is one I'm rather fond of. While it didn't place high enough to be considered for publication, I was informed that it had reached the quarter-finals, that the judges were impressed by it, and that I was encouraged to keep writing. That made for quite the positive experience.
The piece I've been working on with the aim to submit it to LRHWOTF this year (ooh, the end of the quarter is this month!) is also fantasy but quite different in tone and flavor of fantasy (modern rather than medievalesque). I like the piece, and I'm curious to see how readers respond to it. I feel like it's a winner, but I'm less and less convinced it's right for LRHWOTF. We'll see what happens... I have to decide it's finished first!
I need to follow the lessons I've learned from Marcy Rockwell and Harley Stroh. Write something every day. Keep sending stuff out regularly. Sleep is for folks who don't have aspirations to write for a living.
