The eligibility of a post isn't dictated by the amount of words or characters used necessarily. It all depends on if it contributes to the conversation well. Try not to submit a lot of posts from the Off-Topic section because I'm not sure if those even count as eligible for the $3 bonus.
Actually, that's pretty much the only forum I post in and I have always gotten my bonus (5 months in a row). I think it more depends on the type of post you make. I try to make sure my post responds to someone's post and adds to it. That generally gets me a good meaty paragraph sorta like the one I'm writing here. Again, I don't know exactly what they are looking for in their posts to qualify for the bonus, but I have always gotten it.
@joannaingram84
Perhaps try talking to people more. A quick glance at your posts show that most appear to be quotes from the Bible (I'm assuming) or something to that extent. They might not consider that a quality post cause you didn't come up with it yourself. I didn't really take the time to read all of them, so I could be wrong, but that would be my guess.
Also, some of them were in the word chains forum, which I don't think they count. As my rule of thumb, if a post is less than 3 full lines across the page, I don't expect them to accept it. It gives me some guidelines so when I'm nearing the end of the month, I can glance at my previous posts and figure out how many more I may need.
My other suggestion would also be to make sure you have more than 35 posts, just in case. That way, if they discredit a few, you'll have others that could take their place. I go to the Off-Topic forum a lot and find topics that ask questions. Those generally give me something to talk about to give my posts more meat. Plus, I normally come across three or four topics that interest me so my post count goes up without me trying that hard.