Then it pours! And no I’m not referring to the latest non-stop rain event. I’m talking about when everything happens at once: the exciting, mixing it up with the mundane, then throwing in a writing competition to manage.
Yep – one year ago (almost to the day) I took an unprecedented ‘strategic’ approach to this whole publishing caper, deciding I needed to give back to the member organisation that has been so good to me – Romance Writers of Australia. While not a ‘genuine’ romance writer (I’m afraid my women’s fiction stories about love, life an second chances don’t always have that essential happy ever after element required to be ‘real’ romance) RWA is a wonderful group of non-discriminatory, caring, sharing writers – both published and aspiring.)
So this year I put my hand up, volunteering to manage one of the many competitions the organisation runs to help and develop members. I figured it was good karma.
PHEW! What a job. Massive.
I’ve entered my share of competitions over the last couple of years, and I’ve always thought I understood how much work was involved for those behind the scenes, but you really can’t appreciate it until you’ve managed a competition that follows the RWA’s comprehensive processes that ensure transparency and accountability.
Oh the pressure!
But as I stare at the computer for hours trying to allocate scores of entries to judges (many of whom request certain genres with or without certain elements – yes, they are allowed, they are also volunteers) I say to myself…
This is all part of the plan. It’s karma – what you do to others will come back an bite you. What you do for others will bless you. I’m hoping for the blessing!
