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The first set of honorable mentions has been posted for Quarter 2. Anyone from here on the list? (I'm not, and I sent my entry in early, so I'm expecting that rejection e-mail any day now ...)
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I wasn't aware it took that long for the HM's to come out for any one quarter. I submitted to the 3rd quarter. So, I'm assuming that the HM's for the 3rd quarter won't come out until sometime in September?
Oh, and congrats to all the Hatrackers that made HM, and good luck for those still in the running for the higher awards !
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Results take longer some quarters than others. When I started entering WOTF last year, the first list of honorable mentions was posted about a month after the quarter ended.
It will probably be awhile before we get the next set of honorable mentions. KDW usually posts a note to her blog when she finishes with a block of entries, and her last entry to that effect was posted May 26.
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At least two Hatrack HMs in the second round, shimiqua and Jennifer Campbell-Hicks. Congratulations!
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Congrats Jennifer and Sheena!! Not sure if Rick Novy was a Hatracker but he was an OSC Bootcamper
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Thank you. But, honestly, I was hoping for better. This is my fourth HM in six quarters of entering, and I feel like I'm stagnating. I really need to find a way to break through to the next level.
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Have you sent the HM stories to other markets, JenniferHicks?
It may be that the next level for you is in another venue.
For some reason, this reminds me of one year of school in which I could not get an A in my math class no matter how hard I worked and studied. I was always the highest B.
But because I worked so hard that year, I aced the next year's math class and was able to take algebra sooner than most of the students my age the year after that. And I found that I loved math partly because of my struggles with it.
I guess it reminds me because I suspect that all your efforts really are raising you to the next level, but it may not show in WotF.
quote:...the best writers receive HM's. Once you start getting one every quarter, it becomes a crapshoot for those writers for finalist position. So start shooting craps...
Face it ladies, you two have front roll seats at that crap table. So blow on them dice and keep throwing...
[This message has been edited by snapper (edited July 07, 2010).]
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Kathleen, WOTF is the first stop for most of my stories but not the last. The other three are still trying to find a home, and I'll probably send the most recent HM off on submission in the next couple of days. Thank you for the encouragment. (And thank you for yours, too, Snapper -- I hope you're right and my numbers just haven't come up yet.)
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Absolutely, once you start scoring HM on a fairly regular basis, you're within striking distance of Finalist. I got three HM in a row, then a non-winning Finalist, then another HM, then my winning Finalist.
Best suggestions are:
a) do **NOT** slow down on production! If you're managing only one story per quarter, give yourself the goal of doing two stories every quarter: one to send to WOTF and one to send out to the other markets. Or maybe three stories per quarter; one per month? Nothing will help you over the HM phase like giving yourself added workload and using your "writing muscles" more than they've been used in the past.
b) resist the urge to over-polish. This goes hand-in-hand with the above advice. Instead of polishing endlessly on a single story, have two or three or even more stories available, then send WOTF the one you like best, and get the rest out to the other markets. If you have a writing group, do a straw poll and see which one your group likes? Or not. The group isn't always correct about everything. Trust your instincts.
c) Once that WOTF entry is out the door -- and the other stor(ies) are out the door as well -- resist the urge to relax. Begin work on the next piece immediately. Having "flexed" your muscles you need to keep up the exercise or you will begin to soften and lose your new edge. Again, being a regular HM winner is no time to relax. This includes reading too. Read a LOT, if you aren't already. Read recent volumes of WOTF. Let those stories percolate in your unconscious as you work on new material. Think about the ones your like, in particular. Not the ones that placed highest, the ones you *LIKE* and examine what it was you liked about them.
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For those who are still awaiting a response, KDW posted this to her blog July 14:
"my progress has been greatly slowed by my editing duties on volume 26, but I'm hoping to finish the first reading either today or tomorrow. Then I have to reread everything in the possible Finalists pile and sort. Maybe next week?"
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For those who haven't heard anything yet, the wait is almost over. From KDW, posted today:
I have finished the sorting and sent the numbers of the Finalists and Semifinalists to Joni. I will send everything, rejects, HMs, Finalists, and Silver HMs, back tomorrow. The Semifinalists stay with me until I write the critiques.
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Well, I'd love to express how excited I am to get an HM, but they should have sent a poet, if you know what I mean.
For the record I'd like to address some previous posts:
Kathleen: snapper is always right. You listen to him, hear?
Snapper: I am expecting a rejection. I liked the story I wrote...
KD Wentworth: Silver Honorable Mention: Snappah!
Conclusion: Snapper is always right. =)
Grats to everyone! Quite the impressive list of Hatrackers for this quarter. I am bummed I didn't enter in Q3, so I'll have to live vicariously through you folks three months from now when the results come in.
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Here is what I think is happening. The quality level at the "top" of the WOTF slush has really, really begun to spike lately. Thus I think K.D. is being forced to punt a lot of stories which would have been on the lower end of the Finalist pool, down to Semi, and a lot of stories from the Semi pool, down to HM. But those stories aren't really HM because once your story is Semi material, it's pretty much in the top 0.5% of the entire slush for that quarter.
So, as much as I know a non-Finalist sucks rocks, think of it like this. Silver HM means you made it to the top 0.5% of the heap and your story would have easily been a Semi or even a Finalist three or four years ago. So you are VERY VERY VERY CLOSE and you need to HIT IT HARDER THAN EVER NOW because it's just a matter of time, subbing stories, and getting the win.
The hairs are getting split more finely than ever at K.D.'s level. Probably there was almost no difference between Silver HM and some of the Semis and Finalists, beyond K.D.'s particular tastes. Silver HM is basically "there" and Silver people need to just keep subbing until a story hits enough of K.D.'s cookies to punch through to Finalist.
Check out the size of that hill of beans! Wow-we! So what does this mean? Several ways to take it...
Cynical optimist - It was one of the best of the worst
Cynical pessimist - It was one of the worst of the best
Pratical cynicist - It will be the color of my hair in a couple of years for waiting so long to find out the fate of my stories every quarter
What it really means to me is that I was in scoring position, for once. I am honored, but the bigger honor is seeing how many hatrackers are consistently making the top of the heap. That is no small feat. I am suspecting, in the very near future, a lot of the people here will be in the upper group.
Silver Honorable Mentions are new. I think if they were instituted earlier, I would have not been the first at hatrack to receive one. But I am so I'll take it (doesn't mean I won't trade it for a finalist or semi-finalist award. Any takers? arriki? Anne? Adam? Brad? How about you Kathleen?)
One other matter, the honors are not over. I have noticed we haven't seen a few regular submitters names yet. I wouldn't be surprised if Tchern's, Anne's, or IB's grand day to be happening tomorrow. I'm pulling for you and everyone else that hasn't heard anything yet.
[This message has been edited by snapper (edited August 13, 2010).]
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Thanks! It's an unexpected state of limbo though, to suddenly find myself between waiting for one set of results and the next...
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