Well! As you might have noticed, I have 101 followers in the little box to the left there.
Honestly, I can't believe it. I feel like such a blog baby. I know nothing of the customs of this strange and wonderful land. I just put one post in front of the other and gaze about me at all the cool people and things.
Seriously, though, the online writing community is an awesome one, and I have learned so much from y'all.
I thought I'd try a little contest to celebrate (and to thank you) With real prizes and everything.
Here are the prizes:
1) A critique of the first 101 pages of your manuscript. I am not a professional editor, but I can certainly give you a fresh (and critical) set of eyes and typed one-page+ critique.
2) $10 gift card for iTunes so that you can buy yourself a couple of one-hit-wonders to celebrate.
3) 100 (X3) yards of pure Icelandic yarn from my alter-ego at Maggie's Farm.
How might such abundance be yours?
Here's how it works:
Add the first 101 words of your manuscript into the comments section of this post by April 15th I will use a random number generator to choose three winners.
It should be fun to share, and I hope-- in blog hop fashion-- you might stop in and visit the authors of your favorites.
You don't have to be a follower to win (though of course, it'd be appreciated) and you don't have to post about the contest (but again, that'd be super nice of you)
15 comments:
Cool contest! Here are the first 101 of my WIP:
“Daddy. You can’t be serious.”
His face was red, redder than normal, and that was not a good sign. “I’m not joking Betsy. You’ve been selected.”
The chair tipped over as I jumped to my feet. It clattered to the wide-planked, wood floor. Mother cringed at the noise—or maybe at the dent it was likely to leave. I didn’t care. “Who?” Throwing my hands in the air I shouted, “Why me?”
Dry fingers shuffled through the expensive white paper. The water mark, interlocking Gs, was a faint shadow when he held it at arm’s length. “It says that your genetic...
And that's it! I'll link your contest tomorrow!
Thanks, Becky! That's a great opening!
Very well then. May 2 be the number of your counting and may the number of your counting be 2. Here be the first 101 words of my WIP, THE GHOUL ARCHIPELAGO:
"The pirates brandished AK-47s, mostly. A few had dropped some serious cash for uzis, and one, probably a swabbie at best, waved a baseball bat with perpendicular nails hammered into it. The boss pirate started shouting first, but then his voice was almost immediately drowned out by a chorus of randomized phonemes, morphemes, and floating tones.
Captain Leon “Howling Mad” Martigan shook his head and clucked his tongue twice.
“Hot pink,” Martigan said, “What were they thinking?”
“What’d you say, skip?”
Martigan lowered the spyglass from his eye, then, thinking better of it, just let it drop. It was dangling from..."
And here endeth the excerpt, mid-sentence!
Congrats on hitting 101! Fun contest and cool prizes!
Congrats on breaking 100. This is such a great blog!
Here's my excerpt:
"For years, I had envisioned my juvie release under various scenarios: fanfare, nonexistent diplomatic immunity, and the detention center’s spontaneous combustion to name a few, but never as part of something so routine as scheduling my annual holiday retreat. I sat in Director Lady’s state-approved office with my uncle, Andy, to discuss my two full days away with the LaSalle clan. My mother’s brother had been my guardian for the last four and a half years. Not that he had an opportunity to flex guardian muscle since for the entire duration I was locked up for one life-altering mistake."
Also, I threw this up on the contests section of my blog. (http://aliciagregoire.blogspot.com)
Congrats on going over the 100. The blogging community of writers is so friendly and supportive. I love it!
Thanks for coming over to my blog and following. I'm pleased to meet you, and I'm following your blog.
Wow - Perri - Congratulations. I am so impressed. You need to share your secrets.
I've already been the lucky beneficiary of a Perri technique, and take it from me this is a prize worth winning! Plus the wool is probably awesome.
Unfortunately the small-print rules and regulations would surely bar me from entering.
Thanks for the fun contest.
Here are the first 101 words of my manuscript:
Let it be known far and wide, that being a mother cramps your style.
It is a wonderful prospect, those tiny-footed flannel clothes and a sweet little nook of a bed. A star speckled future for the smooth skinned human that just emerged from your Pussy, so full of promise, so full of hope. This right that we have, as women, to procreate, to conceive in love or something else, but let’s start with love, this right has a major price tag.
It is like shopping with a mystery credit card at the store of your dreams.
Until you actually get...
You can drop in to my blog at www.laundrylinedivine.com if you like. I post about mothering, seeing and celebrating the sacred in daily life. I love to feature other people's work too.
XO Suzi
Hi Perri. I got to your site through a member of my writing group and glad I'm here. This contest made me focus on editing (even though I'm not quite done with my wip) and I'm frankly astounded at how much better it is, knowing I have 101 words to show. Good exercise.
You can read my blog at www.magpiewrites.blogspot.com. I'll be blogging about this contest and other weekly links tomorrow.
Best
magpie
BOOKEND
It’s early, before dawn but at the bakery everyone’s been up for hours. I stand where I always stand, down the alley in back, opposite her window. It’s the best place to look at her. I want to see her before she can see me. I’ll go in soon and buy the morning bread and a cinnamon knot for Story. Story got another tooth last night and she needs something to gnaw on while I finish whittling her teething ring. But the bakery isn’t open yet and I need to see Jane first, get over her loveliness before talking to her.
Welcome, Magpiewrites! The 101 thing does help to pare and polish. I've been wanting to post mine :)
Great blog, by the way.
Thanks for visiting my blog. I'm a brand spanking newbie so I know not what I do. I just posted about your contest on my blog, hoping it brings my modest followers to you. And, yes, please do post your first 101 words - it's show and tell time!
How fun. Here's mine.
"Numbers danced in the back of my mind. They piled high providing safety and structure to the confusing world that surrounded me. 829, 839, 853… I hugged my knees tight against my chest and gasped for air between choking sobs. I was lost, alone, and counting. …947, 953, 967… Knocking echoed in the back of my mind and I opened my eyes.
The knock came again, louder. I expected it to be knuckles on wood—my mom, come to give me some hollow motherly words of wisdom. I had nothing to say to that woman. But the sound was of knuckles on glass."
Congratulations on 101 + followers! And cute contest idea! I think I'll enter when I'm at my home computer, where my story lives.
Melissa
Fun contest, Perri. And that yarn looks beautiful (I don't do any yarn crafts but if I win, I think I'll have to start!)
My 101:
I eyed my pillow like an enemy. It beckoned, white and smooth, the promise of oblivion. And yet I dreaded sleep. The fear that it could happen again, that I might wake up wandering somewhere in the house, or even worse, down in the field by the canal, kept me from closing my eyes.
I sat on the window seat, a neglected book beside me. Though it was well past eleven, the last threads of light lingered on the gardens and the flat green lawn surrounding Heraldsgreen House. In Memphis, it would have been dark by this time, but June nights in Scotland were so short.
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