Writing contest comes out in the wash
I submitted a portion of my manuscript to a genre-specific contest in June. There was a list of do’s and don’ts. I did and I didn’t. I pressed “send” before the deadline and got my special unpersonalized thank-you-for-submitting-to-our-contest-to-which-you-paid-for-the-privilege-of-probably-being-rejected letter. And then I forgot about it. Until Monday. Monday was The Day. The finalists would be announced. Woo hoo! Maybe I would be one. Maybe I’d be all of them. Maybe they loved my writing so much there were no finalists just a grand prize winner…me! Or maybe not. Maybe there would be no email, no phone call, no notice on their website, no google-able mention of the contest at all. Anywhere. And I myself am a mighty fine googler.
So like with all things that annoy me, I obsessed over it. Was it a real contest? What did they do with my, what was it, $10? And if they aren’t announcing the winners yet (I’m an optimist at heart) then shouldn’t they tell people that? Of course I went through the it-is-a-very-stupid-contest phase and then gave myself 24 hours to get the hell over it. Because a contest, like everything to do with writing, is subjective. And I know that. I still wanted to win. I can accept not winning, just like I accept every rejection. But then I want to know: Who The Hell Won?! Where is the list of finalists? Is it lost like that one sock you know you put into the dryer with the rest but you can’t find no matter how hard you try?
Which brings us to laundry.
Laundry just annoys me. And any time I can find a reason to state that publicly, I latch onto it.
Although if doing the laundry would enable me to find the names of this contest’s finalists at the back of my dryer, I just might consider doing it more often.
hahahahaha Amy, girl you crack me up! I love your posts. I hope you find out about the contest soon, and I hope it was legit.
And Jerry Seinfeld was totally right about socks and how they plan their escape in the dryer!
ROFL, I hate laundry, too. These writing contests get way behind, you know. Having been in one and around one, the judges are usually volunteers who are often late, this happens, that happens, and things get postponed. I’ve seen contests get help up for months.
It’s crazy and a little unprofessional, but in my case, it was run by a writing chapter. They did their best.
Contests like that worry me too. Hope all is revealed soon in that department. As for laundry? All I can say is that with two fewer people living in the house, there’s isn’t quite so much of it. But I still could live without it running my life.