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This week: Observations on a Learning Curve Edited by: Fyn-elf  
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"Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning do to do afterward."
― Kurt Vonnegut
"To conquer frustration, one must remain intensely focused on the outcome, not the obstacles."
― T.F. Hodge
"Every writer is a frustrated actor who recites his lines in the hidden auditorium of his skull."
― Rod Serling |
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Anthological (?) Observations
1. WdC has some incredibly aMAzing people!!! (Yes, I knew this already)...just appreciating Calli Seren  , Adriana Noir , ~WhoMe???~  , Mara ♣ McBain  and Kayla Sullivan as super helpers who have gone above and beyond in helping with this process!!! Calli Seren is the spread-sheet Queen without whom this job would have been many orders of magnitude more daunting!
2. There were those who wondered whether or not we would get enough submissions to be able to put together an anthology of any magnitude. We anticipated needing to get at least 250 submissions to be able to pick and choose and have a good selection when all was said and done. We received over 400 submissions. We upgraded the size of the book to 8.5 x 11 (landscape) to be able to accommodate the number of chosen pieces that were truly excellent!! We anticipate the book being over 200 pages long!!! On the downside of that, we have not been able to get back to everyone individually to say we received their submissions. Learning curves occasionally have blind corners!
3. DIRECTIONS are in place for a reason. It was a shame to have to discount some awesome stories because the author submitted a piece thousands of words longer than the 3000 allotted word length. When submitting to a contest or for publication, an author needs to triple check to be SURE their submission does not have multiple errors, typos or grammatical mistakes. These things may cause submissions to hit the proverbial circular file in a hurry!! If you are writing in English and use foreign phrases, said foreign phrases need to be in italics! This is just a good habit to develop.
4. Patience is a virtue and needs to be practiced. *smile* We will be notifying folks this week--she says optimistically--as she is dealing with a broken wrist which is slowing things down a bit. All includees will be notified at one time. Submissions closed the end of August. In the past 33 days the judges have read through over 400 entries, made their picks and submitted them to me. The project was then down to three people doing the rest of the work. Then the picks needed to be correlated, added to a spread sheet and laid out. Due to page constraints, we then had to go to a short list and see what all would fit. That stage is just about complete. Next we need to match real names with site handles, add all the accepted authors' emails to the group and send out an email notifying those accepted. We have accomplished an extraordinary amount of work in an incredibly short time. This, of course, is in addition to taking care of our current authors, their manuscripts, edits, layouts and marketing. One of our three is helping and doing tons of work around her full time job. She doesn't work for me--she is, I think, totally mad, a ridiculously good friend and a humongous fan of WdC! This has been a HUGE project and we are working very hard to bring you all an amazing result.
5. Something we haven't shared as of yet is that there will be multiple 'Editor's Picks' and two Publisher's Picks (from the Editor's Picks) which will be highlighted.
6. This process has had a positive benefit in the 'Learning Curve' portion of a publishing journey!!! We learned much that will streamline future anthologies!! We discovered that yes, one can get multiple people stretched from one end of the planet to the other to work well and in concert with each other! (Happy Day!) There no such thing as taking too many notes! Spread-sheets are extremely useful and well worth learning how to do!
7. The most important thing we already knew and just needed to remind ourselves about occasionally:-No job will be overwhelming if it is broken down into manageable chunks and swallowed one piece at a time! Good piece of general knowledge that and applies to numerous projects!
8. While this has been hours upon hours upon hours of work, this has been a true labor of love (hair pulling and teeth gnashing aside) and one that just makes us feel good!!! It is so nice to be afforded a way to give back to WdC!! Once upon a time if anyone told me that I'd 'love' a web site, I'd have said they were completely crazy. But I do. I love this site, the people on it, what I've learned from it and what I hope to get from it in the future!
9. We are upgrading the www.wynwidynpress.com website next week so folks ordering several books will be charged (it is only fair, after all) the correct amount of postage to mail you your books. As much as I might like to, I cannot afford to mail ten books anywhere for $3.95!!! And, as we have more books coming out aside from the WdC Anthology, this will work well across the board!!!
10. We anticipate books going to press in a few weeks. I expect the actual layout will take even my super layout guy a while. I won't give a definitive date just because, as I found out with the judging, it might take a wee bit longer than I will anticipate. But I want it done right, I want this to be absolutely awesome, so if it takes a few days longer, it will be worth it!
I want to thank all those who entered and donated to RAOK!!! I cannot wait to see what the grand total will be when all is said and done!!! The thought of all the upgrades that will be possible just makes me smile. |
More picks from pieces submitted to the Anthology :)
|  | The Key (13+)
An adopted girl receives a rusty, old key. Will it unlock her life's mysteries?
#1545198 by NickiD89  |
| |  | Invalid Item
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#1720363 by Not Available. |
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#1875980 by Not Available. |
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#1547445 by Not Available. |
| | Strays (18+)
A fractured family is pulled back together by tragedy and shared experience.
#1763893 by Mara ♣ McBain |
| | | Invalid Item
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#1736106 by Not Available. |
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Joy  said: Great NL, Fyn. 
Thank you, and thanks for what you did for RAOK. 
And I second the annual event idea. 
NickiD89 wrote I'm so excited to receive my copy of WDC's first anthology!! Giant kudos to you for launching the project, and best of luck as you and your team of readers get through that 400-story-strong slush pile!
Just a reminder: books can be ordered at http://wynwidynpress.com/buy-a-book_20.html !!! Pre-order now and get your books in the first mailing! |
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For Authors: October 03, 2012 Issue [#5292]
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