For the past few weeks I have been part of a judging panel for a book contest which will remain unnamed for obvious reasons.  It has been an experience to say the least.  I have read excellent and not so excellent work and have had to give an honest evaluation of it all.  That isn't easy because I know how difficult it is to write.  I know it's easy to miss a few spelling mistakes and grammar mistakes.  I know that the mind is a fickle and erratic thing that is prone to jumping from idea to idea.  I know that because I write too.  I have discovered that to judge a book is not necessarily to decide if I've liked that book or not.  That is an unfair evaluation because I am not broad in my genre preferences.  So in order to be fair I had to find a way to critique based on an unbiased preference. 

With each book I read I asked myself a number of questions.  Does this reader subject themselves to a competent editor?  In otherwords, are they so in love with their work that they aren't willing to have someone criticize it?  Writers are wonderful people--for the most part--but we all have this problem with putting our hearts and minds on paper and then saying "No!  Don't touch it!  I want to keep the flaws because they are MY flaws!"  That's what makes editing so painful.  We are relying on someone to point out the flaws and it's hard not to take that personally.  I give points to the writer who has the courage to let someone "murder their darlings" as my Long Ridge Writers Group teachers called it.  That should eliminate the manuscripts that have serious grammatical and structural errors. 

Then there are the writers who don't understand genre.  It is so important to know what categories your book falls into.  If I am judging an inspirational romance and someone submits something with erotic material into it, I'm going to immediately deduct points because any inspirational work has modesty at its core.  If I am judging mystery and someone submits something with a heavy romance theme than I know they haven't read the categories listed in the contest guidelines and haven't seen that the contest has a mystery/romance category.  This is one of the quickest ways to get dropped to a lower score.

And finally, I look for flow.  Flow in plot.  Flow in words without being too wordy.  Flow in energy.  Consistency through out the book.  I want to get sucked into a book no matter what the genre and jarring stops and starts are a quick way to lose me.  When it is set in Hollywood and then suddenly jumps to Detroit without a chapter change or the extra space or * * * that let's me know one train of thought is ended and another is beginning, I get a bit frustrated and the points drop.

I have enjoyed my stint at judging.  It's been fun to read the creative new ideas out there but I have also learned alot about what to do and what not to do before submitting work to a contest.  Don't just write it and send it in.  Set it aside for a week or two and then read it again out loud.  Have an editor read it.  So what if it costs a bit of money.  Better to have one critique your work than many.  Ask for honest feedback from readers.  "Did you see mistakes?  Were there areas of the writing that left you confused?"  It may not help you this time around but it will certainly help your next book or article.

Writing isn't just an idea slapped down on paper.  It should be an expression of one's thoughts in a way that shows the writer is constantly growing, learning and improving.  It's fine to put our hearts out there but before we do, we should make certain that we offer the best we can give and if that means having a judge or editor or critiquer or publisher tell us that it needs improvement in certain areas--so be it.  It will make for better reading in the end.  And isn't that the goal?

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