Happy Friday!
I've admittedly not got a whole lot to give, and I apologize. Some Not Fun Stuff in my personal life has been draining me of every emotional resource I have, so the "professional me" is a bit empty.
Okay. A lot empty.
So let's just go over some important dates, because I want to make sure we're all on the same page. October is a busy month around here!
Monday: Secret Agent Reveal AND submissions for Critique Logline Round 2.
Tuesday: Entries post for Critique Logline Round 2.
Monday, October 21: Submissions for Critique Logline Round 3.
Tuesday, October 22: Entries post for Critique Logline Round 3.
October 29 and 31: Adult submissions for the Baker's Dozen Agent Auction
Whew! I thrive on schedules, though, so I'm actually loving the knowing-what's-coming-next, even though there's so much of it.
Please post any questions you have about loglines, the Baker's Dozen, etc., below. I will try my best to answer; however, there are lots of in-the-know oldtimers around here who should certainly feel free to jump in if I'm a bit slow.
Thanks, all, for being you! Have a glorious weekend.
Miss Snark's First Victim
Hey, new to The Baker's Dozen and excited to join in! Re: loglines—do you have a word limit, sentence limit, any guidelines?
ReplyDeleteThanks. And hope the personal stuff gets sorted out soon and you have a great weekend as well :)
Wendy
I'm so sorry to hear that Not Fun Stuff is going on. Hang in there, Authoress. *hugs*
ReplyDeleteJust stopped by to send hugs, and prayers for Fun to return soon. (I'm not participating in the Baker's Dozen this year, working on an r and r for a small press).
ReplyDeleteHope the not fun stuff ends soon and you can get back to the fun stuff! Like dancing and cakes and whathaveyou
ReplyDeleteHere's wishing that things get back to normal soon. You are a good person and deserve to be happy.
ReplyDeleteI'm joining in to wish you a quick recovery from what's causing the emotional drain. Sending happy thoughts in your direction. Have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteYour blog is an wonderful gift to the writing community, and though I don't comment as often as I'd like, or should-- you should know that just getting your emailed updates in my inbox makes me happy. I hope you are feeling awesome soon because you ARE awesome!
ReplyDelete*a wonderful gift! Didn't proofread. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteLIfting prayers for you. Not Fun Stuff, go away.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about the Not Fun real life stuff. Boo. I hope when you're feeling down, you'll remember all the people you've helped without ever knowing about it.
ReplyDeleteSorry about the not fun stuff :( I hope everything gets better soon!
ReplyDeleteUgh. Good luck with the Not Fun Stuff; it can be killer. I so appreciate your blog and all you do, and hope you can enjoy it, soon.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear about the Not Fun Stuff--I sure hope some Good Stuff and Happy Stuff chases it all away soon . . .
ReplyDeleteI wanted to second Wendy's questions about the loglines, as I'm also excited to try the Baker's Dozen. When the last round of loglines was up, I posted a comment about logline length (a rather lengthy comment!) after noticing that many of the entries seemed more like queries than loglines.
Holly kindly addressed my question, and it's clear now that there are many different definitions of loglines out there, with different recommended lengths, because people use them for different purposes.
As you'd mentioned the possibility of changing it, now I'm wondering whether or not the word limit will be the same for the next logline critique round.
Since I've been playing with loglines for the past month, I've got at least twenty different versions, ranging from 29 to 88 words, and I'm not sure which one to try submitting this time. (Perhaps some of the regulars here might have suggestions as well?)
Thanks!
Thanks for all your kind comments! <3 <3
ReplyDeleteI am keeping the logline word count at 100, at Holly's suggestion. However, SHORTER IS ALWAYS BETTER. So if you have a shorter, tighter version that does a good job of nailing your story, use it.
The loglines-that-weren't-loglines were missing the boat not because they were too long, but because they didn't nail the protag/goal/conflict thing.
I absolutely hate writing loglines. I'm working on one right now. (Holly just murdered it for me.)
Thanks, Authoress!
ReplyDeleteLoglines are beastly, aren't they? I'd say the only thing worse than writing a logline is writing a full query (or maybe the dreaded synopsis!). And the reason loglines aren’t quite as torturous as queries, IMO, is just that having less space to work with is like having less rope to hang yourself with!
On the plus side, I think practicing loglines definitely makes query-writing easier in the long run, and that’s one of the reasons that offering these critiques here is so helpful to everyone. :)
Do the Baker's Dozen submissions stay up forever?
ReplyDeleteOf course I am working very hard to make my logline concise and appealing and my first 250 word shine. But, I am afraid that what's "perfect" to me now won't be down the road, and that in a few weeks, months, a year after the contest I'll realize I've made a terrible mistake by putting my current version out there.
In this age of Google, am I paranoid to think an agent stumbling upon a less-polished version of my works sometime down the line, might find it off-putting?
It's the one thing that scares me about online contests. Putting something out there that I think is perfect, only to find it embarrassingly amateurish in the future.