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June 27, 2013

3rd Annual Blogiversary Contest — Prize: Me! Wait…er, What?

Gift box with text "Want to win 'me'? Wait... What?"

It’s that time of year again. My three-year blogiversary is coming up on July 12th.  And I’m once again amazed by the fact that I’ve been writing this blog for three years. How can something feel like yesterday and forever at the same time?

Mostly, I’m amazed that I found that much to blog about, not just in the number of posts (over 300!) but the length of my posts. (I can’t begin to count the number of times I’ve come up with a blog topic and said, “Oh, this one will be short,” and ended up between 1000 and 1200 words.  *sigh*) Between my posts and my replies to comments, I’ve easily written over a quarter-million words on my blog in the past year.

And I’m not the only one. During the past year, my readers have left several thousand comments on my blog. That’s an amazing amount of conversation and shared stories and tips, and it’s all thanks to you. You’re the reason I blog.

To thank you, I’m celebrating by holding a contest. For those who weren’t around last year, let me back up…

A blogiversary contest—that’s pretty normal, right? But there’s a reason I call myself insane. There’s a reason I write paranormal. There’s a reason my motto is, Why be normal?

I don’t want to do normal.

So for this contest celebrating this blog and all the readers that make it awesome, the prize is…me.

Well, not “me” literally, but my time and/or money. You get to pick what that means. (Disclaimer: Subject to reasonability, privacy concerns, and legality. I haven’t landed in jail yet, and I don’t intend to start now. *smile*)

I want this contest to be for all my readers, whether you’re a writer or not, whether you’re published or not, whether you’re a newbie or not. If you win, you decide how I can be most helpful to you.

Some ideas:

  • $25 Amazon gift certificate
  • Free registration to my Lost Your Pants? An Impatient Writer’s Guide to Plotting a Story workshop (will be offered this fall)
  • Critique of your first chapter up to 5K words (Note: I write honest and detail-oriented critiques, and I’m a member of the grammar police. You’ve been warned.)
  • Critique of your synopsis and/or query letter
  • Beta read up to 25,000 words (includes feedback on overall premise, characterization, and pacing, but not in-depth editing or grammar)
  • Analysis of story structure and story/character arcs for overall development and “book doctor” feedback
  • Mentoring/walk-through help on one project (blog/website, developing a premise, business plan, social media platform, etc.)
  • Email brainstorming (story ideas: digging out from plot hole, branding ideas: coming up with tagline, etc.)
  • I’ll write a guest post for your blog
  • You’ll get to write a guest post for this blog (subject to my guest post policies)
  • Three books from my general blog contest collection
  • Pick my brain about anything (grammar questions, copies of the writing advice documents I’ve collected, a list of the writing advice bookmarks I’ve saved, copies of my blog customizations, etc.)
  • One of my remaining CreateSpace copies of Treasured Claim and/or copies of my other completed stories (The perfect gift for any agent. *snicker*)
  • Or anything else you can think of…within reason. *smile*

To enter, leave a comment. It’s just that easy. (Yep, that means those of you reading this via RSS or newsletter should visit my site so you can wave hello in a comment.) Maybe tell me what you’d like to win, or make up a funny choice to amuse us all. Introduce yourself if you’ve never commented before. Or tell me how stupid you think this contest idea is. Whatever. It will all count.

In addition, I’ll pick an additional winner for every 25 commenters (not including my comments). So if 1-25 different people comment on this post, I’ll pick one winner. If 26-50 different people comment, I’ll pick two winners. And so forth.

This contest will close at midnight EDT on Wednesday, July 10th, 2013. The winner(s) will be chosen randomly and announced on my official blogiversary post on Thursday, July 11th. Good luck!

Do you want to win something? If so, tell me about it!

(Note: The comments go to two pages, so if you don’t see yours, don’t panic! *grin*)

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