100 Followers!! Just for you: My First Contest Ever AND Something for EVERY Writer!

I usually don't post on Sundays....

But look!

Look over there!

100 FOLLOWERS! When did that happen?

I am so completely appreciative of you all. The feedback, encouragement and support we give each other on this journey. Each one of your comments plasters a big 'ol smile on my face.

So it is time for me to give back to you! (About time, right? :))

And I'm going to do this in two ways:

First, if you are a follower of my blog (new or old) and you are a writer I will critique your query and/or the first 50 pages of your manuscript! So that means all of you! All 100 and more if I gain friends during this week! If you're like me, you never win anything so this way you don't have to!

Just send your query and/or the first 50 pages of your manuscript to kger215(at)gmail(dot)com. I will take a look and give my constructive criticism. If you like my style and think I'm helping your work after I've done the first 50 pages I'll finish critiquing your manuscript even if there's far more than 50 pages.

I've gotten good feedback on my critiquing skills from my CPs. Hopefully I have something to offer for your masterpiece.

Feel free to spread the word. This opportunity is open until December 23rd and is open to anyone who is a follower no matter if they've followed for the five months I've had this blog or if they follow on December 23rd.

Okay. Wow! Ready for the second way we'll celebrate?!?

A book contest!! (This is one you have to be lucky for. Good luck to those like me ;))

I have diverse reading interests so the books I am including in this contest run the gamut.


To Enter:

• Leave a comment in the bottom of this post. (You don't have to be a follower but make sure I can find your email address for when you win.)

THAT'S IT! Simple right?

I will pull the winners using Random.org and contact the winners in the order I pick them so they will have a chance to choose the book they'd like to receive.

So...what are the books?

Breathtakingly suspenseful and beautifully written, The Historian is the story of a young woman plunged into a labyrinth where the secrets of her family's past connect to an inconceivable evil: the dark fifteenth-century reign of Vlad the Impaler and a time-defying pact that may have kept his awful work alive through the ages. The search for the truth becomes an adventure of monumental proportions, taking us from monasteries and dusty libraries to the capitals of Eastern Europe -- in a feat of storytelling so rich, so hypnotic, so exciting that it has enthralled readers around the world.

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker--his classmate and crush--who committed suicide two weeks earlier. On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out how he made the list. Through Hannah and Clay's dual narratives, debut author Jay Asher weaves an intricate and heartrending story of confusion and desperation that will deeply affect teen readers.

Ryan Mills is torn with guilt over the death of his best friend, and it's all because of Emily Wintraub. If Ryan hadn't seen those incredible gray-blue eyes, hadn't pegged her as a Potentially Amazing Woman, he would never have gone looking for her at the party that night. He would never have left his wasted friend Michael alone, when Michael needed him and asked him to stay. And if Ryan hadn't left, Michael would never have driven off, totaled his car, and taken the cosmic rocket ride into death.

As far as Ryan's concerned, when you’ve done something terrible, you don’t deserve to be happy. He tries not to fall for Emily, but he can't help it. Before long, he is "completely, gonzo, out-of-control in love." 

Ryan then learns that Michael died with a secret. Still grieving, he feels compelled to take on his friend's unfinished business. When Emily begins to question where his commitments really lie—with her or with Michael’s memory—Ryan is forced to examine his choices. What does he owe to Michael, to Emily, and to himself?

 Baghdad falls...and armed men are seen looting the city zoo. Amid a hail of bullets, a concealed underground lab is ransacked --and something horrific is set loose upon the world.

Seven years later, Louisiana state veterinarian Lorna Polk investigates an abandoned shipwrecked fishing trawler carrying exotic caged animals, part of a black market smuggling ring. But there is something disturbingly wrong with these beasts -- each an unsettling mutation of the natural order, all sharing one uncanny trait: incredibly heightened intelligence.

Joining forces with U.S. Border Patrol Agent Jack Menard -- a man who shares with her a dark and bloody past -- Lorna sets out to uncover the truth about this strange cargo and the terrorist threat it poses. Because a beast escaped the shipwreck and is running amok -- and what is about to be born upon the alter of Eden could threaten not only the future of the world but the very foundation of what it means to be human.

Two young women, Sally Rose of Los Angeles and Clare Mann of Ohio, are thrown together as freshman college roommates at Oberlin College. Sally, the daughter of a wealthy, doting father, is desperately homesick, while the story's narrator, Clare, who considers herself jaded and unshockable, is thrilled to be on her own. Both women overcome their mutual bafflement and form a tenacious, complicated bond, one that will be tested by distance, time, secrets, and the moral ambiguities of Sally's father, Sid.

In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, author Stephen R. Covey presents a holistic, integrated, principle-centered approach for solving personal and professional problems. With penetrating insights and pointed anecdotes, Covey reveals a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, honesty, and human dignity -- principles that give us the security to adapt to change and the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates.

Paulo Coelho's enchanting novel has inspired a devoted following around the world, and this tenth anniversary edition, with a new introduction from the author, will only increase that following. This story, dazzling in its powerful simplicity and inspiring wisdom, is about an Andalusian shepherd boy named Santiago who travels from his homeland in Spain to the Egyptian desert in search of a treasure buried in the Pyramids. Along the way he meets a Gypsy woman, a man who calls himself king, and an alchemist, all of whom point Santiago in the direction of his quest. No one knows what the treasure is, or if Santiago will be able to surmount the obstacles along the way. But what starts out as a journey to find worldly goods turns into a discovery of the treasures found within. Lush, evocative, and deeply humane, the story of Santiago is an eternal testament to the transforming power of our dreams and the importance of listening to our hearts.

Thank you again for riding this journey with me! Send your query letters and manuscripts and leave a comment below for a chance to win a book! And if you'd like to spread the word that would be wonderful as well. Who knows what the 200 person 'thank yous' will be!?!?