This week: Counting and Sorting Edited by: Lilli is QUILLING!  
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“You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.”
~ Ann Lamott, bird by bird
“If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.”
~ Stephen King, On Writing
“If you find yourself asking yourself (and your friends), “Am I really a writer? Am I really an artist?” chances are you are. The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death.”
~ Steven Pressfield, The War of Art |
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While I know many of the things I will discuss today have all been said before, many of them are worth repeating for a couple of reasons. Not only do these suggestions help me, as the current Quill Mistress, but you may find that they benefit us all in various ways.
 Word and Line Counts
Adding the word count for stories and prose and the line count for poetry is helpful in many ways. When I first joined WdC, someone suggested I get in the habit of adding that information to everything I write and keep in my port. Many contests require this information, and sometimes, an item can be disqualified without it.
Why are word and line counts important to The Quills?
When the author includes the word count information, it really speeds up the vetting process. Otherwise, stories and prose need to be copied and pasted into a word counter to ensure they are listed in the correct category. Flash Fiction, Short Stories, etc., are broken up by word count.
The same can be said of poetry. Quill categories for poetry are sorted by line counts and free verse vs structured.
Genres
I know, I know. I can hear you moaning from here, lol. Many of us talk about the importance of adding proper genres to our items, and today, I'm going to remind you of a couple of reasons why.
When doing random reading/reviewing, many members will search for an item by genre. I am one of those people. I will search for a genre I'm in the mood for, whether romance, paranormal, or comedy!
Selecting three unique genres is vital to The Quills because items are also sorted by genre, and the WdC community votes for "Best in Genre"! Proper genre categorizing gives you three additional chances to win a prize.
For reference, here are the genres the Quills do not use:
Activity*
Contest*
Contest Entry
Other
Personal
Reviewing*
Writing
Writing.com
*Activities and contests have their own categories and should be properly identified through their genres. There is also a standalone award for best reviewing.
One last note...it's not too late to update your nominated items with proper genres. 
Until next time...
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Look! These are NEW (or back) for 2025!!!
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If you write 52 short stories, one of them's bound to be great... right? Let's find out!
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For Authors: January 08, 2025 Issue [#12928]
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