Blogging For Books Winners

This month I participated in Blogging for Books on The Zero Boss blog by Jay Allen. Every month Jay puts out a topic to write about. Bloggers write their piece, post it on their site, and Jay and his wife, Kim, read all the entries. Then, they give the finalists over to their guest author to choose the winner. The winner decides and then sends a free book to the winners. It's good for everybody. For writers, for authors, for bloggers....I just think it's great. So for June, I was the guest author on Blogging for Books. Jay put out the topic: write a blog entry about one of three things:

1. A memorable trip or "mini-vacation" (with "memorable" covering everything from "best time of my life" to "unmitigated disaster");
2. A time you did something spontaneously, in order to shake up your life;
3. A time you metaphorically took "the road less traveled", and made an unpopular or uncommon decision.

They had 30 some entries which was the largest amount of submissions they've had in months. And it just goes to show you...people love telling their travel stories. Fortunately, and unfortunately, I had a heck of a time choosing the winners. I must've read the finalists two times and some I read three times. It was definitely a tough call. And here's the thing. I know it's work. Sure it can be pleasurable work to write. But it's still hard work. So, thank all the bloggers who were excited about this topic and took the time and effort to participate, I'm going to list all of them here. I appreciate your enthusiasm, your support of my books, and wish you all the best with your writing. Big thanks to Jay and Kim, too for their devoted attention to this great project and including me in it! And the winners were.... #1) "The Kid at the Pump" by Rag and Bone Shop This story impressed me. On the quality of the writing, on its originality. On the story line. I loved it, plain and simple. #2) "Maybe Kafka Was from Florida" by Paper Napkin This submission made me laugh, and groan at the same time. It was a true misadventure. And since I was giving out Whose Panties Are These? to the winners, I was hoping that I'd find a travel misadventure in our style...this was it. Dare you to read it. #3) "Pretty in Pink" by Skip to My Lou This story moved me. And I chose it because her journey is a life long one. It definitely applies to the third topic, and it illustrates the theme of this month, literally—Hit the Road, Jack! But several of the finalists deserve recognition and I did have a really hard time choosing. For those of you that love the truly bizarre, please read Scheiss Weekly. And for those of you that treasure a good love story, please read "Rivers, Roadside, and Home." And for those of you who lived through the 60s or can appreciate the wanderlust of those that lived in the 60s, please read Left Wing Liberal Commie Agitator. And here are all the entries...many thanks, bloggers!

1. Paper Napkin Winner!
   
2. Psychobabble
   
3. Rag & Bone Shop Winner!
   
4. Tiny Coconut
   
5. Bionic Ear Blog
   
6. Zephyr Bird Speaks
   
7. WilkeWorld
   
8. Ya Gotta Believe
   
9. Life's Weirder Than Fiction
   
10. Searching for a Rainbow
    
11. Mean Teacher
    
12. Rocky's Mom
    
13. blog d'Elisson
    
14. Wendryn Doubt
    
15. Keeping the Faith
    
16. Edgy Mama
    
17. A Little Bit of Me
    
18. The Girl Behind
    
19. sp00kalot
    
20. Skip to My Lu Winner!
    
21. Curious Goldie
    
22. Left Wing Liberal Commie Agitator
    
23. Outside In
    
24. Terriorists
    
25. Medium on the Sides
    
26. Weekly Scheiss
    
27. Give Me Something To Sing About
    
28. Tuna News
    
29. deepti
    
30. The World According to Me