I just submitted the first chapter and a half of my novel to the American Christian Fiction Writers annual Genesis Contest, for new, un-published authors. I will hear within a couple of weeks, hopefully sooner, whether or not it is in the correct format. If it is, it will be officially entered in the contest. Since this is an international organization, there will be thousands of entries, I suspect, spread over nine different categories. My "genre" is contemporary fiction. Each entry is reviewed by three judges who score the writing up to 100 points, then the scores are averaged. The top 20% of each category move on to the second judging round. I figure if there are 1000 entries in my category, then I have to be in the top 200 to move on. That's do-able... The third round ends with the top three choices in each category. On May 28 those top three entries are notified and then given two days to polish up their work for the final judging. The best I expect out of my submission, and the accompanying entry fee, is that a published author will read my manuscript and critique it, then personally respond to me as to how my writing can be improved. If nothing else, I'm satisfied in paying $35 for a professional critique. The learning experience in preparing the manuscript and synopsis has, in itself, been enormously beneficial. The winners are announced at the annual convention in Dallas in September. Non-winners will receive a score sheet and their manuscripts the end of May/beginning of June. In the meantime, I will keep working on the novel. Many thanks to my fellow writers in Androscoggin Writers' Group and to the critiquers on Scribes, the critique group for ACFW. If my writing ever gets recognized, much of it will be due to the detailed critiquing I have received from these two groups.
