Earlier this year InD’tale asked me to be a judge for the RONE awards. I wasn’t able to participate last year due to writing deadlines, but I was excited to get involved this year. My main reason was to give back to InD’tale Magazine who do so much to help educate and promote authors. The big surprise was the added benefits I hadn’t considered. 
BENEFIT 1 Judging books is a great way to connect with new authors. I have a tendency to stick my with favorite authors and genres, but as a writer, reading other genres and/or different authors is a great way to diversify what you learn. I like to dissect sentences and I’m always looking for interesting ways to express myself or my characters. BENEFIT 2 When you’re a judge, you’re helping fellow authors. Without judges there’d be no contests and writers wouldn’t get the recognition and feedback they deserve. BENEFIT 3 Indy’tale mentioned I’d get recognition for being a judge. What author doesn’t appreciate, or need, a bit of free advertising? It was a wonderful and unexpected surprise that provided icing on the cake for being one of their judges. They announced the winners last week. They include a wonderful collection of stories from various genres. I was thrilled to see authors I knew either as winners or honorary mentions. Whether you’re a writer or reader, you should check out InD’tale for yourself. You won’t be disappointed.
Congratulations for being chosen to judge the competition – I bet that was tons of fun! And you’re right – such a great way to connect with other writers. I’m heading over to the InD’tale website now to checkout the winners!
Thanks for linking this blog post to the Hump Day Blog Hop, Elke!! 🙂
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Thanks, Julie! It was tons of fun. If I had the time I would’ve taken on more genres.
Thanks for running this blog hop! I’ve met some great authors that way too. 🙂
What an honor to be asked to judge! I’m sure you spotted a few examples of writing style which you might not choose to imitate, when you dissected those sentences 🙂
It was an honor, Pauline! All the authors were traditionally published so it wasn’t that bad. Unlike I’m sure contests for unpublished authors. 🙂
That had to be fun! A big responsibility to the authors and an honor, too. 🙂
It was fun, Lee Ann, but I was nervous. 🙂
How incredibly FUN and COOL is it to be chosen as a judge! You must be known as a very giving person in your community. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us all. Oh, and, by the way, Grand Cayman? Beautiful!
Thanks, Donna! I don’t usually provide feedback to other authors because I suck at it. Lol! The scoring was extremely easy without having to give written feedback. I think that’s because they were published authors.
What an honour, and what a blast. You must have got to read some really interesting works.
It was a blast, Sandie! I did read some interesting stories. I think they would’ve been more interesting if they were contest newbies. 🙂