I am keeping vigil for a phone call from DWS. As of today, I (as well as various other ASCers) have not received an email/phone call/snail mail. I'm pretty sure DWS has already programmed my phone numbers into his speed dial -- he just hasn't been able to reach me because I'm always at work. He doesn't want to leave messages, you see, simply because he wants to hear my voice.

I never said I wasn't delusional.

I'm already convinced that I'm not getting in this year. My fics have too much walking in them. According to this thread, DWS abhors walking. I say it's a natural part of every day life, even in the 24th century, but to each his own.

For those curious, I wrote one new story this year for the contest. The story is about everyone's favorite Texan (and Chakotay abuser), Riley Frazier, and the battle of Wolf 359 (see Unity). Riley walks a lot and vaccilliates between being a super hero and a wet blanket. She annoyed even me. No wonder she gave Chakotay a headache.

The other two stories I sent in are old stories from 2001. One is a slimmer, less mean version of A Season in Between. Picard is less evil -- or rather, clueless -- in this version and it's also lost about 6,000 words from the original. And oh yes, less of the ensign (Christy Barrows), whom Christine found freaky in the original.

The second story was merely cleaned up for typos etc and edited for sentence structure etc, but it's basically the original of The Absinthe Heart (I'm still amazed no one has noticed the pun in the title). This is my second person Quark fic, set seventh season, where he muses on Jadzia and Ezri.

If I had to pick, I'd go with the Quark story. There's no walking, though there's some gratuitious Hemingway bashing. It's second person, focuses on a character most don't write about, and it tackles the issue of having to deal with two different women who, well, are different reincarnations of each other (or rather Dax, but I don't have time to go into it). But there's no violence or real action in the Quark story.

All of the action goes in the Riley story, which has a battle and Borg! How can you not love a story with Borg in it? The Crusher story has very little action and is more cerebral/subtle, mho -- the punch comes at the end, so that could be the downfall for that story. But then again, last year's submission Blink made the second read pile and I'd consider that in the same vein as "A Season in Between"; a conflict between two characters, one canon and one OC, with verbal sparring and the ultimate resolution decided in the last two paragraphs. My one saving grace is that none of the stories I submitted this year are quite as boring as last year's Sand and Water (which received a "didn't hold my attention" from DWS).

So it's been 20 minutes. DWS still hasn't called. I will keep you posted on this nail-biting, seat-squirming process. Surely the genius of various ASCers will be recognized this year.