It was a pleasure to judge the stories y'all brought to the table, and you are absolutely right: deliberation was difficult this month! When I say that we were splitting hairs in examining the merits of each piece, I'm not joking! It was intense! !PIZZA !CTP
Awesome stuff. This is a very good thing and it forces everyone to bring their A game. Getting anywhere near the top is a great thing!
I completely agree! The folks who make it up into the top 5 are the cream of the crop, and definitely an example for everyone to examine and learn from! Hopefully, this competition encourages people to continue to hone and perfect their craft as they continue to push the envelop further! I hope to join one of these days, but we're still ironing out the whole judging process to be more streamlined. Once I get it in a sweet spot, I might relinquish my spot on the judges panel here and there... who knows!
I felt that I needed to take a break for one month at least after winning Gold in the first one.
Maybe it would be a good idea to set up a sort of rotational judges panel? Some other members of the community need to take the position of judge and give you the chance to compete.
It is such an honor that I got into the top 3 again. You see... like many who write as a passion or hobby, I very often have doubts about my work and my quality of writing.
One or two bad comments could stay with a writer for years and I have been deeply wounded by some remarks made years ago.
To be consistently chosen for a top position serves to bring me evidence that I cannot deny myself, yet even then I do not really get any sort of ego from it. It just means that I get a little bit of validation that tells me that when I put the effort in, I CAN write good stuff.
Thank you guys again.
That's kinda what we're doing. I'm asking members of the community to serve on the judges panel with me. Once I have the "format" nailed down, I'll be able to hand-pick people, give them the format for judging and whatnot, then leave the dm so that they can deliberate without me being involved in it. Until then, though, I'm happy to continue serving as a judge. I honestly just really enjoy it! haha
You are absolutely capable of writing great stories! Don't let the haters say otherwise. Take the constructive criticism and leave the nay-sayers, because you put up solid work! It was our pleasure to deliberate over your work and the work of your competitors, y'all really brought it this month!
😁😁😁😁😁 Thank you!
Looking forward to the next one!