First up, Chelsea from the comment trail won my BOX ‘O BOOKS HOLIDAY GIVE-AWAY. This is the first time a Canadian has won one of my website contests, so that gave me a little thrill (I could tell by the .ca at the end of her email address WordPress sent me that she’s a fellow Canuck, and emailing her for her snail mail address confirmed it). I used a random number generator program to choose the winner out of the 31 comment trail and private email entries. Congratulations, Chelsea! I hope you enjoy your books and the free copy of BORROWING ALEX.
I received such a great response to this contest that I plan to do it again next year, but of course it depends on if I attend a conference in 2009 and if my TBR pile grows out of control. And, by all means, anyone who entered the contest and didn’t win is free to contribute toward the King Family Kraft Dinner Fund (a.k.a my teensy royalty checks) by purchasing copies of BORROWING ALEX or HEAD OVER HEELS from Amazon (please, someone, anyone, we’re starving!!). (Yes, I’m serious about the Kraft Dinner Fund).
Second, the For Jo Leigh—Gifts for Writers and Readers auction is on-going. That’s the link to the main website, and here’s a link to the ‘007 Golden Heart Alumni #1 item up for bid, which includes a critique from little ol’ me. Get on over there and bid! The bidding for a historical romance partial critique from 5 Golden Heart finalists ends December 8th, and bidding for a contemporary romance partial critique from 6 Golden Heart finalists ends December 10th. Now, if you’re wondering, is Cindy capable of critiquing a historical manuscript when she writes contemporary? Yes, indeedy, I am! In fact, my longest running critique partner is multi-published under two names in historical romance, and I’ve been reading and critiquing her stuff since long before she published (some might say I am in fact responsible for her success). 😉 My four ‘007 GH compatriots volunteering their time to read the same partial are all well versed in critiquing historicals as well, including Elaine Levine, who is published in historical romance with Kensington.
Lastly, but certainly not leastly, I had the happy news the other day that my work-in-progress, SEX, PIs & PACKING TAPE, finaled in the NOLA Stars Suzannah Contest. Yippee!! My entry and the entries of my five co-finalists will now be read by two agents, four editors, and the sponsor of the Suzannah. Almost as thrilling…my name is spelled right on the NOLA website! Way to go, NOLA. I now officially love you.
I entered this contest at the last minute (and I mean the last minute), so I am thrilled that my story finaled. Hmm, come to think of it, the year I finaled in the Golden Heart, I entered that contest at the last minute, as well. I think I’ve discovered a new trick to entering contests, LOL.
That’s my week so far. How’s yours?
Congrats on the contest final, Cindy!!! And, wow, what a large number of editors and agents who are reading those top entries! Keeping fingers crossed for you :).
My week has been more of an intense recovery from the chaos of Thanksgiving…a little more coffee, another piece of dark chocolate and I think I’ll be okay!
Congrats on finalling!
As for my week – one word: BUSY!!! So much to do, so little time.
Thanks, Marilyn and Teresa. Yes, Marilyn, that’s why I entered at the last minute – because of the list of editors reading, and at least one of the publishing houses on the list doesn’t take queries from unagented writers, of which I currently am at the moment.
Finaling or even winning is no guarantee of a full manu request, of course. Some editors still want you to go through the normal query route and don’t consider that they don’t request a manu from a contest as evidence that they don’t want to see it. Or so I’ve read on chats and loops when editors have guested. But it’s worth a shot doing it this way. Now I have even more incentive to keep my head down over the holidays and finish this book!
Cindy, I’m sending out vibes about requests for this book, so hunker down and write! 😀
Thanks!
Hunker, hunker…
Well, it’s the finals of So You Can Think You Can Dance Canada tonight, so I will stop hunkering at some point.