Welcome!

I'm not new to talking, sharing ideas, or stating my opinion, especially stating my opinion! After all, I taught elementary school for 30 years! However, my audience has typically been smaller,just family, the classroom, or just talking to myself!

My blog has two goals: be an outlet for sharing thoughts on writing children's books and the path to publication (got my fingers crossed that I'll get there) and a place to chronicle my journey of losing my sight. Sometimes I imagine these two paths will overlap .


Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Write From The Soul

                                                        http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:-L11F1Y9uGBi9M:http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/files/imagecache/news/files/news/20090916_fingers_crossed.jpg                      Okay, let the contest begin! I think I have my ducks in a row now :-) Here's the info on the giveaways and the "rules":

  • A gift card from Border's 
  • A gift card from Barnes & Noble
  • A copy of Jennifer Jabaley's YA book, Lipstick Apology (great book!)
  • plus your favorite chocolate (within reason!) included with each giveaway item.

Here's how you can enter:
  • You need to be a follower of my blog and leave me a comment (1 pt)
  • You mention  my giveaway, with link, on your blog (2 pts), or on Twitter (1 pt), or both (3 pts) then leave me a comment telling how you shared the giveaway
  • You convince, cajole, beg- whatever-  someone to sign up to follow my blog, then leave me a comment letting me know  who will be following. You'll get 1 pt for EACH person you convince to follow! (how good are you at convincing others???)

I said the contest would end May 31st BUT..... since I'm not posting this until May 4th, I'm extending it to June 4th.

That gives you a month to work on your best follow-her-blog pitch :-) And collect your points. I'll announce the winners on Monday, June 7th.


Thank you for your support and help growing my readership!
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41 comments:

  1. Lydia Kang5/5/10, 6:14 PM

    Hi Gail! I'm a follower and I put your contest on the sidebar of my blog! So I guess that's +3.
    Cool! Thanks for doing this!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Vicky Alvear Shecter5/6/10, 9:31 AM

    Great contest idea, Gail!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Janet Johnson5/6/10, 3:57 PM

    I love contests! I found you through Lydia's side bar, so you could say she convinced me to follow. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. B.J. Anderson5/6/10, 6:24 PM

    Fabulous contest! :D I am now a follower, and I'd love to be entered!

    ReplyDelete
  5. PJ Hoover5/6/10, 6:49 PM

    Great contest! I'm excited to be a new follower, and thank you for stopping by my blog!

    ReplyDelete
  6. lisa and laura5/7/10, 7:37 PM

    Wonderful contest Gail!!! Thanks for hosting!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Donna McDine5/8/10, 10:57 AM

    Terrific contest. I'm following you (and thanks for following me) and will twitter and blog about you this week.

    Best wishes,
    Donna
    Children’s Author
    Write What Inspires You Blog
    The Golden Pathway Story book Blog
    Donna M. McDine’s Website
    Don't have time to write and post your media releases? Contact: Dynamic Media Release Services

    ReplyDelete
  8. Unknown5/8/10, 5:45 PM

    Cool idea for a contest!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Steena Holmes5/8/10, 7:17 PM

    Great idea for a contest :) I'm sure you'll reach your 50 followers soon!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Cathy C. Hall5/9/10, 11:38 AM

    You can't beat a giveaway for reeling in the followers, Gail! I went fishing for you on Twitter...wonder how many followers you'll catch? :-)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Gail5/9/10, 1:18 PM

    Lydia, Vicky, Janet:

    Thanks for signing up for the giveaway and good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Gail5/9/10, 1:21 PM

    B.J. P.J., LiLa, Donna:

    Thanks sooo much for joining in the giveaway. Hope I'll be asking some of you about your favorite chocolate! (Or twizzlers, if you insist, LiLa!)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Gail5/9/10, 1:23 PM

    Beth, Steena, Cathy:
    Thanks for joining the giveaway and good luck! And Cathy, if I didn't know you were a woman of your word, I'd think that tweet was *fishy* LOL, couldn't resist!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Shelli (srjohannes)5/9/10, 2:36 PM

    fun! :) Thanks....I loved jennifers's book.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Gail5/9/10, 3:41 PM

    Glad to see you Shelli! Jennifer's book was awesome. Good luck winning a gift card- there are so many great books out there to buy!!!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Doreen Pendgracs5/9/10, 5:03 PM

    OK, Gail. I'm in! Am following your blog, and have pointed people to your contest via Twitter. Good luck with everything! And thanks for visiting my blog. Hope to see you again soon.

    Doreen.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Jessica Bell5/9/10, 11:53 PM

    Hi! Thanks for stopping by an signing up for the contest! Count me in here too! I just clicked follow. :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous5/12/10, 7:45 AM

    Please sign me up for your contest. I'm a new follower of your blog. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Gail5/12/10, 11:50 AM

    Thanks for signing up and connecting through Donna's blog. I've added you to the contest list!

    ReplyDelete
  20. elysabeth5/12/10, 4:00 PM

    Gail, I was notified by Donna McDine - didn't really do anything but click on her link to your blog and hit follow. If I'm in the running - yay me!!! - if not, no biggie - E :)

    Elysabeth Eldering
    Author of the Junior Geography Detective Squad, 50-state, mystery, trivia series
    STATE OF WILDERNESS, now available
    STATE OF QUARRIES, now available
    STATE OF RESERVATIONS, coming May 2010
    STATE OF ALTITUDE, coming June 2010

    Where will the adventure take you next?

    http://jgdsseries.blogspot.com
    http://junior-geography-detective-squad.weebly.com

    ReplyDelete
  21. Angela Ackerman5/12/10, 4:29 PM

    Book, gift cards AND Chocolate?

    You had me at chocolate. :)

    Grats on growing a great following!

    Angela @ The Bookshelf Muse

    ReplyDelete
  22. Gail5/12/10, 6:41 PM

    Susanne, Elysabeth, Angela: welcome, glad to have new friends! You're all signed up for the giveaway!

    ReplyDelete
  23. Pam Calvert5/14/10, 10:38 AM

    Wow! A contest! If I didn't enter before, I'm entering now. HUGS!

    ReplyDelete
  24. Gail5/14/10, 11:32 AM

    Pam, welcome to the blog! I've added you to the giveaway:-) Remember, you can earn more points (and chances) by blogging,tweeting, of getting someone else to sign up. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Doraine5/15/10, 9:43 AM

    Okay. I'm following. And I put you in the sidebar of my blog. I'll blog about the contest later when I'm not supposed to be writing. As you can see, I'm procrastinating at the moment. But have to stop and get back to the deadline in hand!

    ReplyDelete
  26. BECKY5/25/10, 9:35 PM

    Great contest!! Everything I love...gift cards to book stores, a book, AND chocolate?! Oh, you know how to get to us, don't you?! I'm here via Cathy C.'s Hall of Fame! And I'll become a follower as well. Thanks and I keeping MY fingers crossed to be the WINNER! :)

    ReplyDelete
  27. Donna Volkenannt5/26/10, 5:25 AM

    Hi Gail,
    Good idea for a contest. I found out about it over on Cathy C. Hall's Hall of Fame. I think I'm following you now. And did you say Chocolate? Yum.
    Donna

    ReplyDelete
  28. Anonymous5/26/10, 7:41 AM

    Hi Gail, I did a blog post about your blog and contest. Here is the link: http://susannedrazic.blogspot.com/2010/05/blog-and-contest.html

    I also made a post on Twitter and I made a post on Facebook.

    I guess that gets me three points for the contest!

    ReplyDelete
  29. J.Q. Rose5/26/10, 10:56 AM

    I'm a follower too. I write children's stories, but my blogger picture is from my vegetable gardening blog. Rather confusing, eh? I hope to gain some good tips from your blog. Love the idea of the giveaway and stirring up readers to follow. Very clever. Chocolate wins every time. Give Suzanne Drazic a point since I saw her post on FB.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Shannon Messenger5/26/10, 11:57 AM

    Hi Gail! Thanks for stopping by my blog and pointing out this contest. I'm a follower now, and I look forward to getting to know you through your posts. :)

    ReplyDelete
  31. Jessica5/26/10, 7:55 PM

    I found you through Cathy C. Hall's blog, and I'm a follower now. :)

    ReplyDelete
  32. Cheryl5/27/10, 11:32 AM

    I am now a follower. Thanks for the chance to win.

    Cheryl

    cg20pm00(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  33. Cheryl5/27/10, 11:32 AM

    I blogged about this contest over at Book Tours and More.

    Cheryl

    cg20pm00(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  34. Cheryl5/27/10, 11:34 AM

    I tweeted http://twitter.com/ccmalandrinos/status/14852025100

    Cheryl
    cg20pm00(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  35. Cheryl5/27/10, 7:45 PM

    I blogged about this contest at Book tours and More

    Cheryl
    cg20pm00(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  36. Gail5/31/10, 8:36 AM

    Doraine, Donna, Shannon, and Janet: Welcome and thanks for signing up, any shout-outs. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  37. Gail5/31/10, 8:37 AM

    Susanne and Cheryl:
    Wow, thanks for the shout-outs! You've really racked up points- Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  38. Gail5/31/10, 8:38 AM

    Jessica:
    Thanks for joining and good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  39. Margo Berendsen6/1/10, 10:44 AM

    I am late to this contest but still in time!

    berendsen70 at yahoo dot com

    ReplyDelete
  40. Gail6/1/10, 7:38 PM

    Margo:
    Thanks for signing up- you'r number 60!!! I'm so excited to get this far:-)

    ReplyDelete
  41. Anonymous6/2/10, 3:36 PM

    WOW Gail, you are at 60 followers so far! Hope you get lots more followers before the contest ends!

    Got my fingers crossed to be a winner (X X - my fingers crossed), but I'll be happy for whoever wins!

    ReplyDelete

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