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Wrapping Up

No, I'm not talking about Christmas presents.

I'm talking about the stories for the Rooglewood contest.  In two days is the deadline for turning in your submission forms -- so if they haven't already been sent in, you have 2 days to get them postmarked and on their way.

I finished my drafts and some edits on all of my stories earlier in the fall.  Then I got terribly overwhelmed and decided to hide and pretend that there were no stories waiting for me on my computer.  I was like the little frilled lizard on The Rescuers Down Under, with my hands over my ears, dancing around singing, "Dadabaduba, dadabaduba, I can't hear you!"

Which, as cowardly as it sounds, was probably a good thing.  Because, essentially, I was taking the recommended break so that I could come back with fresh eyes.  I just didn't know that's what I was doing.  I thought I was procrastinating.

But then, last Tuesday, I sat down and read through AAM.  With a big gulp, I decided that it was as good as I could make it before the deadline.  And I sent it in.

On Friday, I sat down to read through TCK.  I was the most concerned about this one.  It had been a long time since I paid any attention to TCK, and from the hazy details swimming around in my head, I foresaw MAJOR, MAJOR rewrites needed.  But, you know what?

<sheepish grin>

It's actually pretty good.

I mean...I enjoyed reading it.

That kind of blew me away.  Because I thought of TCK as the ugly stepsister to the other two.  But it's not bad.  I was kind of impressed.  And that's always a fun revelation as a writer.

So I packaged it up and sent it off to a beta-reader.  And the two of us will partner to polish it up and give it a fair chance at winning this year.

And now all I need to do is to get SPINDLE ready to go.

So, yeah...I'm wrapping things up here.  Sometime between the 20th and the 31st of this month, I will get a couple emails from Rooglewood, saying that I have been cleared to submit TCK and SPINDLE.  And then my babies will be off to make their rounds through the judges.  And I will haunt Rooglewood's website and Anne Elisabeth Stengl's blog, hoping for word of the process or some feeling of connection to my stories.  And thus I (and probably many other writers) will pass the time until the winners are announced next year.

Comments

  1. Wow you did three entries, I barely finished one. I hope you win, especially after all the time and effort you put in. I panicked a bit, I thought you said the deadline for the entries was in two days and had a bit of a heart attack.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, yikes! No, no, no! I'm sorry.
      The deadline for submitting the can-I-enter-a-story? form is in two days. The stories themselves don't have to be submitted until the 31st.

      Delete
  2. I totally know the overwhelming feeling you had :). I haven't even been able to send my submission in yet, so I'm going crazy! And I totally agree about the haunting Anne Elisabeth's blog, I will be right there with you :D.
    ~Savannah Perran

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good luck! I hope you win!
    ~Anna
    https://the3musketeerssite.wordpress.com/

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love that little lizard!
    Good luck to you on your stories! I'm so excited for them :)
    Mine is close to being finished; I think I'll just have time to get it beta read before sending it in. I finally wrote my "show-and-tell" post too, if you want to see it should be here https://mistycorners.wordpress.com/2015/12/21/sleeping-beauty-2/
    I hope you have a wonderful Christmas!

    ReplyDelete

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