May March be better.
May spring lighten your mood.
Send us some of that sunny weather, if you get some.
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We getting rain this year.
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Weāre getting cold rain 
apparently.
I hope we get an Azores high, and South-Easterly winds.
Weāre overdue a nice month of weather.
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We were too dry last summer, so if it stays dry this year, itās going to suck. Instead, the land becomes temporary swamp.
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Swamps are annoying.
We have one at the back of our housing development.
Once, a digger got stuck down there when they were building houses. They got the man out, but lost the digger. Itās probably still down there thirty years later, lol.
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Wouldnāt surprise me. Iāve seen what happens when big trucks go off the road in the swampier areas.
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Yeah, we used to get frogs come up to into our yard, and dragonflies too from the back. And all sorts of random creatures in the spring/summertime, but now itās mostly built up and we see 'em less.
I am glad that they learned their lesson though and didnāt dig further this time.
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So all 4 of my entries made 1st round. This either means I did really good this year, or they arenāt being super-strict like last year. (Iām going with #2.)
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So you didnāt have to worry about the mature one after all?
Apparently not. It went through. lol
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Whoop!
Celebrate with a coffee
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Congratulations to all.
Did anyone not make it through?
I didnāt compile the numbers but it looks like quite a lot of entries got through this year.
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Iām thinking this one is far more relaxed than last time.
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But then they might cut more in the second and third rounds to make up for it.
I expect serious cutting this next round.
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Yeah same.
I think Iām gonna take the Shade story down, and just redo it all as a script. Them as adults.
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Congrats to everyone who made it through!
If you didnāt (I only know of one person who didnāt so far) then hey, you started a thing, and thats a real win! 
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You can still finish it outside of the contest which is also great
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Iām happy because I passed Round 1! Now, Iāve just posted Chapter 9 and am nearing 12k words! Last year, I rushed more through April, but Iām determined not to let it happen. I think itās because I only have one story to write, though.
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My full draft is completed and published. Editing is needed next.
Iāve been on vacation visiting family. I didnāt have the mental energy to edit while there but I caught a few moments to do some analysis and I learned a few things:
- It turned out to be a lot more complex story than I thought it was. I identified 7 story threads. Yikes. How did that happen?
- By splitting it up into story threads, I was able to identify opportunities for improvements. Most importantly, how to raise the stakes.
- Iāve noticed that in the first draft, I fleshed out very well the stories where the secondary prot. was the main. The stories where the main prot. is the main protagonist need the most work. That explains some of the issues I previously noticed but didnāt know how to fix. Now I know exactly where the problems lie (mostly in stakes and obligatory moments). So itās all good. Iām glad to have made this discovery because it means that whatever words I add, whatever scenes I expand, they will add to the main protagonistās side of the story which is how itās supposed to be.
Overall, Iām actually glad that I didnāt try to edit more and analyzed the story instead. I feel that I have a clearer idea of what direction I need to take when editing.
I havenāt had a lot of feedback on the story yet and I keep wondering if I want to invest the time in doing a beta exchange. Perhaps when Iām done with this upcoming edit. Weāll see.
So far the few comments I got have been positive, but I donāt know if itās a case of readers wanting to be nice.
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