I Won't Give You That - Publication Rights

Well I discovered something interesting today and I hope I can get it cleared up before Nov. 2. That's the deadline for the Writer's Digest Popular Fiction Awards. According to the official rules, the winners give Writer's Digest one time publication rights to their stories. However, at the end of the sign up process online, before you can submit your entry, there is a box that says you give perpetual non-exclusive publication rights to your story when you sign up. Now that's a big difference. I deleted my entry when I got to that point. I'm not giving anyone perpetual rights to my story. Also, it wasn't limited to just the winners. I hate stuff like this; it's enough to make you pull your hair out. Now with only 5 days to go, and one of them a Sunday, I had to send an email to Writer's Digest to try to get this worked out. What do you suppose my chances are of getting a response in time. There is a phone number, and I will call tomorrow, but, I need something in writing clarifying the error. It also doesn't make sense for those who mail their entries in to get one set of rules, and those who enter online to get another.

We'll see what happens. Wish me luck.

Freelance Finale II

Finally, I am finito! And the client seems pleased. That makes me happy. I always worry about that so much.

Now I can spend a little extra time editing my romance novel and outlining for NaNoWriMo. It's just around the corner. Yikes.

I need to hurry up and enter my Writer's Digest story before I miss that deadline. I am actually pretty excited about that. Of course my chances are pretty slim, but you just never know.

The 78th Annual Writer's Digest Competition

Well, it's here again and I'm desparately trying to come up with something to enter. I have two potential categories: genre short stories and poetry. But, I only have until June 1 to do it. Can I? Should I try? I have so many other obligations right now, the same obligations that have been hampering my writing in the first place. Do I dare take the time to really get into something deeply enough to justify entry in the contest? Right now I'm just grabbing a few quick minutes to jot down my thoughts here to soothe my pain. But this would take real dedication - and time. I could recycle something, but it can't have been published before, even on a social network. I guess time will tell. Perhaps inspiration will strike and then nothing will stand in my way. We can only hope.