Sunday, April 4, 2010

Contest Winners and Other Awards

This has been a wonderful weekend. Kelly @ Kelly's Compositions held a blogfest, and I met so many new writers. My own entry helped me reach a new level of comments. I’ve never had more than twenty. It was awesome! So many great first pages out there. Thank you to everyone who stopped by to read mine.

I started a new WIP on April 1st thanks to Tina Lynn’s 500 words challenge. Her whip sewn with awesome has been keeping many of us in line. And thanks to the challenge, I have hit a total of 6000 words so far in my new YA-paranormal. The trick with these challenges is not trying to get to 500 words – it’s not allowing yourself to stop trying until you hit 500. If it’s not coming and the characters aren’t talking - you have 500 words. But if you hit your stride, there’s no telling how many words you can pump out.

For me, in the beginning, I have to allow myself to write crap. The entire point of the first draft is getting the story down. It’s not about beautiful words and kickass turns of phrases. That comes later. First tell the story – then revise, beautify, and perfect. More on my style for first draft later. That’s another post.
Last night the Keep It Going Contest came to a close, and we have three winners. But before I reveal those, I have a few awards to hand out.

Nicole @ One Significant Moment in Time gifted me with the Prolific Blogger Award. Thank you! I’m not sure how many people I am supposed to give this to, but I have selected three.
  • Donna Hole – She has a wonderful blog, and is full of passion. If you are not following her, get over there nowish. I’ll wait. *taps toes*
  • VR Barkowski – She does a fabulous job of keeping blog readers informed of upcoming events and contests as well as keeping an upbeat motivational spirit.

Donna Hole has blessed me with the Soulmate Award, and I think she is a soul mate of mine. This award requires that I gift it to 5 people, make up something about them (not mean), and link back to the ORIGINAL POST.
  • Sierra Godfrey – She is an avid hunter of a rare breed of solar powered hopping garden gnomes. Fierce critters that must be stopped.
  • Tina Lynn – She has five authors held captive in her basement. They said the phrase “can’t do it,” and now they are chained to desks. They should be done with their first drafts by the end of next week.
  • Hannah at Musings of a Palindrome – She has been involved in a secret love affair with Nathan Fillan. He proposed, but she turned it down – wanting to maintain the friends with benefits relationship. Why ruin a good thing?
  • JM Diaz – He has a very honed in sixth sense which he uses in his writing. He sees an event, writes it, and then it comes true. Scary stuff.
  • Ronnie Griffin – She has a mad skill of being able to catch a fly with a pair of chopsticks. Reaches right up and plucks it from the sky. Awesomeness.

Now moving on to the winners of the Keep It Going Contest.
The first was a special award especially for one of the contributors to the story. You can read the entries HERE. The winner of her choice of either a 15-page critique or a $15 gift certificate to Amazon is…. DONNA HOLE!!

The next two winners were randomly selected. I tallied all the entries and used the random number generator in excel. The following individuals have won their choice of either a 10-page critique or a $10 gift certificate to Amazon:

VR Barkowski
Tara @ A Feel of Something New

Congratulations to all the winners, and thanks for playing!! Send me an email (click on the envelope on the right hand of the screen – your right.)

Wednesday we will be back on schedule for another Watcha Say Wednesday, tune in then.

So, how was your Easter? Are you in the writing or revision phase? Any exciting news for anyone?

22 comments:

  1. Congrats to the winners!

    To answer the question: querying first novel, on chapter 5 of WIP.

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  2. Congrats to the winners! I'm at 37,000 in my WIP. That's where I'm at :)

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  3. Great job Christi and Aubrie. Those are both major accomplishments. I'm a few weeks away from starting to query my first MS. One more polish, and then I think it will be ready.

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  4. Thank you!!!

    I'm still in the writing phase for this WIP. I hope to be done by the end of June.

    =)

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  5. Thanks Alicia, that's so sweet of you!
    Where I am: finished with the third draft, going into substantive structure edits and revising scenes for clarity. Have begun to let people see it.

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  6. Yay! Thank you. And I'd like to point out that in the end, those five authors will thank me for chaining them to the desks in my basement.

    Oh, crap. People think you made that up. Oops!

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  7. Natalie, Sierra, & Tina - you are all most welcome.
    Tina - that is hilarious!!

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  8. I've got two projects I've been trying to revise; one to send out on query, the other to resubmit to an e-zine. I've gotten stuck on both.

    Thanks for the award Aj, and the contest win :) I'm thinking I'll take you up on the critique. I love getting new books but I think the crit will be a much better value for me (shameless abuse of an offer).

    I'll send you an e-mail.

    Thanks again for all your awesomeness.

    .......dhole

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  9. Donna - that works for me. Send it my way! I look forward to reading it. I am a fan of yours! :-)

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  10. LOL, if only. If only.

    I'm in the writing phase. I'm excited that I finished outlining all of my scenes my WIP. Now all that's left is the writing.

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  11. This was my first blogfest, Alicia. And like you, I met so many interesting, fun individuals.

    Come check out my latest post if you have the time. http://rolandyeomans.blogspot.com/.

    May your surprises this upcoming week be only happy ones, Roland

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  12. Daniel: Wouldn't a fly swatter be easier?
    Miyagi: Man who catch fly with chopstick accomplish anything.
    Daniel: Ever catch one?
    Miyagi: Not yet

    Thanks so much for the award! It's so purty. Congrats on receiving it yourself as well. :)

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  13. Congrats on the awards. And I'm doing the novel in six months challenge, too. :)

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  14. First, congrats on the awards! Well done!

    Second, thank you, thank you, thank you! - an award AND a contest! This is too cool. Like Donna, I think I'll take the critique... if that's okay? God, I feel guilty.

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  15. Congrats on your awesome awards!!!

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  16. Congrats on your awards! And thaks for your comments on my first page :)

    Um, are you sure it's me? I never win anything - and I don't remember entering, lol. I always read about these contests, but rarely enter. I have this horrific guilt that I might actually win and cause someone else to lose and the contest owner to have to do something for me. Gah.

    I have no idea what to pick, because then I would feel guilty that I picked the thing you'd rather not do. What do you prefer?

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  17. Congrats to the winners! Congrats AJ for starting a new WIP. One step at a time.

    I'm currently editing my second novel. Hope to be querying by mid-May. Fingers crossed.

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  18. This is my first time here...here from Nicole's blog.

    Congrats on your awards and to all the winners!

    I am currently working on revisions...almost done.

    Happy Monday!
    Lola

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  19. Hannah - I thought you'd like that. :-)

    Roland - welcome, and i loved your excerpt. I left a comment for you.

    Roni - Lol. Thank you and you are very welcome.

    Sarahjayne - Yay!! It's been fun so far.

    VR - You are too funny. No need to feel quilty. You are a winner - it's your choice. :-) Send me an email, and I'll get to work.

    Nicole - Thank you!!

    Tara - LOL. I never win anything either. But you, madam, are a winner. Everybody that follows was entered, and then a random drawing chose the winner. There was a separate drawing for he ones that contributed to the story. You get to pick the prize! That is 100% up to you. And Congratulations!

    Crimey- Thank you. It feels so good to be working on a new project. And my fingers are crossed for you.

    Lola-Welcome!! *big wave*

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  20. Hi, Alicia, I am so very pleased that you enjoyed my first page. Later on this evening when I drag in from the blood center, I will do another post on FRENCH QUARTER NOCTURNE that some of my friends have wanted me to do : a ghostly glimpse through the veil at the mysterious love of Sam's life, Meilori Shinseen, born of stardust and the sea.

    Your kind words were deeply appreciated. May there be only good news for you this week, Roland

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  21. What a fun post. Congrats all around and thanks for getting me off that 'next blog' button!

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  22. Holly craps... I gotz me a clairvoyance award. That is the awesomest of awesome.

    It's deserved, of course, since I CAN tell the future. Here my next vision: You will all die..... eventually.

    go ahead, challenge it.

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