Saturday, August 30, 2008

I have jumped into the pool...

And I don't know how deep the water is!

Last week, Amber Wentworth, the President of the RWA Futuristic Fantasy and Paranormal Chapter put out a distress call. FF&P had such an overwhelmingly positive response to their On the Far Side Contest for unpublished authors that they didn't have enough judges. And I volunteered. God help me.

I wanted to help, generous soul that I am, and Amber has gone out of her way to help me in the past, so it was time to pony up... but I had absolutely no idea what I was getting into. God help the poor unpubbs!

The first thing that I did was to go to the FF&P website (it's listed here in the VERY USEFUL; VERY IMPORTANT sidebar) and copy and read the rules. Then I did the same thing with the judge's score sheet. Amber then followed up with detailed instructions. Ohhh, this is going to take a lot of thinking. I might even learn more from this than if I had entered the contest itself. Cool!

That's all well and fine, but the thing that really excites me is that there were so many unplanned for entries. This tells me that there is a growing interest in my writing genre of choice, Science Fiction Romance. What better way for me to help promote the genre in which I hope to succeed than to encourage other unpublished writers. Those aspiring writers are presently readers. Publishers take note: the market is growing.

Happy writing, happy reading,

Frances

Writing Science Fiction Romance
Real Love in a Real Future

11 comments:

Jace said...

Frances, I'm sure you'll do a great job judging those works. :-) And it's heartening to know there are so many submissions - this bode well for our favourite sub-genre. :-D

Frances said...

Jace, I am so excited about the growth in entries. I just want to do the ones that I have been given justice. Things are kind of hectic right now.

Anonymous said...

There is only one word needed to describe this venture into judging, "great"...

Good luck and I will be watching for your posting on how it all unfolded for you.

Annie O.

Frances said...

Hi Annie O. Good to see you again. I will be posting about what I learn. Right now, Gustav has me occupied: nap; clean drains; computer; clean drains; repeat ad nausium. :-)

Heather Massey said...

Congratulations, Frances! It's a huge job but I know you'll do great. You're so sweet for stepping in and helping out.

Frances said...

Hi Heather! Sweet nothing! LOL, girl this is work. I am becoming very good friends with THE CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE. This is making me rething some of my own writing. More conflict!

Frances said...

Heather, that is rethink, not rething. Second typo that I have missed tonight. Dadgum, besides being illiterate, I am punch drunk from Gustav. Gotta get some sleep.

Heather Massey said...

Well I just glossed right over it--my mind filled in the correct letter. Don't sweat it!

*hits forehead with heel of palm* What am I saying--you're a writer, of course you're going to sweat it!

Frances said...

A DYSLEXIC writer has to double check everything!

Heather Massey said...

ping-back:

And how cool is this? Our own Frances Drake of Frances Writes is a judge for RWA’s Futuristic Fantasy and Paranormal Chapter “On the Far Side Contest

Frances said...

Thanks for the recognition Heather. I went over to Romance Reads, and really appreciate her suggestions for unpubbs. Thanks for your help.