Welcome to the Ernest Hemingway inspired Special Edition of our popular Extra Shorty Contest!
What makes it so special, you ask?
1. The judges! Last time our judges’ panel had a bestselling author. This time, we raised it up a notch. Or ten.
2. The prizes! We don’t just have a prize. We have an entire Prize Goody Bag: Books. Critiques. Amazon Gift Cards. Blog Designs…Hm. Maybe we should enter, too.
3. The fun! You get to write. You get to read. You might even get to win really cool stuff. Admit it, you’re having fun already!
Extra Shorty Contest, Special Edition: “10″
So what’s with all the “10″ mentions? Our theme for this contest is 10! Why? Because 10.10.10 is coming up, and we thought we’d celebrate it! And since we all also have 10 fingers and 10 toes, well, why not?
Let’s start with the first 10: It takes 10 words to enter. That’s right, each story is to be (exactly) 10 words. No, we’re not crazy - Ernest Hemingway is famous for allegedly raising the question of how short can a short story be, and then proposing that his six word creation: “For Sale: baby shoes, never worn” qualifies. So you see, we’re generous! We’re gifting you a whole four extra words to be creative with. We know you’ll make good use of them.
10 Days. That’s how long the contest will last. Contest ends Wednesday, October 13th, at 11:59pm (EST).
10 Themes. Each day we’ll announce that day’s theme in the status of our Facebook page. You’re not required to submit with that theme, but we think it’s more fun if you do.
10 Winners. That’s right, 10 (Ten, Diez, Ditz, Desyat’, Zehn, Dieci, Dziesiec, Jyuu, Shi, Decem!) lucky contestants will walk away with a prize! And to our readers, don’t worry, we’ve got ya covered; just like last time, you will have a chance to enter without having to write anything.
10 Judges.
And now, Prizes! Yup, you guessed it, there are 10 Prizes:
1. Query Critique: A query critique from Amie Cortese, the best person to help you with your query. Why? Because seeing as how she’s currently a literary agent’s reader, she knows exactly what a query should look like. Isn’t it awesome that she’s going to guide one lucky winner to help get their query to look just like that?
2. Blog Design: It’s not just a hairstyle anymore that tells people who you are, it’s how pretty your blog is. So we thought our winner deserves to have an awesome “haircut”. And, thanks to the design package provided by Cutsie Blog Designs, our winner will have the makeover she deserves!
3. 10 Page Critique (up to 2500 words) by Chick Lit Shorties editor, Jess: Other than the fact that Jess is awesome, every story can use a new pair of eyes and a fresh perspective. Plus, her feedback is spot on, and if you can take it, she can dish it.
4. Autographed Book: “The Nanny Diaries”. #1 New York Times Bestselling book, made into a movie starring Scarlett Johansson. Also made into an audio book read by Julia Roberts. Yup, that Julia Roberts.
5. Autographed Book: “Nanny Returns”. See #3 above. Now relish in getting to live in that world just a little longer.
6. Nanny Returns Umbrella. You know, just in case you take all your winning books to the park and it rains.
7. Autographed Book: “Stockings and Cellulite”. New author, new book. Don’t you just love the chance to make new awesome discoveries?
8. $10 Amazon Gift Cards: Just a lil’ somethin’ extra to scratch that reading itch, from us to you.
9. Guest starring role on Chick Lit Shorties’ Blog: Yes, we were tricked by Google to start a blog. But now we’ve got one, and we’re offering our winner a guest starring role! Smile, you’re on camera.
10. Guest judge spot for our next Extra Shorty Contest: Because at one point, we should all have the fate of others’ in our hands. Just kidding, but if you had what it takes, we’d love to have your (winning) perspective count next time!
Now, how do you enter?! Easy!
1. Writers: Submit a story below that has 10 words. Congratulations, you just entered! Submit another story with 10 (um, different) words. Congratulations, you just entered again!
2. Readers: Just tell us your favorite story entry on our Facebook note here (include the author name and entry number). That’s all, consider yourself entered!
So what are you waiting for? Call your muse and good luck!
* Please note: If we receive a high number of entries it might be necessary for Chick Lit Shorties to pre-select a group of finalists for the guest judges to draw a winner from. Good luck!
Submit here.
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