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WritersNotes.Net: Helping Writers Follow Their Dreams Through Information, Inspiration, and Encouragement!
I've Won--And So Have Seven Others!
Just wanted to let everyone know that I've won one of the eight prizes offered in the Win Up to $500 Writing About Cell Phone Users and Abusers! contest hosted by Brad Shorr at Word Sell, Inc. What a wonderful surprise it was to visit Word Sell a few days ago and see my name listed among the winners! (I was one of three people who won $100! There were also a $500 grand prize and four $50 prizes--a truly generous lineup of contest prizes!) To see a list of all eight winners and their respective prizes, see Brad's post, Announcing! Cell Phone Contest Prizes. (Be sure to visit Word Sell often for Brad's insightful advice on how you can use the written word to effectively market yourself, your ideas, products, or services.)
Contest Details and Links to Individual Entries
Winners were chosen by random drawing after penning posts about cell phone use and abuse, which they published to their own blogs, as their contest entries, sending links to Brad. In case you'd like to read the fascinating entries, Brad has also published a Cell Phone Users and Abusers Contest Roundup post containing links to all the entries. This group of blog posts represents a host of perspectives on a topic which is redefining modern life.
A Contest Highlighting Dr. Mike O'Malley's "Cell Hell" Book
The Cell Phone Users and Abusers contest was held to publicize Dr. Mike O'Malley's new book, Cell Hell: 55 Cell Phone Users You'd Like to Silence, which provides an entertaining look at the people who annoy, irritate, and sometimes even place us in mortal danger through their appalling cell phone habits. My own entry was The Cell Phone: Both a Blessing and a Curse.
If you have a cell phone story to tell, Dr. O'Malley is interested in receiving your stories of cell phone abuse. Visit his website to send him a message via his contact form.
Just had to share this wonderful news with all of you!
Thanks for reading!
Jeanne
Did you enjoy this post? Have any thoughts to share on this contest? How about other contests you've entered? How do the prizes offered in this contest compare to those of other contests in which you've participated? Do they seem especially generous, average, common, or rare, based on your past experience? Have you ever won a contest? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Please note: If the StumbleUpon and other social bookmarking buttons aren't visible, please click the "Add Comments" link beneath this post. Thanks!
It Couldn't Have Happened to a Better Blogger!
Michele Tune is a wonderful blogger--in more ways than one. First of all, she's an excellent writer, which makes her blog a delight to read. And secondly, she's a beautiful person--friendly, caring, giving--which makes her a delight to know. She's the blogger who came forward recently and generously offered to write a guest post here at Writer's Notes to help me out due to my personal and family illness. Here's her guest post: That's What Bloggers Are For!
And the Winner is...Michele Tune!
Michele also recently entered a contest put on by Rebecca Laffar-Smith at Writer's Round-About, in which she was required to write a review of Rebecca's blog, post it to her own blog, and then submit a link to it for voting by Rebecca's readers. It was a close and anxious race, as Michele and another contestant, LaskiGal, took turns repeatedly gaining and losing the first place position. When the final results were in, Michele had won by three votes (29 to LaskiGal's 26). Congratulations to both ladies: to Michele, who won a $100 Amazon gift certificate and LaskiGal, who won a $50 one! Congratulations also go out to Melissa Donovan, who won the third place prize, a $25 Amazon gift certificate, with 25 votes! Here's Rebecca's post presenting the contest results: New Design Launch - Contest Results!
Thanks for Supporting a Great Writer and a Wonderful Person!
I'd like to thank all my readers who visited and voted for Michele's post--or Stumbled it--after I announced the contest in a note at the end of her guest post. Thanks so much for helping an excellent writer/blogger--and fantastic person--win a much-deserved prize! Michele plans to use her gift certificate to buy books to help her grow and improve as a writer. I'm sure it will be an adventure! Happy shopping, Michele! We're glad you have this opportunity to develop your already-considerable skills--even if we do love you just the way you are! Hope LaskiGal and Melissa will also enjoy their Amazon shopping sprees, getting whatever makes them happiest! (There were five fine entries to the contest. It's too bad everybody couldn't win!)
Thanks again, everyone!
Jeanne
P.S. Don't forget to visit Michele's blog: Writing the Cyber Highway. I'm sure you'll love reading what she has to say!
P.S.S. I know you'll enjoy Rebecca's blog, as well! So, why not drop by Writer's Round-About for a visit?
Did you enjoy this post? Have anything to add? We'd love to hear your thoughts! Why not congratulate Michele on her awesome feat. She had some pretty stiff competition!
A Fantastic Valentine's Day Surprise!
Yesterday I learned that, thanks to visits by my loyal readers, blog buddies, non-blog buddies, definitely non-blogging family members, and even one of my pastors--along with the readers of Matt's blog and a number of the aforementioned people who saw fit to Stumble my post--my Five Ways to Make Other Bloggers Absolutely Adore You! guest post came in first for the number of unique visits received by the Valentine's Day deadline! My post received 635 unique visits between January 22nd when I submitted it and February 14th when the Blogging Fingers Guest Posting Contest ended. Not a huge number over a three-week period, but "huge" enough to win.
Thanks to All Who Helped Me Win!
Many thanks to everyone who visited my contest post! (Some of you even visited more than once, which I appreciate, though only your first visit was counted.) To all who visited: You are the ones who made it happen! Thank you from the bottom of my heart! And special thanks to everyone who left comments on my post! Thanks so much for cheering me on! I also received encouraging e-mails from many of my blogging friends and from others, as well, which helped keep me optimistic to the end. Extra special thanks to all who Stumbled my post! Thanks to each and every one of you for helping me win!
Thanks to Matt for a Prompt Payout of the Prize Money!
My prize was $50 for receiving the most unique visits to my post and $10 for submitting one of the first entries to the contest. (Actually, all contestants won the $10 prize, since the number of entries was low.) Matt deposited the prize money ($60) into my PayPal account promptly yesterday, exactly as promised. Thanks, Matt!
A Great Experience!
I really enjoyed having the opportunity to enter this contest, which I'd decided to do almost on a whim, not really expecting to win. I simply made up my mind one day to just go for it and then sat down and wrote and submitted the post. It's been a great experience having a voice on another blog with a whole new readership, and it was a privilege to compete with the other fine contestants. Guys, your submissions were great! Let's hope Matt decides to do this again soon.
A Growing Interest In Guest Blogging
One thing this contest has done for me--aside from providing a few needed dollars--is give me a taste for guest blogging. I definitely plan to do more of it when I can manage to find the time. It's a great way for a blogger to spread her wings and explore--new audiences, new expectations, a new angle or new focus, maybe even a new topic. Who knows where it could lead? I guess only time will provide the answer to that question.
Thanks again, everyone, for your support!
Jeanne
Did you enjoy this post? What do you think of guest posting? Have you done it? Do you enjoy it? Why not share your experiences--and links to your guest posts--in comments?
A New Blog that Led Me to Another Great New Site
As I checked my Technorati ranking yesterday, I noticed a Blog Reaction (backlink to my blog) that came from a blog I'd never, to my knowledge, visited before. This made me curious, so I clicked on over to check it out. When I arrived at the PhilMcDonnell.com blog, I discovered that in his post, Viral Day, Phil had reproduced a fascinating list of links that has been making its way around the blogosphere. (To learn more about the list, click the link to the "Viral Day" post.) At any rate, Writer's Notes was on the list, and hence my visit to his blog.
The Free Rice Site Where Words Buy Food for the Hungry
While I was there, I noticed another interesting post, called Free Rice.... The post tells of a United Nations World Food Program effort to feed the hungry which is partially supported by a website called Free Rice. This site offers its visitors a multiple-choice vocabulary quiz, with multiple levels of difficulty (50 to be exact); and the site--or rather its sponsors--pledge to donate 10 grains of rice to the U.N. effort for every correct definition chosen. While it's true that 10 grains isn't much rice, if enough people get enough answers correct, it could grow into a substantial amount of food for hungry people around the world. (According to the site's home page, 45,925,390 grains of rice were donated yesterday and 52,142,290 the day before. The site also publishes a list which includes a breakdown of the daily rice donations that have been contributed so far.)
My First Intellectual Donation to the Fight to End World Hunger
I, personally, earned 2,000 grains of rice yesterday by correctly defining 200 words. (I don't know how many words I attempted, since I got many of them wrong. [Decided not to use my dictionary.]) But, this quiz is a great way to improve your vocabulary while doing your small part to help those less fortunate than you. And, of course you can go back again and again, whenever you're inclined to learn a few words and feed a few mouths.
Win-Win Situation: How the Quiz Works
The vocabulary skill level varies as you take the quiz based on whether your definitions are correct or not. When you get three words in a row right, you're moved up a level, and when you get one wrong, you're moved down a level. It's a fascinating mental exercise! Personally, I tended to hover around the 40-43 mark, though I went as low as 38 and as high as 45. But, the great thing about this test is that, no matter what level you're at, you still earn 10 grains of rice for every correct answer, and you never lose any when you get an answer wrong. So it's a win-win situation! You win by learning new words that you'll be able to use in your writing--and understand in your reading--and the hungry peoples of the world who are on the receiving end of the U.N. World Food Program win by receiving the fruits of your intellectual labors.
So why not check out the site, learn a few new words, and help feed the hungry!
Happy helping!
Jeanne
Did you enjoy this post? Have anything to add? We'd love to hear your comment!
Writer's Notes a "Top Site" at Top Site of the Day
I just found out a few hours ago, via my list of Blog Reactions on Technorati, that Top Site of the Day has reviewed Writer's Notes a second time, this time designating it a "Top Site"!
This is very exciting, because, as many of you know, Charles Young reviewed Writer's Notes several weeks ago and, while he loved the blog's content, as well as a few other things about it, certain critical elements were missing which were necessary in order for him to assign it "Top Site" status. At that time, Charles's review designated Writer's Notes as a "Notable Site."
Review #1 Was Decent, But Some Work Was Still Needed
Shortly after that first review, I set right to work correcting problems and incorporating the features that were lacking here at Writer's Notes. I'd really known for some time that my blog had a few problems (in such areas as layout, organization, navigation, and ad size and placement), but Charles's review was just the incentive I needed to get me moving on making those needed changes.
After I was through, I informed Charles of my site revamp, which his review and subsequent e-mail critique had inspired, and hinted that, if he were to review my blog again now, I was sure it would do much better than it had the first time. But he informed me that he couldn't review it again that soon. So, I simply had to wait a bit.
The Second Time Was a Charm!
As the weeks passed and I became busy with my writing, for the most part, I forgot all about it. That's why I was so surprised to learn that Charles had gone ahead and done the review. And that's also why I was so surprised to learn that Writer's Notes was his choice today for "Top Site of the Day."
Here's a link to Charles's post on Top Site of the Day: A Top Choice: WritersNotes.Net
Thanks for sharing this satisfying moment with me!
Here for you,
Jeanne
Did you enjoy this post? Don't leave me lonely--Please comment!
My Rockin' Girl Blogger Award
After winning the award herself, Laura Spencer, over at Writing Thoughts has presented me with the Rockin' Girl Blogger Award. And I am very honored that Laura has chosen me as one of her ten recipients.
My Choices for the Rockin' Girl Blogger Award
In the spirit of passing the torch, I now nominate the following girl bloggers for the Rockin' Girl Blogger Award:
Melissa Garrett at The Silver Tongue
Sylvia C at Sylvia's Insight
Denise Grier at Freelancing Journey
Michi Beck at Content Done Better
Julia Temlyn at Mrs. Write Right, Word Therapist
Joanna Young at Confident Writing
Anne Wayman at The Golden Pencil
Ashley Sinatra at Savvy Writer
Deborah Ng at Freelance Writing Jobs
Liz Strauss at Successful Blog
To My Readers:
Let's celebrate the achievements of all ten of these Rockin' Girl Bloggers by visiting their blogs, reading their awesome posts, and leaving them lots of comments!
To the Ten Girl Bloggers Listed Above:
You rock! Please keep the Rockin' Girl Blogger Award going by choosing any number of other girl bloggers who you feel deserve to be recognized for the rockin' job they do for their readers!
Rock on!
Jeanne
P.S. Though Joanna Young and Anne Wayman were nominated for this award by Yvonne Russell at Grow Your Writing Business before my blog post went live, I've decided to go ahead and nominate them anyway, at Yvonne's suggestion, since my post was written before I found out about her choices.
Congratulations, ladies, on being nominated twice!
Did you enjoy this post? Don't leave me lonely--Please comment!
Just in case you fiction writers out there need a bit of inspiration to sit down and pen a tale--particularly a suspenseful crime tale, I will share with you my flash fiction piece, Confession. This short story won a recent writing contest at Iron Pyramid Publications (out of 64 entries) and is currently ranked #1 out of 52 stories about "The Other Woman" on Helium.Com. (Though the rankings at Helium can change daily, Confession has so far held the #1 slot since its posting in January 2007.) It's quite suspenseful--or so I'm told.
Read on--and then sharpen your pencils, fire up your computers, get creative, and start writing!
Confession
A Wife Lets Her Unfaithful Husband in On a Murderous Little Secret
Hello, Darling.
You'd better sit down. I have something to tell you.
I went for a walk tonight...to your mistress's house. Yes, Darling, I've known about her for weeks. And, you know, it wasn't as difficult as I'd imagined it would be.
She didn't utter a sound when it hit. I hadn't really expected her to. Her eyes merely took on a fleeting expression of...shock--as if she couldn't comprehend what was happening and was absolutely petrified by it all--and then...it was over.
All it took was one shot. It was what a pro might call "a real clean job," though now I know that pros don't mean the same thing when they say "clean" as we amateurs are likely to think.
Actually, it was quite messy. You know, Darling, people like me--average, everyday folks, who've never had occasion to handle firearms (previously, that is)--tend to think of them as instruments that drill neat little holes into people and that's that. For some reason we visualize no blood; we imagine no gore. How naive we are, Darling!
That's not at all the way it is! In fact, it's terribly shocking the first time you look down at that...corpse...covered in real, red, blood--the kind you could never stand the sight of--and staring, like something out of a horror movie, at...nothing. And it's eerie the way it lies so still, exactly the way it fell. You keep expecting it to move, to look up at you and say something...but it doesn't. It just lies there...staring.
Well, Darling, I stood there looking down at her...at it...for a while--a few minutes, perhaps--to be sure that she was dead. But, no, that wasn't the reason. I knew she was dead. I suppose I simply couldn't draw myself away. After all, I'd never seen a...corpse...before.
You must understand, Darling. I hadn't wanted to kill her. As they say: In other circumstances, we might have been the best of friends. But try to imagine what it must be like to lose the one you love most in life, the one who supplies the little sunshine there is in your drab existence, the only one you've ever trusted! Have you any idea how it feels to have that trust betrayed? But how could you, Darling? You've never had the misfortune to experience it. If you had, you'd understand that the act was committed in desperation. You'd see why I had to do it.
I freely admit that I went to her house for the express purpose of killing her. But I wasn't responsible for my actions. You've no idea how the hatred and jealousy seethed in me as I left the house earlier this evening. The emotions were beyond my control; they'd grown and multiplied since the first day I learned of your affair, until I simply had no choice but to satisfy them. They drove me to an act I would never even have contemplated before they dominated my life.
I did it because I loved you, Darling. But, you know what's funny? Tonight I discovered something infinitely more satisfying than love. Can you guess what it is, Darling?
Yes, that's right--revenge!
Good-bye, Darling...
**************
Now, you try it! Then, check out the second Relate This Post listing at the end of this blog entry for some info on a possible market for your crime-related masterpiece. (To learn more about Helium.Com, check out the first Relate This Post link.)
Happy writing!
Jeanne
Did you enjoy this post? Don't leave me lonely--Please comment!
I'm very excited to announce that my poem, Ashes, was one of this week's Featured Poem Award winners at Creative-Poems.Com! This award is given to as many as ten poems per week (five rhyming and five non-rhyming) which have been entered into the competition by their creators (who are also Creative Poems members).
I'm not certain how many winners there were in this week's competition, though only six are listed in the site's sidebar. (Not sure if that's because of space constraints or because there were only six winners--though I suspect that there likely were more than six, because the last time one of my poems won this award, it wasn't listed in the sidebar.)
Either way, it's an honor to win such an award from a website as credible as Creative-Poems.Com--a site that specializes in poetry and tends to have a fairly significant number of entries each week (though I'm not sure exactly how many there actually were this week.) I have no intention, however, of "looking a gift horse in the mouth," as the old adage warns, and therefore, most graciously and humbly accept my award with great gratitude to those contest judges who thought my work worthy of recognition.
Many thanks, Creative-Poems, for the personal satisfaction of receiving this award in recognition of all the hard work involved in crafting my poem into the dark, but hopefully insightful depiction of a life without purpose or meaning.
If you would like to read my winning entry in this week's Featured Poem Competition, it may be found at the following link: Ashes.
This is actually the third Featured Poem Award I have won at Creative-Poems.Com since January, 2007. (I won in January, for my poem, Childhood Voices* and in April, for The Tempest.)
In January, 2007, I also won the Special Poetry Contest (one of only two winners of this periodic competition, the theme of which was Changes) for my free verse poem, Pennies.
I must say it's been very rewarding to have my poetic creations recognized by the folks at Creative-Poems.Com! If you, too, dabble in poetry, I would highly recommend that you check out this site as an outlet for your poetic talent. Not only will you have a wonderful forum for showcasing your work to an appreciative group of readers, but you, too, will be able to avail yourself of the opportunity to submit your work to the weekly Featured Poem Competition and the occasional Special Poetry Contest. Who knows? Maybe you'll be the next winner!
If you'd like to know more about this great poetry site, check out my earlier blog post, Calling All Poets: More Info About Creative-Poems.Com.
Then pop on over to Creative-Poems.Com and start posting your masterpieces to one of the best poetry sites around! (They don't pay you for your poems at C-P, but you'll get great feedback from fellow poets and regular opportunities to have your work recognized through their various poetry competitions, all of which are free to enter.)
Have fun!
Jeanne
* Childhood Voices is also posted to the Orble Poems blog at Poems.net.au.
Did you enjoy this post? Don't leave me lonely--Please comment!
Yes, I Won!
I found it most ironic that, not long after completing and posting my blog entry about MOUTH FULL OF BULLETS, a website that publishes crime-related stories, poems, and articles, I received a phone call from Ron "R.D." Peters of Iron Pyramid Publications informing me that my flash fiction piece, "Confession," a--you guessed it--crime-related story, had just won his website's current Writing Contest.
What a Surprise!
I must confess I was quite amazed by this turn of events, simply because, while I'd figured the story was worth entering into the competition, I truly didn't expect it to win--though, of course, I hoped it would. There's simply too much good fiction out there--and my story was, after all, competing against 63 other stories, many of which were very good. So, needless to say, I felt quite honored to receive both an e-mail and a phone call from R.D. this morning telling me not only that my story had won, but that it was 'superb' and 'writing at its best'! That was truly a great compliment!
You Could Win, Too!
The main reason I share this story here, however, is not simply to tell you that I have won the latest competition at Iron Pyramid or to gloat over the fact, but to share with you what R.D. told me this morning about the next short story competition he will be sponsoring on his website very soon. I was, in fact, surprised to hear how soon he's planning to do it all over again--but pleasantly so: it will run from April 1st to April 30th, 2007.
[UPDATE 3/19/07: I've just learned that the new contest is open NOW, as R.D. has apparently decided not to wait until April 1st to begin accepting submissions, after all. So, if short stories are your literary 'cup of tea,' sharpen those pencils, fire up those computers, and get a head start on your entry! As far as I know, the deadline is still the same: April 30th.]
R.D. also said, in response to my question to that effect, that he is giving some thought to the possibility of offering a Poetry Contest in the not-too-distant future; that is, however, not actually on the drawing board as of yet.
Some Contest Info
Iron Pyramid features 'dark tales,' though the contest is open to all genres! (However, according to R.D.'s Craigslist post publicizing the recent contest, neither erotica nor vulgarity are welcome and, if posted, will be removed from the Forum and disqualified from the contest.) If you haven't already got a story or three written and ready to go (multiple entries allowed,) you have several weeks in which to work on it! Check out the site for samples of the types of writing found there.
Site Navigation Tips
Iron Pyramid's contests are found in the site's Forum, which is where you'll also find info about upcoming contests. The Writer's Contest has its own section on the Forum page, which is where you will be expected to post any entries you'd like to submit for consideration as part of the competition. Check out and familiarize yourself with the Forum page, so you'll be prepared to post your entry when ready to do so.
Other I.P. Posting Opps
In addition to the Writing Contest, there are quite a few other categories in the Forum, such as Poetry, Politics, Business, Humor, and many others too numerous to mention, in which writers' thoughts or works may be posted--so be sure to check these out when you visit, as well.
Give It a Try!
Iron Pyramid Publications' Writing Contest just might be your way to get some well-deserved and much-craved recognition for your work. So, why not check it out!
And good luck!
Jeanne
P.S. Forgot to mention that there's a $50 prize--and no entry fee!
Check out Short Stories: 10 Tips for Novice Creative Writers. It's a great guide to short fiction writing!
And here are two online guides that can help make you more short story contest savvy:
1. Short-Story Competitions: Increasing Your Chances of Winning.
2. Writers-Editors.com Contest Tip Sheet.
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