2006 1st QUARTER WOTF QUARTER-FINALIST
Hi all,
As noted in my "Kick Off" post, I'd submitted a short space opera SF tale "Honor and Justice" to WOTF in December 2005. I got my story back on 3-31-06 with a letter telling me that I made it to the quarter-finals.
I know this is supposed to be an achievement, but saying that I'm extremely disappointed is putting it mildly.
My rejection letter says "Honor" was in the top 10-15% of all entries. Contest judges were Anne McCaffrey, Algis Budrys, Robert Silverberg, Yoji Kondo, and K.D. Wentworth.
Judy the Contest Administrator wrote a small note saying "Send another story soon!"
I can't say this makes me feel better.
C'est le vie as le francais would say. Or nichevo if I were Russian.
Boris
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13 comments:
Hey, Boris--
I was about to congratulate you before I read that you were disappointed. I'd say keep your thoughts on the 85-90% of folks who submitted a story and got nothing at all except a polite "sorry" note.
Plus, they're asking you to send another story soon. Things could be a whole lot worse, bro. So I'm back to my original thought.
Which was that congratulations are in order!
Nancy,
Thanks for the congrats. I know I went far even though I fell short.
I suppose I'm a bit hungry for my first pro sale. It's just a matter of time, but that's the question. How much longer?
All I can do is keep trying.
Boris
The people who sell are the ones who keep submitting. Once you've got a story you think is salable, make sure it's never in your inbox for more than 24 hours before it's back out for consideration by another editor. You'll get there, as long as you don't give up.
Nikki
Clarion '79
Assistant '82
Nikki,
Thanks for the insight.
You're right of course.
I know my "Honor" story is a strong one that I can send to a couple of markets.
I've been saving my amateur status in order to get spots in both the WOTF and Star Trek Strange New Worlds anthologies.
I have no desire to specialize in Trek fiction, but I'm enough of a fan to want to get a Trek story published and I have my heart set on getting into WOTF; so my submissions to open SF/F markets has been limited in part by this.
Hopefully, this phase won't last too long.
Boris
Congratulations!
Hey, you’re far ahead of others who didn’t get that far and still others who didn’t even try!
Hi Laura,
You're right of course. I just wasn't in the mood to see the glass as
half full. My funk won't last forever.
Thanks for the pat.
Boris
Sweet!
Sigh. Me to. This is the eight time. (Yes I'm counting.) Always a bride's maid and never a bride, so to speak.
That's excellent news, Boris and Rebecca -- hang in there.
> Sigh. Me to. This is the eight time. (Yes I'm counting.) Always a
bride's maid and never a bride, so to speak.
>
> Rebecca S.
>
Curious, I was thinking along those lines: "Always a quarterfinalist
and never a finalist."
Thanks for the encouragement Peter and Susan.
Quarter-finals are a big deal in WOTF--no reason to be discouraged at all. Most people who end up winning have been quarter/semi/finalists at least once before they make it all the way through.
I've sent three stories to them total and I've had one nothing, one quarter-finalist and one finalist (still waiting to hear on that one, but it's been long enough that I'm losing hope). In fact, I took a step backwards after the first one, which was the quarter-finalist, as my second one didn't even make it that far.
Anyway, basically, if you're making it to any type of finals you're doing something right. You might just need to do more of it...
(and hey--Bujold made it to the finals but never won!)
Thanks for the encouragement.
Good luck the next time you submit to WOTF/any other pro market.
I'm slowly preparing three stories for another WOTF quarter.
Hopefully, I'll go all the way next time around.
Boris
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