Heather Arundel

The Diva of Darkness

Salton Sea Sunset Photo by Ron Niebrugge

Salton Sea Sunset Photo by Ron Niebrugge
The Beauty of Hell...

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - also known as my personal life motto!

All Human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Who I am...

I am a wife. I am a mother. I am a survivor.
My family has made me who I am...my past family with past hurts...my current family with current joy.
Family is something you are born into and cannot choose,
family is also what you choose it to be once you are old enough to start anew...

Followers

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

The Contest

Well, I haven't received a single entry; so I can only assume that it is a busy time and I should not have made this contest so rushed.  So here's the deal:  I AM EXTENDING THE ENTRY DEADLINE TO DECEMBER 31, 2011! :)

HERE ARE ALL THE OTHER DETAILS (reposted from original):

Whether you are Muslim, Mormon, Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Atheist, Buddhist, Anarchist, or anything else: I believe we all believe in making the world a better place.  At least I do, so in honor of the holiday season (and to see if I can drum up any more readers!) I am hosting a contest! :)

It will be very simple.  I want to read your most original, scary or uplifting holiday story (I like both, so since this is my contest - I figure I'll make you write what I like to read!).  Now, notice I didn't say "Christmas"; it can be ANY holiday you celebrate!  It does NOT have to be a holiday that occurs in winter months.  The entry can be no more than 500 words.

I do not know how to do the wonderful "Linky Lists" like Rachel Harrie over at Rach Writes did during the Campaigner Challenge, so here are the requirements:

1. Post your story on your blog
2. Mention my blog and this contest within that post
3. Comment here that you have posted and link back to the SPECIFIC post
4. "Follow" my blog! :)

That's it!  What you can win is some pretty cool stuff.

First place: $25.00 Amazon Gift Card
Second place: A beautiful E-Reader cozy (that I will purchase from the fantabulous ZiziRho Designs, your choice!)
Third place: A leather writing journal

All entries MUST be posted by Saturday, December 31, 2011.  I will have the three winners posted on my blog by Thursday, January 5, 2011.  How am I going to pick the top three, you may ask.

I am going to pick the top ten (that is, if I get more than ten entries!) and then...well, you see I have a mother that does nothing but sit and read, constantly; so I've enlisted her to be my judge.  She has no qualifications other than spending every dime she gets her hands on - toward more books!  I'll be submitting the top ten stories to her, anonymously, and she will pick her three favorites.  ;)

I hope those of you that read this blog regularly will find this fun, and I hope that I can reach 100 readers by the word getting out there about this contest. 


Thank you to Michael Offutt, Sarah Pearson, Alex J. Cavanaugh, and Angela Brown for their amazing support! :)

20 comments:

  1. I was going to post an entry on Monday as I'm tied up with other stuff this week, but this gives me more time to think of something, so thank you. It also means I can mention it again for you :-)

    Actually, I should check, is the contest only open to the USA?

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  2. I got distracted. I'm going to enter this contest and spread the word as part of Grumpy's bah humbug blahgfest tomorrow. Oh and if you want to enter Grumpy's blahgfest, you need to put your post up tomorrow. It's simple...you answer the question "What do you hate most about the Christmas season." That's it. And there's $25 bucks in it for someone.

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  3. What a fun contest ... I'm going to have to pass on entering, but I'm looking forward to reading the other bloggers' entries!

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  4. Oh, what fun! Now I'm going to have to find some inspiration.

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  5. At the very least, I can make a Linky list for you! Let me know and I'll send you the code to post in your blog.

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  6. OH I'm a terrible blogger friend. I didn't know you were holding a contest. Otherwise I would have entered. Luckily for me you've extended it. :)

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  7. Came here from Michael's -- I'll do the contest thing. Just found your blog and I'll be adding it to my ever growing list.

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  8. All right: My entry is up. It's titled "Santa, Godzilla, and Jesus Walk Into a Bar," a/k/a The Greatest Xmas Story Ever Told.

    Here is the link:

    http://www.thinkingthelions.com/2011/12/santa-godzilla-and-jesus-walk-into-bar.html

    The story is 506 words; I hope going over a bit is okay? That particular post is the actual entry, but as you'll see I'm going to make it a longer story because I love words and can't use enough of them.

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  9. I don't think I'm going to make it for this contest. I just don't have much Christmas spirit to come up with a story, and I'll be taking a Christmas break after Friday. All the shopping, the spending of money that will be hard to get back, the pushing and shoving in stores, etc., has drained my ability to create a story that will fit within the 500 words or less. But I wish you luck.

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  10. Honestly, Briane Pagel over at his blog Thinking the Lions should win this Heather (that's of course just my opinion). He has done nothing but make up stories for your contest for the last week with his "Santa, Godzilla, and Jesus walk into a bar". He's posted men with sexy candy canes and has toted your blog each and every day. I mean...sure he has gone over the 500 word count. But he's absolutely put the most effort into this thing than I HAVE EVER Seen. He could be your own personal cheerleader.

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  11. @Michael: As of right now, Briane will be winning ALL the prizes; and he kinda deserves them! His story is hilarious and I'm loving the gusto with which he is participating!

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  12. I shall be entering tonight at midnight. I posted this earlier on another of your more recent posts but I did complete a 500-word story and am formatting it now for release tonight. So I shall give him a run for his money.

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  13. Here's my entry, "Blue Christmas." It's 434 words.

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  14. Oops, forgot the link: http://grumpybulldog.blogspot.com/2011/12/blue-christmas.html

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  15. I think your contest is a great idea and here's my entry at 499 words. I hope you find it worthy of your attention.
    http://thechubbychatterbox.blogspot.com/2011/12/her-last-christmas.html

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  16. Here is my entry at 497 words.

    http://thebloggergirlz.blogspot.com/2011/12/ending-year-write.html

    -Aaron

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  17. Made it! Here is my entry. Just over 400 words. Doubled up as RomanticFridayWriters story entry. Hope you don't mind.

    http://laussieswritingblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/romanticfridaywriters-challenge-no-28.html

    Happy New Year everyone!

    Denise

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  18. Talk about late. I just found the link on Michael's site. I'm going to post an entry later if my brain & body cooperate. I'm battling a cold and have books and chocolate prizes to mail from my last follower contest. Now it's on to the next one, getting rid of more old books and fresh chocolate. I'll come back to post the link when I get the story up.

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  19. Okay, okay, I finally did it. (Do I post the link in this post or the first one?) Please ignore the first draft as I forgot to add in an intro (silly me!). It's fixed:

    http://lawsofgravity.blogspot.com/2011/12/new-year-magic.html

    Word says it's 495 words. Or was it 498? It's under 500, so that's all that matters, right?

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  20. Well, I posted a story. Here's the link: http://sherahart.blogspot.com/2011/12/i-killed-santa-clause.html
    If you look tonight, I may still be formatting the spacing with pictures, but the words won't change.

    I hope you get a little more traffic due to the blog hop I'm in the middle of.

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