This is My 100th Post!! (& Contest Update)

 This is my 100th published post! Wooo!!!!

It's weird, hitting this benchmark of blogging, in less than a year of blogging, too! I'm happy with where it's gone so far, but I neeeeed your feedback.

Do you like the design? I'm thinking of making the background of each post a more solid, creamy white instead of the transparent blue I have now. Would that look good? Anything you'd like to see more of? More contests? Thank you guys for helping me reach 100!

On to the contest!

Read up on the contest at this link and this link if you don't know about it yet. Make sure you fulfill the requirements and adhere to the format before you submit :)

YOU HAVE JUST ONE DAY LEFT! Contest will end tomorrow,

I've got asked one question that I'm sure a lot of people were thinking. This contest has no prize, right? So what's the point? THANK YOU for asking that question! I'd love to explain it.

I did seriously think about having a 'prize' for the winners. Maybe they'll move on to a first 250-word round next week. Maybe they'll get a partial critique. Whatever. But I didn't like the combination of 'winning' and 'critiquing'. This contest - for lack of a better word - is about critiquing. It's about feedback.

One thing to keep in mind is that even people without entries in the contest can critique the queries. I feel that if there was a prize, entrants with the most Twitter-followers or writerly friends would call on their friends to look at their queries - and, of course, get more YES's and win. Let's be honest - I would do that as well. But this tactic is not fair to an excellent writer with just one follower on Twitter.

Since there is no prize, there is no incentive to win. This is all about feedback and seeing if your query works or not.

Keep in mind, as the entrants can only give one YES vote for every five queries they critique, this contest will be brutal. Don't come in here expecting all YES's! Please! I can almost guarantee that you won't get it (I've read a bunch of amazing submissions already). I'm scared that people will be offended or hurt by this contest. That would suck really badly.

It would be great if you came in here on Monday (when the queries go up) expecting feedback to make your query stronger. Think of this as a workshop, not a contest.

Anyhow, GO GO GO! You have until Thursday (tomorrow!) 9pm EST to send in your query.

One question to you guys:

If there are a LOT of submissions, would you be okay if I bumped up the number of queries that get accepted? From 10, as it was before, to, say, 15 or 20? If so, instead of mandatorily critiquing five other queries, you'll have to do six or seven.

All votes will be accompanied by a short explanation of the vote - the voting guidelines and rules, along with the queries, will go up Monday.

I will inform those that got into the contest by email, as well as by posting the titles of their manuscripts on this blog on Friday.

Happy 100th post! And hope you guys get your queries in!