32 days until the next ABNA announcement

[jaeten]

A couple of days ago, I was relieved and ecstatic to find out that I'd survived to the quarterfinal round in ABNA, the final 500. That jubilation was tempered by the knowledge that my good friend Swankivy (and, no matter if she doubts it, the only reason I was able to be in the competition at all) did not make it with her novel Stupid Questions.

Comments

[swankivy]

Try not to be scared of the evil crowds! You have as good a chance (and better in some cases) as anyone else. I'm still supporting you, though of course it probably would have been, uh, cooler if we both got picked. :P

Resting on your laurels after a success is sometimes a natural progression! I can vouch for that, certainly. Though other times it does a weird motivational thing to you and makes you want to get more successes. The urge to be creative does come back on its own, though I think it's different for everyone.

I hope you do get reviews besides mine. Do be aware (though you probably already are) that the reviews disappear along with your excerpt if you get axed from the contest, so save things locally!!! And save your second-round Vine reviews!

Book trailer is fun. I remember when you showed me the map thing you made and I thought it was very professional looking even though I'm not a map person. Your trailer did contain one pet peeve of mine: "The Kingdom hangs in the balance" or some such, which always sounds like hokey overdramatic fantasy to me because it's so damn vague.

And finally:

You rat, I didn't know you were Facebook at all. I just thought you were not a social media person. Is it too private/only for certain audiences, or can I friend you?

[jaeten]

hehe, I'm not that worried in terms of my chances vs. the other folks; I'm actually kinda scared of angry people and their posts! I figure if I posted anything, the chances are that they'd a) completely ignore it, like shunning the nerdy kid who wants to sit at your clique's table at lunch or 2) jump down my throat, because it seems like a lot of them subscribe to the "if you have nothing angry to say, don't say anything at all" mentality. Yikes...I'd rather just keep my mouth shut, like I'm sure a lot of the other quarterfinalists are doing. I haven't seen any of the other names from our category except Don Falloon.

And damn, thanks for the reminder about saving the reviews; I'll save everything I get to a Word doc. Yup, even the "sic-fi" thing...

Haha, "fate hangs in the balance"...I know, I know, it's definitely hokey and overdramatic.

And I've e-mailed you how to find me on Facebook, that's probably the easiest way. I actually have a Twitter account, too! (And I forget what it is, how to log in...and I've tweeted exactly once about some guy who made an Ebay fee calculator page who apparently passed away...yeah, don't ask). I really am not a social media guy but I'm not anti; I just kind of stay away. If I get any further in ABNA, though, I'll probably try to get more into Twitter!