WEbook Round 2 Update

I’ve noticed that a few fellow aspiring writers have been getting a bit peeved about the lack of meaningful feedback in the WEbook Page to Fame contest. (You get a number ranking out of 5 and if raters so wish to, they can click on some pre-made comments that may apply, or add their own typed comment.) Personally, I have been finding the feedback pretty good–especially for a contest.

For the first 50 or so ratings my piece was garnering a 68 – 70% elevation rate. (That means of the 50 raters, 68-70% were giving it a 4/5 or a 5/5 and wanted to see it elevated to the next round of the contest.) Talk about being pleased with myself as well as completely shocked and stunned.

In fact, I started to worry and wonder. How was it that my piece was speaking to this many readers? While most raters rate in the genre of their interest (mine being women’s fiction), my story starts with a woman at her most unhinged moment. That doesn’t exactly speak to everyone.

Then in the last week or so my ratings have slid down to the mid-60s for elevation ratings. While disappointing, I’ve also gotten a few written comments about my main character. I love it! Here’s why: The way I see it she’s either going to make the reader hoot with laughter, cry along with her sorrows, or want to completely wring her neck and then punt her in the pants. It’s going to depend upon the reader’s personality as well as their life experiences. In a nutshell, they will react differently to her and that is what I am seeing this week in a few lowered ratings as well as a few comments about the fact that she is ‘unpleasant’ and a ‘lunatic.’ Excellent.

The latest reviews: 68 ratings, 63% want it elevated (chose 4s or 5s).

Another reason why I love the comments about her being a nutjob is because she is getting under their skin of the reader in 1200 words or less and that she is getting so under their skin that they are feeling compelled to take the time to write me a comment. How wonderful is that? Even if they don’t like her and would toss the book across the room, I’m getting to them. (And yeah, maybe it would be nice if they loved her to pieces, but still. They took the time to write a comment!)

So, darlings, it’s in the pudding. What I mean is, feedback tells you something about your work and that, my dears, can be absolutely wonderful.

Good luck!

Fun Writing Contest

Hurry! The clock is ticking.

You have less than 36 hours to write 100 words that will dazzle literary agent Janet Reid (AKA The Query Shark). The sticky wicket of the matter is, as Janet says, you need to include these words:

Lucky
Crash
Number
Oregano
Slevin

Bonus points if you can seamlessly incorporate:

Keith Kahla, Editor to the stars

Think you can do it?

What will you win? Other than HUGE bragging rights (of course)… you will take home the audio version of the thriller Crashers by Dana Haynes. The reviews sound fantastic. It’s about the people, ‘crashers,’ who go to plane crash sites to figure out why planes crashed. Some have said it’s like a pile of 24 episodes in one book. Sweet.

So don’t enter, because I want to win by default. Okay? Please. I don’t care if the victory will be less sweet because I didn’t beat out over three hundred contestants. I want to win it because I will be spending a heck of a lot of time (8000kms worth of hours–that’s 5000 miles for those who think in miles–) in the car this summer and don’t want to listen to CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) all the time. (No offense to CBC. Well, okay, maybe a little.) So out of sympathy for me, don’t enter, okay?

But if you do, good luck!

WEbook Round 2

Awhile back I mentioned that my ‘experimental’ submission in the WEbook contest blew me away and got elevated to the next round in their Page To Fame contest.

A few days ago I posted the next bit of the story along with a ‘read more’ sample. Nothing happened in terms of ratings for a few days so I forgot about it. Then this morning I was editing for a client and needed a change of brain pace. So, I popped over to AgentQuery Connect and noticed people were chatting on the WEbook thread. (They were talking about a survey that was sent out to participants.) That reminded me that I hadn’t checked WEbook in awhile.

So, I popped over there and had my mind blown. Here’s what I saw:

Um, wow! 75% of the 8 current raters want it elevated to round 3. I don’t even know what to say. Well, except that ratings always change and maybe these eight were having a Drink and Rate party and were at that happy stage when they came to my story. Joking aside, these are pretty sweet stats.

As for those comments in the feedback bit (sorry the image is blurry), 2 chose the canned response “Great writing,” 5 chose “Engaging plot,” 3 chose “Love the idea,” 2 chose “Can’t wait to read more,” 4 chose “intriguing characters,” and 1 chose “Don’t like the idea.” (Raters can chose more than one reply–the first 5 are canned responses and the last one is a ‘something else’ which is filled in by the rater.)

Cool beans! I can’t wait to see what this story does.

Break Out the Bubbly!

Guess what?

In my first ever writing contest, I placed 6th! Wow! I know it is 6th and not in the top three, but it feels like I have climbed Everest and am happily, blissfully even, staring at the beautiful world before me! I couldn’t be happier! I am so proud of myself!

I submitted the first scene of There’s No Place Like Home a month ago and pretty much forgot about it, believing that the scene stunk. Okay, not really. I liked it when I sent it off, but since a round of editing on the manuscript after entering the contest, I have developed a hate relationship with that piece. Seriously, I hate it. I hate all of my writing right now. I think it is a great time to go on vacation–which I will be in a few days. Thank goodness for a well-timed break!

Anyway, word came back today and I got 6th! 6th! In the Grand Beginnings contest. Wow! You are only allowed to submit the first five pages. One judge gave me 56 out of 60! Wa!!! The other judge, well, not so much. But still! The one judge said if she was in the store and she read those pages she would have bought the book in order to find out what happened. Wow.

I looked at the contest website again and I think I was one point off having an industry professional judge my opening. Wow. So close. So close, I can practically taste it. And judging by the way it smells, it is going to taste waaaaay better than chicken. And I like chicken.

The agent who rejected a different story last week gave me some brief feedback which indicated that I had a good hook. One of the judges also said that this story had a good hook. Thank the lord! I can hook! The writing gig doesn’t seem so bleak and difficult right now. I can do this! I really can!

Ahhhhh….