Accepting Criticism

This is a follow up on my last two posts about being a judge, but from the contestant’s side.

When I receive my score sheets and entry back, I glance at the scores, of course, and then thumb through the manuscript pages for the comments. Wherever the judge showed I’d made a small mistake (the mentioned missing words, etc.), I quickly correct them if I hadn’t already. Then I look hard at any grammar problems and sentence structure. This doesn’t come up as often as it had at one time, but I then reword those sections or correct what I believe needs correcting. Then lastly, I look at what I call personal comments. Most times I ignore them as they sometimes show the judge was skimming the story or they were asking questions that would be answered further in the book. Every once in a while, the judge will point out an inconsistency or where I need to explain further because the scene fell flat. Those are always appreciated.

All of that above means the judge was polite and worded her comments accordingly. Now when I receive an entry back where the judge tells me what editors will accept and what they won’t, I usually ignore all her comments and go on to the next one. In one of the contests I was coordinator, I saw the manuscript with the fifth place first-round-score written in as first place by the editor. Judges don’t know. Or if the judge was rude in her comments, I ignore all her work. I don’t need the heartache. Oh, another comment I hate by judges though they mean well but come across as condescending is “Just work harder and you’ll get there.” So they know I just flung it together and hardly worked on it?

There’s been many times in the beginning I had to place the entry to the side and go back to read it again when I was at a better frame of mind. I know when I judge, I spend a minimum of two hours on each entry. And I’m always polite.