Even Negative Feedback Can Be Good -- It's All in How You Look At It

By Pamela S. Meyers

I’m writing this on Father’s Day and I hope all the dad readers enjoyed a good day yesterday.

A few weeks ago I happened on an article I wrote about dealing with negative feedback from writing contest judges. This past week, the finalists were announced for the ACFW Genesis contest and the semifinalists that aren’t moving on to the final round, will soon receive their judged entries from the first and second rounds. I thought this article would be good to post to encourage anyone who has recently received not-so-favorable comments from a contest judge. I know all too well how such comments can put a writer into a tailspin of emotions.

It was five years ago this summer that I received my first writing contract, so the article had to have been written at least six years ago. Even so, the lesson I learned then is still valuable today. Below is the article.

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Sometime ago, I began working on a romance manuscript, periodically putting it aside when new writing opportunities appeared. Upon coming back to it for the third or fourth time, I decided to switch things up and began converting my third-person POV into first person. A daunting task, as anyone who has done this knows. But I eagerly rubbed my hands together, anxious to begin. Since most romances are not written in first person that also meant switching the genre to Women's Fiction (at that time a category in the Genesis).

Because my crit partners had seen the story from its inception and I needed fresh eyes for feedback, I entered it in ACFW’s Genesis Contest. I told myself I most likely wouldn’t place, and that was okay. Meanwhile, I continued working on the new format, changing the beginning scene several times.

When the semifinalists were announced and my name wasn’t on the list, I felt a tinge of disappointment. Weeks later, as I was preparing to shut down for the evening, the judges’ score sheets arrived in my email box. I told myself not to not open them until morning. The hour was late and I didn't need to have that kind of thing on my mind. Did I listen? No. Bad mistake.

The scores were much lower than any I’d ever received with other stories. I skimmed the judges’ comments, reading some and ignoring others. They were brutal to say the least. I licked my wounds and shut down the computer. Determined I wouldn’t think about them until the next day, I went right to sleep.

An hour later, my eyes popped open, and my brain shifted into high gear as those judge comments materialized in my mind’s eye. Then the voices started:

• You can’t write.
• What were you thinking?
• Time to give it up.

Ane & me in one of our not so serious moments

I tossed and turned, punched my pillow, and threw the covers off and back on, but the taunting wouldn’t stop. Then a Greater Voice broke through the clamor. It was time to get off my pity pot and focus on someone else. I began praying for a friend’s sister who was gravely ill. A short time later I fell asleep.

The next morning, I spent time in one of my favorite Bible passages—

Hebrews 10: 35-36:

So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you!  Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised. (NLT)

I’ve never doubted my call to write, and God has promised me that at the proper time I will reap a harvest if I don’t give up. (Galatians 6:9). After a time of prayer, I called my writing buddy and one of my dearest friends, Ane Mulligan. She loves me enough to tell it like it is to me and not sugarcoat it.

She helped me realize that by switching genres (from romance to women’s fiction) I also needed to change how I began the story. We brainstormed and fresh ideas for a new opening chapter flew between us, almost faster than we could say them.

Our discussion also helped me to see that many of the judges’ comments were well founded, and some actually pinpointed issues others in my crit group had missed. That alone made entering the contest worthwhile. Grateful for all I had learned in a one-hour phone call, I got to work and outlined several brand new chapters that made the story stronger.

Rarely have I regretted entering a writing contest, even if I didn’t place, and this experience was no different. No matter how low your scores, remember there is always a nugget or two (or more!) in the comments to help point you in the right direction. You just need to keep your eyes open and on the Lord so you don’t miss the prize!

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So there you have it. Advice given over five years ago and still applicable today. The irony is that the story is still not finished. A short time after I wrote this I received  a request from a publisher to work on a proposal for a story set in my hometown and I totally switched gears. That story became Love Finds You in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. 

I’d still like to finish the other story, and Lord willing, someday I will.

A native of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, author Pamela S. Meyers lives in suburban Chicago with her two rescue cats. Her novels include Thyme for Love, which has recently been re-released on Amazon and her 1933 historical romance, Love Finds You in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Love is All We Need (the sequel to Thyme for Love) will release in 2016, and Second Chance Love from Bling!, an imprint of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas, will release in January 2017. When she isn’t at her laptop writing her latest novel, she can often be found nosing around Wisconsin and other Midwestern spots for new story ideas.

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Any Contest Score Can be a Winner No Matter How Low It Is

By Pamela, S. Meyers

A native of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, author Pamela S. Meyers lives in suburban Chicago with her two rescue cats. Her novels include Thyme for Love, and Love Will Find a Way, contemporary romantic mysteries, and her 1933 historical romance, Love Finds You in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. When she isn’t at her laptop writing her latest novel, she can often be found nosing around Wisconsin and other midwestern spots for new story ideas.

Last week, as head coordinator for ACFW's 2015 Genesis Writing contest, I returned the first round judged entries that were not semi-finalists. Since then, I’ve heard some entrants express disappointment in their scores. Of course, we’ve all heard again and again how subjective these contests are  It’s the same with most everything from books, to movies, to food and fashion. Not everything appeals to everyone the same way. And it's that way with our writing. It's all subjective. But does that mean if we don't place in a contest all is lost? Of course not!

Some years ago, before I became involved in Genesis as the head coordinator, I decided to convert a third person POV manuscript into a first person POV. A daunting task, as anyone who has done this knows. I eagerly rubbed my hands together, anxious to let the process begin and was pleased with the results.

My crit partners had seen the story from its inception and I needed fresh eyes for feedback. What better place to find that than the ACFW Genesis Contest? I told myself it most likely wasn’t going to place, and that was okay. The judge feedback was what I was after. Meanwhile, I continued to work on the manuscript, and by the time the semi-finalists were announced, I’d changed the beginning at least three times.

Even though I’d said I wasn’t looking to move on to Round 2, when my name wasn’t on the semi-finalist list, I felt a strong tinge of disappointment, but I tucked it away. Late one evening, a couple weeks later, the judged entries arrived in my email. I knew better than to open them then since judges’ comments were likely the last thing I wanted in my head just before sleep. That notion lasted about five minutes. I opened them.

Bad mistake.

The scores were much lower than any I’d ever received in a contest. After I scraped myself up off the floor, I moved past the numerical scores and skimmed the judges’ comments, reading some and ignoring others, then licked my wounds and shut off the computer. I did fall right to sleep, but an hour later, my eyes popped open. My judged entries immediately materialized in my mind’s eye, and soon, the voices in my head began their taunts.

“You can’t write.”

“What were you thinking?”

“Time to give it up.”

On and on they went, until a Greater Voice broke through the clamour.  I sensed God was telling me it was time to get off the pity pot and focus on someone else. I began praying for a friend’s sister who was gravely ill. Within moments I fell back to sleep.

The next morning, I spent time in one of my favorite passages, Hebrews 10: 35-36:

So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.  

I’ve never doubted my call to write, and knew from Galatians 6:9 that God had promised me that at the proper time I would reap a harvest if I didn't give up. I camped on those verses for a length of time, meditating and praying, then called a crit partner.

She helped me realize that by switching genres I also needed to change how to begin my story. We brainstormed and soon, fresh ideas for new opening chapters flew between us faster than we could say them. She showed me that the judges’ comments were spot on because they pinpointed issues others had missed. That made entering the contest all the more worthwhile. I hung up with a renewed and energized spirit, grateful for all I had learned in a one-hour phone call and from some of the lowest contest scores I’d ever received.

Rarely have I regretted entering a writing contest, even if I didn’t place. And this experience was no different. No matter how low your scores on a contest entry are, remember there is always a nugget or two in the comments to help point you in the right direction. You just need to keep your eyes open so you don’t miss the prize.

What have you learned from your judged contest entries or from judging writing contests yourself?

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Writing Contests - What's In It For You if You Enter?

by Pamela S. Meyers

Wanda Writer signed on to the ACFW eloop and scanned the list of posts. She kept her finger poised over the delete key, clicking on it every so often, picking and choosing which posts to keep and which ones to banish. She paused at a reminder from the Genesis Head Coordinator that there was still time to enter the Genesis Writing Contest.

A nudge poked its way into her mind to click on the message, but why bother? She’d entered the writing contest a couple years ago, and what did she have to show for her time but a lost entry fee and a judge’s comment that all but said she didn’t know how to write and should find another way to pass her time. It had taken her almost a year to get over that and start writing again. Her finger hit delete and the reminder disappeared from her computer screen and from her thoughts.

But, the next time Wanda opened her WIP to work on it, the nudge returned. She had taken those workshops at conference last year and joined a good critique group since that last contest. Maybe it was time to enter Genesis again. But what if that same judge or another like him or her got her entry? She never wanted to go through that again. She pushed all thoughts of entering out of her head and never considered entering the contest again. Weeks later when one of her crit partners shared how a contest judge's hard criticism woke her up to a weakness in her writing and how grateful she was for receiving the judge's input, Wanda questioned if she'd been too hasty in deciding not to enter the contest.

Genesis Logo

Does that scenario sound remotely similar to your experience with writing contests? Or perhaps you’ve never entered a contest before and get a case of jitters just thinking about it?

This is the time of year that writing contests for unpublished writers seem to be everywhere. Currently, ACFW’s Genesis (of which I am head coordinator) is in the middle of its first round, and Novel Rocket has just kicked off its Launch Pad contest. There are other contests also going on for unpublished writers you may want to look into by Googling.

Here are three great reasons that you should consider entering a

Novel Rocket Launch Pad Award

contest or two this year.

1. Experience—no matter how many contests you enter, each one gives you more experience in preparing a manuscript for submission, following guidelines, and becoming more comfortable with strangers seeing and evaluating your work.

2. Feedback from Judges—Contest judges can vary from veteran writers or published authors to editors and agents (usually in the later rounds). Yes, some judges can be blunt, and judging is always subjective. But, entrants can often times learn more from a candid judge than from a gentle judge. I experienced this when a Genesis  judge gave me a low score for POV when my story was in first person. Of course, I wondered how she could give me such a low score when there was no POV shift or head hopping? I later learned the reason was that I hadn’t made my POV deep enough. That is where I first learned about deep POV and have incorporated it in my writing ever since.

3. A Chance of Winning—Most contests don’t hold a promise of a book contract for the first place winner or even a monetary award. But, winning does give you bragging rights and something great to add to your writing resume. Placing in a contest shows you can follow writer’s guidelines and your writing is good enough to win. It says a lot about your character traits that appeal to publishers and agents.

You may be saying, “Okay this all sounds good on paper, but I never want to experience the hurt I felt when that judge said . . . ”  

Yes, it does hurt. But if you decide ahead of time that you are going to put on your rhino skin and not fall apart if you do receive a few bad comments, you’ll be better able to ignore them.

The best way I’ve found to deal with disappointing judge remarks is to put the score sheets away for a while and not look at them for at least a week or maybe a month. I then go to the Lord and pray through my bad feelings. It's especially therapeutic to journal about my feelings and get them out on paper. Sometimes it has taken many pages of notepaper to get them all out, but it really does help.

I always save any positive remarks I’ve received from my crit partners that I can go back to and read during my moments of despair over a bad judge remark. And you can be assured that such experiences don’t end once you’re published. One bad review can send an author into a tailspin. That’s when many will go to the positive reviews and fan letters they’ve received and reread them.

I hope by now, if you’ve been on the fence about entering a writing contest this year, I’ve convinced you to take the plunge. For more information about the ACFW Genesis contest you can go to www.acfw.com/genesis. For the Novel Rocket Launch Pad contest, you can read about it at http://www.novelrocket.com/p/launch-pad-contest.html.

Just remember that no matter where you place in the contest, all entrants are winners in one form or another. So what are you waiting for? 

 

A native of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, author Pamela S. Meyers lives in suburban Chicago, an hour's drive away from her hometown which she visits often to dig into its historical legacy. Her novels include Thyme for Love, and Love Will Find a Way,  contemporary romantic mysteries and her 1933 historical romance, Love Finds You in Lake Geneva,Wisconsin, released in April, 2013. She can often be found speaking at events around Lake Geneva or nosing in microfilms and historical records about Wisconsin and other Midwestern spots for new story ideas.

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