I'm curious: who's entering this year?

[marthajones]

Have you entered before?  Are you entering the same piece this year, or something new?

I'm trying to figure out if it makes sense to reenter a piece that's already made the finals a couple of times, but didn't place.  (Especially if the entry fee is rather hard to scrape up right now.) 

I'm figuring, on the "pro" side: a new judge, perhaps one with more off-beat sensibilities (my writing isn't the slice-of-life confessional style that's favored by the current academic-literary set). 

On the "con" side, I'm assuming if we've made the finals before and the SFWP publishing division didn't ask to see the rest of it, they'd still not be interested in it, right? 

What do you guys think?  (Assuming you can figure out how to post on this board!) 

[marthajones]

Btw, if anyone else is having as much trouble as I did figuring out this board:

You have to register for a username before you can do anything.  Then, when it's accepted (you'll be notified via email), you have to sign in with it; signing in will reveal the extra message board options such as creating threads and applying to posts. 

[Andrew Gifford]

Sorry for the registration difficulty.  Perhaps I'm taking my attempts to stop spammers a bit too far! 

It'd be nice to get a discussion going.  I'd like to know the answers as well.  With each new judge, the program changes to suit their tastes.  Even when we reuse a judge (as we did in 2004 and will be doing again in 2010), I've noticed thematic changes in their approach and interests.

As far as the publishing division is concerned -- the problem there is simply a financial issue.  Sadly, it's the wrong time for publishing books the old fashioned way.  I'm exploring some avenues (such as partnering with other small presses or limited-run POD's) to try and break some of these economic chains.

[marthajones]

Thanks for the reply.  I have a site that gets spammed, too, so I do understand.

I'm leaning towards re-entering for the sake of supporting a worthwhile program, even if I might have "plateaued" already in terms of my awards placement.   

[Andrew Gifford]

Well, thank you for that support!  And, as you point out, Pagan has a very different style from past judges. 

Did you participate in the 2005 program?  Ayun Halliday's year?

[marthajones]

Unfortunately, if I recall I wasn't able to that year.    

Ayun Halliday is a wonderful writer -- quirky and hilarious and unpretentiously deep.

I love Pagan Kennedy's writing, too...she has a unique voice but manages to be amazingly versatile at the same time -- that's not easy to pull off.