Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Oh, The PRIZES

Monday I launched the first ever, first annual, first awesome, TOUR DE WRITING.  Enter simply by posting your goals for the week, and for the entire contest (ending August 10th to coincide with writeoncon), and join in. It's not to late to enter.  Everyone is welcome.  Anytime.

Yesterday, riders in the actual Tour de France faced cobblestones.  Lots of spills, and excitement. I imagine riding over those cobbles felt a bit like how my revision is going--bumpy, but fast. It's not going as fast as I'd prefer, but I find revision to be a deliberate and slow thing.  I've lost some time (so did Lance.) and I'm not quite on track for my August finish, but I'll try to catch up.

Some updates, and a summary of the contest:

The contest is about competitively writing for the next 30 days or so.  There are four categories in which I will award prizes (check original post for expanded description of the contest):

The Yellow Jersey (or maillot jaune):  This award will go to the overall winner of the competition.  Most writing progress overall, on either drafting or revising.

The Green Jersey: This is awarded to the sprint winner.  And will go toward most new words drafted between July 5th and August 10th. Update: I originally said that these words had to be written in The Practice Room.  Now, it's just a tally that you keep for yourself over the whole month.  Although, I'm tempted to give extra points for number of times you show up in The Practice Room.  Because it's awesome.

The Polka-dot Jersey: This is the KING OF THE MOUNTAIN Jersey.  This will go toward most progress on a revision.  Because revising is like biking up a mountain.

The White Jersey: This will be awarded to most progress by a novice--someone who is writing or revising their first or second book (most likely an un-agented writer).

The Prizes:

who's counting the days??



woo-hoo!!



So excited!!

How awesome are these prizes???

And, the fourth prize will be unveiled at a later date.  It is something awesome to carry books in, but I'm keeping it a surprise.  I think that these three books, all due out in the next month or so, should be enough to whet the whistle for now.   

So, spread the word, post your goals, here or at the previous post, and join in the competition.

And, don't forget to stop by for an awesome Friday Feature interview!! 

Next week I will start to award jerseys.  Each week I will award the jersey to the front writer in each category--but you have to be the front writer on August 10th to win a prize!

Competitive writing's not just for NANO anymore!!

****If you are arriving now to this post, and wondering if you can get in on the action, the answer is YES! Just find the most recent Tour de Writing post, and post your goals.  Each Monday, post your word count since July 5th.  Extra points for each time you show up in Tina's The Practice Room.  Welcome, and I'm so happy you're joining in!  Questions? Email me at hegkelly (at) gmail.com  

37 comments:

  1. Well, this week is a slow start so I hope to write about 2k.

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  2. I am honestly completely overwhelmed by the colored jerseys and the touring. ;) I totally wrote 100 words this morning...maybe you can have a tortoise category?

    But I love your new blog look! I just finished a nonfiction about the Stars, so I especially love the constellations!

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  3. I'm with Jonathon!

    word ver: lythobs - lycanthropic heartthrobs?

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  4. I'll warn you...I never, ever win anything!
    But yesterday I wrote 784 words and today I've only written about 300 or so. I need to pick it up if I'm going to have a chance!

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  5. Awesome, Heather. I'm in for the uphill bike marathon of a revision. ";-)

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  6. Oh, I forgot. I linked you to my sidebar. ";-)

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  7. J--alright, it's super easy to win, you just have to WRITE A LOT!!

    Jennifer--Hi! Any goal is a good goal!! Write on!

    Kris--you have several projects going on, and they all count towards the prizes--not just the fiction stuff, so Rock On!!

    Sarah--Woo-hoo!! I love your take on the word veri.

    Dena--I don't either--on blogs anyway, I think that is why all of my contests are about people doing things instead of just randomly picking numbers from a hat.

    Sheri--yay! And, thanks!!

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  8. I'm joining late, but Tour de Writing is totally awesome! I love that you're putting the sport in writing. Yeah, the 2010 Olympics are over. But TdW has just begun.

    Any chance that we'll actually get one of those sexy biking shirts?

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  9. Awesome prizes! We'll link your contest on our blog for Friday!

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  10. Robert--LOL! I thought of awarding those sexy bike shirts, but thought you'd all prefer books and book paraphernalia.

    ACP--Sweet! Thanks! You're welcome to join in!

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  11. LOL - I can't believe I never even considered that the nonfiction stuff would count! Duh... btw, Heather, have I told you you're awesome lately! :)

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  12. Kris-- :) YAY for writing of all kinds!! And--thanks. I think you're pretty awesome too!

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  13. Okay, I know I'm being kind of dense, but how do you enter? Is there an entrance form, a public goal setting, or do we all just write like hell?

    My question mark key is sticking. I may have cracker crumbs underneath. *shaking laptop upside down*

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  14. Dianne--We're very similar. I have food in my keyboard as well. :)

    If you have offered up goals on this post, or last monday's post, then you are entered. And people can enter as we go--although they'll have less time to write, obviously. I'm pretty loose about it. So. Just write like hell, and report it to us next week. We'll see how it all shakes out.

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  15. what awesome prizes and what a fantastic idea! I'm in!

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  16. Very smart - great prizes! Again, wish I was in the stage to join in the fun.

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  17. Terry--awesome.

    Laura--you can cheer us all on. Just make sure to tie up your dog. And, if you ever want to jump in, feel free!

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  18. Is this what I'm supposed to do - I'm giving you my goals. From now through August, my plan is for a new chapter of new novel #2 each week + an edited version of the chapter from the previous week.

    Today it seem doable. Next week...

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  19. I want to join~ I need motivation anyways, haha. Because I'm lazy. I am going to write a lot this month, I know that for sure. I hope to at least write a lot this week, bad or not.

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  20. Great goals, R. Yes--that is simply how you enter.

    gabrywrites--hello, and welcome! Any writing at all counts, good or bad! :) Keep us posted!

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  21. Okay, I'm in!
    My WIP is currently at 22,000 words. I am going to try to reach 50,000 by August 10.

    Kind of a crazy goal, considering I have relatives coming to visit and a family vacation falling in that time. But nothing ventured, nothing gained.

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  22. Love those books! Can't wait to see the secret carrying prize! And can't wait for Friday!!

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  23. LIVVIE gets to be a prize? Yay! :D

    How cool are you for running contests like this? I'm suffering from an acute case of antiproductivity, complicated by the revision notes that just landed on my desk, but I will be cheering everybody on from here!

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  24. Dianne--That's an awesome goal!! Good luck--I have faith that you can get those words pounded out!

    T--I know. I want the prizes too!! :) Friday will be fun!

    Sarah--I am SOOOO excited about LIVVIE!!! And, we definitely have room in the cheering section!!

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  25. My goals by Aug 20th?

    * 11,500 words to finish up the first of three stories in a series. (#2 and #3 are already done. I took a hard look at my completed ms for #1 and realized it was garbage and I needed to start over again at page 25)

    * Finish a query for #1 that I'm happy enough with to submit for critique at WriteOnCon.com

    * Two or three blog posts per week at tommfranklin.blogspot.com on writing, reading and publishing.

    I think, to get this done between work and home stuff, I just need to cut out all of that time wasted eating, sleeping and washing up.

    Piece o'cake, really, innit? : )

    ...

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  26. Tom--I love your attitude. Who needs to shower and sleep? And I'm pretty sure that Lance eats his lunch from a little pouch on his bike. I bet you could rig something up to your computer.

    Great goals. Check in next Monday, and let me know how you are progressing. You know, with the showering and eating and all. Because I know the writing is getting done. :)

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  27. Ok - goals. I'm seriously not a contender for word count, but here goes. By Writeoncon.com I plan to have completed my outline for WFH project #1 and have a draft for WFH project #2. I'd love to have another 5000 words on my fiction WIP.

    And I'd really like an agent--did I say that out loud? I plan to continue querying while I wait for agents holding fulls to get back to me. There. Goals. Now, it's time for breakfast.

    I'm not stressing out about volume--but I'll be cheering on those of you who are going the distance!

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  28. Kris--boy--you do have a lot going on!! You definitely are a contender! I liked how you included agent finding in your goals! Woo-hoo! Write on!

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  29. Actually, I'm feeling quite punch drunk at the moment. Or crazy. ;)But don't let it fool you. My WFH projects are only 2000 words each--it's more time researching really than actual writing.

    And I still want to meet for coffee, Heather!

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  30. Kris--anytime that you get actual money for words doubles their value, at least. I'm just saying. So, don't count yourself out just yet. Just write like crazy and let the chips fall as they may.

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  31. I only have one word for this: awesomesauce.

    Okay, when have you known me to only use one word? Um, never. This is such a freaking great idea! I'm not writing right now, but I'm going to keep up with the progress of this, for sure!

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  32. This is great. My WIP is at 38K (except I'm going to have to verify that since I tacked some of my cut passages onto the end this time for later use). My goal is to finish this draft by the end of July.

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  33. I'm in the revising game right now. I started probably right around the end of June and out of 200 pages worth of editing, I am now on page 93! I hope to finish the book by mid-August. But for this week we'll say 20-30 pages. (Is that clear as mud? =).

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  34. Great idea! I need to get busy writing.

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  35. I'm a brand new follower and am enjoying reading all the comments already! This is a great idea!

    My goals (besides that of finishing up a overwhelming kid-friendly calendar of summer activities for my three kids) are to complete recommended revisions for my #1 WIP. My kids go back to school on Aug. 11 so I should be able to pick up where I left off at an average of 1500 - 2000 words per day (crossing my fingers).

    I'm currently on chapter 9 of my revisions and have 23 chapters left to go.

    I wish everyone luck!

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  36. Elana--thanks, and thanks for the shout out. We do try to have fun over here!!

    Lori--awesome goal. To finish!

    Kathryn--Good luck--it sounds like you are plowing through. I'm on my (I don't know what number I'm on) revision. Hoping this will be close to my last!

    Lisa--woo-hoo! I hope you are writing somewhere!

    Welcome, Patricia! So glad you're playing. Summer is a challenging time to write--I have three children at home right now too. Good luck!

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