Noodler Critique Giveaways for Golden Heart Month
Each week, three winners will be selected at random from the people who comment on that week’s blogs postings, starting midnight Sunday and ending midnight the following Sunday. Winners will be announced on Sundays.There is a bonus, as well. If the commenting winner mentions being referred to the blog by somebody else, that person also wins. We could have as many as six winners each week!
Each winner will receive a critique of the first 5 pages of their Golden Heart entry from a member of the Wet Noodle Posse (aka a “Noodler”). Critiques will focus on how to make this particular entry the best it can be for the Golden Heart.
Comment once and you are entered that week, but you have to really say something, not just "nice blog" or "this is interesting," and you can comment as often as you like. Winners will be randomly selected. A winner may not win more than one critique per week, but a winner will be eligible to win again subsequent weeks. Each week brings a new chance to win.
All entries and critiques will be by email.
Winners must submit their entry by Nov 1 at the latest, but are encouraged to submit as soon as possible. Critiquers will return the entry within 7 days.
One Grand Prize winner will be selected on Nov 1 from all the people who comment on all the blogs for the entire month of October (ending 12:00 am Oct 31). The Grand Prize winner will receive a critique of the partial and synopsis to be entered in the Golden Heart (the 55 pages the GH allows). The entry must be sent by Nov 7 and the critique will be returned by Dec 1. Winner may select their critiquer from a list of Wet Noodle Posse volunteers to be posted.
Labels: Critique Giveaways, Golden Heart
posted by Diane Gaston @ 11:26 PM
13 Comments:
"Overwhelmed" has got to be my word of choice! I've completed a long, historical romance...finally, but no luck yet with the queries. Have also started two others, but there seems to be so much advice coming from so many places that I feel "overwhelmed." Perhaps this is just me, or the life of writing in general. I'm hoping for the later. My first year as a teacher, I was overwhelmed...it got better! I am enjoying working on my other novels, as well as, going back to polish the first one while saturating myself in the novels I love again...more advice I just read from Stephen King...you MUST read. It seems the only thing I keep forgetting to schedule time for is sleeping! LOL I am loving my association with OKRWA, though. I want to keep moving forward, even if it is one step forward, two steps back!
Happy as a clam....Debi djr53@hotmail.com
I'm still trying to learn how to deal with contest judges' comments. When I don't final, the usual reaction is one or two judges who absolutely love what I've done, and one judge who hates it so thoroughly that she throws me out of the running (in one contest I scored 91, 93, and 57). So do I revsie based on the comments on the one who hates it, at the risk of ruining what the other two loved? But I can't ignore the one who hated it because, after all, she represents the judges who keep me from finaling. It would be so much easier if they'd all just tell me how wonderful I am!
Margaret B. typea45@swbell.net
Margaret B,
What might help is to see if any of the negative comments ring true for you. For example, if the judge feels your dialogue is stilted, read it out loud. See if there is something to the comments. Sometimes big discrepancies in scoring indicate that your writing has a definite voice, which is a good thing.
Margaret b. - I totally feel for you! The last contest I entered I scored a 99 (from a GH finalist - anyone remember Promise Me Always, the one with two prologues, cause I'd love to chat if the judge was a WNP gal), a 93, and a 60. The 60 was not constructive, and actually bordered on snarky in places. I was tempted to report her, but she failed to write her judge number on the score sheet.
The good thing about having people react so strongly to your work is that it probably means you've got a very distinct voice!
debi,
One of the downsides of contests (and winning critiques, actually), especially the contests that give feedback is making sense of it all.
Don't ever change anything just because a critquer or a contest judge says to. Only change it if it resonates with you, a "Why didn't I think of that?" moment. Hone your confidence!!!
Margaret, stop thinking you have to please everyone! WHEN you are published, not everyone will love what you write. One reviewer, for example, trashed my A Reputable Rake, the book that went on to win the RITA. Only give credence to the judges that love it. People don't say they like something if they don't!
You can't control who you get as a judge. Once you turn in your manuscript, it is all a crap shoot. You hope for good and fair judges and that all of them will like your writing, but you can't control that. I'll bet a brazillion GH entries who were worthy of finaling didn't. Not finaling does not mean you are not a fantastic writer with a great story.
Noodler Diane
And it was Romance Vagabond (www.romancevagabonds.com) Lindsey Faber who referred me to the site. Thanks, Linds!
Oh, yes, noodler Mary Fecter referred me to this site--and many thanks, Mary!
Margaret B. typea45@swbell.net
Count me in. I found you through a link on CM's blog.
If someone is genuinely mean with a comment, I write them off as someone I don't have to listen to. But if I get the same criticism three times from three different sources, no matter the tone in which it's given, I start looking for ways to improve in that area.
You will never please everyone. Judges are a microcosm of your eventual reading audience. Get used to having a few people say you suck NOW, because having a pretty cover on a real book isn't going to make you tougher. It just feels like there's more on the line.
Margaret B, I know exactly how you feel. I've had my share of frustrating judges too, the worst of whom gave me glowing but vague comments and lousy scores. But most judges have said at least one thing I found useful. And I've learned more from the lower scoring judges than the ones who tell me my story is perfect (which I know isn't true).
My advice is to carefully read the comments, winnowing out stuff like snotty comments that doesn't matter. Ask yourself if there is anything AT ALL you can learn from the judge. If so, go back to your manuscript and try it on for fit. There are some things judges say that are very hard to get through to writers because they impact the way the author feels about this story of her heart.
But if this is truly the story of your heart, then give it the best chance you possibly can. Try out what the judges tell you before you decide to toss it out. If you don't like it, then give it a kick roght into your mental trash can.
This is a wonderful opportunity - thank you. Ray-Anne
Feeling pity for me. I know everyone gets down about their writing, but this is down, down. I feel as though I should give up, I have completed several manscripts and know they need more work. The feedback I get from competitions has been great overall. My marks mid nineties and a little higher.... But at this stage, probably because I'm tired my writing is really crappy.
Me :(
I guess you can call it the highs and lows of a writers life.Aiming for their goal, struggling through diversity.
I'm feeling much better today. went out all day, didn't write and I'm having two weeks off over the break. refresh my mind, I hope...
Too much work and no play... not good for ones soul.
Anyhow great place to comment as no one answers.....
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