Yes.......I do believe I'm finally catching up on my life, emails, and blogging!  It's been a long haul these past couple weeks with the writing contest.  But ALL of the entries that have come in are now out and circulating to the judges.  I still have a lot of work ahead.....tracking, sending out to judge 3, etc. but I feel I now have a grip on it and it will only get better and slow down from here on out.

I even managed to pop by and visit some of you at your blogs this past weekend, and I'm hoping this week to resume my own postings here at Island Writer.

I've actually read a few books these past couple weeks.....that was my down time at night after I'd finish contest stuff.  So I have some upcoming reviews to share with you here.

And tomorrow I have my conference call with my Publicist.  I'm very excited about this and will find out exactly what they have planned to promote and expose my book.  I have a Publicist with Kensington, but as I may have mentioned, I want to give this book every opportunity available.  The agency that I'm hiring represents many of the top women's fiction authors.  They know their business and are very good!  I'll give you details later in the week about the conference call. 

I just wanted to let you faithful readers know that I'm finally surfacing.  And I didn't forget about the post I promised on coincidence.  So see you here next time..............

Yup.........I lied.  When I posted last Monday morning, I truly thought that was about the end of the entries.  Wrong!

What you see here is what Ray lugged home from the PO Monday afternoon.  19 MORE entries......all but one had the August 1 postmark.  I honest-to-God could NOT believe it! 

I actually got the final entry on Tuesday..........with the August 1 deadline postmark.  So I got a total of 201 entries.....actually, 204, but I disqualified 3 people for either late entry or not following the formatting Guidelines.

So it's been quite a week here.  I've been spending 6 to 8 hours a day working on this stuff.  And yup, I'm getting mighty tired of it.  My judges have been fantastic!  Each time I have to do up another packet to send them, I cringe.  Each packet they're getting has at least 3 to 5 entries in it!

As of right now.......of course the entries have stopped.  However, I still have 7 to get out from the ones on Monday and I'm now in the process of sending out to judge #3 from whatever is being returned from judge 1 and 2.

Somebody asked if the entrants are sending multiple entries.  Yup!  Some have entered 3 to 4 entries in different genres.  I'm not sure this is right, to be honest with you.  Normally, with a writing contest it's one entry per entrant.  So that might get changed (with a million other things!) for next years contest.

But this is where I'm at...........still working hard and longing for all of this to be over with.  At least now, I really CAN see that light.

Maybe I'll even get a chance to resume blogging and visit your blog in the near future.  Till then..........I'm plowing away here.  So see you soon............I hope.

What a horrific week it's been with this writing contest.   I just wanted to let all my readers know that while I might have been drowning.....I didn't sink. 

It actually got worse since I last posted here!  Just to give you an idea what I've been dealing with, here's some stats.  On July 1, I had 29 entries.  This past Saturday, August 2.........I had 182 entries!  YUP.........you do the math.  That means that I got 153 entries in the final month.  Now bear in mind, this contest has been open for entries since March 1.  FIVE months!

And this past Saturday was the worse...........I got 28 entries!  Poor Ray didn't even want to come home from the PO with that overflowing bin loaded down with boxes, envelopes, etc.  I won't lie........I took one look at it and could feel the tears in my eyes.  I feel beyond overwhelmed.  And I kept thinking.........my poor judges!  They've done above and beyond as it is..........and ALL these late entries will only make it worse!

I spent the entire weekend working on all of it and somehow..........all of the 28 have now been recorded on my Excel spreadsheet and my hard copy, judges chosen, entrants notifed via email that I received their work, etc.  I still have to print out all the score sheets, and then get even more packets together to send out to judges tomorrow.

I'll be honest...........I truly do NOT understand it!  Some of the entries I got on Saturday were three and FOUR boxes filled with manuscripts from ONE entrant.  I mean, come ON........that person did not write ALL those novels during the past week.  And yet he/she waits till the VERY last minute to get them into the mail to enter the contest.  Call ME crazy......but this really just makes no sense to me.

The postmark deadline was this past Friday, August 1.  I've been emailed this weekend, and I know for sure I'm getting at least 3 more entries that were mailed out on Friday.  I'm just praying that will be IT.  The end!  Finished! 

I'm seeing the light because, in order to have that postmark of August 1, it's highly unlikely that I'll be getting any more entries after this Wednesday.  Then it'll just be all the returns from judges.  That's time-consuming enough in itself.....recording all the scores on my hard copy, plus the Excel spreadsheet.  But it's still easier than processing one entry.

So I just wanted to come here and touch base with you, my loyal readers.  Hopefully, by the end of this week I can see my way clear enough to resume a normal life, which includes my blogging and visiting you.  And I haven't forgotten (even though my brain is totally mush right about now) that I have a great story for you about coincidence.

I'll see you here next time and I'm hoping all is well with all of you......................

Back one more time here today...........I think the majority of my problems with the upgrade done here at Squarespace might have been my Internet Explorer 7.

I'm now using the new version of Foxfire3 and I can't get over the speed and the difference on the Internet.

What are all of you using for your browser?  Do you see any difference between the two?

And just to clarify.........."I" am not doing any of the reading for this contest.  Lord.....then I wouldn't only be "buried" I'd be dead!  No, no, I have judges that do all the reading after I send out the entries to them. 

Well, I really just came here again as a test.........and the verdict is in!  I'm STAYING with Squarespace, with whom I've been exceptionally happy for over 3 years!  It seems the problem was the fact that I was using Explorer 7.  And I must say, Squarespace's customer service has been exceptional!  They've been "talking" to me all day as soon as I contact them via a "ticket" on here.  They're extremely prompt on getting back to me and have really gone out of their way to work with me.  So if you're looking for a new blog host.....I can highly recommend Squarespace!

So NO moving for me.  I'm a happy camper again and join me here next time when I'll tell you about a really interesting coincidence. 

I think my blog problems are fixed.....not sure, but we'll see.  For the moment, I'm staying here and not moving.

What's that above, you ask?  Well.......Some of you might remember that I'm the chairperson for the Florida Writers contest this year.  Entrants have had since March 1 to submit and guess what?  YUP!  With the deadline for postmark this coming Friday, August 1......98% of the submissions have come in this past week!  So yes....I'm buried!  Literally. 

For three days in a row when Ray goes to the PO, he's had to lug home the entries in this bin.  Oh, and my writers studio?  THIS is what it looks like.........

And yes....there's even more on the other table that I have in here......

So if you're wondering where I've been all week, both here or at your blog......I've been tallying all the entries into the Excel spreadsheet, printing out rubric score pages, critique pages, choosing which judge will read what, packaging it all up, etc.

What I'm failing to understand is.....why would somebody wait till the last minute?  When you have FIVE months to polish up your work, look it over and send it out.....why wait till almost the deadline?  Human nature, huh?  And I guess I'll never understand it!

Because I'm that person that always shows up 10 minutes early for appointments, I make lists of all sorts, I have a Dayrunner, plus a calendar in my kitchen and another one on my wall out here in my writers studio.  I guess I'll never understand disorganization.  Why rush and stress out?  If you're prepared, it's an easy go. 

I have THEE best judges for this contest all across the country and I feel bad that at the tail end of this contest they're getting slammed as bad as I am.  I'm sure they're weary of getting so much reading to do, but not a one has complained. 

Well, it all ends this Friday.  Wahoooo!  And you can bet if  any entries come in with a postmark beyond August 1, I won't be cutting anybody any slack. 

Sorry for all this moaning, but my plate is overflowing at the moment and just thought I'd give you an update as to where I am.  When things get back to normal and I can surface once again, I'll be stopping by to see you.

See you here next time..............