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Monday, October 10, 2011

Celebrate the small stuff

So these last couple of months, I've just been bidding my time, waiting for things to finalize and I'm glad to say that everything has indeed been finalized.  As of last Friday!!  Whoot! 

I'm happily working on the 2nd of my 3-book deal and I can finally stop to rejoice in what is the biggest accomplishment of my life so far.  It's also one of the happiest. Third only to getting married and having my kids.

Why am I only rejoicing now?  And not back when it happened?  Well, because I'm HUGELY superstitious.  I was afraid to celebrate anything until it was final.  So, since the ink has dried and I feel reasonably assured I'm not going to screw things up by doing a happy dance, that's what I'm doing.

I'm now going to celebrate all the small(-ish) but happy things that have happened in the last two years since I started on my publication journey.

It also made me think of all the bumps and potential roadblocks I've hit along the way.  And I just want to say to all you aspiring writers out there, the only thing that separates a published author from an aspiring one is persistence.  Never give up.  Even if you have to take a break now and then to recharge your batteries, keep going for the long haul. It's WAY worth it.

So, to help some of you on your way, and to give me time to think of an AWESOME contest to celebrate, I'm doing a tiny one. I'm celebrating my two year blogging anniversary this month.  It also happens to be one of my favorite months of the year, so I'm in an especially good mood. Which, in my mind, translates to lots of giveaways. 

I'll be giving away query crits, partial crits, and books. Lots and lots of books. :)  And all this will culminate into the awesomest of awesome contests (to celebrate the awesomest of awesome things--the finalization of my book deal).

So, we'll start small today and I'll offer a query and first chapter crit. 

Rules (because nothing is EVER free. ; ) ):

You MUST be a follower of my blog to enter and you’ll need to fill out the Google form.  Also, while I'll read almost any genre, I'm better at critting MSs in the YA genre.  Otherwise, that’s it.  It is of course, open internationally (as long as the MS is in English).  Contest ends October 17, 2011 at midnight, winners will be announced sometime that day.


  •   Follow me on Twitter (@jasouders)
  •  “Like” me on Facebook
  • "Like" RENEGADE on Facebook
  •  Add RENEGADE to you TBR list on goodreads
  •  Tweeted
  •  Blogged
  •  Facebooked
Good luck!



EDIT:  Okay, I'm having trouble with the google form apparently.  But I still want y'all to enter, so just comment below with your email addy and how many extra entries you got. If you tweeted/facebooked/blogged let me know the links, too.  If you can't see the comment box, click on the title up top and it will bring you to the actual post and you'll be able to comment.   Okay, YAY!  I got the form working. Woot.  Please fill it out. Anyone that entered before I got the form working, I'll add you manually to the list, so no worries.  ; )