Beta Project, the 2018 edition

I'm caught up, so if you've sent me something and not gotten some kind of response, check in with me. You should have received a "got it" or a request for revision.

Hooks that were longer than 150 words, must be revised by the deadline, or else I can't accept your entry.

Any other suggested revisions (at this point) are optional formatting, so I'll just post as is if you don't get me updated formatting.

Nobody's over 750 words yet, but if that were to happen, and I didn't get a revision in time, I'd just lop off as many sentences from the end as it takes to be at 750 or fewer.

No risk. You enter and if nothing else happens, you get three crits on your opening. And if you don't like them, you don't have to listen to them. Very worst that happens is you get an exercise in writing a tight hook

You SFF/Spec fic authors are keeping me on my toes with organizing you in a logical pattern

Currently caught up on "Got it"s. If you sent me something and didn't get one, let me know. No entries are pending at the moment.

Two days left to enter.

More than twice as many as what we had at the halfway mark

*makes Netz do more maths*

And we have 7 of my 9 genre categories now, and have at least one in each age category.

I get a pretty rainbow in Scrivener. Right now I'm missing the yellow and purple genres

Okay, we're heading into the home stretch--26 hours to go--and here are some tips for the procrastinators to ensure a smooth transition between the entry phase and the critting phase. I will be up tomorrow night until all the entries are posted, and I do not want to delay posting them because someone had a glitch at the last second and I have to help them figure it out or because someone entered in time but didn't fill out one field and ask me to add their answer at 2 a.m. Delays often end up with the delayer's entry being posted out of genre order, which means their entry will be harder for readers of that genre to find it. I start putting together the entry thread at 12 a.m. sharp.

• Make your deadline 11:30 PDT tomorrow night. If you end up with a last-minute glitch (and you will if you wait too long, I guarantee it), we'll have half an hour to work it out.
• It is highly unlikely a minor tweak you make at 11:58 p.m. PDT will make your entry more attractive to beta readers. Don't wait, hoping for inspiration. Send it before the last second.
• If, by some small chance, you discover a minor tweak that will make a difference at 11:58 and you have already sent your entry in, you can send me the minor tweak, as long as it comes before I make the thread visible to everyone. Send me the whole field you've made the change in. If the hook, for example, send the entire new hook. It's less likely I'll misunderstand what you want in this case.
• Do not skip any of the fields. I don't care whether you think the question doesn't pertain to your novel; if so, say as much. If you skip it and the entry window has closed, I will make up my own answers, and you may not like them There are 9 headers. So far, this year, nobody has missed a field, so hopefully this will continue to not be a problem.
• The smoothest transition from entry to posting comes if you use the exact same headers that are in post # 4 of this thread. If I have to change the headers in that 11:59 entry, I can't be posting the entries onto AW yet.
• See post #5 for the smoothest way to format your entry and send it to me. Please.
• If I have asked you to deal with word count or a missing field, make sure you send me what you need to before the deadline. If it's word count on a 750 excerpt and you don't, I will cut as many sentences as it takes to get to 750 or less. If it's the hook, you must have it under 150, or I can't use your entry. If it's the genres you read (or don't), I will make you a wild card. If it's anything else and you don't get it to me by the deadline, I will make up an answer for you. You have been warned.
• Check your spaces. We haven't had this problem this year, yay! But preview anyway. Also check your spaces between paragraphs. I have more than one entry that are missing one or more.
• Check how your word processor counts hyphens and em-dashes. Mine counts hyphenated words as one word, but the words around an em-dash as two (as is most accurate). If you put spaces around your em-dashes, my word counter will count it as an entire word, so don't do that.
• Preview your PM. Does it look like those in the Beta Project Subforum 2? Best to do this long before the deadline. May I suggest 11:30 p.m. PDT as a final deadline to preview?

Here's the good news about any changes you might need to make. As of this year, I am the moderator for the Beta Project forum. This means that if you absolutely need to make a change after I posted the thread, I can fix it! However, I can't guarantee that critters and potential betas won't see the pre-fixed entry, and I cannot change entry order. So if your entry has a problem getting to me, and I've already started posting beyond your age/genre group, I can't sandwich you in. So, avoid problems! Send to me before the deadline!

Everyone who has submitted so far should have some sort of reply from me. Only one entry at this time is pending.

More entries I've received today have had problems than all the other entries I've received total for the past 2 weeks. So this is another reminder to a) take your time, b) follow the formatting, c) preview before sending to make sure it looks like how you want it to look when potential betas come around, and d) give yourself (or me) time to make possible corrections before the deadline.

I'm caught up on entries for now. I'm going to a friend's concert, so I'll be off AW for a couple hours, and then I should be around after that.

Caught up as of 8:28 p.m.