Kay Em Evans' World Race Mission: Auctions Open

We’ve got some awesome gift sets to be auctioned and raffled. It’s really easy, and I’ll explain exactly what to do.

All proceeds go to our friend Kay Em Evan’s WORLD RACE MISSION. Kay is going on an 11-month mission to Central and South America, where she’ll be doing ministry and humanitarian work. She’s got to raise a lot of money, so let’s help her out!

Bid on these amazing gift sets and enter to win one of the incredible raffle prizes! We’re even giving away RUNNER UP PRIZES, so there will be lots of winners by the end of the contest!

We’ve got two AUCTIONS to bid on:

AUCTION #1

Abby Road Gift Set

Winner receives an autographed copy of Abby Road by Ophelia London! Comes with Abby swag, and the winner will also get copies of Ophelia’s other titles (both in ebook format): Speaking of Love and Playing at Love. And since Abby Road has a Beatles-y type of theme, Ophelia’s going to include some Beatles swag too!

If you’re a Beatles fan, or if you just love romance-y novels, this auction item is for you! Ophelia London fans, you’ll definitely want to bid on this unique gift set! We’re using Ebay since it’s a dedicated auction site, so just go to the listing to place your bid:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/200959695632?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Starting Bid: $16

AUCTION #2

Dragonfly Gift Set

Winner receives an autographed copy of Leigh T. Moore’s Watercolor (book 3 in the DRAGONFLY series). Comes with books 1 and 2 in the DRAGONFLY series (both in ebook format) plus your choice from any of Leigh’s other titles (choice of one, also in ebook format):

The Truth about Faking – YA romantic comedy

The Truth about Letting Go – YA coming of age; Semifinalist, 2013 "Best Indie Book Awards" sponsored by The Kindle Book Review

Rouge – New Adult romantic suspense & Quarterfinalist, 2013 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award

If you’re a Leigh T. Moore fan, or if you just love a good YA book, this is the auction item for you! Start bidding to win this amazing gift set! We’re using Ebay since it’s a dedicated auction site, so just go to the listing to place your bid:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/200959699207?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Starting Bid: $16

RUNNER UP PRIZES – for second highest bidder in each auction

One of the following:

Autographed copy of S.A. Bodeen’s The Raft (or)

Ophelia London’s Playing at Love or Speaking of Love in ebook format (or)

The Tao of Travel by Paul Theroux (or)

A Short History of Almost Everything by Bill Bryce

And we’ve got two RAFFLES you can enter:

RAFFLE #1

The RaShelle Workman Gift Set

The winner of this raffle drawing receives a 15-page critique by RaShelle plus any TWO of RaShelle’s books: 1 autographed copy and 1 in ebook format (winner’s choice!). Here are the titles the winner can choose from:

Blood and Snow

Sleeping Roses

Touching Melody

Exiled – Immortal Essence #1

Beguiled – Immortal Essence #2

This gift set is truly one of a kind! RaShelle is an experienced author, and she knows what editors are looking for—let her help you nail your opening pages so agents and editors will be begging to see more! If you don’t need a critique but know someone who does, you can team up with that person to enter this raffle: you keep the books, your friend gets the critique. BAM. Easy as that. J

To enter this raffle, just go to Kay’s mission blog and make a TAX-DEDUCTIBLE donation of $10: kayemevans.theworldrace.org. Click SUPPORT ME at the top of the page, and you’ll be redirected to Kay’s donation page at Adventures in Missions. Donations can be made by credit card or bank draft.

NOTE: For every $5 more you donate, you’ll receive EXTRA ENTRIES in the drawing!

RAFFLE #2

The Kay Em Evans Ultimate Critique Package

The winner of this raffle receives an ultimate critique package by Kay Em Evans: one-page query, two-page synopsis, and first 10,000 words of manuscript. The finalized query will be featured on Matthew MacNish’s Quintessentially Questionable Query Experiment with breakdown and analysis. Package comes with a copy of SCENE & STRUCTURE (Elements of Fiction Writing) by Jack M. Bickham.

To enter this raffle, all you have to do is buy one of Kay’s APOSTLE t-shirts! These soft, comfy tees are a great way to show support for Kay’s mission, they come in both men’s and women’s styles, and they’re free shipping: www.HeartsAndStars.org.

RUNNER UP PRIZES – to be awarded to secondary names drawn in each raffle:

Choice of the following:

Autographed ARC of Jessica Bell’s latest book BITTER AS ORANGE PEEL (or)

Critique of choice: query or opening pages of manuscript – to be provided by Matthew MacNish/Kay Em Evans (or)

Autographed copy of The Straits of Galahesh (Book Two of the Lays of Anuskaya) by Bradley P. Beaulieu (or)

Any of S.A. Bodeen’s titles (limit 1, ebook format)

Kay Em Evans' World Race Mission Contest: Teaser

My friend Kay Em Evans is going on a World Race Mission, and needs to raise some money, for a good cause. The actual contest/auction begins next week, starting Labor Day, September 2nd. It will be an auction in which the highest bids earn prizes like signed copies of books and various critiques. For now, I'll let Kay describe the teaser.

Take it away, Kay!

Teaser prize for this week’s teaser (for writers): Query critique by, Matthew MacNish, and first 5 pages critique by Kay Em Evans.

Optional prize (for non-writers): copy of one of these books: Lonely Planet’s LONDON ENCOUNTER, Lonely Planet’s MONTENEGRO, Bill Bryson’s A SHORT HISTORY OF NEARLY EVERYTHING, or Paul Theroux’s THE TAO OF TRAVEL – to be provided by Kay Em Evans.

• Anyone who blasts about the contest just has to go Matthew’s blog (The QQQ Experiment: http://theqqqe.blogspot.com/) and comment that he/she is spreading the word and how (via which social networking platform).
• That’s it! Then that person is entered into the drawing for the query critique and firstseven-pages critique!

Matthew is a writer and a whiz at queries. His blog, the Quintessentiallyly Questionable Query Experiment, was started for that very purpose—to take the guesswork out of the query letter process. He’s interviewed all kinds of experts in this area—authors, agents, editors—and is the perfect person to critique your query. http://theqqqe.blogspot.com/

Kay Em Evans is a writer and editor. She started off writing YA and has now expanded to travel. She first discovered her knack for editing in college, when all of her friends began asking her to edit their research papers. After providing an edit and critique to a fellow writer back in 2009, that writer finally started receiving requests from agents and was later signed by the New York based literary agency D4EO. http://www.kayemevans.com/blog/kays-editing-services/

Thanks! Matt again here.

So really all you have to do is Facebook, Tweet, G+, blog, or whatever about this teaser, leave a comment here saying that you did, and you'll be entered to win the prize!

Oh How I Miss You Blogfest!

It's here! The brainchild of Andrew Leon, like any blogfest, it's not going far without the power (and the linky list account) of Alex J. Cavanaugh, Ninja Captain of the good ship Blogosphere. The third co-host, Matthew MacNish, was brought in for his good looks and great taste. Wait. That sounded wrong.

Anyway ...

The bloggers we really miss…

and the ones we would really miss!

Do you have a couple blogger buddies who aren’t posting as often? Those who’ve pulled back and seem absent from the blogging world? Do you have blogger buddies you are grateful they are still around and would miss if they vanished? Now is your chance to show your appreciation and spotlight them!

List one to three bloggers you really miss and one to three bloggers you would miss if they stopped blogging. Then go leave a comment on those blogs.

Our blogger friends are special – time to let them know! 

The bloggers I miss:

Candace Ganger, AKA Candyland Gang, AKA Bethany, AKA The Jaded Wonder. Candace is one of my dearest friends, which is awesome, considering we've never met. She does still blog occasionally, but when I first started out, she was blogging every day, and every single post was a gut-splitting wealth of inspiration, tears, laughter and awkward hugs. I miss your posts almost as much as I miss you, Beth.

Kaye Em Evans. I still keep up with Kaye on Facebook, so it's all good, but I do miss her blog posts. She was another of the first blogs I ever started reading, and her posts were always fun and insightful.

The World in Miniature. This one is kind of cheating, because Bryan actually still blogs, and his cartoons are hilarious, but I really miss the flash fiction feature he used to do, and while I know his career has taken off in the last couple years, and he probably has very little time for blogging, I would love to see more flash fiction on his blog again. I guess I better write some.

The bloggers I would miss:

Katie Mills AKA Creepy Query Girl. Katie is one of my favorite bloggers. I feel like we've been through the trenches together. We both started out around the same time, and became friends quickly, but then we've both been through our share of rejections. Katie is a fighter though, and a talented writer, so as long as she doesn't give up, I know I never will.

Adam Heine. Adam is the Mastermind of Nerd-dom. I know of no better chart-maker, and sometimes it seems like Adam and I may have been separated at birth. I mean how could someone I've never met, who lives on the opposite side of the world, love exactly all the same things I love, and with the same passion? It doesn't seem possible.

Susan Quinn. Susan is the smartest lady I know. Literally. She's a rocket scientist, and she's the most successful self-publishing entrepreneur I know. Her posts on publishing, and craft, are particularly well thought out, researched, and presented. I don't know what I'd do without Susan.

Don't forget to visit everyone involved: