It has been suggested by people in my writing group that I submit a story to the “Writers of the Future” contest.

On the upside, it’s apparently great exposure, and the winners receive an amount of money entirely out of proportion with what the rest of the market pays.  It’s judged by current leaders in the sci-fi field, so if you win, it’s because you’re good.

On the downside, the contest was created by, and is still closely affiliated with that great bastard Elron Fucking Hubbard.  I’ve got a serious moral quandary when it comes to anything with that skidmark in human form’s name on it.  I’ve got a list of actors whose movies and TV shows I refuse to watch for no reason other than they are in his cult, and I don’t want to give them any money they can then hand over to it.  I only excuse Jason Lee because he was born into it and is therefore not responsible for believing anything he was told before he developed critical thinking skills, and also because he makes a point of not prosyletizing, unlike The Teeth and The Hair.

 But I digress.  To summarize:  on one hand, potentially $5000 for a story I might get $300 for elsewhere, assuming I could sell it.  On the other, I am revolted at the idea of my story and my name in a book with that name on the cover.  I realize my opinion in this matter is extreme and not widely held.  The question is, do I hold my nose for the chance at money, or stick to my admittedly hardline principles?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 11th, 2008 at 10:53 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.