Contests! Contests! Contests!

I was almost going to be contrary today and say "Contests!" twice, because you know how I love to do things in threes. In the end, I couldn't get away from it, because I have three contests to tell you about.

See? There's a REASON for the rule of three.

First is Michele Scott's contest to name her first book in her new Dead Celebs mystery series. She's giving away a $40 gift card to Amazon or Barnes & Noble (your choice), and she's letting the readers vote on which title wins. She's a braver soul than me. Go here to check it out and enter the contest.

The second contest is just for fun, I think - no prize was mentioned. But it was fun, so I tried it out. Go to Janet Reid's blog and read the rules. Basically, you take a bunch of books from your library (or somewhere), stack them up and write a poem using their titles. Here's my entry:

Finding What I Knew

In search of MIRACLES,

I left THE KNOWN WORLD
To go WALKING ON WATER
Toward a LOST HORIZON.

RIDING BETWEEN THE WORLDS,

I was a WANDERER OF THE WASTELAND.

THE STRANGER took me,

I was SOLD INTO EGYPT
Until THE GOOD SHEPHERD
Sent me THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
To THE THURBER CARNIVAL.

IT'S A MAGICAL WORLD, after all.

Last, and most importantly, is my contest. I was going only run the contest for a week, but I think I'll keep it going until I get back from the Southern California Writers Conference, happening Sept. 23-25 (still time to register and join us). To recap, I'm having a helluva time picking a title for my second book of humor columns. This one will be much like the first one - several columns accompanied by readers' emails, editor's notes, and generally what was happening while I was trying to write. The rules are:

1. Either vote for one of the titles listed below or enter your Most Excellent idea in the Comments. (This is important. I've had people list titles and vote in the comments on my Facebook postings. I cannot go hunting through my wall posts to find your entries. You must give me your opinion in the blog's comments!)

2. If I get a bunch of votes for a title, everyone who voted gets a free copy of the new book.

3. If someone submits The Most Amazing Title Ever, that person gets a free copy AND their name in the Acknowledgments.

Possible titles:

1. I'd Like to be Self-Absorbed But I Don't Have the Time

2. In My Spare Time, I Juggle Horses

3. In My Spare Time - Wait, I Don't Have Any

4. Wolves Mate for Life Because They Don't Speak English




Current synopsis (rough draft): When Gayle Carline got a job writing a humor column for her local newspaper, she knew it would be a fun assignment. What she didn't know is that her son would begin every conversation with, "This is off the record." But that didn't stop her. Join her continuing journey of balancing her life as a wife, mother, and occasional juggler of 1000-lb horses with writing a column about her husband, son, and everyday events. Her husband and son may object from time to time, but the horses don't complain.


Titles submitted so far:

1. Fodder for Thought (submitted by Chrissie Barnett)

2. Jen Eldridge, prolific gal that she is, submitted ALL of these -
"A Horse of different story"
"Hold your Horses"
"The Gift Horse"
"The Art before the Horse"
"The Dark Horse Chronicles"
"Now Hold your Horses..."
""Behold, a White Horse"
"Straight from the Horses Mouth.."
"Off the record..."
"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.."
"A begining makes an ending.."
"Wild horses in my living room.."
"According to Carline (or Gee)"
""For Whom Gayle Tolls (or toils)"
"Just a click away..."
"The Writing Muse"
"I'm just sayin...."

3. Missed Congeniality offers these -
"Get this book now, dammit"
"Billionaire Secrets"
"Don't Be What You See" with a pic of a horses behind
"Just Enough to be Dangerous"
"Thundering Herd"

4. And Anonymous submitted - "Between Balancing Acts and Juggling Horses" (quite frankly, I'm not sure how I mention Anonymous in the Acknowledgments)



Vote for something or submit another one!