WAWA 2026

For your consideration...

What have I done?!

Okay to be honest, I had zero intention of entering WAWA 2026... I still consider WAWA 2027 a bit of a pipe dream and I have ALL YEAR to get any amount of ready for it. Even still, I pulled the trigger on exactly two submissions for WAWA 2026. The submissions were submitted simply to prove to myself that I can do hard and scary things no matter what I tell myself about my work.

Okay... so what did I submit for?

Delusion led me to try entering for Best Newcomer as well as Myths & Legends.

Best Newcomer

I don't even know if I actually qualify for this because my account was technically made in 2024. However, I'm 98% sure I didn't post a single world building article or really use my account until 2025 which makes it feel like a gray area. I'm totally understanding if it's a hard stick of "the account had to be created in 2025 to be considered" and will in no way be any amount of upset.

Additional Pages

Myths & Legends

I really only had two to chose from - the Flower's Curse of Winter's Lake (which is truly a not-subtle take on Hanahaki Disease) or Vontyre's Pass. I chose to go with Vontyre's Pass simply because it was the most original premise of the two. While Vontyre's Pass is technically a landmark, there is lore around it. It was named for Lummoch Vontyre, a vampyre lord who sacrificed himself to create the pass and save his kin from feral dragons in the mountains. The creation myth of the pass has led travelers to offer something of personal value at the opening in order to gain safe passage through an otherwise treacherous mountain pass.

Final Thoughts...

Did I put my best foot forward in any of these categories? Honestly, no. That's okay! This years submissions exist simply as proof to myself that I can do things regardless of how proud I am of my work or how it holds up against the great worldbuilders of World Anvil. Participating this year is entirely for me. Most specifically, it is for 17 year old me in her childhood kitchen who was told by her parents that writing would never be something worth anything... so she never wrote again. It's for future me who will have to look back at current me and wonder why she didn't just do it scared and unprepared anyway. WAWA 2026 is for every version of me - the past, the present, and the future - and for that, I'm eternally grateful for even having something to participate in. Winning, losing, or not getting nominated - I. Still. Did. It.