Hot and Heavy on the ABNA Forum

Things got a little hot and heavy on the ABNA forum this week and I'm afraid I rather added my "two cents" worth. I probably shouldn't have; after all the years I've lived, I should know better. However, I have found the comradery of that young group of writers so helpful to me over the past year, that I couldn't help myself when I found them being castigated in an unfair manner by some of the newer ones.

All of us who have entered our novels in Amazon's writing contest are a bit nervy at the moment, I believe. In the first part of the contest, we were all to be judged on our pitches. Now what author among us likes writing pitches in the first place? But now our whole entry into the contest depended on a pitch that met their specs. And, even though they spelled it out for us pretty good, it required at lot that had to be said in 300 words. Almost impossible.

The first 2,000 were to be picked on the basis of that pitch, but we wouldn't be told if we were among them or not. The next level will pare the contestants down to 500. That is being done as we speak, or write, as the case is. Amazon top reviewers were given assignments of up to 40 excerpts to read and assess. Those 500 won't be known until March 16th. Is it any wonder we are all on pins and needles and jumping at each other's throats? Even this supposedly sensible senior citizen got caught up in it.

To try and calm people's nerves they have now set up a "joke" thread. I have joke but I won't put it up there because I don't think those young people would think it funny at all. It's more of a senior's type of joke. It will have to do for my blog for this week. Until the 16th of March, I'm not going to be in the mood to write anything of import.

Sort of complementing my last week's blog, it's about India.

Two childhood friends, Billy and Sam, were backpacking through India. One day, they stumbled upon a watering hole, and since neither smelled particularly wonderful, they decided to take a dip.They tossed a ball and splashed around and were having a wonderful time, until Sam heard a terrible rumbling growl. He rubbed his eyes and struggled to focus, and when he could see clearly, his breath caught in his throat. Standing on a near bank was a tiger, pacing back and forth, licking its lips and staring hungrily at the two boys.

"Oh my gosh," Sam said. "Billy, there's a bengal tiger over there."

Billy didn't hesitate at all. He bolted for the shore, scrambled across the ground and starting wrestling into his running shoes."What the heck?" Sam said, his voice cracking. "You... You can't outrun a tiger, ya darn fool!"

Billy smiled back at him. "I don't have to run faster than the dang tiger, Sam. I just have to run faster than you."

Sorry about that. I laughed though. So perhaps that tells you something about me.