unintentional bitch

I'm fairly certain I've turned into a terrible contest judge. For instance, an entry I gave a crappy score to just finalled--so there has to be something going on in there that I missed. Lately I think it's like a color blind person giving art critiques. Naw, that's not it exactly. I'm confident enough about my own tastes to know that I'm not wrong, per se, but the trouble is what I appreciate isn't popular. And since the whole point is to get popular ummmmmm....hello?

I shouldn't offer my advice on anything but the grammar and the spellllling stuff and mebbe any details I find confusing. Instead I'm putting in too much of my instinctive response, which is a matter of pure opinion. Trouble is, the questions in most contests are geared to the judges' preferences and not the mechanics.

I glanced at my crits in the last contest and I'm also getting less supportive. There's hardly any you go, girl! in what I write. Always some but not as much "this part is great and your use of the word 'the' is inspirational" as I used to pump into my entries. Someone (a lot of someones) said new writers need that support but eh, I'm not so sure it's doing them any favors. I don't feel bitter or mean but I think I must have crossed into curmudgeon zone a while ago without even noticing the warning signs. I might be turning into that judge you curse about when you get your entries back.

Hey, wait a sec here--didn't I promise myself I wouldn't judge any more? What happened to that?

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