Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award

Back around the beginning of this month, I heard about this contest that Amazon.com was holding. They were accepting the first 5,000 pitches from (wannabe) novelists, with the top prize being a publishing contract with Penguin Books and a $15,000 advance.

So I entered, and I started to watch the calendar for the key dates. The first was today, where the 5,000 were whittled down to 1,000 based on the pitch alone. I held my breath as I looked down the list, feeling like the high school kid hoping he made the varsity basketball team. There it was -- Pearson -- Learn Me Good!

I made the first cut!! I'm in the upper 20% Now, they review the first 5,000 words of the manuscript and whittle the 1,000 down to 250 on March 23rd.

Wish me luck!!

the dot com!!

I have a major announcement to make! Well, at least it is a major announcement for ME.

I recently took the plunge and bought the domain name learnmegood.com. It was unfortunately already owned by someone, so I had to pay more than I would have otherwise, but the guy agreed to sell it to me, the mandatory tranfer waiting time is finally over, and if you go to http://www.learnmegood.com/ you will see---

Well, you'll see this same site. TA-dah.

Hold that, it really IS a major TA-DAHHH!!!

Because for one thing it's so much easier to tell someone to go to learnmegood.com than it is to tell them to go to learnmegood2.blogspot.com. It also just sounds a heck of a lot cooler.

So with a brand new address, even if it's not a brand new site, I figure it's a great time to have a Grand Opening contest. Give away some Learn Me Good swag -- T-shirts and books. And I hope that everyone will participate and help me spread the word (again, it will be so much easier to tell your friends about learnmegood.com than learnmegood2.blogspot.server.internet.website.random.confusion.dot.dot.com)

I'm going to give away 2 T-shirts from my Spreadshirt Store and 2 copies of Learn Me Good. OK, the prizes have been stated, now here's how you win. The transfer took longer than I thought it would, so I didn't get to start at the very beginning of February, so we'll just stretch it into March for a bit.

Starting today, Feb 9, and ending a month from today, Mar 9, you can win entries into the prize pool by doing the following things:

Leaving a comment on any blog post -- this will net you 1 entry

Signing the guest book -- this will score you 2 entries

Becoming a FoLMeG -- this too will entitle you to 2 entries

Placing a link to learnmegood.com
anywhere on the net (then directing
me to it for proof) -- you will receive 5 entries

Buying a T-shirt -- you will rack up 10 entries



You can claim credit for each of these actions once per day. So you have an entire month to gain as many entries in the hat as you can.

I really hope that everyone will help me out by spreading the word and participating in this contest. And more than that, I want to THANK everyone in advance, because I really appreciate the popularity that people have shown me and my writing.

Let the games begin!!

Texan in the lead

So far, the response to my YouTube Challenge has been overwhelming! OK, that would be an outright lie. But we do have a clear-cut leader!

RedKudu has posted a comment on each of the four Learn Me Good videos, so if the drawing were to be held today, she would be a clear favorite. However, the drawing is NOT being held today -- you have until September 1, so there is still a chance!

Check out the videos, post comments, and ratings and links are always appreciated!

Win a free T-shirt!!

My girlfriend is the greatest. Yesterday, out of the blue, she sent me a Word document that contained her idea for a new T-shirt. It consisted of a picture of the cover of Learn Me Good, above the words, "Read to me, Mister Teacher."

It would definitely be a vanity item, but how sweet is she to put that together?!

I went out to Best Buy yesterday and bought a brand new toy. It's a Canon digital camera, and it shoots small movies as well. So today, I filmed myself reading a few chapters out of Learn Me Good. And I just got done posting them to YouTube.

For those of you familiar with the book, the chapters that I read were 3rd and inches, flip-flops and a simple science lesson, an athletic supporter, and the eyes have it.

For those of you NOT familiar with the book, I'm hoping that my reading will give you a flavor for what the book is like.

I'm also going to run a little contest. It won't even require you to spend any money, though you will need to register with YouTube. All you need to do is view one of the above videos, rate it, and post a comment (on YouTube, not here). For every comment that you post (legitimate comment, not the same thing a hundred times), your name will be entered in a drawing. Post a comment on all four videos, get your name into the drawing four times.

On September 1, 2007, I will draw TWO names from the list of entrants, and those two people will each win a free T-shirt with one of the designs seen in my sidebar (I teach, therefore... or one of the others).

I hope that you will all check out my videos, and pass on the news of this contest to all of your friends and/or blog readers.

Again, thanks for your support.