It has been a whirlwind of fun on the blog lately, and it’s because of all the fantabulous writers and friends who participated in this blogfest. I just want to say how much you all mean to me! Thanks for all the positive comments and critique love you sent to your fellow writers. Each of you should be proud of the work you’ve done. Congratulations to everyone! You may not have won the prize, but you’re that much closer to achieving your goal of getting published.
I want to give a BIG HUGE SHOUT OUT to our wonderful judge, prize giver, editor, literary agent assistant, writer, blogger, journalist, Brazilian, insomniac, and word nerd extraordinaire, Gabriela Lessa! Show her your thanks by following her on twitter and her blog. Not only is she giving up three prizes to the winners but she’s added more. Yay!
And now … drum roll please …
We have door prizes (I should just end all my sentences with an exclamation mark – I’m that excited)! Five to be exact. With the help of Random.org we’ve chosen five winners from the linky sign-up list who will each receive a query critique (no more than 500 words) by Gabriela Lessa…
What Gabriela had to say about her entry … Another one that not only shows this is a teen, but a younger high school kid. Everything in her actions and her reasoning shows a certain reverence to this head cheerleader, even if she’s hated. Her posture is not that of a senior, and the shock from the rest of the school confirms that. We can easily identify her age.
Stephanie Diaz
Rebecca Buss
Jeremy Cook
Jamie Corrigan
Susan Francino
And Gabriela wanted to acknowledge the following honorable mentions…
#4 Taffy Lovell
#5 Sharon Bayless
#11 1000th.monkey
Gabriela really liked your excerpts and is offering a 15% discount on any one of her services.
And now, the winners …
1st place and the winner of an edit of first 30 pages + 25% off any services they want to hire is…
What Gabriela had to say about her entry … Robin manages to catch the teenage spirit here. The vocabulary is appropriate to teenagers without being obvious, full of teen slang. Her character shows a concern with her looks, but it’s not overdone. She has a BFF and school bags, suggesting a teen, but she drives, so she has to be at least 16. Her voice in general made it clear for me that she was not a senior – she doesn’t have that air of superiority seniors usually have. So she had to be just 16. The way she reacts when caught, saying “like an idiot” seals the deal. I knew the exact age instantly and I didn’t need to think it over, but I didn’t feel like the author was hitting me in the head with it either. It flowed naturally. Fantastic!
Character’s age: 16
2nd place and winner of an edit of first 20 pages + 20% off any services is …
What Gabriela had to say about her entry … Great example of knowing how to differ an MG from a younger YA. The character’s concerns here and her line of thought show she’s not in high school yet. Every detail – from worrying about the teacher to justifying her actions – scream MG. Very well done.
Character’s age: 12
What Gabriela had to say about her entry … Another one that not only shows this is a teen, but a younger high school kid. Everything in her actions and her reasoning shows a certain reverence to this head cheerleader, even if she’s hated. Her posture is not that of a senior, and the shock from the rest of the school confirms that. We can easily identify her age.
Character’s age: 16
***All winners please email me at brendadrakecontests@gmail.com and I’ll send you instructions on how to collect your winnings.
And don’t forget, coming up on the blog in January…
Pitch contest with agent Ammi-Joan Paquette of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency. Joan only accepts submissions by referrals or conferences, so this is a great opportunity to get your work in front of her.
That’s it, for now…
22 Comments
Cassie Mae · December 13, 2011 at 3:36 pm
Awesome! Congrats to the winners! And thanks to Brenda and Gabriela. So much fun 🙂 And I learned a ton from this!
Tracey J · December 13, 2011 at 3:41 pm
Congrats to everyone. This was an amazing contest. 🙂
Stephanie Diaz · December 13, 2011 at 3:42 pm
Yay, thanks so much for hosting this contest! 🙂
Robin Weeks · December 13, 2011 at 4:04 pm
Pardon me while I hyperventilate…. Wow!!!!!! You guys rock!!! Gabriella, thanks sooooo much!!! Brenda, you really have something going here with the exclamation points!!!! Thanks!!!
Everyone’s entries were so good-I can’t believe I got first!
Kittie Howard · December 13, 2011 at 4:08 pm
Fantastic! Thanks to you, Brenda, and Gabriela. And congrats to the winners. One learns much from exercises like this.
Ryann · December 13, 2011 at 4:17 pm
Congrats to all the winners and thanks for hosting the contest, Brenda!
Heather Webb · December 13, 2011 at 4:40 pm
Congrats, folks! 🙂 And thank you, Brenda.
Jesi O'Connell · December 13, 2011 at 4:49 pm
Congratulations to the winners, honorable mentions, and everyone who entered! Great contest, I enjoyed it a lot.
R.A.Desilets · December 13, 2011 at 4:58 pm
Congratulations everyone! Thanks for hosting, Brenda!! Another fantastic contest, as usual!
Melinda · December 13, 2011 at 5:02 pm
Thanks Brenda, Gabriela, and everyone who helped me with my first page!
Congrats to everyone!
I’m very excited for Gabriela to look at my first 10! Thanks again! 🙂
E. Arroyo · December 13, 2011 at 6:19 pm
Congrats everyone! And thanks Brenda for hosting. =) This was fun.
Susan · December 13, 2011 at 6:40 pm
Thanks for the contest — it was so great to get a response to the age of my MC from readers — really made me look back at how she was written. Look forward to the contest in Jan!
Becca · December 13, 2011 at 7:04 pm
Oh! This is great, thank you! Even if I was just a result of random.org
erica m. chapman · December 13, 2011 at 9:22 pm
Congrats to everyone!! Great contest, B. Awesome entries everyone!!!
Crystal Licata · December 13, 2011 at 9:27 pm
Congrats to the winners! Thanks again to Brenda Drake for hosting such an awesome blog contest. Learned a ton and found some great fellow bloggers 🙂
Sarah Pearson · December 14, 2011 at 2:42 am
Congratulations to the winners 🙂
Susan Francino · December 14, 2011 at 8:08 am
Thank you so much for hosting this contest, Brenda! And thank you to Gabriela–especially for the extra prizes–you rock! Definitely looking forward to future contests/blogfests 🙂
Stephanie · December 14, 2011 at 8:52 am
Congrats to everyone!!!! And thanks to Brenda and Gabriela for doing this!! 🙂 I’m looking forward to January!! 🙂
Laura Josephsen · December 14, 2011 at 9:03 am
Congrats to all! 😀
And thanks again for hosting the contest–it was so much fun. 😀
Jamie Corrigan · December 14, 2011 at 9:30 pm
Congrats to all who won!! Thanks, Brenda for holding such an awesome contest!! & woo-hoo! Can’t believe I won a door prize!! Thank you again soooo much!! 🙂
Kate Coursey · December 15, 2011 at 12:16 am
I think this is such an interesting idea for a contest, and although I didn’t enter I had a lot of fun reading the submissions. Thanks for hosting, Brenda! And congrats to the winners :).
Deborah Oster Pannell · December 15, 2011 at 10:08 am
Congrats to all the winners! Fine writing all around… 🙂
And thanks again Brenda and Gabriela. What a great experience this has been. I learned so much, and it was an honor to make it as far as I did with all of you YA and MG writers with my much older character!
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