Write Club

Or technically, WRiTE Club.

DL Hammonds is at it again. From now (well, since last Monday) until June 30, you can send in a 500 word writing sample—under a pen name. Thirty two will be selected. Then in July, the “fighting” begins!

In each fight, a pair goes head to head, with the winner being selected from the votes in the comments. However, you have to remember that this is anonymous, so no vote angling allowed. After round one, the winners keep duking it out until one story is crowned champion. Since the winner is chosen by a panel of authors, agents, editors, publishers, and marketers, it’s a good way to get seen.

If you’re interested, head here and sign up. I haven’t entered yet, but I’m hoping I’ll be able to come up with something before then. Remember: before June 30. Fingers crossed!

A Day of Fanfare and Jubilation

This is an open call for guest posts for the last full week in August. For what reason, pray tell? Because that Friday, exactly one month from today (because months don’t come in regular intervals…a matter for another post) is the glorious day of jubilation known as my BIRTHDAY (caps required). So if you’re interested in reaching a slightly different audience of writers or maybe have something you want to promote, shoot me an email.

It might sound horrendous, but I’m not doing a giveaway for my birthday. The shame! But I do have a reason! My blogiversary is coming up in less than three weeks, so it seems kind of silly to have one contest right after another. Don’t worry. It will be AWESOME.

Speaking of which, any ideas on how to make it awesome? Gift certificates? Gift cards? Books? Leave any interesting ideas in the comments section. About the posts, please contact me by email if you’re interested. And on my birthday, I’ll eat a slice of cake for each one of you.

Seriously. I’ll do it. I love cake.

Love it.

And The Winner Is…

Drumroll, please.

First, the winner of Amanda Downum’S THE DROWNING CITY is…

Su Wilcox! (jeesh; we keep winning each others’ contests; it’s going to start looking like a plot)

Second, the winner of one $25 gift card is…

Raquel Byrnes! (Random.org actually picked the very first entrant; it pays to be first!)

Join me in congratulating them! Thanks to everyone who participated. Don’t worry. There will always be another time to win!

Winners, I'll get in contact with you from the information on the form. Thanks everyone for entering!

THIS IS SPARTA!!!

I couldn’t resist the 300 reference for my 300 follower giveaway. Could not.

What are the prizes? Oh, nothing big. Just a $25 gift card for one lucky winner and a copy of THE DROWNING CITY by Amanda Downum for another.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a gift card that could be used outside the US. Bummer. Entrants for that part of the contest will have to be from here, but I am willing to ship the book internationally. So, followers and friends, enter!

Rules are simple. First of all, please leave a comment at the bottom of this post. Not a requirement, however, just a request so I know when a new entry has come in. Second, fill out the form at the bottom of the blog. Bonus points for being a follower and tweeting and/or blogging about it. You may enter once per day.

Please, spread the word! If I manage to get up to 350 followers, you know there will be a bonus book. Come one, come all, followers old and new! Contest ends Friday, April 29th at midnight and the winners will be announced the next day. Go now!

Edit: I should have explained this earlier. To link to a tweet: go to the main Twitter site, select "my tweets" and find the tweet you want to link to. Click on the little time stamp below it and it takes you to the tweet's page. In the address bar is the address of the tweet! Also, if you put my twitter name in the tweet (@jefishere) it will show up on my tweet page and I can just count you that way. If you haven't done this, it's okay. I trust your word : ).

Twitter Pitch Contest

Today and tomorrow, Shelley Watters is holding her Mega Epic Twitter Pitch Contest! So for today, I'll be posting my 140 character twitter pitch on my blog and then hopping along to the other participants to give feedback on theirs. Even if you're not participating, I'll be grateful for any input anyone has.

Title: A SAFE PLACE IN HELL
Genre: YA/Dystopian
Word count: 75,000

Okay, I've whittled it down to two basic pitches:

Version 1: Eddie shot a soldier—genius move. Now he’s fleeing across the deadlands, his friends are dying, and sanctuary looks out of reach.

Version 2: How’d this happen? Eddie fleeing across the deadlands, dodging bullets and watching his friends die? Oh. Right. He pissed off the wrong guy.

I think #2 has more voice, but I've heard people don't like to see questions in pitches. Note that neither one is truly complete (2 is too long) but I'd like to figure out which one is best before adding the finishing touches. Thoughts?

Contests for Writers

A slight twist on my usual websites for writers posts. This is about the contests going on as you read this. There are quite a few! And you don’t have to be a writer for them. So I guess this is more “Contests for everyone.”

First of all, there’s Constance over at The Precocious Scribe hosting a 200 follower giveaway. The prize is a $10 Amazon voucher.

Then there’s CA Marshall, a very nice freelance editor who is giving away a free edit on her new website. As someone who won one, I can vouch for its helpfulness. Just fill out the form!

And the Empress of all Cheekyness, Su is holding a giveaway of her own! Her prizes are some good books. So…yes. Totally.

Theresa is also doing a giveaway with some truly mad-awesome prizes. These include a copy of Elana Johnson’s POSSESSION—signed—and a $25 Amazon gift card! Wow!

Carolina Valdez Miller just signed with an agent! To celebrate, she’s giving away (brace yourselves): A first page critique from her agent, a Kindle, a signed copy of ESCAPING INTO THE OPEN; THE ART OF WRITING TRUE by Elizabeth Berg, and a signed copy of SHADE by Jeri Smith-Ready, a signed copy of PASSING STRANGE by Daniel Waters. She sure knows how to share the good fortune. But wait, there’s more. Others are joining in the giveaway with even more prizes! Follow their blogs and fill out the form! Do it!

The people over at YAtopia are holding a YA/MG Agent Pitch contest, where you enter a two sentence pitch and opening sentence of your novel. Act fast because they're closing up at 150 and they're already at 90.

So many prizes…feeling a bit overloaded…Did I miss anyone? I hope not.

The Joys of Social Networking

Yay! I won another contest, this one from Beth Fred. This is way too awesome. I should do another one myself, maybe after I give the blog a good polish. I'll shop around at the bookstores and see if they have anything good. Any ideas for what would make a good giveaway? I'm thinking another writing book would be a nice idea, but I might add something fictional.

I know what I'll do. I'll add a poll. You guys vote for the genre. See to the left? There it is.

Anyway, in writing news, I'm continuing my quest to shape up my WIP. Do you know what I've noticed is super helpful? Changing the font. Seriously. I switched it from Times New Roman to Calibri and (combined with the read aloud) I'm spotting mistakes I have no idea stayed in there this long. I don't really know why switching fonts helps so much. It's one of those weird ways you can trick your brain.

So, with help from crit partners and beta readers, things are coming along! How are your WIPs going? Do you have any tricks you use to help you spot mistakes?

A Day of Adventures

Whew. What a day. First of all, yes, I did get books for a contest! It's going to start tomorrow (i.e. my next post), so start your following now to get in on the ground floor. It's two books, one on writing and one thesaurus. Maybe not the most fabulous of prizes, but I think they're nice.

Fair warning, this isn't going to be outside of the US: (. This sucks because I do have friends in other countries and I feel like I'm cheating them. But I can't afford international shipping at this time. Sorry.

As for the actual adventures I named this post for, well one of them starts in the book store. I picked up the books and was heading for the register when I happened to glance over at a shelf at the end of the aisle, you know, where they keep the stuff they hope to sell but aren't really sure if it will. And what do I see but the frigging Cyanide & Happiness book (for sale here, by the by). I was stunned, speechless. And obviously, I picked it up. Be warned, the humor is crass, crude, outrageous, and extremely hilarious.

Adventure number two happened when I drove to my parents' house. Both were at work and they needed someone at home to sign for a package so, I was nominated. The thing is...I forgot my key to the house. I keep them separate from the car keys, and they happen to be on a chain with my flash drive, which I took out of my purse yesterday to upload the newest draft of my book. And I didn't put it back.

Yeah, problem. My options were to admit my mistake and drive to my mom's office and ask for her set or, you know, try to force my way in.

Yes, I did choose the latter. It was a bit of a problem since my mom locked the doors and all the windows are sealed tight for winter. What was I to do?

Well, I got in, and I didn't have to break anything to do it. At least, nothing that wasn't already broken. But I fixed everything up so it can't be repeated and the second I get a chance, I am putting my damn keys back in my purse.

Hugs! Don't forget about tomorrow!

: D

I won! I won CA Marshall's free edit contest! And at the perfect time, too, because I have a manuscript that's pretty much finished. I say pretty much because I could always find something else to do with it.

I've been so lucky this year, I think it's long past time for me to share the joy. So sometime in the next week, I'm going to start a contest of my own. No, I'm afraid it won't be free edits, but books on writing. People who are all ready followers will get extra entries, so if you're thinking of entering, be sure to be a follower. I'll post which books on Monday, once I have them in my possession, and start the actual contest within a few days.

So excited! Love, hugs, and lollipops for all!

One More Time

I'm glad you guys like the list of writers' resources! And there are so many more, it's not even ridiculous. You heard me.

Anyway, this will be a brief post (don't want to take away yesterday's thunder), but I do want to remind you today is the last day to enter CA Marshall's free edit contest. Great contest or greatest contest?

Click the button on the right sidebar. You know you want to.

Something You Should Enter, Even if it Decreases My Chances of Winning

Fabulous editor C.A. Marshall is holding another contest! What is the prize you ask? A free full edit of up to 100 K words I say! Wow. Just wow. Click below for the link (I put a button on the side, too, but more because of extra entries than generosity! I'm so bad).

I think it's really generous of her to give away her editing time like this since she's not only a freelance editor, but also a writer and a lit agency intern. I'm also pretty sure she never sleeps. You can enter once per day, so don't forget! It ends December 10th!

I'm probably going to mention this every day until then, but don't worry. I'll keep up with the nonsensical ramblings you know and love.

Contests, Awards, Peace, Love and Understanding

Pamela at SO I'M FIFTY! gave me a blog award! Oh, blushing.

Thank you so much for the honor. It's always nice when someone whose blog you enjoy gives you an award for having a nice blog. The only question is, who will I pass it on to? There are so many wonderful blogs out there! Well, it's hard but here we go:

1. Choices at Love To Teach. I love her poetry. It always makes me thoughtful.

2. Charity Bradford at My Writing Journey. A fellow writer who always has an interesting story to tell.

3. Liz at Laws of Gravity. She's great to follow and always has interesting stories about teaching.

All great blogs. I advise visiting them now and bookmarking the links right away : ). And winners, the only rules are to acknowledge the giver and to pass it on to your favorite blogs.

Finally, my friend PK Hrezo is hosting a giveaway! Yes, I entered, but I'm sure I used up all my luck by now. So go enter! In any case, she has a great blog to follow.

I'm hoping I'll be able to host a giveaway of my own by the end of the year. Yes. Tantalizing, isn't it?

Cookies!

I do love sweets. So this morning, when Karen's delicious wonders came in the mail--eeeeeeeeeee!

Really, they're quite good. I asked for the chocolate chip variety (what can I say, I'm a purist : ) and would highly recommend them if you're in the mood for good cookies. They crumble perfectly and taste wonderful. I think they're more flavorful than anything I've had before. And the chocolate chips! They are rich without going overboard, perfect little nougats of darkness.

See how poetic I get about cookies? Yeah. Ridiculous. I'll try for some word nerdery tomorrow or Wednesday, depending on how far I get on my NaNoWriMo project. And to everyone participating: keep on writing!