The first step is to admit your addiction

I have met so many wonderful people through the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest over the years. The way you meet your fellow contestants -- and well, anyone, really -- is primarily through the community forums. And while Ammy monitors the conversation threads, they can, and do, cover virtually any topic.

And they are addictive. So much so, you can get lost reading and commenting on the various conversation threads that you don't get any of your work do.

The topics cover everything from the serious, such as questions about the contest, writing suggestions and information on other contests; to the silly, such as bad song lyrics, and posting stupid questions.

This year, I promised myself that I would stay away from the threads as much as possible or, if I went there, I would merely 'lurk' and not comment on any topics.

I failed on both counts.

I tend to visit the threads everyday, though to my credit, I have commented less this year than in previous years. I am lurking more. Viewing and not commenting is made easier because many of my friends from years past are not in the competition this year, so I don't see them commenting much. And I don't know most of the regulars who are commenting this year and they don't know me. I posted an excerpt from my novel this year seeking comments but didn't get any.

This is the fifth year for ABNA and unfortunately something that generally happens later in the contest has started to occur, although the first round eliminations aren't due for more than a week. The problem is negativity.

When you pour your heart and soul into your work and then have it eliminated from competition is often hard to take. Most people accept it quietly, although it hurts. Others do not. There can be whining and crying and lashing out, saying the contest is unfair (which it isn't) or that the contestant was unfairly targeted for elimination (which also doesn't happen). Plus, some people take shots at the non-professional Vine reviewers who act as judges in the second stage of the contest. And the Vine reviewers sometimes fire back.

The problem this year seems that the Vine reviewers are complaining amongst themselves and to some degree on the ABNA threads even BEFORE they have any of the materials to judge. And there is one self-righteous, myopic SOB who takes pride in -- and indeed seems to get a perverse pleasure out of -- writing harsh reviews. Many of the contestants are afraid of him. I am not but I also avoid reading any of the comments on the contest or its contestants that he writes. He is a cancer, vile and ugly. He ruins the contest for many people and I don't understand why Ammy continues to use him.

That is another reason I am trying to stay away from the threads this year. There are 10,000 entries in the contest and there will only be two grand prize winners. They rest of us will eventually face our disappointments. Before that happens, I'd like to keep my dreams of winning alive and not have them killed prematurely by people who take joy in the misery of others.

I hope this doesn't sound like I am whining because I'm not. I have nothing to whine about. I wrote a good novel and wrote a good entry into the contest. Now, it is out of my hands and I will just have to wait and see what happens.

So, I'm going back to lurking, and working on my next novel.

Thanks for reading and you also, get back to writing.