To keep myself from losing track of:
all the contests I've entered,
all the contests I've volunteered myself as a judge (or let myself be voluntold into judging),
all the books I've had to read as a contestant or as a judge,
all the deadlines,
a...
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I don't do well in Elayne Community contests, so entering this might have been an exercise in futility (have fun storming the castle again, Sera...) but on the other hand, there was no limit on the number of entries an author could make, and I found that irresistible.
Here's how I stormed the castle:
Ancilla
Romance: Best Romantic Story
Vampires: Most Unique Vampire Lore
Best Romantic Scene (the "Tiphareth" chapter)
Most Memorable Ending ("Kether" - if the judge doesn't want to read the entire chapter and get hit with a whammy, the final third is technically the ending of the story)
The Broccoli Book
Nonfiction: Best Memoir (second half of the book only - the first half is academic literary criticism; philosophy will go there too, if I write any treatises)
Morsels
Short Stories: Most Memorable Short Story, "A Tale As Old as Time" (it was either that or "Parliament of Rooks." I figured an erotic Beauty and the Beast microfiction story would be more memorable than a tribute to Geoffrey Chaucer)
The Fire That Burns the Brightest
Short Stories: Best Oneshot
Best Blurb
Excavations
Poetry: Best Use of Imagery - I suggested "The Chapel of Love"
Songs of Summer, Discovered In Autumn
Poetry: Most Emotionally Resonant Poem, "Birth and the Maiden"
art? graphics?
Best Cover
Juvenilia
Best Dialogue: "Arkesh" - if I am told that doesn't qualify due to the story "Arkesh" being a oneshot, or to the cover of Juvenila incorporating a snippet of an AI-generated image, I'll enter "The Alpaca Yarn Incident" from Morsels.
