I received a very nice thank you note from a contestant I judged yesterday. I gave her a perfect score, which is actually not too rare for me even though we’ve already established that I’m the hanging judge. When a story clicks, it clicks. But this letter was really uplifting because the author had been through so many ups and downs (like all of us) and had decided this was going to be her last run for the gold after writing forever. After doing so well in this contest, she decided to enter the Golden Heart® this year and I have no doubt I’ll see her sometime, somewhere…soon.

It reminded me of my contest warpath. I always forwarded thank you notes when I could. When the contests were mostly paper based, I wrote paper notes and mailed them. I’m surprised how few thank yous I’ve received for judging. Someone had told me it was good etiquette to thank judges and that stuck with me.

Sure, sometimes I get the terse “Thank you for judging. Your comments were interesting.” But that’s fine too. 🙂

In any case, I’ve actually had past judges seek me out after Butterfly Swords finaled to ask if this was me and to congratulate me.  If nothing else, it’s a way to connect. This really is such a small, small world in this business.

When you’re running a marathon, random people will cheer you on by saying things like “Looking good” and “See you at the finish line.” You know they’re just trying to be nice, but it actually helps. Whenever I got a contest entry back with all those lovely comments, whether they liked or disliked my writing, and they ended with “Hope to see this on the shelves” or “This needs work”, it really helped me. The harshest judges comments are a hundred times better than getting a form rejection. Because now you have somewhere to go.

<Cute image here>  <– I tried to look through my stock images to post something, but then I realized I lost all that when my computer crashed.

Okay, so maybe I was tempting fate by planning to Fast Draft during the closing weeks of the MORWA Gateway Contest, between my sister’s second wedding and first, and while the day job does a little loop de loop rollercoaster style. (I’ve never written that before…how does one write that loopy thing?)

So instead of Fast Drafting, I seem to be Slow Drafting. I’m trying to take the computer crash in stride, but maybe I am in mourning a little. I still write everyday because it’s sort of a mantra for me. If I don’t write everyday, I don’t get to whine about writing woes. 🙂

There’s only one ray of light in this whole ordeal of rewriting Book #1. Yesterday I encountered an old bit of writing. I managed to glance over it before I deleted the whole darn block so I could pretend it never existed. You learn a lot in three years! Dialogue tags, balance of narrative and just plain old subtlety. No wonder this book never went anywhere. 

I’ve decided that after this chapter, the old book is gone. There were some scenes I wanted to resurrect so I’d open the old manuscript for reference. Even copy small parts, but maybe that’s what’s slowing me down. Maybe I should burn it in effigy? Hmmm…somehow that idea appeals. That’ll have hubby calling the funny farm.

I suppose that’s how magical rituals start. We make up all this voo doo in our heads to try to shape things that seem impossible — like being able to write more pages a day.