Judging

Today I finished up editing a novel by an author I really love working with, and whose books I love reading. Since I finished earlier in the night than I anticipated I was able to start on my next project. Judging.

From time to time I am lucky enough to judge contests in the writing world. And this is one of those times. I like judging, it's kind of a mix of editing and reviewing all in one. I have judged published works for contests as well as unpublished. I have to say my favorite to judge is unpublished. The reason why I say this is because I am able to give the authors comments about the various elements they are being judged on. There is nothing more helpful to an author than getting feedback from multiple people about your writing. It can be so monumentally helpful to have some identify your strengths and your weakness. I like that they are unpublished works because the author has time to go back and revise before sending it out in the world to agents and publishers. It feels like I am doing my part to help polish someone else's hard work and determination in the hopes that they will one day achieve their dreams with their writing career.

Plus it's fun to get snap shots of books out there, I know I like a writer when I'm bummed that the page limit on the contest means I don't get to read the book from start to finish. If any of you are considering entering a contest for unpublished or published writers, you should seriously do it, the feedback alone makes it beyond worth it.