The Contest Challenge

Good job telling me what contest you entered for May 2020. But, uh, that wasn't a May contest. Okay, not to discourage you, but I just checked and I see you don't really have the hang of how this goes...which sucks because you've obviously been working hard.

So, you can't count any official WdC contests like Short Shots or What a Character because one of the points of the challenge is to get entries for regular people's contests. WdC can literally advertise to every single member, if they choose. But individual members can't. I try to help people find contests they didn't know existed. Most everyone should know about the official WdC contests.

Also, it looks like you're counting things you wrote previously. For example, if you wrote for a contest in August, when you weren't even participating in the challenge, that doesn't count. You can write an August entry today by entering a contest I highlighted back in August (using the current prompt) to get credit for August. But you can't count an August entry you wrote back in August when you weren't doing the challenge.

Next complication, you seem to be using random contests for each month. I have the list of "Previously Highlighted Contests" for people to use as a reference. You open the appropriate dropnote, find a contest for the month you need credit for, enter that contest using the current prompt, then post proof that you entered the contest by linking to that contest forum entry with {post:XXXXXXX}. So, to do a May 2020 entry, you find the list in the May 2020 section of the "Previously Highlighted Contests 2020" dropnote. You need to enter "The Liar" (which is currently closed), "Bard's Hall Contest," or "Write an Essay About..." because those are the 3 contests I highlighted in May 2020. Choose the contest you want to enter (if Write an Essay About is open--not sure--if not, your only choice is Bard's Hall) and enter with the current prompt. Then, once you've entered the contest, you post here with the contest title and month/year that you want to count it for, so the title might be "Bard's Hall Contest--May 2020" or something like that. Then you post proof you entered with {post:XXXXXXX} which would link me to the Bard's Hall Contest forum post where you entered.

When you are doing catch-up entries, sometimes you'll find a month has nothing open. Either wait a month or two or I can give you an alternative. I also give alternatives for months with nothing open except something you find offensive. For example, if the only thing open is an X rated sex story contest, no, you don't have to enter that. I'll find you something else. However, just because you don't like to write something, that doesn't automatically get you an alterative. "I don't write poetry and all that's open is a poetry contest." "I'm single and all that's open is a romance contest." "All that's open is a steampunk contest and I don't know how to write that." Too bad. Another part of this challenge is to CHALLENGE yourself. Those are not valid excuses to get an alternative. Though I do encourage you to think imaginatively. I had to write a romance story and I hate romance, so I wrote about 2 zoo keepers and 1 having a crush on the other. They were feeding animals and discussing gross animal mating rituals (such as the hippo flinging poo with it's tail to attract the ladies ). The official romance was between the zoo keepers and it was really more of a crush because the other didn't even know they were liked. I was very light on that human icky emotional junk. But it still qualified because he thought to himself about how he liked her and wondered if she liked him back and if he should say anything. Then there was all the animal romance. Yep, it qualified and I didn't feel like I needed a shower and a bottle of wine to drown my emotions when I was done. Be creative if you don't want to write a genre.

Anyway, as I look through, it looks like you were searching for contests you entered in those months. That's not necessary. In fact, if you weren't officially participating, that doesn't even count since the point is to get you to write things you weren't going to write already. So, I feel a bit better knowing you didn't just spend the last 3 days writing frantically. These were things you've already done, but just won't get credit for in my challenge. I'm giving you April and May 2020 credit because I'm lazy and I've already posted it on the page and don't feel like taking it off. But maybe that will encourage you so you don't feel so depressed when I say you've been doing the challenge wrong.

Okay, so to be clear, here's how it goes. You enter the contests from the Previously Highlighted Contests list from the month and year you want credit for. You use the current prompt for that previous contest. Then you post proof you entered by posting a link to the contest forum's post with {post:XXXXXX}. So, if you want to get credit for July 2020, you can choose from the list of open contests (not sure what's open, but you can usually tell by the last date the page was updated and by the deadline for entries). The options for July 2020 are CLASH, Christmas in July (which is closed, so you can't choose that one), and Paranormal Romance Short Story. Pick one that is open and enter with this month's prompt. Then, in the forum here, your forum post title would be "Paranormal Romance Short Story contest--July 2020" or something like that so I know both the contest and the month/year to count it for. In the forum body here, you'd include the post proving you actually entered with {post:XXXXXXX}. That's it.

Does this make sense? I'm sorry you dug through everything to find old entries, but I'm VERY glad you didn't just write a whole bunch of wrong stuff. Let me know if you need more explanation. I hope you don't feel like I burst your bubble too much. You did get credit for 2 months you shouldn't so there's that. Are you starting to see why the prizes for finishing are so big? It's not easy, especially if you are catching up.

GOOD LUCK! YOU CAN DO THIS!!!