CONGRATS TO ALL OF YOU

[CACTUSWENDY]

BlueTexas - Dark Lake

pepperlandgirl - Mad World

hapsburg - Mastication

jdkiggins - Unearthed

trumancoyote - The Housefly Hums In F-Key

bass - Reading To Elizabeth

Rhymegirl - Untitled WIP

Rhush - Amazon

William Haskins - The Thought

DJP - Both No More

firehorse - Coming Out Straight
:Jump: :Jump: :Jump: :Jump: CONGRATS TO ALLLLLL OF YOU

[JennaGlatzer]

Just to show how subjective judging is, some of my very favorite entries weren't selected as finalists or honorable mentions. We really had a terrific pool of talent here, and the judging process was so tough! Each of the judges had different favorites (they agreed on almost nothing to begin with), but chatted for hours to discuss their choices and reasons (yes, it didn't all happen in the judges' room!) and finally came up with their list.

So, honestly, all of you are to be congratulated for making this such a difficult job! Keep up the great work, and stick around. More fun to come. :)

[Sarita]

Yes, it was VERY difficult to pick and agree on anything. I'd love to give some more comments, but I'm truly exhausted! And the boys are in England, so...

See ya tomorrow.

[three seven]

Yeah, and of course don't forget that the fact your (favourite) entry isn't on the list doesn't mean that it didn't have a 'Yes' scribbled beside it at some point!

[trumancoyote]

Just to show how subjective judging is, some of my very favorite entries weren't selected as finalists or honorable mentions. We really had a terrific pool of talent here, and the judging process was so tough! Each of the judges had different favorites (they agreed on almost nothing to begin with), but chatted for hours to discuss their choices and reasons (yes, it didn't all happen in the judges' room!) and finally came up with their list.

So, honestly, all of you are to be congratulated for making this such a difficult job! Keep up the great work, and stick around. More fun to come. :)

Does that make you nervous at all, Jenna, not having a say in who wins? It is your name, after all, that'll be associated with the winner's.

[JennaGlatzer]

Nah, I trust the process. Opening it up to a forum-wide vote is a lot like asking readers to choose the next Hot Author... I'll feel comfortable promoting the winner because I'll know that a lot of people want to read that person's work, even if it's not my personal favorite.

I didn't want to choose the finalists myself because I'm not well-read in many genres... most of what I read is nonfiction, and there are some fiction genres I just plain don't like, so I wouldn't have known what to look for in those genres. Having three judges to narrow the field made me feel better about that-- plus, I didn't want anyone to worry about favoritism.

[trumancoyote]

That's cool :) And that's neat of you to put your trust in others to make the right decision.

The only reason I asked is 'cause I remember reading the FAQ section of your website wherein you said you couldn't give people recommendations and such as it invariably affects your reputation.

In any case, thank you so much for this chance to write outloud; it's been fun.

[Kevin Yarbrough]

I thought the contest was great. A lot of good stories were on there and I Would not have wanted to be a judge in that. I applaud you lovely people for doing it.

Jenna, can't wait to see what's next. Still think you should do a Survivor type thing. Make people wait on you hand and foot, clean your house, run errands, etc.

(I give great foot massages by the way.)

[JennaGlatzer]

Truman: Yep, you're right about that FAQ answer... I get e-mails all the time from people who want me to refer them to my editors/agents. And sometimes I find out that people have done it without my permission (like when an editor forwarded me a message from someone I didn't know... the e-mail said something like, "Jenna Glatzer suggested I contact you," and was full of spelling and grammatical errors. She couldn't believe I'd refer someone like that. Thank goodness she contacted me, because I surely wouldn't have referred someone like that!).

I've run into less-obvious problems, though. In the past, I have referred writers whose work I had read, but who I didn't know very well. Twice, I referred writers for some pretty high-profile book projects that ended up reflecting badly on me... not because of the person's writing talent, but because of work habits. One missed his deadline entirely, the other would up being a pain in the butt to work with. Those are things I can't tell based on writing talent alone. So now I usually don't recommend people unless I've personally worked with them on my own projects (like, if they've written for me at Absolute Write or have contributed to one of my books). In this case, though, the winner and runners-up will have proven to me that they can handle deadlines, at least! :)

Kev: You're onto something... mmm... massages!

We could also do a Writers' Fear Factor, with challenges such as, "Trim this 3,000-word article to 400 words" and "Approach a well-known author for a blurb." ;)

[mommie4a]

We could also do a Writers' Fear Factor, with challenges such as, "Trim this 3,000-word article to 400 words" and "Approach a well-known author for a blurb." ;)

I love that idea, Jenna, particularly because I know I will NEVER challenge myself to eat scorpions, swim in a vat of vomit or hang upside down for an hour from a cliff in the Grand Canyon.

[Kevin Yarbrough]

I love that idea, Jenna, particularly because I know I will NEVER challenge myself to eat scorpions, swim in a vat of vomit or hang upside down for an hour from a cliff in the Grand Canyon.
You wouldn't do any of those Jill? This is a daily thing for me. Gets the blood pumping.

Scorpions are good with a little butter and some Thyme, boiled for two hours and spread over wild rice. Hmmmmm, getting hungry.

The vat of vomit only happens when I have a late night--everynight.

Grand Canyon is my WIP. Or least it feels like it.

[JAlpha]

Jenna,

It just doesn't seem like the judges should have had to struggle so hard. I've judged about a half dozen fiction contests, and never without a criteria, point sheet to score the entries. Checklists, score sheets, criteria, whatever you want to call them, no system is perfect, but ranking the manuscripts by a common set of sound writing elements really helps reduce the stress.

I really am the self-professed queen of creating writing criteria, my nonfiction book is titled The Fiction Writer's Book of Checklists: A Comprehensive Guide for Revising, Editing, Assessing and Selling Fiction. I have an article excerpt sitting right now in the AW archives . . .

http://www.absolutewrite.com/specialty_writing/artless_fiction.htm
If you decide to run a second Absolute Write Idol Competition, I'd be happy to help you develop a judging format that will work cross genre, so to speak. I know it can be done, won't be easy, but with enough lead time, I'd be happy to do it for you.

JAlpha

[mommie4a]

Yowsa - you're my kinda man, Kevin!!

[Kevin Yarbrough]

Yowsa - you're my kinda man, Kevin!!

:kiss: If I had a dollar for every time I heard that I would have a whole dollar. Jill, would you like a nice dinner for two of Scorpion ala thyme, a nice walk along the Grand Canyon, followed up by a swim in a warm pool of vomit?