Love is . . . a Fun, Romantic Writing Contest

Announcing my first-ever writing contest

in honor of the Romance Writer’s Holiday,

aka Valentine’s Day ~ with lotsa great prizes.

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Card from Punch Studio: The Gifted Line

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The Fun

2/14 is Valentine’s Day . . . and the number of words in a contest entry.

I supply the first two. You provide the rest, up to a maximum of 14 (for a total of 16).

Mine are easy: Love is . . .

Yours follow and define mine.

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The Deets

Enter your words (14 max) after my two as a comment on this post between now and 2/11.

(Be sure to leave an email address when prompted, so I can contact you if you’re a finalist.)

One entry per person.

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I will choose 14 finalists, each of whom will receive a Baskins Robbins $2 gift certificate ~ because almost everyone I know loves ice cream.

On Friday evening, 2/12, I will publish another post with the 14 finalists’ entries. I won’t list the names in that post, and my three final round judges have agreed not to read the comments on this one, so they will have no idea who the finalists are.

My judges will rank each of the 14 entries between one and nine, with decimals allowed as in the Golden Heart®. (Examples: 1.1, 8.9.)

I will add the three individual scores for each finalist’s entry to determine the top three scores and will post the first, second, and third place winners’ names on Valentine’s Day.

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The Prizes:

1st Place..= $25 Barnes and Noble Gift Card ~ because most writers I know (and many others) love to read.
2nd Place = $20 See’s Candy Gift Card ~ because many writers love chocolate and believe it fuels creativity.
3rd Place .= $15 in Taco Bell Gift Certificates ~ just because I love to eat there.

(Note: I will address the issue of ties or non-U.S. winners if either situation arises.)

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The Judges:

Anne Barton ~ writer of delightful Regency romances and the best critique partner ever. (I’m blessed. She’s mine!) Anne was a 2008 and 2009 Golden Heart® finalist. Her stories, filled with dreamy heroes, spunky heroines, and entertaining secondary characters bring to life a period enjoyed by many. Readers will love her great Voice.

Candace Calvert ~ author of gripping inspirational medical romances, including Critical Care (set in my hometown of Placerville, California) and Disaster Status, scheduled for release in April. Critical Care was so good I stayed up all night in order to finish it, something I hadn’t done in ages. When I finished, I said, “This is how to write a book!”

Walt Mussell ~ writer of action-packed inspirational historical romances set in Japan during the 16th Century. Walt proved to me that men can write riveting romance just as well as women, and he does it with way cool sword fights. He introduced me to a people and culture I knew very little about and made me care deeply for his characters.