Fucking fucking fuckety fuck.

Looks like the finalists were announced for that writing contest. And how did I find that out? By someone coming on my local RWA chapter's email loop and announcing she's finaled! Which means A) I can't ask there for sympathy, at least not yet, because that would be churlish and rain on M's parade, and B) I have to endure all kinds of "Woohoo!" and "You go, girl!" comments.

What does it fucking take? I'm a good writer. At least I think I am. And I think this story is the best thing I've ever written, and shows its quality right from the start.

Now I'm feeling bad about the other two contests I've entered. They've been around longer and have prestigious reputations, which means more entries and probably better ones.

Dammit.

Oh, damn. I'm sorry, Susan.

I'm so sorry, Susan. Though you certaiinly shouldn't take this as a final sign that you haven't been picked. But at least the house thing is good news.

If a professor asks, "Please give a dictionary definition of 'misogynous,'" would you think that means just look it up in the dictionary and type what you find? Or write up a definition in your own words, like you'd find in a dictionary?

I would look it up in the dictionary and then rephrase it very slightly to show I understood it and wasn't just copying.

Also? Lily is gorgeous, and her parents look so very happy.

Susan, I'm so sorry. That contest -- or contests -- are not the final judgment of your skill as a writer. There are readers who will love your work -- keep writing and putting it out there so they can find you.

What a weird question. I think Lyra's right, because they can't possibly be testing whether you know how to look up words in the dictionary, but that is what's asked for.

I do the same thing with mashed sweet potatoes.

oh my that sounds so good!

I think I may have to BK for lunch. Terrible for me but deliciously salty.

In the "Dude, That's a Little Unfair" category....

You know how patients who participate in drug studies are often compensated, or at the very least, never have to pay for the drug while they're in the study?

I'm editing an article about the effect of certain drugs (antidepressants, diabetes drugs, etc.) on people who are in a weight-loss program. [The drugs are medications that the patients were already taking, not something the study put them on just to study it.]

As part of the article, the authors list what criteria kept a patient out of the program (like extremely poor health, active eating disorder, etc.). One of the exclusionary criteria was "Unwilling or unable to pay the $200 program fee."

Dude. This was NOT a commercial weight-loss program like WW or Jenny Craig. It was a medical study! And they wanted the guinea pigs to PAY for the right to be guinea pigs?

Uncool, mang. Uncool.

That's really fucked up, Steph. I'm not sure that wouldn't mess with the validity of the sample, for that matter. Certainly it's introducing an income-level variable.

Why would I pay someone to study me?

That's possibly an even bigger variable. I'm guessing that people willing to do that would tend to be more educated and informed about medical research and its importance. Otherwise why do it, since they're not getting other meds, etc. So your sample would seemed to be really skewed.