Let's Go For A Pint (Vampire/Humor)

Le Awards Speech (Watty Awards 2017)

As many of you know, Let's Go for a Pint has won a Watty. For those who aren't in the know, now you know.

For those who are reading this story (or set of interconnected stories I should say), please excuse the mess as I am making some more changes when time and willingness allows it. The status may say complete but it is still a work in progress. In the event I lose interest or can't update, at least you have a full season of stories and you're not wondering if your favourite ship will hook up or if the hero(ine) gets the girl (or guy, or their pet salmon).

To anyone who is bitter about The Wattys or Wattpad in general about how your story never ranks or only popular stories and authors win, that's not the case here. Pint was shortlisted with less than 4k reads and over the course of the shortlist period it gained reads, whether it was from silent readers or from it being assigned readings in book clubs. I've also entered it in a few user-run contests and flopped at those too (but it may have exposed a judge on the panel to something new). At the time of Pint's win, it was shy of 5k reads (and is about a little over 5k when I post this). Yes, 5k may seem like an eternity to achieve if you haven't broken your first 100, but don't set the bar too high that you'll eventually give up trying.

And speaking of giving up -- DON'T! Sure some people are lucky that their first story on here got popular, but what's to say that they weren't working on it for years offline? Whether you're writing as some form of hobby (like me) or with hopes of making it a career, good things take time to perfect. We've all written something that we cringe at (and probably wouldn't want to touch again with a 10 foot pole), but for the one's we're currently marketing/working on, it doesn't hurt to tinker with it a bit. You use a word processor? Run spellcheck! You prefer the site's own word processor? Use an add-on to your browser or your device! Also, get someone on here to look at it. Easiest way is a book club because people have to read your work and you will discover a needle in a haystack. Give constructive criticism (tell the content creator what you like about their story and what could use improvement, if it's good say why it's good and if it's bad say why it's bad but don't troll). (If you're hoping for a tit for tat from me, I'll get to it on my own time).

And before I turn this into a rant, I'd like to thank the following people:

Juniperosie, souththbound, kitsune707, RileyKifer --> AFAIK you four have read through the whole thing so thank you!

maybeiwas2shy --> While you didn't get through the whole thing I thank you for your support.

Anyone who doesn't have an account on this site but may be reading it, thanks for your support too! 

AFleetingDream_91, Cross-Warrior, UnderMySkin --> You have awesome book clubs and through them I've encountered people who have left comments that challenged my thinking (though I may have raged silently in my head as my way of processing).

The following people from those clubs that have left comments (if I can remember you all): 

MaeveSiverling, hhhunter, IcarusAblaze, FanyPi, Xemnas4, Mishkady, Aaron_Ledgers, ArtisticSuicide, butterballporkbun, ninamarks, greyhavensking, Wya123, emmymae77, Arveliot, KristyPerkins3, Le_Roma 

Amethyst_Rain, ElisabethTepes, NeverTrustAnAuthor, BreakTheCliches --> All of you have or had active contests on the site. While I haven't won them (or pending the results of one) contests are one way of exposure so thanks :). Maybe next time I'll ask what I could do to improve my stories (unless you contest was run by popular vote then I can't argue with that).

JWCMaher, 8BadBunny8 --> While you two joined late in the game (during my time of restructuring and slightly before the shortlist announcement) thanks for your support. Maybe I'll read your stuff some day.

Honorable mention to Angelic_Vampire for getting the word out, AnaEasterly for being the herald before any official announcements.

I should also mention WattVampires as I have mentioned in my first note was the start of all this. They had short contests in the summer of 2015 in which the response to some prompts formed evolved into episodes 1 and 5. While they weren't picked as winners, who would've guessed that what started out as prompt responses would end up winning a Watty?

Also congrats to all the winners, shortlisters and the team behind TheWattys. Even though I may have missed someone you are awesome :) 

07/03/2018: Usernames adjusted to fit those who have changed them recently