Over-sharing my IF Comp process

[Felicity_Banks]

Copied from the “IFComp 2023 Predictions” thread:

IFComp 2023 Predictions

I was at work today, having missed the official announcement thingy due to a family crisis (now mostly resolved, thank goodness), when I decided to look at the results online. I was a teensy bit worried that I wouldn’t make the top 20 after all. 6th? SIXTH? SERIOUSLY??? I sat and glowed for about five minutes, then I went and checked again because maybe I read it wrong somehow? And then I glowed some more. I made the top ten as a newbie (newbie IF-er; I’d been writing novels for a very long …