Announcing the Race to 200 Blog Contest!!!
To celebrate breaking the 150 followers milestone, I’ve decided to reward my loyal followers, with the ultimate motive of further boosting my army of minions! *MWAHAHAHAHA…!!*
Sorry, was that last bit said out loud? *ahem*
So anyway, I call my cunning plan…
The Race to 200 Blog Contest!!
I’ve managed to wrangle the lovely Genna Sarnak @ Reading, Writing, & the World of Words, book reviewer extraordinaire, into being a guest judge for this contest! Genna is a book reviewer and writer, with works published in a number of anthologies and journals. Now this is as much exposure for her as for me, so be sure to pop over to her blog to say hello, or follow her on Twitter (and while you’re at it, you can follow me here!)!
The rules for the contest are simple:
- Follow my blog (it’s all part of my cunning plan!).
- Write a story/excerpt (no more than 750 words long) about a race of some sort. It could be an actual race. Or a race for survival. Even a race against time. Be creative!
- Between Friday March 4th and Sunday March 6th (this hopefully avoids any confusion with time zone differences!), post your entries on your blogs. Genna and I will go round and read every entry, so please be patient with us, especially me — I’m a slow reader!
- On Friday March 11th, we will announce our five (5) favourite entries. They will be put to a public vote. Voting ends Monday March 14th. We will have 1st, 2nd and 3rd place, based on number of votes.
- Winners will be announced on Tuesday March 15th!
Have I forgotten to mention the PRIZES? 
The winner gets first pick from the following suitably themed books:
THE RUNNING MAN by Stephen King (writing as Richard Bachman)
The premise to this science fiction masterpiece is simple: to win the game, you must kill or be killed. This is a fast-paced, super-suspenseful, high-action thriller that literally leaves you breathless. Brought to you by one of the greatest storytellers of all time, it was written in less than a week, with very few changes done to the first draft! Ack! Cue extreme envy!
FORREST GUMP by Winston Groom
Run, Forrest, Run! I managed to read the book before watching the movie, and till now I still can’t decide which one is more moving. The simple style of writing is profound, and the story is both light-hearted and deeply touching. One of my favourite storybooks as a teenager!
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS by Jules Verne
Something for the lovers of classics: the iconic race against time! Plus, it also kinda coincides with Mr Verne’s recent birthday…
Sounds good, yes? And the best thing is, I’ll be happy to deliver them internationally, so anyone can win! 
Now considering I’m also signed up for the 2nd Writers’ Platform-Buildng Crusade, it shouldn’t be too long a wait before the 200-followers mark is reached (I hope!). But just to make things interesting, I will be giving out two additional random mystery prizes if I reach the 200 mark before Friday March 4th!
See? It’s a race!
So, to help me hit 200 before the deadline–and to wrangle me out of two further prizes, you could all…
Spread the word!
Either on your blog, or on Twitter, Facebook, or anywhere else in cyberspace you frequent! You can grab the banner below:
Oh, and one more thing: yes, this is a flagrant attempt on my part to boost follower numbers, but it’s also an opportunity for participants to connect with each other. So out of courtesy, please try to visit at least three (3) other participating blogs–ideally ones that are new to you–and comment on their entry. I’m sure everyone will appreciate the new visitor and constructive critique! I won’t be policing this, but will leave it down to your personal conscience! 
So…
Now…
WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?? Sign up below!
Butt-kicking bookworm. Displaced Malaysian. Writes crime & thrillers. Debut novel ORACLE will be released by J. Taylor Publishing on 30th July 2012.
I'll be there, J.C. May you reach 200 before you even realize it. Have a great Tuesday. Roland
Sounds like a great blogfest…. GO J.C.
I'm inching my way to 200 myself…. only 27 more. I hope you'll celebrate with me when I reach it.
I am also a fellow Crusader.
Michael
I'm in.
I'm going to link this on my blog! Yay! It sounds like so much fun. Good luck to everyone! I'm in the middle of finishing the novel and beta reading so I will, sadly, have no time.
Yay! Welcome participants! Shame you can't join in Hannah, but thanks for spreading the word!
Great idea! I will post this up on my blogfest page!
Hi J C. I love this idea for a 'fest. I hope you get a squillion new followers. I hope your wedding plans are going well!
I'll take your banner for my flashquake blog (where I [post a flash fiction story every Friday.)
Denise:)
Thank you, Denise! And thanks for directing me to your Flashquake blog! Wouldn't have discovered it otherwise!
WOOOT! Need 200 followers? Done and done! Congrats! Here's to another 200!
Whoopee!!
Looking forward to trying this out! Glad you posted about it today, somehow I had missed this entirely!
Is there a restriction based on where people live?
This sounds very fun!
I am for sure interested in this. I entered my link and will of course do the rest after my son goes to his father's this evening.
Best of luck getting to 200! I've linked it at the top of Rach Writes…
Hugs,
Rach
G'morning! Just dropped in to say hi! Your blogfest sounds exciting. I'm sad to say that I won't be able to join in this go around because I'm so far behind on my WIP. But, I'll help spread the word! Good luck!
My post is done, but now it's set to private so that I can publish it on the right day. I hope I don't forget!
Excellent! I'm really psyched about this now!
@Rachael: Thanks so much!
@Kristal: Thanks for spreading the word. Maybe you can join in next time!
@Linda: You're organised! Hope you don't forget either! Can you schedule it to post automatically?
Oooh, you gave me an idea. I put it on my google calendar so my phone will remind me on Friday morning. Woot!
Sounds fun! I'll see what I can come up with!
New follower and fellow crusader – nice to meet you!
Hey there- fellow crusader dropping by to say hi! What a fun idea!
I tried adding myself a couple of times and it isn't working for whatever reason. But there is an entry at my site.
Budd–on my way to read it!
Mine is up!
My ID when I comment on entries depends on the web site. I am both Teacher Fourth (or something like that) and Pawnhandler. fyi
Sorry JC; my entry is late, but its up now.
……dhole
All the entries posted were just wonderful! Thanks to everyone for participating and to J.C. for allowing me to guest judge!