Missed Opportunities
It’s check-in day for the Seventy Days of Sweat Challenge. Don’t forget to stop by and post those numbers.
I thought about the Challenge this week while talking with an online buddy. My online buddy can write. She’s won numerous contests, finaled in others, was a Golden Heart finalist (which is a huge deal), has sold a few stories to epubs, recently sold to Red Sage and has requests from editors at NAL and Kensington to submit her work. She’s good. Works hard. And she almost let an opportunity get by her.
She got a request from a editor - my editor - months and months ago. She submitted and, as sometimes happens, the submission got lost. She didn’t know that last part, of course. She figured it out later, resubmitted and got terrific feedback. In my view, my online buddy is *thisclose* to becoming a fellow Brava author. My fingers are crossed for her.
As you can tell, I like my online buddy. I also had to threaten her with bodily harm recently. The good news is that she took the threat in stride. Her sin? The Brava Novella Contest is going on and she actually thought about not entering…
She wants to write for Brava. This is an excellent opportunity to get more work in front of the Brava editor. And, even if she’s not a finalist, it’s still a good way to get a new novella started. Right now, the only commitment by those who enter is to write three pages. Three pages!!! When I finaled in the contest, I wrote the three page entry in about a half hour, slept on it and submitted. Simple, yes?
Now, my online buddy is not lazy. She works her writing butt off. She also has a family and a life and holds all of that together. She’s smart and funny and she wants it. But, with all of the other requests for submissions and other stuff out there, she just wasn’t sure she was going to do one more thing. And, yeah, this is where I issued the threat.
Seems to me when you want it, you really want it and can’t miss an opportunity. Even though you have interest from editors and manuscripts sitting on editors’ desks, don’t skip out on that one other chance. If it’s the Brava Novella Contest or Samhain’s call on its blog for novellas for anthologies or whatever - go for it. Don’t let a shot get by you. You could be the one who wins or gets the contract. If the only thing you have to lose is a bit of time and having a new story in your hands, that’s not a bad downside. Grab the opportunity.
September 2nd, 2007 at 11:55 am
It’s wonderful of you to encourage your friend to write.
September 2nd, 2007 at 2:32 pm
i agree, it’s wonderful, but youve pretty much convinced me not to enter if she’s entering lmao.
i only found out about it the day before yesterday, and loads of people would have had since march to write and polish their entires, do i really want to go up against that? i mean, i’m very young, what chance does my writing voice have against someone who has finalized and won all of those competitions?
September 2nd, 2007 at 2:55 pm
AJ - Now I am going to have to threaten you… Enter!!! So what if you don’t final? If nothing else happens, you think about a possible story and get started. That’s huge. You’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain here.
A lot of people with all different levels of experience are going to enter. The judges (of which I’m one) won’t know any of that. We’re reading three pages, not a resume. And, the fact others have been working on submissions for longer doesn’t matter either. When I finaled, I found out about the contest, wrote my pages and submitted all within 24 hours. Sylvia Day won the Reader’s Choice portion of the last contest and got a Brava contract and she wrote her submission in something like an hour. You’ve got plenty of time. No excuses - just enter. Really, you don’t want me to show up on your doorstep, do you ?
September 2nd, 2007 at 3:08 pm
My fiance pretty much just told me the same thing =D
but, as i have been officially threatened ( by one of the judges no less) i guess i have no excuses. *starts trying to think of a plot*
September 3rd, 2007 at 5:53 am
HelenKay, you are a good friend. When your online buddy was wavering, you set her straight. Sometimes people need the tough love to get their butt in gear. Just because someone doesn’t win doesn’t mean they don’t have a chance at it - I’ve heard of people who don’t win contests but who get a contract anyway because their story was good, so it’s worth the chance you take.
September 4th, 2007 at 8:47 am
I agree when it comes to my buddies!
But as for myself I don’t feel that I am quite ready. One of my buddies enters contest quite a bit and she seems to final in every other one she enters. So with her I say don’t miss that opportunity. Take advantage and run with it.
Great blog!
September 4th, 2007 at 9:34 am
I almost talked myself into not even trying the Brava contest, either. Oh, I had good excuses, like how would I know my *best* 3 pages if I didn’t have the darned thing finished? Contemporary romance is waaaay out of my typical project. Blah blah. Excuses. I’m going to enter whether I finish the current wip or not. Of course, I’ll be frantically working until the very last day of the deadline before entering….
Thanks for sponsoring Sweating with Sven — it has done wonders for my goals this year!
September 4th, 2007 at 9:56 am
Stacy & Estella - Thanks. Honestly, I just hate to see people not follow through on their dreams. We’re all here to cheer each other on. Some days I need the pep talk. Other days I give ‘em.
AJ - Listen to your fiance. He’s a good man and knows what he’s talking about
Christina - You don’t have to have a contest win in your past to be ready. Really. There are folks who finaled in past Brava contests who never won any other contest (or even entered one) before that time. Some never submitted anything to an editor before they entered. It’s an opportunity. Grab it and give it a try. You really don’t have anything to lose.
Joely - Yes!!! That is the right attitude. And I’m very happy to hear that the Challenge worked for you…and that you worked the Challenge. We all need a push sometimes, don’t we?
September 5th, 2007 at 9:16 am
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September 5th, 2007 at 7:47 pm
Hey, I resemble those remarks!! How dare I get sick and miss even one day of your blog.
September 5th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
A.J., if you check back to this post, you have a great chance. You have just as much a chance as anyone else. There are those of us out here who do everything “right’ for years and make only teensy tiny baby steps in our careers regardless, and then there are others who hit one out of the park from the get-go. You just never know if that person will be you. The only way you will truly NOT know is if you don’t try. Honest.