Writing Advent Calendar! Giveaways Dec. 1st - 19th

What's better than holidays?
What's better than presents?
What's better than writing?

Holidays, presents, AND writing.

Super Awesome Advent Calendar for Writers

This time of year, there’s always a lot going on and stress can creep in as we rush to prepare for the upcoming holiday. So, to help focus on the good things and celebrate this terrific writing community we’re all part of, I’ve teamed up with Becca & Angela at Writers Helping Writers to bring you an Advent Calendar for Writers. Not only will I be giving away a prize, but some of my favorite writing tip authors are too! 

Our calendar works just like those delightful chocolate-filled kinds, only instead of a nibble of sweetness you get a chance to win some AMAZING prizes that can help you on your writing journey.

These prizes are exceptional, and while I can’t spill the beans on upcoming draws (why ruin the fun?) I can tell you that in total they are valued at over $2000!  

So when you’re online this month, drop by this post because Angela & Becca will be updating it every day between December 1^st to the 14^th with a link to a new giveaway in the Advent Calendar. If you miss a day or two, don’t worry—all draws will remain open until the 19^th of December. Who knows, maybe you’ll win yourself something special for this holiday season!

• Dec 1: (Donor: ProWritingAid)
  
• Dec 2: (Donor: Author Sacha Black)
  
• Dec 3: (Donor: Author K.M.Weiland)
  
• Dec 4: (Donor: NYT Bestselling Author Jennifer Probst)
  
• Dec 5: (Donor: One Stop for Writers)
  
• Dec 6: (Donor: The Spun Yarn)
  
• Dec 7: (Donor: Fawkes Editing)
  
• Dec 8: (Donor: NYT Bestselling Author Steena Holmes)
  
• Dec 9: (Donor: Editor C.S. Lakin)
  
• Dec 10: (Donor: Writers Helping Writers)
  
• Dec 11: (Donor: Editor Michael Dunne)
  
• Dec 12: (Donor: Author Sacha Black)
  
• Dec 13: (Donor: BetaBooks)
  
• Dec 14: (Donor: Author Angela Ackerman)
  

Happy Holidays!

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These are a few of my favorite things . . . (Giveaway)

**Now Closed**

This season is a special time of year: Thanksgiving, Christmas, Fantastic Beasts, Sherlock--er, I mean, New Years . . . blog birthdays.

Yes, blog birthdays! Exactly four years ago, I started my blog. And you know what this all means?

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Fantastic Beasts and How to Watch it (Review + Fantastic Beast Giveaway)

Eeeek!! It's here! Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is finally out!!

And in honor of that, I'm doing a giveaway of Newt's vintage Hufflepuff scarf. (Sorry to everyone who read the title and thought I was giving away a fantastic beast--no nifflers or bowtruckles here 😞)

To enter, all you need to do is "like" or share this blog post from my Facebook Page (do both to enter twice), like or retweet this blog post on my Twitter (do both to enter twice), like or reblog this blog post on my Tumblr (do both to enter twice), and (you guessed it) like (+1) or share this blog post from my Google+--that means you can enter eight times. You must be follower of me on one of my platforms to win. The winner will be selected November 30th, and the giveaway is open internationally.

(Also, if you want to like and share my posts, but don't want to be entered in the giveaway, just go for it, and if you win, tell me you aren't interested, and I'll give it to someone else.)

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Comic Con Giveaway! (and a Blog Tour)

UPDATE: Congrats to Haley Scully for being our winner! She picked the pocket watch!

Hey everyone! I promised to do a giveaway after Comic Con. I wanted to bring back something cool, but there was just so much going on! So instead I picked a bunch of prizes online from the fandoms I saw (and one writing book for the writers).

How to Enter:

**You must be a friend/follower to win 

- Like, or share the giveaway post on Facebook. Do both to enter twice. (Make sure when you share that it's set to "public" so that I can see that you shared it.)

- Retweet this tweet on Twitter or reply to it telling me what prize you would pick. Do both to enter twice.

- Like or Reblog this post on Tumblr. Do both to enter twice.

- Comment on this blog post, telling me what prize you would pick if you won. (must be a follower of this blog)

So, you can enter up to seven times.

(Please note I reserve the right to change prizes if for some reason the item becomes unavailable.)

Is this an international giveaway? Yes! and no. It depends on the prize you want. So if you win and you live outside of the U.S. we'll talk :)

UPDATE: Winner will be selected Dec. 14th

Prizes:

 One winner will pick from these prizes:

- (my followers' favorite) Fullmetal Alchemist Pocket Watch (become a dog of the military)
- Harry Potter Time Turner Necklace (Need a few extra minutes? No problem!)
- A key to 221b Baker Street--who wouldn't want that ;) --key chain, so you can entertain Sherlock when he's bored.
- Dr. Who Soap (Defeat Daleks by washing your hands!)
- Attack on Titan Cape (Defeat Titans in uniform!)
- Hunger Games Shirt (Gain sponsors by looking your best in this t-shirt)
- DBZ Goku Art (It's over 9000!)
- The Emotion Thesaurus. Learn how every mood is expressed physically, internally, mentally, and how it is suppressed, then learn how to write it! (This is an ebook copy, no a physical copy.) (I use this book almost every week.)

**See bigger pictures of each prize at the end of the post!

Blog Tour

This giveaway is also part of what turned into a guest post blog tour of sorts! These bloggers are awesome and will be having me as a guest over the next several weeks. :') Please visit them! And follow them! And check their blogs for a post by me :)

WritersPayItForward.Org (My post will be there Oct. 27th!)

Bonnie Gwyn (My post will be there the 1st week of November)

Amanda K. Thompson (1st week of November)

James Duckett (2nd week of November)

Jake Jeffries (3rd week of November)

Ronda Hinrichsen (3rd week of November)

Lysandra James (4th week of November)

Jay S. Willis (4th week of November)

Tristi Pinkston  (November 30th)

Konstanz Silverbow (TBD)

Nathan Barra (TBD)

Katherine Ann Olsen (December 12th)

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Birthday Giveaway!!! Harry Potter, Sherlock, The Hobbit, Trigun, FMA

(This giveaway is now closed)

Fun fact: the more birthdays you have, the longer you live.

Today is my birthday! Yay!! I'm older than I've ever been!

To celebrate, I'm doing a pick-your-prize giveaway, where the winner gets to pick an item from one of my favorite stories. These are a few of my favorite things: Harry Potter, Sherlock, The Hobbit (but more than that, Lord of the Rings), Trigun, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. I tried to find a cool Hunger Games thing to giveaway, but had no luck.

Here's what the winner gets to pick from:

• Harry Potter Time Turner Necklace (Need a few extra minutes? No problem!)
• Trigun Decal (Meyaaaw)
• A key to 221b Baker Street--who wouldn't want that ;) --key chain, so you can entertain Sherlock when he's bored.
• (followers' favorite) Fullmetal Alchemist Pocket Watch (become a dog of the military)
• The Ring from The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings (Renders you invisible. Side effects include fleeing for you life from Ring-wraiths)
• A Dark Mark temporary tattoo (Become a Death Eater . . . temporarily)
• One of my favorite writing resources The Emotion Thesaurus. Learn how every mood is expressed physically, internally, mentally, and how it is suppressed, then learn how to write it! (This is an ebook copy, no a physical copy.) (I use this book almost every week.)

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Trigun Gush

The Trigun Giveaway is now Closed

This month I'm starting my writerly dissection of Trigun. So, if it's not your thing, feel free to ignore my blog for the next month and a half. If you're a writer, go write. November is National Novel Writing Month. But if you like Trigun, and I know some of you do, or if you still want to see a story dissected in a writerly fashion, prepare to be blown away. I was when I wrote these dissection posts. But I'm going to be honest, if you haven't watched Trigun, you're probably going to be lost. Unlike my other dissections, I'm getting in deep. I didn't really write these for a general audience. I wrote it for Trigun fans, and maybe writers who are familiar with the show.

Today, I'm just gushing, doing an intro, and giving you a rundown of how this is gonna happen, and talking about the giveaway. If you haven't seen Trigun and want to in order to follow along, you can find it on Netflix, or up for free on websites or on youtube. It's only about 26 episodes long. If swearing is a problem for you, I recommend watching the subtitled version.

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NaNoWriMo Giveaway, Win 12 Writing Books

This giveaway is now closed.

Hey guys, StoryBundle has a great bundle out for NaNoWriMo next month. If you aren't familiar with StoryBundle, they let you get six books from professionals and established writers for a minimum of $5 or 12 books for a minimum of $15 (you get to pick how much you want to pay). Some of the money is donated to charity.

The 12 books pictured above are all books about writing, from authors like the Writing Excuses Crew, Kevin J. Anderson, David Farland, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, and others.

I happen to have some of these bundles to giveaway. To enter for a chance to win, like or share this Facebook post, like or reblog this Tumblr post, and watch my Twitter for a giveaway tweet. I have 5+ bundles to giveaway, so you have a good chance to win. In fact, the first person to comment on this blog post will win one too.

Alternatively, you can just purchase your own bundle over at StoryBundle.com/nano. They are awesome! Go support them. Thanks to them for the giveaways.

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Dr. Who Giveaways: Defeat Daleks when Washing Your Hands, Travel through Time by Wearing this Ring

As promised, our Dr. Who giveaway is here! There are two prizes (in other words, two winners!) because I'm teaming up with James Duckett for this one. Follow us, like us, all that good stuff for a chance to win. James is a cool friend of mine and a writer too, so check out his blog.

You can win these awesome Dr. Who soap bars, a Tardis and a Dalek. (Please note color of soap may vary somewhat.) Or you can win a Tardis ring*, so you can travel through time wherever you are (it's bigger on the inside). 

Unfortunately, we can only afford to ship these items in the U.S. But don't forget, I still have my Attack on Titan giveaway happening, and that one is international. So if you haven't entered, and you want to, go here. (Winner for that one will be selected Oct. 10th.)

Enter the Dr. Who giveaway by using this rafflecopter. Enter now! Tell all your friends!! Climb in your time machine, go back five minutes, and enter again**!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Smaller print: 

*The winner of the ring will need to send us your ring size, because this will be especially crafted for your finger by the talented 3D printer-er, Joseph Larson. 

**Multiple submissions will require proof of ability to time travel, which you can email to us a year ago today… just so you know, we already know who is eligible. 

By the way, when I started prepping for this giveaway, I hadn't actually seen Dr. Who, I just decided to do the giveaway because that's what fandom my followers wanted. Now, I've seen three episodes. You can thank James for introducing me to two of them. I liked them. I'll definitely have to watch more.

Lastly, Trigun giveaway is still on the horizon, if you are a fan of that series.

Thanks for following!

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Editing with the Elrics: Closing Remarks + Giveaway Winner + Giveaways to Come

Over the last month I've been giving out writing tips pulled from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, while having an FMA pocket watch giveaway. First, I would like to say, there is plenty more going on in that story than what I've covered. I'll be talking more about Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood in the next couple of posts (like one I'm doing about writing action scenes), but since I'm talking about writing in general and pulling from other stories, I'm not including those in my "Editing with the Elric" series. I'll just be referring to FMA for extra examples.

I'd also like to point out that I'm new to the Fullmetal world (saw it for the first time this year), so I wasn't able to go as in depth with the story as I would have liked. Someday I'd like to dig deeper to see exactly how it works. It's definitely one of the best written stories I've encountered.

What's to Come?

 

For at least a month, I'll be doing some general writing/reading/life posts, but I have been working feverishly on another story dissection like this. One word: Trigun. And that's one show I've probably seen a million times--so these posts are deep. I mean like, it's crazy the stuff I found when I started pulling that story apart. If you're a fan of the show, you're gonna eat it up. If you're a writer, you might learn something new.

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Editing with the Elrics: Breaking Your World's Rules ( + FMA Pocket Watch Giveaway!)

Giveaway is now closed.

To go along with my "Editing with the Elrics" writing tip series, I'm giving away a Fullmetal Alchemist pocket watch! You have several opportunities to enter for a chance to win. (You must be a follower/friend to win)

• Like or share this post on Facebook. Do both to enter twice. (Make sure when you share that it's set to "public" so that I can see that you shared it.)
• Favorite or Retweet this tweet on Twitter. Do both to enter twice.
• Like or Reblog this post on Tumblr. Do both to enter twice.

Winner will be selected at the beginning of August. Scroll to the bottom to see more pictures of the pocket watch. And stay tuned for more opportunities to enter.

Breaking Your World's Rules

In one of my college classes, we talked about what constitutes a good fantasy or science fiction novel. One of the qualities is that the story follows its own rules, meaning, if Harry Potter book one states that it's impossible to magic food into existence, Hermione better not create a bowl of stew out of thin air in book five.

The Harry Potter universe has to follow the rules it sets up for its readers. Otherwise, it feels like a continuity error. It doesn't make sense. Or, in other cases, it feels like the rule was broken out of convenience for the plot and as readers we feel cheated. We'll probably question the writer's abilities. The fantasy or science fiction world needs to follow the rules it lays down. . . usually.

There is a right way to break your world's rules, a plotting technique that can kick up the heat of your story, and keep your reader glued to the page.

In Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood the magic system for the world is based on, as you probably guessed, alchemy. An alchemist can break down matter and reassemble it into something else. It's impossible to create a living, functional human being this way.

Or so we think.

But then the protagonists get stuck in a fight with humans who have crazy abilities and can regenerate. We learn that they are "man-made" humans, called "homunculi," who have been brought into existence through alchemy. So the characters are shocked because it's supposed to be impossible to do. Bam! Rule broken.

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Win a Signed Copy of Ender's Game! Leave a Comment to Enter!

This giveaway is now closed.

I'm giving away a signed copy of Ender's Game! For a chance to win, just comment on this post! (Please note, you must be a follower of mine--either on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Glipho, Google+, or this blog--to be eligible to win).

I am happy to ship outside of the U.S.A. if you will cover the shipping costs.

You can enter more times by liking this Facebook post, retweeting this tweet, liking and/or reblogging my Tumblr post, commenting on my Glipho post, or +1 this Google post--that means if you do all of that, you can enter to win seven times!

The winner will be selected in 2 weeks!

How I'll Pick the Winner

I will assign a number to each person who enters and use Random Number Generator to select a winner.

In the future, I'll try to bring something back to give away every time I go to a writing conference.

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Free Books, Gift Card, Critique, and Swag! Giveaway :)

This giveaway is now closed.

Hello my lovely followers! I'm giving away two eBooks (your choice) and a first 5-page critique alongside some other prizes from bloggers, like a $5 Amazon gift card, swag, and more books! Why? While it is my blog's 1st Birthday and the Holiday season and I'm hoping to finish the second draft of my novel by the end of the year(!), this is really just for fun! Just enter below with a click of the mouse. :)

(If you've already followed my blog, Twitter, or Facebook, click all three options below to enter.)

In other news, I've been working away on my book. I'll be honest, it's been tedious the last two weeks--the kind of two weeks that remind me that this really is work, not all play. But my revamps have totally been worth it. The scenes I've been working on are much better than before. Thank you for following my progress and thoughts here on my blog.

**Please help by telling others about the giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you :)

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