real quick, prizes!

... and by "tomorrow," of course, I meant "in the middle of the night on Friday." I know it's easy to confuse the two.

Hokay! Here we go.

Note: NOW RUNNING THROUGH OCTOBER 28th!
MORE INFO ON THE EXTENSION HERE.

In no particular order, the prizes for this fun and delightful contest/blogfest, in which you should all participate are:

1. A copy of Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor {you KNOW you want it.}

2. A $10 grab bag of wonderment from The Book Gallery in Chattanooga. This place is AMAZING. I spent 90 minutes there a week or so ago, and would not have left if my phone hadn't beeped to remind me of the time. They don't have everything, but what they do have is super cheap, especially this month {crazy, 30-day book sale, what?} The winner of this prize will have to email me ASAP with some info on his or her favorite types of books, so I'll know what to look for as I fill up that bag. It is going to be nuts.

3. A first chapter critique. By me! Because I'm interested to see what you guys are writing, and I want to give back! {and I need the practice.}

Alrighty. How about another clarification? The random drawing, and how the first-second-third placings will go:

First place! Will go to my favorite entry. This winner will have first pick of the three prizes.

Second and third place! Will go to the first two names I draw from the hat, so to speak. Second place gets second pick, and third place, well, third place gets whatever awesome prize the other two crazy winners didn't choose, for whatever reason.

The entries!
Post about your early work = one entry.
Spread the news on Twitter = one entry.
Spread the news on Facebook = one entry {make sure you tell me if you're spreading the news!}
Include a picture of a dinosaur or wolf = one entry.
So that's four entries possible. What's not to love? {Oh, and uh, I'm keeping it fair. No one gets to win all the prizes. Haha.}

And there you have it, friends! PLEASE do that whole "spreading the news" thing, especially since I forgot to submit this to the Campaigner Notice Board for this week. Oops.

Happy reminiscing!

to keep us happy.

First things first, let’s talk about this button that Tara Tyler made for the contest:

Is that love or is that love?

Second things second, let’s talk about how I’m going to extend the contest. At this rate, everyone’s a winner! {That’s not a bad thing, but still…}

And for our third thing, let me apologize for falling off the face of the planet in the last two weeks. At first, it was because of the whole “I was a grown up and posted every day for a while. I will reward myself by not posting at all!” Tsk tsk. And then on Wednesday, my life took an unexpected turn. Let’s leave it at a health issue of a dear (nay, best) friend. I spent the whole weekend with her family at the hospital, and now, even though she’s home in Chattanooga (rejoice!), there may be a long haul ahead of us.

I want to keep blogging, I do. Promise. I can’t promise quality, though {be grateful that I didn’t post anything this weekend. It would have been… unattractive}.

But wait, what about the contest? What about the campaign? Good. Questions. The timing, needless to say, is not ideal, but timings are never ideal. The contest will go on {!}, thanks to my special helper and favorite Jeigh in the world, Jeigh Meredith. On days that I can’t blog, she’ll pop in and help with the contest, and hopefully tell a few jokes.

And, no, I haven’t forgotten the prizes. Tomorrow? We’ll solidify the prizes {and some of the rules} tomorrow. YOU WILL WANT TO WIN.

{Please?}

And, on an unrelated note, here’s something that makes me happy.

It pays to have friends who are marrying illustrators, it really does. Here’s a huge thank you and high five to Chris, fiance of Jess at Concrete Pieces of Soul, for making this sketch, out of the kindness of his heart.

Introducing, my main character, Bell. He looks like a person and everything!

Dear Bell,
Sorry for the recent abandonment. I have a good reason. Who am I kidding, you’re probably grateful. I wouldn’t be happy with me, either. Enjoy the respite while you have it.

If you’re so inclined, check out Chris’s website. He’s got loads of talent. Loads, I say.

Thanks, Chris. And thanks, Jess. And a big thanks to Jeigh for her willingness to help me out.
Let’s keep those contest entries coming! You have until the 28th now. Make me proud!
P.s. The things I’ve seen so far are nothing short of awesome. Thanks so much to everyone who’s participated!

{Oh, and, you know, if you are inclined to pray, please remember my friend Katie. Thanks.}

oh, the early work: a contest/blogfest!

Back in February, I put myself out there and started making blog friends. I wanted to throw a party, but felt kind of dumb doing so.

In April, I had my first blogaversary, or however you spell that made-up word. I didn't say anything, because, well, who would notice? I wasn't very prolific, which embarrassed me. A bunch of blogs I read had garnered huge followings before the end of six months. I kept my mouth shut, when I should have danced in the streets. Go me!

In May, I finished my first draft of my first novel, which I did announce, but never really celebrated here. I wanted to, though! It was the best feeling in the world.

In August, I joined the Campaign, which was a huge step, also deserving of a party that had yet to come {insert obligatory "please vote for my flash fiction piece, if you feel inclined and have not done so already! #141, yeah yeah!"}.

And then, this week, I finally made it to 100 followers, and I realized,

Yep. The time has come.

Time for presents.

source, yo.

The truth is, as I've blabbed about a million times before, this blogging journey has truly blessed me. If you would like to hear me gush further, read this post about skunks and crit partners.

So, hey. Let's not just have presents, let's have a contest!

During Christine Tyler's Sparkfest, an idea struck me. I would be really, intensely interested to hear about the "early work" of my fellow writers, and I'd love to share my own.

I'll just tell you know.

My first story ever was about two sad dinosaurs who fell in love and weren't sad anymore.

hey.

         

aw, and now they're happy! yay!

It was awesome. I was six.

In middle school, I filled up a notebook--in stylish burgundy ink--with a story about a girl whose best friends were the wolves behind her house. Sound familiar? It was TERRIBLE. And terribly amusing. Not surprisingly, I giggled through the whole first half of this book.

you can't fight the wolf shirt.
{but it wouldn't hurt to think twice before wearing it to church.}

Are you as excited as I am to hear what crazy/hilarious/embarrassing/possibly disturbing things your fellow bloggers thought up as children? I should hope so, or no one's going to have fun with this. Ha.

A few requirements, to get us started. Please follow me, if you haven't done so already. I want to make sure you'll see the announcement if you win! Let me know in the comments if you tweet/FB/blog about this contest, and I'll give you an extra entry {for each platform} for the random drawing. I don't have a nifty jpeg for this contest/blogfest, so if you include an image of a wolf or a dinosaur, or both, I'll give you another extra entry.

There will be three winners.

Update: more info on the prizes (a copy of Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone, for example) can be found in this post.

Enter your link on the list below-- after you've written your post {please pretty please}-- between now and October 14th 28th. Winners will be announced the next day! {Or maybe the day after that, depending on the level of sanity around here.} The line at the bottom says to comment after you've left a link, but feel free to do so beforehand. I'm not that picky.

Thanks, everyone! See you in the funny pages.

Oh, P.S, this is open internationally. Postage, schmostage.

{Thanks to everyone who participated!}