by G.Parker
Well, my week has been spent watching the Olympics, as I mentioned it would last week. We got hooked up to be able to watch during the day, and it's been both a blessing and a frustration. I've been able to watch more events than I even knew existed (who knew there was white water rafting? I mean, wow) and try and juggle my days. I've still got some writing done, though my average bed time has been midnight...sigh.
But it occurs to me that being a judge for the Olympics must be similar to being a judge in a writing contest or an editor that has tons of books to go through. It's so subjective to how your life is going, and how you feel about what you are judging.
In listening to the commentators for the women's gymnastics and how the judges can be strict with some and more lenient with others, I wondered: "Why would you want to be a judge?" I mean, it's a totally thankless job. I personally would prefer they had hate mail, and I would probably be guilty of sending it if I even knew where to send it...but someone has to do it. They can't have it be done by robots yet, so we're stuck.
Just like with trying to get our books to a publisher. It's all in how we get their attention. How well we follow the guidelines they put out. How much we really desire the end result: Publication. For the Olympian, the Gold. I think it's interesting how the medals are viewed. In the women's gymnastics, the Russians looked like the world had ended when they didn't get the gold. I couldn't believe it. I thought they'd been knocked off the podium, and it was just from gold to silver. I guess it all comes down to where your focus is.
We all want to be a gold medal winner - even if figuratively. I think most of us would feel like a gold medal winner if we landed a publishing contract. Silver is possibly getting the attention and request from an editor, and bronze would be winning a contest and being given the chance for notice by a publishing house.
What are you aiming for? I certainly don't want to be a judge.
1 comment:
I agree, being a judge must be a completely thankless job. But, as much as we sometimes hate the subjectivity of scores, I think there's also an upside to having that human quality in judging. After all, until we can design robots to judge effort and willpower (along with difficulty, elegance and the likes...), I think I'll be okay with seeing another human being throw up the panels of 7s and 8.5s.
Post a Comment