Querying, A to Z Who? and Other Stuff

And what a week it was! Sorry I didn't post on my regular schedule, but here's what this week held for me.

• Querying
• Writing A to Z posts
• Spring Break
• High School Short Story Contest

First off, I sent out two query letters on Monday. Originally I planned to wait until after LDStorymakers at the end of April. The plan was to use my pitch session to try out my query letter and get some valuable feedback before jumping in.

I'm not a super patient person. April was taking WAY too long to get here! So, I picked two of my favorite agents--well, honestly they are all my favorite, especially if they say yes. One of those agents requested the full thirty minutes later! I seriously almost fell out of my chair. I don't think anyone ever requested a full of Magic Wakes. Granted, I know who my target audience is with this book and I think it shows in the query and writing.

After spring break I'll send out a few more. :)

The Blogging from A to Z Challenge starts next week and I've only scheduled my posts through the letter K. Originally my kids said they wanted to help write the posts. Well, I've waited, asked, pleaded and begged but they have officially bailed on me. Oh, well. It was worth the try. My topic? Chosen with my children---

Doctor Who

Ten, Eleven, Nine

Our spring break has been sadly very boring. We got caught up on some much needed sleep only  to stay up late watching corny movies like Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid. Yep, we love watching this kind of stuff as a family because its more fun to laugh together.

I did get a dining room table. Almost 18 years of married life and I finally have a formal dining room. Now to plan a party!

The poster for Anacondas fits how I feel every day after only an hour of reading these stories. There hasn't been that AMAZING story yet, but I've still got a lot to wade through. Here are the end of week stats.

Totals:
Pages read--207
Stories read--100
Stores about death/suicide/murder/war--40
1 story about Slender Man
1 Hunger Games Fan Fiction
Yes--10

Biggest pet peeve of the week--someone used "are" for "our" throughout their story.

The Subjective Nature of Judging

First off, today is the last day you can submit your inspirational stories to Unicorn Bell for the Real Imprints Contest.

Yesterday I received my batch of high school short stories to judge for the "Imagination Begins With You" contest. Brian mentioned that we have somewhere around 850 entries this year! 850 divided by 5 judges equals 170 for me to read through and pick my top 4-5 stories. I should mention that I've not been given any kind of rubric for how to judge. The only rule is to pick my  4-5 favorites.

Do you feel the weight of that task???

170 stories that are someone's brain child.

I try and look at how well the student used words with correct grammar and punctuation to share their story. Is there a beginning, middle, end? Is there something about the story that makes me think, or at least remember them after reading fifty more? Do they say something about humanity without being preachy?

Sometimes it's easy to mark one off my list. Other times I read one and it goes straight to my short list of favorites, but most of the time I end up with a long  "maybe" list.

Why?

Because reading is subjective. Some stories just don't do it for me even though I try and look at the quality of writing as well as the flow and emotion of the piece. But I'm always thinking of some teen somewhere wondering what the judges think of their story. You see, when this is all over two winners will be chosen. No one else will hear a thing about how their stories stacked up to the others.

848 people will lose. I wish I could tell them not to let losing bother them. The judging is so subjective I'm not even sure winning means much, other than you get money. Lots of really great stories will get passed by.
Reminds me how subjective the query process is and that as writers we can't let rejection stop us either.

Here are my day 1 judging stats.

My file contains:

• 293 pages
• 115,036 words

After 1 hour of reading:

• I read 13 stories
• 28 pages
• 1 poem
• 9 about death/suicide/murder/war
• 1 no
• 2 marked "consider"
• 4 marked "maybe"
• 6 were good but didn't stand out in any way to receive a marking
• Only 1 was science fiction :( You might not be surprised to note that it received two checks toward the "maybe". I can't help it! That's the way I gravitate.

If you were judging a short story contest, what elements would you be looking for?

High School Writing Contest with Opportunity for Feedback!

*sigh* Life is angry making at the moment. My family is on day 5 of no hot water and the home warranty company could care less. In order NOT to grumble too much about that, I'm going to focus on something I enjoy doing and see a way to improve on my participation in it.

Here's one more plug for the...

Imagination Begins With You High School Short Story Contest

I've been a judge for this national short story writing conference for a couple of years and wanted to make sure you knew about this opportunity. The deadline is March 15th to enter, the winner gets $250 and their high school library gets $50! You can get the submission guidelines at http://coolimagination.com/

Although I can't help with the writing, after the judging is over I will gladly look at your story with you or your high schooler and tell them where I would have placed it in the hundreds of stories I get to read. We can then talk through email or Skype about their writing and discuss ways to make it stronger.

Why would I do this?

Because last year I read tons of really great stories. These teen authors are way ahead of the game and I felt bad that if they didn't win they would have no idea how good their story might have been. You see, I think I'm the only judge drawn to the science fiction side of things, and sadly I get out voted. That doesn't mean the story wasn't amazing, it's just for a different audience.

ME!

So I want to give encouragement to those who just wonder, "Why didn't I win? Was my story that bad?"