A Costume Party With Prizes!

Halloween is 13 days away! It's my favorite holiday. Yup, even more than Christmas. I LOVE dressing up and I just squee with delight when I see little children in costume.

This year, John and I are going to my friend's 50th birthday bash. Costumes mandatory. Know what we're dressing up as?

Captain Jack Sparrow and

Angelica

Of course, we won't look exactly like them, but we can pretend. I'll post the photos after the party.

In the meantime, I thought it would be fun for all of us to have a Costume Party! 

Here are The Rules:

1. Dig out a photo of yourself dressed up in your favorite costume.

2. E-mail it to me at deestan62 at gmail dot com. (My address is written that way to confuse spammers.)

3. I will post the photos to my Facebook Author Page.

Here is The Prize:

The photo that gets the most 'likes' by midnight on October 30th will win a Kindle copy of 31 More Nights of Halloween.

Doesn't that sound like fun? Invite your friends to join in and make sure you tell them to vote for your photo.

Best Indie Book Festival!

It's here! It's here! The Best Indie book Festival is here!

CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE FUN!

This two-day event is sponsored by World Literary Cafe

For the past week, a group of bloggers known as Melissa Foster's Awesome Support Team, (aka #GoTeamPIF) have been spreading the news about the top 5 finalists in the literary fiction and thriller genres. We've tweeted, posted on Facebook, and  conducted author interviews on our blogs. 

Now, here's your chance to get in on the fun! 10 Award-Winning Authors! 

Enter to win Amazon gift cards! (No purchase necessary!)

Click this link right HERE!

Spreading The News--Another Contest...

I received an e-mail this morning from The First Line Literary Journal. They are running a contest and I just had to pass it along to all my wonderful followers. Here you go:

The First Line First Line Contest

To celebrate our 15th year, we’re giving you a chance to inspire the world. Send us your best (original and unpublished) starter sentences, and we’ll pick four to use for next year’s first lines.

You have until August 31st to submit. The winners will receive $50 and five copies of the issue that was inspired by your first line.

The rules:
1. Sentences must be your ORIGINAL, previously unpublished creations.
2. You may submit up to two (2) sentences for consideration.
3. Send entries in the body of an email to: contest@thefirstline.com. Do not send attachments.

4. Include your email or mailing address for notification.
5. All entries must be received by 6 p.m. (EST) on August 31, 2012.

Oh yeah, there’s NO entry fee.

Good luck!

Birthday Giveaway Results!

(Source)

Whew! It's been a hectic month so far, but maybe it just feels that way because I'm so much older. :D

I know you're all waiting anxiously, so let's move on to the Birthday Giveaway results!

After careful number crunching of entries, writing down names (numerous times)on little slips of paper, folding said papers, placing those papers into a bowl, careful mixing, and plucking of one tiny paper from the pile of 36, I've decided I need to find some kind of gadget to do all that for me for my next giveaway!

First, I want to thank you ALL for your birthday wishes, and for sharing with us.  

Here was the tally of entrants and their entries (hopefully I didn't miss any!):

Claudette--8

Courtney--5

Veronica--4

Claudine--4

Kim--6

Mariah--5

Shannon--4

AND the winner is---------do you hear a drum roll?------------

CLAUDETTE!!!

Congratulations! I will need your shipping address to send your box of goodies.

Now, if you didn't win, don't worry. I'll be sure to have another giveaway soon. 

Thank you all for playing along. :D

*****
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Celebrating With A Giveaway!

(Source)

The Bible tells us it is better to give than to receive. Personally, I think receiving is fun also. So to celebrate my 50th birthday this month with all of you, I am offering a giveaway! That's right, the birthday girl is turning things around. Aren't presents fun?

So, you know I collect fairies, right?

And you know I collect crayons, right?

Well, I decided to put together a few of my favorite things to share with you:

(Sorry about the photo quality)

That's right, a gift for you! Yay!

There are fairy stickers and note cards, bath crayons, colored pencils, flower seeds, and of course, an autographed copy of Courtney Rene's Shadow Warrior!

Doesn't that sound like fun? Share with us, and I'll share with you! This contest will run from today until midnight on June 18th. A winner will be announced on Tuesday, June 19th. 

So, if you would like a chance to win this fun prize, here's how to get entries:

~Leave a comment, telling everyone what YOU collect. 

~Follow my blog.

~Like my Facebook Author Page.

~Follow me on Twitter.

~Add me to your circle on Google+

~Share this giveaway on your blog.
~Share this giveaway on your Facebook page.

~Tweet about this giveaway.

That's a total of EIGHT possible entries! 

Be sure to tell me the number of entries you are eligible for in your comment. 

Good Luck!

FundsforWriters Essay Contest

Here's a quick post about a market I came across. Thought I'd spread the news...

The 10th Annual FundsforWriters Essay Contest seeks nonfiction submissions.

First prize $400. Five additional cash prizes. Zero entry fee and $5 entry fee categories. Theme: Diligence.

Limit 750 words. Email submissions only.

Guidelines at www.fundsforwriters.com/annualcontest.htm . Direct questions to hope@fundsforwriters.com Chosen by Writer's Digest for its 101 Best Websites for Writers designation for 2001-2011.

"Contests offer a barometer. Everyday people and seasoned scholars can enter the same competitions, both trying to step up another rung on that ladder. Even honorable mention is hope. It's a nod that what you fight to pen words at night, on weekends, at dawn before the family is up, your effort is deemed worthy."

--FundsforWriters

Short Story Contest

Wow!  I can't believe it's been 16 days since my last blog post!  I apologize for being so scarce lately. Sometimes when I start a new project, I find myself eating, sleeping, and dreaming about it until I'm done.

My femme fatale novel project is halfway through the first revision and it's coming along nicely. Unfortunately, I'm racking my brain for a title. My quest for agents to query has also begun and the first chapter of The Clover Key (a YA historical fantasy) is rewritten in a new point of view.  Next, comes the outlining for the second and third chapters.  YUCK!  But that's for another post...

I've even gone through over 150 e-mails of newsletters, market updates, funny jokes, etc. with a resolution to scan my e-mail once a week.  Not to mention playing Cityville on Facebook, but that's like therapy.

Needless to say, I've been busy. As I'm sure you ALL are.

I find that working on big projects, like novels, are fun but sometimes a short story creeps into my head that begs to be written down.  (Yes, I write on paper with a lead pencil, first.  ALWAYS.)

So, I came across a short story contest I thought I would pass along to all of you:

WEEKLY WRITER'S SPRING 24-HOUR SHORT STORY CONTEST

http://www.writersweekly.com/misc/contest.html

The entry fee is only $5.00!
Each contest is limited to 500 entrants and they give away 85 (yup, 85) prizes!  (I like those odds.)

1st Place: $300
2nd Place: $250
3rd Place: $200

So, this is how it works:
Visit the website to register for the contest and to view the extensive list of prizes.  Start time is April 30th, 2011 at 12:00pm (noon) central time.
When you register, you can download a PDF file of the guidelines.  BUT you cannot write a story and then enter the contest. No, no, no.
Here's where the fun starts--At 12 noon, you will receive an e-mail with the contest topic and the word count. (It will also be posted on the website when the contest starts.)
You have 24 hours to write a short story and submit it according to their guidelines.

This contest is fun and inexpensive and gets the creative juices flowing.  Why not give it a try?

http://www.writersweekly.com/misc/contest.html