Green Room - Week 14 - Day 4

[clauderainsrm.livejournal.com]

It’s a new day, and a new twist… in order to get into the finale, you will have to push a busload of orphans off a climb into a pool of endangered sharks. Then you will have to tell your favorite relative to post a video of themselves doing something embarassing on youtube and help it go viral, and make them read the comments section!!


Or maybe you will just have to survive some polls, I really haven’t decided.. but it will be one of those things!

One of those polls in question though is already up: http://therealljidol.livejournal.com/689432.html so you should probably go check it out!

Comments

[whipchick.livejournal.com]

Yes, it sucks to be pitted against someone who is your friend, and with whom you worked hard this week.

But when two friends have books out at the same time in the same genre, that's pretty sucky, too.

Or when Oprah calls and says she's got two minutes available, so only one of you can talk.

This isn't just a "good writing" contest. In that case, we could line everyone's pieces up in front of gatekeepers and do it in four weeks. And someone whom a committee of judges agreed none of them hated enough to vote against would win.

This twist is no more anti-good-writing than vote-farming, pimping, pandering, sympathy-begging, or Tyra telling the models they have to run through Walmart picking up clothes before the photo shoot (damn I miss the shorties cycle--I swear that was the last good one).

I get names of literary magazines to send my work to from writer friends all the time. We submit to the same residencies and the same contests. It's not as blatantly out there, but yes, we are being pitted against each other.

We're still friends. If they get in and I don't, I feel shitty and jealous for an hour, and then I get over it and write something else. Because I'm a writer. And there will be another contest, or residency, or magazine--just one click away.

Idol changed my life. I learned to write quality to deadline, to promote my own work, to take responsibility for reminding people that they liked my work and they should read it and vote for it. And when I'm sending out a hundred polite publicity letters for a novel and getting 99 no's, it's all going to be part of the routine. Submit, lose, feel shitty, get over it, repeat until win.

So make a choice.

Do you care about your friend more? Then spend the next couple of days getting your voters to read their work and see if they like it. Link it on your Facebook with a tantalizing quote. Email it to your friends. Call someone up and read it to them.

Do you care about winning more? Then now is the time to promote your work. Do the same steps for yourself. No-one's good work is magically recognized with zero promotion.

Neither choice is wrong or bad. But making one of them and taking action will probably feel better than feeling crappy about a tough situation.

Keep writing.

[n3m3sis42.livejournal.com]

*standing ovation*

[x-disturbed-x.livejournal.com]

Well said. Seriously.

[xo-kizzy-xo.livejournal.com]

Amen.

[pixiebelle.livejournal.com]

Bravo! This comment is possibly the best thing ever (and oh so true too).

Says the girl who's always competing against her boyfriend. I win some, he wins some. We both feel sad for about 5 seconds before moving on to our next project and promoting the other person in theirs.

And yes... Promotion is key in writing. You can't expect people to know your writing exists if you don't let them know about it.

[lrig-rorrim.livejournal.com]

This has nothing to do with being a competitive person. I love games, and I play them ruthlessly. My roomie made me a wooden sign that says "the menace" because I'm so good at board games she wanted to label me so people don't forget. I have played games with my sweetie when he was in the hospital and beaten him. I have played games with people I just met and whooped them mercilessly. I have played games with dear friends and given no quarter.

And of course, I lose, too. Rather a lot. And I don't mind a bit - I don't get upset, because I love playing and becoming more competitive. Honestly. I play to win, but I love to play and that's the point for me.

And for what it's worth, I'm not even that upset about this anymore. I'm not thrilled, and I'm not happy, but it is what it is... I just don't get the "oh gee shucks just be competitive and get over it" attitude. Because... um... I beat my friends at games all the time. I was looking forward to doing my best to whump some friends as best I could in the finals if I made it, too.

This isn't about "being competitive". It's about suddenly, dramatically, unexpectedly, directly opposing a good friend whom I worked closely with to craft a PAIR of related and intersecting stories. If you can't understand why that galls me and makes this pretty unfun from my perspective, then you're seriously lacking in empathy.

And don't get me started on this "promotion is key in writing" thing. Just no.

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

This isn't about "being competitive". It's about suddenly, dramatically, unexpectedly, directly opposing a good friend whom I worked closely with to craft a PAIR of related and intersecting stories. If you can't understand why that galls me and makes this pretty unfun from my perspective, then you're seriously lacking in empathy.

Exactly.