[Roger Slater]

Except there's absolutely nothing to do with the prose entries, is there?

I'm not sure I've ever sent my Speccie leftovers to Light, though Light did recently take a short poem of mine that failed to make the bake-off cut, and a few that didn't win the Wergle Flomp competition, so they're definitely the go-to publication for leftovers.

[Jayne Osborn]

Walter said:

Jayne, it's just that sometimes you think you've really nailed it and then you find out it was not to be. Frustrating, I'd say.

Bob said:

It's gotten so bad, I actually welcomed the generic honorable mention my five entries collectively garnered, though I believe it was just pity.

Ah, I DO sympathise, boys - I've been entering the Speccie and Oldie comps for many years. I've notched up quite a lot of wins overall, but I'd hate to work out an average; it would surely depress me.
Trust me, five HMs in the time you've been submitting is GREAT, Bob. We're all pretty good on this site (she says modestly) and anyone could win any week/month. It must be hellish difficult for Lucy and Tessa to choose the winners. Just be glad you're good poets and can even rise to these challenges! Your days will come

[Roger Slater]

Jayne, I didn't say I've gotten five HM's, I said that I submitted five entries to the last contest and got one HM.

I think I made my first Speccie submission in early 2009 and I've been in the money six or seven times, though I haven't counted, and I probably have three or four honorable mentions as well.

[Gail White]

Originally Posted by Roger Slater

Light [/i]did recently take a short poem of mine that failed to make the bake-off cut, and a few that didn't win the Wergle Flomp competition, so they're definitely the go-to publication for leftovers.

You won't know about the current bake-off until it's over, will you?
I would say there's hope yet.

[Roger Slater]

Yes, I meant a prior bake-off. Actually, it was the bake-off for short poems that I was referring to. There's still hope for the current bake-off, though Michael said that 49 people sent poems, so the competition is fierce. Given the talent hereabouts, it's probably harder to make the bake-off cut at Eratosphere than it is to place a poem in Light.

[Susan McLean]

In the time I have been submitting to the Speccie and Oldie contests, I have received three honorable mentions and no wins, but I have placed three of the rejects in The Barefoot Muse, Lighten Up Online, and Think Journal, and have others under submission elsewhere. What I enjoyed about the contests (back when I had time to enter them, which has not been true for a while) was getting prompts for writing that I would never have come up with on my own. Not all of the resulting verse was worth trying to get published, but I was happy enough with some of it to try. I agree with Roger that the prose entries have nowhere to go if they are not chosen, but there are venues for light verse outside of Light Quarterly.

Susan