Over the last week, I held my first ever contest. Can I say just how much I enjoyed doing this? First of all, every entry was so great and I just had fun reading them. Secondly, I just liked doing it. :D

I know that I am so glad I didn’t have to judge these because I still haven’t picked a favorite. Good thing I picked a judge that developed a system!

First, the poll winner. I asked for public votes over the weekend and this person wins a $15 gift certificate to Amazon. With 33% of the vote, the winner is:

CLAIRE GILLIAN!

Congrats!

And for the judged portion, I was given an overall winner, plus two honorable mentions. The overall winner will receive a $25 gift certificate to Amazon.

First, the HONORABLE MENTIONS, with comments:

Madeleine

“You’ve got to pee before you can zip up your pants.”
Great opening line.

Krista

“My mother’s mouth turned down everytime she saw a cigarette dangling out of Jules heavily painted lips or my stringly hair stuffed into a dirty ball cap.”
This is the image that caught my attention. I’d enjoy reading closer to the opener.

And apparently, the public liked the same entry as my judge.  The OVERALL WINNER  is:

CLAIRE GILLIAN!

Here is what led to her selection (in the judge’s words):

“I judged the entries on a 5 point system using four categories.  I was judging on unique premise, writing voice, the hook, and a desire to keep reading.  

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There were some awesome entries into my contest!  Thanks guys! 

I love beginnings, so it was fun to see all of the different approaches. 

Encourage your friends and whoever to come read the entries and vote!

Come back on Tuesday evening to see the two prize winners (judges pick and poll winner).  The poll will be closed on Tuesday at noon. You can only vote once per day (per computer)!

CLICK TO READ ALL ENTRIES!

Good luck!!

I’m feeling happy and giving tonight, so I thought I’d host a contest!  My real-life buddy just ran an AWESOME one on finding inspiration and I would have entered if I hadn’t already owned the prize. ;-)  BTW, if you don’t have The 3 A.M. Epiphany, check it out.  Regan (the aforementioned friend) bought it for me when she first heard I was starting to write and it has awesome exercises in it.  Yes, she’s an awesome friend, in case you were wondering.

Now, the contest.

I am sucker for novel beginnings, so I thought I’d cater to that since…well…it’s my contest and I’ll do what I want to.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO?

• First: Follow me on twitter because I want followers, what can I say?   Like I said…my contest…my rules! :D I say SUPER insightful stuff every day.  Okay, not really, but I’m a nice girl!  If you don’t have Twitter, don’t worry about it (or if you are super picky about who you follow, that’s fine, too – I won’t tar and feather your entry).

• Second: Enter the title and up to the first 250 words of a WIP into the comments section of this post.  Please only enter once!  You are welcome to give a small blurb about the plot after your entry if you want.  It might help to mention the genre, too.  Make sure you include a real e-mail address because that is how you will receive your prize!

You have until Saturday night (March 13, 2010) at 11:59 EST to enter.  Entries after that not be entered.

WHAT DO YOU WIN?

I’ll have two winners.

• The first winner will be selected by some unbiased writerly friends whom I’ve asked to judge.  That person will win a $25 gift card to Amazon*.  This way it’s not just my opinion that counts.

• The second winner will come from a public poll.  It will begin Sunday, March 14, 2010 at noon.  It will close Tuesday, March 16, 2010 at noon.  The winner of the public poll will win a $15 gift card to Amazon*.

Both winners will be announced Tuesday, March 16th.  It will probably be in the evening.

Spread the word! 

*If you are morally opposed to Amazon or something, I can do one to an online book store of your choice, just let me know.

This contest is approved by my cutie-patootie son in his Easter outfit: