Over at the forums for the Writers of the Future contest people referring to get antsy as they await results for a quarter’s judging as ‘twitching.’ The Contest runs on a 90 day cycle meaning that in general you have a vague idea when result will filter out, starting with the dreaded ‘Did not Place’, moving up through the ‘Honorable Mentions’, Semi-Finalist, and onto the ‘Finalist,’ those eight stories out of thousands that get passed by the coordinating judge to the panel that determines the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners. Sometimes a finalist who did not win one of the coveted top three spots is afforded the honor of becoming a published Finalist and appears in anthology along with the winners earning that author not only a professional credit but also a spot in the workshop held for the winners.

Even though results have been released and my 4th quarter entry did not place, that was expected as I really did not think a 1000 word pun story was their style, I am continuing to twitch.

In the 2nd Quarter my story made finalist but did not win but the contest administrator asked if they could hold it as a potential published Finalist and now that the year has closed, the quarters for the contest start with October and do not follow the calendar year, I am waiting to find out if I will be going to workshop, which is taught by one of my favorite writers, Tim Powers.

Amplifying my current state of twitching is that fact that I am waiting on two book publishers to get back to me. Both editors have given rough guidelines for when they may make their decisions, though as harried, underpaid, and over-worked professionals I know that these estimates could end up on the optimistic side, and the window for their replies are beginning to open.

How do I deal with this stress of waiting on others to decided my fate?

I write more. I am finishing up a story that has gotten really nice comments from fellow writers as I seek their feedback, a novel is starti8ng to come together in my noodle, and a strangely sweet and kind short story is also firming up.

As they said on a recent episode of Doctor Who, hope is not passive, it is active; we must chose to hope.