Crap! … Nano

So it’s October… yeah… am I the only one who just came to that realization; or just now began to comprehend the fact that November comes after October? Does that happen every year? I’m pretty sure it didn’t last year.

My point:

HOLY CRAP NANO IS NEXT MONTH!

It’s rather pathetic that I just thought of this yesterday, you know, considering it’s the 15th of October and there is only 2 1/2 weeks until November begins.

I’m not entirely sure If I can accomplish Nano this year… Why? Because a writing blogger not doing Nano is disgraceful, but I’m very busy on other types of writing.

You see,  It’s my Jr. year of high-school, and that means scholarships, scholarships, scholarships! (what fun!) Anyway, I’m applying for two HUGE  MASSIVE GARGANTUAN  scholarships (like the ‘if you win me you get into any college in your state for FREE’ kind of huge scholarships) The first is called GSP (Governor’s Scholarship Program) and it consists of a 30 page resume and 2 essays that have to BLOW PEOPLES MINDS, and 3 letters of recommendation that basically outline how awesome you are. The second is GSA (Governor’s Scholarship of the Arts) and this one is really exciting! Its a scholarship for any of the arts (hint: writing, photography, dance, etc.) I must have a portfolio of my chosen media. I can’t decide if I should send in my writing, or my photography… If I do writing I have to submit two pieces that also have to blow people’s minds to pieces with their awesomeness! (I just think I might die trying to decide.)

Either way I have a TON of writing to do, as both applications are due by December. DECEMBER!

Which means working on an entirely new novel is basically impossible. I will probably just lay down and die if I attempt Nano this year.  But then again I’m kind of desperately wanting to start a new novel that I have this great idea for… ugh! My life.

I’ll probably end up making January my own Nano (or… um… Jano?) That way I’ll have a week of winter break in January and all this scholarship craziness will be over!

*stress*

Anyway, who has more gumption than me and is actually doing Nano this year? What do you plan on writing?

 

WINTER FF CONTEST RESULTS!

Finally, it’s here! The results of the Winter ‘On Thin Ice’ FF Contest.

It took me awhile to decide on the winner (because there was a lot of great submissions!) Good on all of you who were able to enter, because I really appreciate it, and had so much fun reading your entries! They were awesome, you guys are awesome!

Unfortunately, I could only choose one winner.

And because I don’t want to hold you in suspense any longer….

The winner is…

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Gabrielle!!!

Yeah Gabrielle! I chose your piece for a ton of reasons, but the main one was the twist! I really liked how the piece started in a very innocent mundane way and turned on its head into something a bit more haunting, and fantasy like!

Our runner-up was RaeAnn and it was a close one! Sorry I can’t give you a prize too. I really liked the direction you took the piece, and the multiple POV was a nice touch (I love multiple POV)! (I’ll have your edits to you soon if you’re reading this).

So, Gabrielle if you are reading this(I hope you are) please email me to confirm your winning, and I will send you your ebook!

Thanks again to all who participated. I hope you will continue to follow Novel Ideas and submit entry’s for our next contest!

PS: I will post Gabrielle’s winning piece with her permission this week. (so if you can give me to go or no on that in the email that would be great!)

 

 

To: All My Lovely Readers!

Hello guys! I just wanted to drop by and say hey, because I’ve kind of been absent the past week. Second semester has started and I have some hard classes this winter (including college algebra … ugh *shivers*) so I’ve been occupied doing that along with my first commissioned art piece ever! (There will probably be pictures when it’s done.)

I just wanted to remind you all to ENTER THE FLASH FICTION contest I have running right now! SERIOUSLY GO DO IT NOW! Please! If you do you’ll have a chance to will CLOCKWORK PRINCE by Cassandra Clare, so you should definitely enter to win that awesome novel! You can read about it HERE, and submit your entry to me at novelideasblog@gmail.com BEFORE JANUARY 15th when the contest ENDS!

I hope to be back posting consistently soon, but life is getting pretty busy so hang in there with me while I get myself together guys!

In the mean time enjoy a little music from Ron Pope, who I’m totally lovin’ on right now (metaphorically…of course).

Until next time… Take it over Ron:

Winner RESULTS of Shatter Me GIVE AWAY!

Hey all, as I said yesterday I am now posting the results from my flash fiction contest . I would like to thank everyone who participated in spreading the word about novel ideas and commenting on all the posts throughout the NI awards. I wish I could pick all of you as winners, but unfortunately, there can only be one 😦

So thanks to my sister Tessa for being my random number generator!

She picked 17 (good a number as any I suppose) and so mixing all your names up in a name generator mixer thingy that I found via google I counted to the 17th commenter/linker and I got …

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Brigid!

Yeah! Congrats Brigid! send me an email at novelideasblog@gmail.com to confirm that you’ve won and I’ll send the ebook your way.

Once again thanks to all of those who participated in the giveaway! I’m already looking to do another one, but before that can happen I want to get 100 subscribers! So spread the word about Novel Ideas, and get your friends/family/Grumpy neighbors to Follow me here at NI. everybody wins, you get a chance to win free books (This next one will be for a real hardcover or paperback not ebook) and I get followers!

Until then PLEASE take a bit of time out of your day to enter the ON THIN ICE FLASH FICTION CONTEST for a chance to win CLOCKWORK PRINCE BY CASSANDRA CLARE! Ends January 15th!

THERE IS ONLY A WEEK AND A HALF LEFT TO ENTER!

Novel Idea Awards: Best Blog Series!

Hey, it’s time for the first badge award on Novel Ideas!

My first award is for best blog series of 2011! This was a really hard choice for me, but I finally decided on a series from “Of a Writerly Sort” called “Lessons from the Monster“.

Basically it’s a dissection series where Gabrielle (OAWS admin) dissects her seven part series of novels (which she calls ‘the monster’), and shows us what we can learn from her mistakes.

I chose this series for a lot of reasons, but my main two were these:

1. It’s extremely educational. I learned a lot listening to Gabby dissect her novel scene by scene, or even line by line. I’m a person who learns well being shown things, rather than being told, so having an example right in front of me really let the information sink.

2. It was amazing that she was willing to share her first/second draft material with us! It takes serious guts for me to send off a 5th draft to betas, so sharing unedited portions of a novel with my readers would scare the bageebers out of me! Gabrielle’s bravery definitely paid off, and I really appreciated it!

For both of those reasons, and many others (like the fact that her whole site is amazing for instance!) I am now bestowing the Best Blog Series of 2011 to Gabrielle for “Lessons From the Monster”

Here is your badge Gabrielle! Enjoy!

I hope you all check out Gabby’s series, and stay tuned for the next NI award!

REMINDER:

Remember to comment on this post and other Novel Idea Award’s posts for a chance to win SHATTER ME!

And be sure to enter the ON THIN ICE FLASH FICTION CONTEST for a chance to win CLOCKWORK PRINCE BY CASSANDRA CLARE!

Winter FF Contest! Win ClockWork Prince by Cassandra Clare!

With cold days upon us, keeping us all indoors, what is there better to do than write the winter away?

Here, at Novel Ideas, we can’t think of anything better! And that is why, with the support of WovenMyst (an awesome book blog) and it’s administer Hiba, we’re doing a Flash Fiction contest this winter! The contest is called ‘On Thin Ice’ and it’s bound to be heaps of fun.

We’ll be asking our readers, and their friends, family, and even their grumpy neighbors to drop on by either of our sites, find our email, and submit their writing to win an e-reader copy of Cassandra Clare’s new novel “THE CLOCKWORK PRINCE” (Book two of the infernal devices series)!

So, what are the rules for this winter themed writing bananza?

1. You must start your piece with this line:
The ice crackled like fire under my feet…

2. You’re piece cannot be longer than 600 words and no shorter than 300 words.

3. You must submit your piece between the dates of December the 15^th (today) and January the 15^th 2012 midnight (EST).

4. You must submit your manuscript to the Novel Ideas site email (novelideasblog@gmail.com)

I hope you all will participate and help spread the word about our contest! The more people who participate the more often we can have these contest, and prizes for you all! While you think up your genius flash fiction, stop on by WovenMyst to see what Hiba’s up to!

Awards Month! SHATTER ME GIVE-AWAY!

December is here, and that means 2011 will be over in less than a month! That also means Novel Ideas will have been up and running for full year! In order to celebrate what an amazingly great year 2011 has been for reading, writing, and blogging alike I will be hosting the first ever Novel Idea Awards (NI Awards).

What will these NI awards be you ask?

Basically, they will be a run down of the BEST and WORST of everything writerly or readerly of 2011. I’ll be doing a best books, and worst books, best novel cover, best blogger, most inspirational blogger, Top ten post on NI, and much more. Right HERE in December! And because it is the season of giving there will be Blog Badges awarded (because who doesn’t want a super cool award badge?) and also a giveaway for an e-book version of the much-anticipated Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. (along with a possible giveaway for a flash fiction contest!)

What do you have to do to get in on this give away? Simple. All you have to do is spread the word about Novel Ideas! For every post during the NI awards that you comment on your name will go into the raffle once. For every link you post to Novel Ideas on your blog, facebook, twitter, etc will recieve TWO entries into the raffle! The person who gets chosen out of the raffle will then win Shatter Me which will be provided through NI via email.

For any links you post, I must have a copy of where the link is located (which you can leave below THIS POST!).

I’ll notify any of those who will be receiving badges, so stay on the look out if I follow your blog!

I hope you all continue to follow Novel Ideas this December. Don’t forget to comment so you can be entered into the giveaway which begins today and ends December 31st  Midnight (EST).

Thanks to all my readers who made this year of blogging wonderful! You know who you are!

Ally

CoFA Countdown : Top 24 Till Midnight

Hey everyone back from Atlanta with a surprise my entry along with Carolyns, and Tessas, ALL made the top 24 entries for Wovenstrands CoFA costume contest! Out of over 6,020 entry’s we made the top 24! Snap, I’m all excited now.

 ALL THREE too?! Can you belive that?  I sure can’t. If you want to look at Carolyn’s, Tessa’s, and My entry you can see them HERE. At my CoFA Entry Post.

If you want to see the other 24 top picks you can see them HERE on woven strands blog.

The winner will be revealed tonight at Midnight (ominous right?) So be there or be square. Even though I hope I win I think everyone did great, and I think we all deserve a prize!

I’d like to thank WovenStrands for hosting the contest!

CoFA Submissions!

So if you all don’t know this yet my good friend Hiba over at Woven Strands is hosting a contest where you must dress up like a character from the City of Bones series. I, along with my crit. partner Carrie, and my sister Tessa decided to enter. So here are our submissions for your humble viewing lol:

First is my sister, Tessa, as Madame Dorothea:

She got that creepy/mystical look going on in her eyes just right doesn’t she… hmmm scares me a bit. lol

Next my lovely Crit Partner Carolyn’s Submission as Clary Fray:

Gosh… I want that coat soooo badly.

And Finally my submission as Isabelle Lightwood:

Tessa, says I look like I’m about to kick some monster but! haha… doubtful!

Anyway there are our submissions. I encourage you all to enter before the CoFA contest ends on April 12th. You can read more about it at Hibas blog here: http://wovenstrands.wordpress.com

Hope you enjoyed our amature photography hour. Come again =D