Most of you who are entered in the Rooglewood contest this year are already following Anne Elisabeth Stengl's blog. Did you see her post earlier this week?
First of all, she said that submission forms are trickling in. I haven't sent mine in yet, because I am not certain of my title. But I'll probably send my form in the next 4 weeks.
Which means I'll have to decide how many stories I am sending in. I'm still tempted to send all three.
Hmmm.
Secondly, since she said things are quiet and she only mentioned submission forms, I take it that no one has sent her their actual stories yet. Which makes sense since it is only August. I always try to strike a balance. If you send it too early, you waste the time that you could have spent editing and polishing. If you send it too late, you are being discourteous to all the judges who have to read so many stories before their deadline. Which means mine will probably try to fly the coop around October or November. Maybe. Hopefully. <crickets chirp> We'll see.
Things HAVE gotten quiet on the contest front. I'm thinking there is a couple reasons for that.
One is that people are now deeply immersed in creating their stories. Have you ever sat down to a really delicious meal and realized that no one is talking because they are too busy eating? It's like that. We are too busy writing and thinking to talk about writing and thinking. It's not the preliminaries anymore -- this is the real deal.
The other possibility is that the initial excitement has worn off. It's one thing to think of the most amazing premise ever. It's another to turn that amazing premise into the book that you want it to be. It's easy to get discouraged at this point -- but don't! Getting a story from your imagination onto paper can be a ticklish procedure and sometimes it looks worse before it looks better. Keep writing. Keep working on it. Especially when you are a new writer, you don't realize that what you are holding is a diamond in the rough. It may even be hard to believe that there is a diamond in there. But there is. You just can't give up on it.
Anne has an idea to create a little more noise on the contest. Did you hear it? She's asking if anyone is interested in doing a show-and-tell of our Sleeping Beauty stories. If we are (you can comment on her blog to say, yes, you are interested), then she'll launch it. Basically, we get to share our working titles and a 2-5 sentence summary of our stories. I think it's a great idea. It builds community, lets us practice pitching our stories, and does a little marketing for next year's book.
Plus, I am so excited to see a little bit of what everybody else is working on. Our stories are all so different -- and so fun!!! Here and there, when somebody tells me a little bit of their premise, it nearly blows my mind with the awesome creativity you guys have. I can't wait to see what everybody comes up with!
Which means I'll have to decide how many stories I am sending in. I'm still tempted to send all three.
Hmmm.
Secondly, since she said things are quiet and she only mentioned submission forms, I take it that no one has sent her their actual stories yet. Which makes sense since it is only August. I always try to strike a balance. If you send it too early, you waste the time that you could have spent editing and polishing. If you send it too late, you are being discourteous to all the judges who have to read so many stories before their deadline. Which means mine will probably try to fly the coop around October or November. Maybe. Hopefully. <crickets chirp> We'll see.
Things HAVE gotten quiet on the contest front. I'm thinking there is a couple reasons for that.
One is that people are now deeply immersed in creating their stories. Have you ever sat down to a really delicious meal and realized that no one is talking because they are too busy eating? It's like that. We are too busy writing and thinking to talk about writing and thinking. It's not the preliminaries anymore -- this is the real deal.
The other possibility is that the initial excitement has worn off. It's one thing to think of the most amazing premise ever. It's another to turn that amazing premise into the book that you want it to be. It's easy to get discouraged at this point -- but don't! Getting a story from your imagination onto paper can be a ticklish procedure and sometimes it looks worse before it looks better. Keep writing. Keep working on it. Especially when you are a new writer, you don't realize that what you are holding is a diamond in the rough. It may even be hard to believe that there is a diamond in there. But there is. You just can't give up on it.
Anne has an idea to create a little more noise on the contest. Did you hear it? She's asking if anyone is interested in doing a show-and-tell of our Sleeping Beauty stories. If we are (you can comment on her blog to say, yes, you are interested), then she'll launch it. Basically, we get to share our working titles and a 2-5 sentence summary of our stories. I think it's a great idea. It builds community, lets us practice pitching our stories, and does a little marketing for next year's book.
Plus, I am so excited to see a little bit of what everybody else is working on. Our stories are all so different -- and so fun!!! Here and there, when somebody tells me a little bit of their premise, it nearly blows my mind with the awesome creativity you guys have. I can't wait to see what everybody comes up with!
This is such a wonderful bit of encouragement to me. I must confess with recent vacation and that cushion of time remaining I've rather neglected my little story.
ReplyDeleteThis was just what I needed to stir up my excitement again :)
I'm so glad, Mary! Sometimes it's hard to refocus after a vacation...and sometimes the vacation is just what you needed to be able to tackle your story with fresh eyes and see its amazing potential.
ReplyDelete