Posted August 12th, 2010 by ScottAllen

Have you ever had the feeling the phrase
"Iambic pentameter"
Really ought to have three more syllables?

If you get that joke, then be sure to check out Poet’s Week, starting August 13. You could win $200 and bragging rights.

Posted August 12th, 2010 by ScottAllen

We had some great entries in Battle of Words X – truly some horrific summer jobs!

Congratulations to Matthew D. Smith on his second Battle of Words win! He receives a $100 Amazon gift certificate.

1st Place

Easy Money? by smithmatthewd

2nd Place

The Deckhand by ankitaverma19

3rd Place
The Entertainer by gooduklady

Congrats to all the winners. You can also check out the judges’ comments and all the entries.

Posted August 9th, 2010 by ScottAllen

Check out the winner of our Cowboy Week free writing contest:

Kat and Sable
by Wardha Jawdat

Congratulations! The prize is a $100 gift card to a Western wear store.

Thanks to all those who participated in this spirited contest! Be sure to read some of the other entries, as well – there were some great Western-themed stories.

Posted August 7th, 2010 by ScottAllen

Need help coming up with ideas for our Drabbles Extremely Short Story Contest? Check out the Drabble-Matic automated drabble writer. Here’s the masterpiece it cranked out for me:

The Panther Princess

Romeo was walking through a serene meadow, laughing at the butterflies flitting around his head when he spied an enthusiastic little panther lying under a tree.
Romeo skipped over to see the dear thing and was ripe to find that she was hurt! A waterbed had pierced her scintillating little ear and she whimpered quickly with the pain.

"My overjoyed little friend," Romeo said. "Let me help you!" He took out his Leatherman Multi-Purpose tool and pulled out the waterbed, as dangerously as he could. The panther cried out and Romeo’s heart ached, like a horse that’s been rode hard and put up wet. "You’ll be all right," Romeo whispered. "I’ll take care of you. I’ll call you Juliet and you can live with me forever!"

Scooping Juliet up in his arms, Romeo carried her home and made a bed for her beside his own. For seven days and seven nights, Romeo nursed Juliet, cleaning her ear and feeding her Diamond-brand panther chow.

On the eighth night, Juliet climbed into bed with Romeo. She burrowed under the covers and willingly kissed Romeo’s nose. It made Romeo giggle and he cuddled close to Juliet, stroking her toes and singing thoughtfully to her.

They continued that way for a long time. Every day, Romeo hurried home so he could curl up with Juliet. It gave him a ready feeling whenever Juliet kissed his nose.

Then one night, Juliet looked up at Romeo and said, "If you kiss me, I will become a fantabulous princess."

Romeo screamed thoroughly, he was so surprised. How could a panther talk? He must have dropped off and dreamed it.

"You’re not dreaming," Juliet said. "Kiss me."

"Don’t tell anyone I screamed like that," Romeo said and kissed Juliet on her toes. The air swirled and suddenly, there stood a fantabulous princess! With a crown and everything!

"I’m Princess Juliet," she said. "I was cursed. It’s a long story."

"Is it really you?" Romeo said.

"See?" Juliet said and showed Romeo the scar from the waterbed on her ear.

Then she kissed Romeo and they tumbled in a pinch and did a lot of very radiant things, some of them involving a luscious wine glass.

"I love you," Juliet said when they were done. Romeo clasped her close and they lived together happily ever after on all the princess treasure Juliet had stashed away.

And if Juliet didn’t know about Romeo’s visits to the panther sanctuary, well, it wouldn’t hurt her.

OK, you might not be winning 1st place with the results, but it’s kind of fun and who knows? It might just provide you a creative spark or two.

Image credit: Cory Doctorow

Posted August 6th, 2010 by ScottAllen

Are you on Twitter yet? Are you using it to promote your book(s)? We’ve been getting pretty active there, connecting with BookRix authors and readers, sharing little bits of information, quick tips, fun stuff, etc., that’s too short for the blog.

If you’re on Twitter, here are a few ways you can connect with us, and we’ll even help you promote your book.

1. Follow us at BookRixUS.
2. Follow our BookRix authors list.
3. If you’re an author, send us a message that you’d like to be added to that list.
4. Tweet about your book. Be sure to actually say something about it, not just post the link. Also, please use a URL shortener (we recommend bit.ly, but there are literally hundreds of them), as our URLs are kind of long-ish. If you do actually say something about it, we’ll try to re-tweet you at least once. We regularly check for mentions of BookRix and links to our site – it’s done by humans, so it may take a couple of days and occasionally we may miss one or two.

Posted August 3rd, 2010 by ScottAllen

Drabbles are extremely short stories of exactly 100 words. The challenge is fitting in all the components of a story within a mere 100 words. It’s no easy feat, but it’s a challenge worthy of you all!

For this writing contest, all genres are welcome! Each book must have 3 drabbles stories in it. The limit is on the word count so make sure to check your work before you enter it. You may enter more than one book in the contest, but an author can only have one book in the top 10.

Of course, we have wonderful prizes to give out: $600 for first place; $400 for second place; and $200 for third place.

Timeline:
Submissions & Community Voting – August 2, 2010, to September 13, 2010
Jury Voting – September 13, 2010, to September 27, 2010

Not ready to join in? You can still help your fellow BookRixers by reading their contest books and voting for your favorite stories. Our readers choose the top 10 stories, which then will be reviewed by our independent jury.

In addition, we will have a certain number of wildcards in this contest. That means that not only the top 10 stories with the highest amount of votes will be given to the jury, but also other good work (without as many votes as the top 10) will go to the jury.
You also could win prizes for voting — when you vote, you enter into a raffle to win one of 10 Amazon gift cards worth $20.