Rules for Successful Writing -- Giveaway Results!

Last week I posted some of popular author Janet Evanovich's writing tips (as found in her craft book, HOW I WRITE), and asked for your additions. You guys didn't disappoint. You gave great suggestions!
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FringeGirl said: You can't please everyone, so don't worry if someone doesn't like what you wrote.
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Amy Sue Nathan said: #1 Put everything near you that you need while you're writing. For me, a morning writer, that means coffee, both pairs of glasses, my phone and my Flip Dictionary. Then I don't have to get up. Ever. #2 Give your readers credit, they're smart. Meaning, don't overwrite or over explain. Allow the reader to think and figure things out along the way. It engages them and makes them turn the page.
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Jessica Nelson said: Trust your voice.
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Liza said this worked for her: Recently when I was stuck, I wrote a conversation between two characters. I hadn't written to the point in the story when that conversation happened yet, though I knew it would. So I wrote it. It helped me move forward, in that made me consider how my characters would get to the place where that conversation happened. I'm about to write another conversation to help me along again.
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Lynn said: Don't stop writing. Write everyday, even if it just for 15 minutes. And those minutes have to be focused writing.
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Wendy Miller said: At the exact moment you feel like quitting... don't.
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Lissa said: I prefer to write first and then check out the rules.
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Savannah Rose said: Write "something" every single day even if it's not part of your WIP.
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Ginger said: It seems that any quiet meditation on any piece of writing I'm working on is the "miracle grow" to make it blossom.
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Patti's thoughts: I would add, quit second-guessing yourself.
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Deb Shucka said: I would add that a successful writer needs community - other writers to commiserate with and to provide fresh perspective.
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Mary Warner said: I guess it goes along with what was already said, but one of my own rules would be to remember that writers block only stops you if you want to be stopped. After all what stops you (or me at least) isn't that I have no ideas, but I have no "good" ideas.
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Laura said: #1 - Just write. (No matter what, write every day.) #2 - Be concise. Less is more.
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Jill Kemerer said: Persistence. We have to believe in our writing even when it's bad. Maybe it means tucking our WIP away after too many rejections and starting a new one, but we can't quit.
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Tana Adams shared this: A writer who writes is the best writer a writer can be. I think so often the actual writing is the last thing to happen.
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Helen Ginger said: Help other writers. Even when you think you're a newbie and don't know much, there's someone who has less experience than you who could use some advice. Join a group or attend writer meetings that fit your genre or ask another writer what they're working on.
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Karen Lange said: I think that perseverance and discipline are key factors in the writing equation too. These things help me press forward to do something I feel called to do.
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Melissa Marsh said: I always feel that you must ignore the trends and write the book YOU want to write.
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Analisa said: [Be] a reader. I don't think you can write well if you don't read well.
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Jeanette Levellie said: My best tip is to pray for yourself as you write, that God give you words to most help your readers and show them God as He truly is. And to love your readers. Okay, that's two. Here's a third: Never stop growing. Never say, "I know all there is to know about writing." The day you say that is the beginning of the end of your creativity.
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Thank you all! These were wonderful tips.
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To visit any of these writers, go to this post (its comments, to be specific) to follow their links.
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And now... Our giveaway winner... whose name was randomly pulled from a hat (my new, super-cute, hot-pinkish/purple ball cap...) is...
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LYNN!

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Lynn, congratulations! Please e-mail me at jannawritesATyahooDOTcom. Include both your mailing address and the title of a book you've been wanting, which I'll order for you from Amazon. I'll order your choice and have it sent your way!

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Thanks for playing along.

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And thanks for being a part of my blog, by following, commenting, reading, all of it. I appreciate every one of you!

Rules for Successful Writing* -- A Giveaway!

• Don't fall into the trap of rewriting chapter one until it's perfect. And don't discard everything you write halfway through because you're sure it sucks. Writing stuff that sucks is part of the learning process!
• When people ask what you do, tell them you're a writer. Put yourself on the line. Make a commitment.
• Make writing a responsibility. Think of it like a job and show up on time.
• Never hold anything back for the next book. Always go for it. Be brave.
• Respect and love your audience. Write for the reader.

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*From Janet Evanovich's HOW I WRITE: SECRETS OF A BESTSELLING AUTHOR.
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Evanovich is the wildly popular author of the Stephanie Plum books. Visit her site here.
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As for the giveaway part of this post, I'd like you to add your own tip to the list. I don't think there's a shortage of good advice, do you?
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What do you think makes for a successful writer? I'd like to know from the perspective of both writers and readers, so anyone can join in. For instance, my sister, who is an avid reader but doesn't write like I do, thinks a relevant thing for writers' success is an active, frequently-updated author's website. Valid!
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Add your thoughts in the comment section of this post. Everyone who does gets their name in a hat (or bowl, mayhaps) for a giveway--to celebrate that I'm nearing 350 blog followers! (If you're not a follower yet but enjoy what you see here at Something She Wrote, please sign up. I do love watching that number grow.)
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I'll give you through this weekend (ending Sunday at 7PM CST) to add to the list. Winner to be announced Monday!

ETA: Friends, I apologize--It's just occured to me, I didn't announce what the giveaway prize is. (Oops. I'm sorry.) It'll be a new book of some kind, to be determined/selected according to the winner.
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Also, be sure to come back Friday, to see the results of the new five words into fiction meme.

Giveaway Results

Up for grabs was an assortment of journals and notebooks, and today I have results!

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(I should quit touting Giveaway Guy's help, because this time and last I haven't used it.)

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Introducing Giveaway Girl! She's smart, she's sassy, and she's seven (close to eight). She helped me draw before her peanut butter waffles this morning. And the winner is...

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I kid. Now who's sassy?

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The real winner is...
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Congratulations, LA! (If you don't know LA, you can meet her at Unabridged and Annotated.) Please contact me with your mailing information, and I'll send your gift this week.

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Thanks to all those who played! A post like this is fun once in a while, don't you think?

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What's in store for you this last week of October?

A Gift

I'd like to give something away. No strings attached. Just for the sake of giving, because I feel full today, and what better way to celebrate life and happiness than to host a giveaway?

I'm thinking an assortment of notebooks and journals. I'd show a picture, but since I've just decided this on whim I haven't purchased them yet.

If you'd like a chance to win, leave a comment here on this post. And spread the word!

I'll take entries until 9 p.m. CST this Friday, October 22nd. Over the weekend I'll enlist Giveaway Guy's help, and we'll draw the lucky name from a hat. I'll announce the winner next Monday.

Sound good? Have at it. And good luck!

Giveaway winners... in poetry!

I'm away from home,
didn't expect to be.
But still, I've got the winners
of the books I listed--all three!

Instead of Giveaway Guy's help,
because he's not with me,
I've put to the task my mom--
We'll call her Giveaway Grandy.

And so now I've got
everyone's names in the pot(s).

Let's draw, Giveaway Grandy.
(I have no pictures. Sorry!)

Up first, Willow Run.
And our winner is...
Angie Muresan!

And next, for Midnight Pearls:
pull our name, Giveaway Grandy...
Lisa Dovichi!

Last is for Flirting With Pete...
Wendy Paine Miller!

Congratulations to the winners! If you could each send your mailing addresses to jannawritesATyahooDOTcom, I'll send the books out just as soon as I can.

Thanks, everyone, for participating! And congrats again, ladies.

While We Wait

There's always something for which to wait. In fact, I'm waiting right now.
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Have a seat. You take the left, I'll sit at the right, and we'll talk. Pass the time. Wait together.

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If you were sitting here with me, what would we talk about?

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**Make sure to visit this post and enter for my book giveaway. Winners TBA Wednesday.

Book Giveaway: Two Young Adult, One Women's Fiction

The notion has hit me, and I can't ignore it. Time for another giveaway!

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Many of my followers read and/or write YA fiction, and I know some of you have kids who'd enjoy these titles. Check 'em out!
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Willow Run

by Patricia Reilly Giff

new paperback, Yearling

this may actually be Middle Grade?

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Back cover copy:

Margaret "Meggie" Dillon's life in Rockaway, New York, has been turned upside down by World War II. Her older brother, Eddie, is fighting in Europe. And she's heard that anywhere but Rockaway, her grandpa would be turned in because he's German and might be a spy. But Grandpa became a loyal American citizen long ago. Could he be taken away?

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Meanwhile, Meggie's father has announced that they must help the war effort and move to Willow Run, Michigan, where he'll work in a factory, building planes. Meggie is sad about leaving Grandpa and her best friend, Lily, but she tells herself that Willow Run will be an adventure.

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There Meggie meets Patches and Harlan, other kids from far-off places whose parents have come to do their part in the war. And she faces questions about courage, and what it takes to go into battle--like Eddie--and to keep hope alive on the home front.

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Once Upon a Time: Midnight Pearls

(A Retelling of The Little Mermaid)

by Debbie Viguie

new paperback, Simon Pulse
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Back cover copy:

In a quiet fishing village seventeen years ago, one lone fisherman rescued a child from the sea. He and his wife raised the girl, Pearl, as their own daughter, never allowing themselves to wonder long about where she came from--or notice her silver hair, unusually pale skin, and wide, dark blue eyes.

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Pearl grows from a mysterious child into an unusual young woman, not always welcomed in the village. As all the other girls her age find husbands, she has only one friend to ease her loneliness. One very special, secret companion: Prince James.

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But their friendship is shaken when trouble erupts in the kingdom--a conspiracy against the royal family combines with an evil enchantment from beneath the sea. Now, just when Pearl and James need each other most, bewitching magic and hints about Pearl's past threaten to tear them apart... forever.

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And now, because YA isn't my niche but women's fiction is, here's a third title!

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Flirting With Pete

by Barbara Delinsky

like-new (read by me) hardcover, Scribner

Janna's dust, no extra charge!
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Barbara Delinsky has written many bestselling novels over the past two decades, including Searching for Peyton Place, An Accidental Woman, The Woman Next Door, and Coast Road.

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For this book's summary (which is too expansive for this already-long post), see here.
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To be entered for this giveaway, leave a comment with your title preference. If you're interested in more than one, just say so (you can only win one, though). At contest's end--next Tuesday, May 11th, 8pm CST--I'll categorize names and hold three separate drawings. Giveaway Guy (my hubs) will draw our winning names, which will be announced in Wednesday's post.

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Good luck! And have a lovely weekend. :)

Giveaway Results!

This is my 400th post! *throws confetti*

Meet Mike. "Do I look half-asleep?" he asks.

Sleepy or not, he's our Giveaway Guy. Why? Because I made him do it. I gave him his hat, wielded a camera, and here we are. (Is the hat fierce and sassy, as promised? I admit it's lacking zest, but I'll let you decide. I just couldn't get him in the fur-lined number.)

I readied thirty-two names, which went into the hat.

And for our first copy of Listening to the Page (see last post), Giveaway Guy pulls...

Alisa Hope Wagner from the beautiful site, Faith Imagined! Congrats, Alisa!

And quick, before Giveaway Guy nods off! Our second name is...

Tamika, from The Write Worship! Book two is yours to hoard away!

Congratulations winners! Please e-mail your mailing addresses to me, jannawrites (at) yahoo (dot) com, and I'll send your books this week.

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Thanks, everyone, for playing along, I really had fun! And I think Giveaway Guy did, too...

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Thank you, Mike, for your help. Mayhaps you've got cookies in your future.

Is it just me, or are there too many exclamation points in this post? It's all so dadgum exciting!

I Give You Books

I have something here beside me that I'm wanting to give away. Two somethings, actually; two new copies of the book Listening to the Page by Alan Cheuse.
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I have to be honest, I haven't yet read my own copy, so I can't say whether it's entirely grand or something opposite. We'll have to read it together to find out.
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But Cheuse is an esteemed author and NPR celebrity, who wrote this collection of essays about both writing and reading. It isn't a how-to, no, but rather a compilation of one writer's observations. Sounds intriguing, I think.
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Check out his author's site, linked above. If the book (in paperback) is something you think you'd like, leave me a comment. At end of day Sunday -- let's say 7 p.m. CST -- I'll place everyone's names in a hat, something sassy and fierce, and ask my husband to draw randomly, twice.
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Results will be announced Monday. See you then, winners' names in my pocket.
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Have a great weekend!

It's a Giveaway!

ETA: We have a winner! Something She Wrote's 100th follower is VirtualWordsmith. Congratulations, Lynn!

Because she signed up under her own steam, she gets both books! Lynn, look for them sometime next week.

To any newcomers: I hope that, despite the fact the books have already been given away, you'll make yourselves at home. I welcome your visit anytime!

Thanks, everyone. This was a lot of fun, and I sure appreciate each of you.

Janna