Oh, the fights that married writers get into...
Reason #147 that it's great to be married to a writer: nothing keeps you going like a little healthy competition. The latest opportunity: Write Club 2012, hosted by the brave and persevering Don Hammons. The outcome: I got creamed.
The rather more specific outcome is that MARK WON! Today, after about 20 weeks of competition, the winner was announced and the finalists' identities revealed. If you've been following, you'll recognize his alias; he was the illustrious Snivvy Crank. The competition in the final few rounds and especially the last one was incredibly fierce, but it's been fun...even through the agony of defeat on my part.
Reason #148 that it's great to be married to a writer: sharing triumphs makes for twice as many reasons to celebrate. Mark took the news in a fairly calm and collected manner, while I squealed and happy-danced around the room. It's so much more fun to be creamed when you don't have to give up the celebratory eggnog... (We're big on eggnog around here.)
If you want to join my squealing, er, calm and collected rejoicing, you can stop over at the Write Club page (here) or Mark's own blog (here) to say congratulations. :)
And now Mark had better watch out the next time we enter the same competition...I'm gonna be bringing it. ;)
The rather more specific outcome is that MARK WON! Today, after about 20 weeks of competition, the winner was announced and the finalists' identities revealed. If you've been following, you'll recognize his alias; he was the illustrious Snivvy Crank. The competition in the final few rounds and especially the last one was incredibly fierce, but it's been fun...even through the agony of defeat on my part.
Reason #148 that it's great to be married to a writer: sharing triumphs makes for twice as many reasons to celebrate. Mark took the news in a fairly calm and collected manner, while I squealed and happy-danced around the room. It's so much more fun to be creamed when you don't have to give up the celebratory eggnog... (We're big on eggnog around here.)
If you want to join my squealing, er, calm and collected rejoicing, you can stop over at the Write Club page (here) or Mark's own blog (here) to say congratulations. :)
And now Mark had better watch out the next time we enter the same competition...I'm gonna be bringing it. ;)
YAY Mark!!!I bet your squealing dance was cute, too.
ReplyDeleteWell, he thought so. :)
DeleteCongrats to Mark! And to you, Faith, for hanging in there yourself (and participating). I was knocked out early on, too, so I sympathize. But my husband's not a writer, so there wasn't that element...
ReplyDeleteSo, even if you were able to keep your aliases a secret from each other, I would think as husband and wife you'd recognize each other's writing styles. Just sayin'. :)
Yes, I did recognize Mark's writing (I did check with Don to make sure it was ok for us both to enter even though this might happen), though as a matter of fact Mark didn't vote for my piece! But it worked out well that I really did prefer his piece each time, because of course voting against him wouldn't have been much fun.
DeleteIt was exciting finding out everyone's identities last week--I remember loving your piece for its flow and tension. And I was very proud, if that's the right word, of all the writers who kept voting after their pieces were knocked out. I think we all learned a lot from the whole experience, and I would have hated to miss it.
A big congratulations to Mark! But it's lovely to see you both so competitive, pushing each other to do your very best. I think it's the best kind of fight. I'll join you with the celebratory eggnog. It's big around here as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Vijaya. And if you happen to be up in New England anytime soon, we can have a glass of eggnog together. :) I'm going to try to make some homemade this year...
DeleteSo fun! Love the perspective on being married to a writer. I think I always knew that was the one thing I didn't want to marry, since I'm WAAAAY competitive. My hubby wants to write books someday, but they'll be different genre/style than my own, so I won't get too jealous just yet...
ReplyDeleteWell, we're way competitive, too, but it all works out. :) Mark and I write different subgenres most of the time, but the key is to work out good critiquing practices early on!
DeleteMark's work was fabulous -- he has an amazing talent for characters! I'm honored to have made it to the finals with him and heartily congratulate him for the win!
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm glad you supported him even after losing your bout. That shows a great deal of character and heart and you deserve some kudos, too. ;^)
I also went back and reviewed your entry. I think you showed solid writing and a confident voice, and were working on what is likely an interesting story -- I think the biggest issue was confusion over the setting and the story events. It's hard to get that 'big background' established in only 500 words. I bet that an excerpt from later in the story would have done better, where the emphasis would have been on an established character, dialogue, and more immediate conflict and story events. Because at least for me, it wasn't really the writing, it was just that I really didn't have enough info to know yet what you were writing about and felt confused.
I think one of the reasons Mark's entries worked so well because they were zoomed in tight to a specific character and only trickled in enough story questions to arouse curiosity.
Just some thoughts.
And, um... Yeah -- I also have a confession: I knew Snivvy Crank was probably Mark on Friday. My curiosity got the best of me and I Googled "Winifred Wootz" from his first entry and found a reference to his story on your blog. I put two and two together. ;^) Oh, the amazing power of the Internet...
Congrats to Mark again!
Oh my goodness, I totally forgot about Write Club when I posted that one little chapter title! Man, "the power of the internet" is right!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for taking another look at my entry. You're right...it's the beginning of a story that gets clearer quite soon, so it wasn't the best choice for a 500 word entry. I'd say I'd be wiser when I submit to Write Club next year, but I suppose I must refrain, considering that Mark will be a judge! Oh well, I'll stick around to vote for everyone else. :)
Congrats again to you, Chris--you definitely earned your spot in the finals!
I remember thinking WAY back when you both entered...what would happen if they both made it to the finals?!? LOL!! You BOTH are talented writers and it is SOOOO awesome that you support each other that way! The icing on the cake for me is that WRiTE CLUB brought us together...and I'm really anxious to see where this takes both of you! :)
ReplyDeleteI daydreamed about that, too, but I don't think either of us really imagined that one would make it to the finals once we saw how strong the competition was!
DeleteYou really are a superstar for putting all this together, Don!
I'm an idiot for not realizing until now that you guys are married!!
ReplyDeleteI still think Scarlet should have gone farther!
Hehe. :) It's hard to pay attention to details like last names on blog comments...and Hough isn't the rarest name out there or anything. I think your writing testifies to the fact that you are far from an idiot!
DeleteAnd thank you--though I have to beg to differ. I wish I made it further in the competition, but the piece really didn't deserve to.
That's really cool. Congrats to Mark!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rena!
DeleteThat was such a fun contest! I enjoyed every minute of it, even losing to Mark in Round 4! Never made the connection between you and Mark...duh. I guess I won't write mysteries.
ReplyDelete