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A HERO'S SPARK: the final book in the Wicked Women series!

Friday, April 29, 2011

To thank or not to thank...that is the question!

Hello everyone!

Sorry I've been away...I'm working on editing "Lies in Chance" so that I can send it to my formatter and get that puppy out for release in June.  Yes, busy busy!

Anyway, recently a question dealing with contest entries came up at a writer's meeting.  A number of us have, from time to time, acted as judges for writing contests.  Those of you who have judged or you have entered contests know how these things go. You send your first three chapters or first ten pages or whatever, and then someone judges it, and then you get the results and you cry for a couple of weeks and wonder if there's any point to writing.

First of all, YES THERE IS!

Second of all, it's just a contest.  Seriously...writing is so subjective and brutal...we all must be nuts!

Anyway, the question came up as to whether or not, once you've gotten your results, you should send a thank you note.

I've judged the same contest for two years and in all the entries, I think I've gotten one thank you e-mail.  Since most judges do this anonymously, sending a thank you note isn't as direct as it might seem. 

My mother raised me to send thank you notes for everything, so I'm certainly one who sends notes all the time.  But when it comes to contests, basically, as with all things, I think you just have to do what you think is the most proper.  As I mentioned, I've gotten one or two thank yous, and that's fine.  I don't think any less of the other authors...mostly because, except for the titles, I didn't get names with the entries.  When I entered contests, I did not send thank you notes.  It wasn't that I wasn't grateful...except for the one judge who knocked me down so much for a fairly minor typing glitch  (upside down quotation marks anyone?)  that I missed out at being in the finals, that judge I wasn't grateful for AT ALL...it's just that the note would have had to go through the contest coordinator and frankly, I didn't want to bother THAT person.

Email makes a bit simpler, I suppose, but still, if it's an anonymous judge, judging an anonymous entry, I think it's okay to just sort of say, "Thanks Judge" to the air and sort of move on.  Then again, it's also okay to send that email to the coordinator if you want. 

Just remember...when you hit the New York Times best seller list...remember to thank ME and my blog as an inspiration!  That's the Thank You that's MOST important, right?

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