Judging, Gifts, and Golf…

Yes, I Am a Judge…

Of the Writers of the Future writing contest. How it works for us professionals is that the editor of the book Jody Lyn Nye and a host of first readers wade through all the submissions every quarter and they send us professional-writer-judges 8 stories. I tend to judge two quarters a year is all.

There are no names on the stories, but if I recognized a student’s style or story, I would disqualify myself. So total blind judging on our parts.

Now here is what is interesting that most writers don’t know. Many, many writers were published out of the contest, which means they had too many professional sales, but then the contest changed its rules that 8 cents per word is a professional sale.

So all the writers who sold stories to places like Asimov’s and Pulphouse and so on for decades at 6 cents per word are now again suddenly inside the rules. 8 cents per word is now the professional level. Under that in the contest’s eyes was not professional. (Snort… A sale to Pulphouse is still not professional in the contest’s eyes…)

If you sold a novel to a traditional house, you are out at publication, but indie books do not disqualify you unless it sells 20,000 copies. (Don’t we wish.)

So you could have sold fifty stories to major magazines at 6 cents per word and published dozens of indie novels and you can now still enter Writers of the Future contest.

And it is the best market out there. No other short story sale flies you to Hollywood for a week-long workshop and gives you 8 cents per word and also extra prize money if you win that.  And you can submit four times a year.

Don’t miss a quarter. Even you long-term professionals who suddenly find yourself inside the rules. Why not?

GIVE THE GIFT OF LEARNING…

Going to repeat this here for those who missed it. If you buy any workshop or class or subscription on WMG Teachable, we will give a second one of your choice at an equal or lesser value to anyone you pick. And we will deliver it to them at the time of your choosing, including Christmas Day, with a note from you and directions on how to get the class or workshop and a code to get in.

Note: This includes all Lifetime Subscriptions, including Lifetime Everything Subscription. It includes everything on WMG Teachable.

If you are a Lifetime Everything Subscription, you can buy a workshop or class and we will send out two gifts from you to writers you pick.

HERE IS HOW IT WORKS… 

Simply go to WMG Teachable  and buy any class or workshop or lecture or Pop-Up you would like to take yourself and then you can give one of equal or lesser value to a friend.

We will contact you the next day to ask who you would like The Gift of Learning to go to and which class, when you would like it delivered, and what would you like to say on a gift note.

How is that for easy holiday shopping?

And it starts right now. Questions, write me directly.

I USED TO BE YOUNG…

Sometime next week, Ron Collins and I are headed to a driving range. It will be short because I want to see if a 74-year-old-ex- golf-professional, mostly blind and 30 pounds over weight, with a brand new Titanium shoulder, can still hit a golf ball.

This will be funny and entertaining if nothing else.

Yeah, I know, hard to imagine me as a golf professional. But I was pretty good in those 1972 days. (I got worse every year for decades after those years. They were my peak.)

I was what was called a “trunk slammer” on some tour stops, meaning I went to the Monday morning qualifying to get into the big tournament and then when I didn’t get in, tossed my clubs in the trunk and slammed the lid and either headed for the next stop or back to my course to practice more.

In those years I was based in Palm Springs, California and actually was a head professional in 1973-74 of a country club there as well as playing tournaments occasionally. I also drank far too much, but that’s another story. (grin)

Since I had a house fire in 1985 and lost everything, including all pictures, this is the only picture I have of my golf course and me back in those days. Yes, the kid in the picture was the head professional of that eighteen hole country club. (The restaurant is behind me and the tennis courts in the background.)

Notice the Titleist blades I was playing at that time.

So just a glimpse into one of my earlier careers after skiing, but before architecture, three years of law school, and writing.

Now the question is: Who stole my 1973 body? I will post pictures here of the 74-year-old body trying to hit shorts. Stay tuned. It should be good for a laugh.