Unleash the Creative Muse Contest!!!!!!!

Hey, y'all! I'm peeping into Blogland today to kick off a cool, artistic, writerly contest I know you'll enjoy!

My Divalicious friend Steph Jordan will judge AND create the BEAUTIFUL AWESOME WRITING JOURNAL for the winner. (And as usual, I might have a few prizes around to give out to some other lucky winners.)

Details~~~~>

1.) Put your artist's beret on and come up with your best design idea for the cover of a writer's journal. State your theme, colors, and any other blingy ideas that come to mind in a comment.

2.) If your blog ID isn't connected to your signature, please leave an email address or link so I can get in touch with you if you're a winner!

3.) Steph will choose a winner, create the journal using your winning idea, and mail you your one-of-a-kind prize.

4.) ONE entry per person. We're limiting this particular contest to US residents only. (Sorry...postal costs and all that.)

5.) Contest runs through next Wednesday, July 6th (midnight Central time). We'd sure be obliged if you shared the contest with your friends and buddies. :)

Now, don't be shy! There's NO artistic creation Steph can't whip up! If you need some inspiration, cruise her Etsy shop for bright splashes of color HERE or her uplifting blog:  Living in Color.

Wheeeeeeee...hugs to all, and I'll be back on a regular basis VERY soon. Got lots to tell ya, lots going on, lots accomplished, travel stories, etc. etc. etc. to share. It's A-MAZING what you can do if you "unplug" for a few months. XXO

Writerly Wednesday ~~ LOBO Blog Contest!!

Hidy, writerly friends! Got a great little contest for you today with fab prizes!!!!!

We're all excited about Kat Magendie's THIRD book, SWEETIE's release! Here's a little taste from an early review...

Five stars. FIVE STARS to this book. I'm out of breath from being totally blown away by this beautiful coming-of-age story. Parts of this book reminded me of an old favorite book, The Shepherd of the Hills by Harold Bell Wright. Kathryn Magendie has captured some magic in her descriptions of the Smoky Mountains and has created a character in Sweetie that will live on in my memory.

I had a sneaking suspicion after reading the first chapter that I would like this book, but I did not expect it to flat out floor me. The development of the story, the characters, the way Magendie manipulates her readers emotions threw me for a loop and had me laughing and crying .. sometimes loudly. This is the perfect book for you folks who love a good coming-of-age story with a touch of magic in it. I cannot wait to get my greedy hands on a physical copy as soon as I can (as I received this via Netgalley).

Read the entire review here at The Lost Entwife. And another great one here: Library Thing.

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Now, about that contest........


This is a LOBO (Leave One, Bring One) event that's easier than it sounds. LOL. You simply leave a comment, and bring a friend to leave a comment too. Comment about what, you ask? Tell us what you love most about Kat and her writing or blog. Easy!


EXAMPLE:  "I love Kat's mountain hick voice. John T." Then your friend comes by and leaves his/her comment. "I think Kat is a beautiful person." Suzy Q (friend of John T.)


Contest Rules:


1.) Leave a comment on what you love best about Kat or her writing.


2.) Have a friend do the same, AND SIGN HIS/HER COMMENT WITH, "FRIEND OF (YOUR NAME)." You can comment as a friend for someone else only once, and also enter yourself by bringing another friend once.


3.) This isn't a requirement, just a favor -- please spread the word about this contest. SWEETIE and KAT deserve oodles of publicity. I know y'all love to Tweet and Facebook cool stuff, so how's about sharing the love? Thanks!


4.) Contest runs through Sunday midnight, December 5, Central Time. Use your imagination and writing skills. Creativity counts!


5.) PRIZE PACKAGE: Winner will receive a copy of SWEETIE, hot off the presses, signed by our friend and author, Kat Magendie; a lovely matching book cover necklace that says, "Hold out Hope" (you can see it looped over the cover in the photo below); some cool gel writing pens; and an Amazon or B&N gift certificate (winner's choice) for $20.00. As I'm prone to do, I may throw some other goodies in the pretty red gift bag too!

SO, GET BUSY, SPREAD THE WORD, AND GOOD LUCK TO ENTRANTS!!!

Get Sweetie at Amazon in paperback or for your Kindle!

Writerly Wednesday ~~ The Envelope, Please

Thanks to all who participated in the Snarky Editor contest. Poor ol' Doofus -- he got raked over the coals, but it was all in good fun! I truly appreciate you kind folks to Tweeted and FaceBooked and such. Yes I do!

The winners of signed copies of Kat's Tender Graces and some Cajun goodies are:

1. Deb Schubert
2. JKS
3. Karen

Congrats, and good job with your editorial skills. :D If you want to read the great responses and get a grin or two, go to this post.


Now...I gots a question for you: What inspires you to write and revise? Your very best motivator? (Hey, leave a comment, and who knows? I might just send a lucky blogger a prize too, as long as I'm headed to the post office anyway.)

Must See Contest & Prizes...

If you haven't already, hop over to Roni & Julie's Totally Epic Summer Contest and check out this rockin' competition for you writerly types. And the prizes? Top shelf!

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Also......don't forget to check out my interview with awesome author Julie Compton in the post right there below.......

Book Title Contest!

The last book naming contest was so much fun, let's do it again!

The rules are simple:

• Pick your favorite photo from some I recently shot.
• Create a corresponding book title.
• Leave your entry [Photo number, title and genre] in a comment, and make sure I have some way to get in touch with you in case you're the winner. 
• One per customer, please.
• Contest ends Sunday, November 8, midnight Central time.
• Winner gets a Cajun Goody package!

Your entry should look like this~~>
#3 Just Below the Surface - Horror/Fantasy (suz_e_q@yahoo.com) [Add address only if you don't have one attached to your profile!]

Feel free to spread the word on Twitter, in the Blogosphere, at your FaceBook, or wherever. The more the merrier!

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And the Envelope Please...

Thanks to the almost 100 of you who entered the Book Title contest! I couldn't believe the amount of entries or the quality of titles to go with photographs submitted. GREAT JOB, y'all!

If you missed the original post, read it and the cool title entries here.

The hard part was choosing just two winners. I finally put the top 10 entires (written out on sticky notes) in front of me and asked myself, "Self, which books would you take from the bookstore shelf and buy just by virtue of the cover art and title?" Having the help of several extra sets of reader eyeballs helped too.

So without further ado, the winners are:

The Writer's Package -- Tere Kirkland of The Lesser Key. What a wonderful title she crafted for picture #4. It actually made me laugh. I know I'd want to buy this book and take it home to devour: "Mary J. Freed's Summer of Stupidity" - Women's Fiction.

The Cajun Goody Package -- B.J. Anderson's entry for photo #7: "Blending In: & Other Essentials for Staying Alive in High School" - Young Adult. B.J.'s book does sound like essential school equipment!

{***I'll need your mailing addresses ladies!}

And the close runners-up were:

Mandy at Mandy's Life After 30 for photo #3 - "If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It: A Healthy Guide To Cajun Marriage" - Non-fiction/Self-help.

Regina Green at Red Bird Chronicles (a wonderful poet herself) for #9 - "the color of north" - Poetry.

Sandra Leigh's "Touching Gauguin" - Romance - from photo #1.

Chromiumman for #8 - "Turn, Turn, Turn: My Summer as a Carnie" -Autobiography.


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I'll be running another fun contest soon, and in the meantime, don't forget to continue leaving links to your favorite online indie artists/artisan's "shops" so I can compile them into Shoppers' Resource Guide for the holidays. Thanks!

Ho-Ho-Ho and Holy Guacamole!

What's up with me rushing the holiday season by doing a Santa shout-out and posting an elfin photo of my parents I made a few years ago on Jibjab, you ask? (Aren't they precious?)

Well, I want to do some Christmas shopping this year from online folks...support the arts and artisans, ya know? And since I've been known to go to hardware stores on Christmas Eve to do a last minute gift-grab, I thought I'd do it a better, more efficient way for a change. (Hey, don't laugh; hardware stores NEVER have crowds and they carry such nifty items for everyone on your list!)

Here's where you come in. If you have friends, family or bloggy pals who sell artsy items, I'd be ever so grateful if you'd leave me a link or info. in a comment! Kathryn Magendie is also looking around for online sellers, so hope over to her blog and give her the 411 too, if you would. Thanks in advance!

If I get enough resource links, I'll compile them and post them in a few days so you can help support our online community too.

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Now, for the holy guacamole part: I've got close to one hundred (100) entries in the book title contest, and couldn't be happier! I'll be hosting this contest again real soon as it was the most popular post ever!

So, all you kind contestants and those of you who are just waiting with bated breath to find out the winners (yeah, I'm picking two -- one for the Cajun goodie package and one for the writer's delight package), you'll have to hang on til Wednesday to get the news. Sorry, but there are just too many great entries to go through. I've already got them divided up into different levels, but I want to read them a few more times.

The book title suggestions corresponding to the photos are REALLY fun to read, so if you have time in your blog hopping today, take a gander at all these interesting titles HERE!

Back tomorrow with a new Tuesday Recipe. Hope you had a fantabulous weekend, and everything is going smooth as buttuh in your world.

*Graphic from Triple F tees.

Short & Sweet Book Title Contest!

It's time to roll out another contest in honor of fall's approach and in celebration of the blog tallying  50,000 visitors!

Since just about all my bloggy friends {Insert Hank Williams, Jr.'s All My Rowdy Friends tune here} are neck deep in the business of working on their WIPs and/or just keeping up with life in general, I'll make it easy:

1. Pick from among the 10 photos I've taken recently  
2. Create a corresponding book title
3. Leave your entry (Photo number, title and genre) in a comment
4. One per customer, please
5. Contest runs through Sunday, October 4th, midnight Central time
6. Winner gets choice of Writer's Delight or Cajun Goodies package

Good luck! And pass the word around, wontcha?

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*Book graphic from http://asymptotia.com/

Calling Goober #100

Okay, my blogging friends -- Gumbo Writer's Goobers (Followers), visitors, regular readers, and drive-bys/dropper-inners alike -- first let me say how much I really heart y'all.

Secondly, I don't condone bloggers trolling and begging for or otherwise applying used car salesman-like pressures to amass followers who probably don't wanna be followers. Gah-awww-lyyy (said in Goober Pyle of Mayberry RFD voice), I figure you're like me...if I dig a blog a lot, I'm gonna follow it without anyone asking. Right?

So, with that said, I've noticed my bloggy home is approaching the golden number of 100 Goobers! (Yeah, I know, I'm slow on the uptake sometimes...deal with it.) And since Mars and Jupiter have apparently aligned in my cranium, I thought it might be nice to have a little contest in conjunction with the 100th Follower appearing out of the ether. How's that sound? Besides, I adore round figures (sorta like my own physique), and wish the same look for my full-bodied blog. LOL

Goober #100 will be awarded some jazzy snazzy blog bling to display in perpetuity. Said Goober will also receive some trashy little trinket (um, I mean highly valuable fantabulous prize) in the mail if he/she resides in the continental U.S. That's right...I'm cheap and quick like my favorite recipes!

Sidebar: Seriously, please don't feel pressured to jump on the Goober bandwagon...although I DO hasten to add that we have a good time amongst our nutty selves. And, of course, if you're a mercenary man or material girl and just want the goods, that's fine too. *wink*