Writing Contest Blues, Take Two

Well, some news this evening. I got another email from the contest I had entered saying that my manuscript wasn't disqualified after all.

What? you say. Can it be true?

Yes, it can. And it gets even stranger.

The mixup, as it was explained to me, was that I numbered the pages of my submission continuously. My synopsis was pp. 1-6, and chapter 1 started on p.7. Apparently the contest people wanted the manuscript to be separate from the synopsis and start at p.1. The contest judges assumed that I was over the count because they added 54 (my last page #) and the 6 pages of synopsis and came out with 60. But before it was too late one astute judge actually counted my pages and realized I was not over the limit.

Confusing? You bet! It gets even better!

You remember those single spaced pages supposedly in my manuscript that I was tearing my hair out over? Well, they were not even mentioned. They just disappeared, like a puff of smoke. Amazing, isn't it?

Yes, I'm happy I'm still in the running, even though I'm getting docked points for improper formatting. Of course, where exactly in the contest entry rules it said that page #s could not be continuous I don't know, but I missed it. Just like I missed those nonexistent single-spaced pages, I'll bet.

Oy.