Contests

Poetry Contest Winners!

Thanks to the 100 people who contributed poems in Friday’s contest! They were all very entertaining and it was difficult to narrow it down. First, let’s start with some honorable mentions. In no particular order… Best Concise Overview of Publishing:Glynis No thank you, thank you no,We enjoyed the giggle,Now off you go. Best Brief Rejection…
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Bad News Poetry Contest!

Whew, it’s been a grim week here on the blog, hasn’t it? All this talk about difficult conversations between authors and agents. I think it’s time to let you put your own spin on all of this. (And hopefully add some humor to the situation.) So I was thinking we should have a contest. How about…
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WINNERS: The One-Sentence Summary Contest

Wow! We had nearly 500 entries in last Wednesday’s contest. I’m thrilled, because this means 500 of you worked on creating a concise summary for your book, something most writers find difficult. But it can be done, right? I hope this served as a helpful exercise for you. Of course it was very difficult narrowing…
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The One-Sentence Summary

*Contest is closed.*Today we’re going to talk about the one-sentence summary, also known as a logline, a hook, or a one-sentence pitch. (It is not a tagline, however.) What: About 25 words that capture your novel, memoir, or non-fiction book. Why: To get someone interested in reading your book. When to use it: The start…
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2009 Book Giveaway

Each year on the blog, I choose ten books from my personal bookshelf to give to my readers. They’re all books I’ve read, enjoyed, and want to pass along for others to enjoy. (I have multiple copies of some of of them, so I’m keeping one for myself.) So here’s how you get one of…
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WINNERS of the Words Move Me Contest

This contest was one of my favorites EVER. Reading through the (more than 360) entries was incredibly fun, which just underscores my love of great books, my appreciation for a beautiful sentence, and the joy I get from learning about other people’s favorite books and what moved them. THANK YOU for your entries to this…
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Winners!

A big thank you to the nearly 180 entrants in my guest blog contest! It wasn’t easy, but I’ve finally had a chance to choose my Guest Bloggers for the rest of the year. (See A Blog Challenge for You.) Here are the guest posts I’ve chosen (twelve instead of ten): Reesha: Christian Art –…
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A Blog Challenge for You

I sort of stole this idea from Nathan Bransford but he’s a pretty cool guy so I don’t think he’ll mind. (Think of it as flattery, Nathan.) You’ve no doubt noticed that I often use guest bloggers, usually on Thursdays. I typically get the guest posts from amongst my clients and other friends in the…
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Contest Finalists… and Holiday Schedule

Good morning and happy Hanukkah! We have contest finalists today… and we’re VOTING. A big thank-you to everyone who scribbled down the first thing that came to mind worked long and hard to compose your beauiful haiku for the 17 Syllables Contest. Here are the five I’ve chosen as finalists. VOTE IN THE SIDEBAR. One…
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We Have a Winner

THANKS to everyone for your jokes! They were SOOOO funny and I had lots of LOL moments, as I’m sure all the readers did. Thank you for contributing! (If you haven’t read the jokes, click here for Friday’s post and read the comments section. It’s hilarious!) It was *hard* picking a favorite, but I did.…
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Contest Final!

Congratulations to Christy for winning the contest! (Please contact me via email.) Kudos to all of you in the top six – great job. Thanks to EVERYONE who entered, commented and voted. I hope this was a little bit helpful and instructive. (Scroll down for today’s actual post.)
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Vote for Contest Winner!

Thanks to all of you who entered the Show vs. Tell contest! I was impressed with the entries and can see everyone really working on “showing” in their writing. If you want to tell us about your experience with this exercise, leave a comment here. Was it harder than you thought it would be? Did…
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A New Writing Contest

Passing along a press release… Zondervan and Mount Hermon Writer’s ConferenceSponsor Competition for Aspiring Fiction AuthorsWinner Receives $10,000 Publishing Contract GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., September 3, 2008 – Unpublished Christian fiction writers, get your manuscripts ready. Zondervan, a world leader in Christian communications, today announced All About the Story, a writing competition for first-time novelists. The…
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Oh Yeah, We Had a Contest…

I’m back! This vacation was… well, fantastic. I can hardly explain it. I had an amazing time. It’s going to be difficult getting back into work mode. But here I am, nose to the grindstone as usual. So, I have a couple of things for you today. First, a teeny-tiny contest. It’s so small, it’s…
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