The winner of the dozen books contest is: C. O'Connor!

And now I have a question for you: I want to celebrate the fact that bloom (my first novel!) is coming out in four months, and although I'm planning to do a mega contest in May, when it's released, I'd like to celebrate up until then too!

So, up until the Mega-Contest! would you like to see either:

a. a monthly contest, where one person wins a dozen books?

or

b. weekly contests, where four people each win one book?

You can let me know by commenting here, or by sending me an email at elizabeth at elizabethwrites dot com

So let me know how you think, and I'll post the results next week. Also, to make it a little more interesting, I'll randomly pick four people from those who respond, and send them a book, because, let's face it, you can never have too many books. Right??

Also, some links of interest:

Sarah Monette, who writes gorgeous, lyrical fantasy novels, talks about rejection letters, as well as the difference between writing short stories and novels. There was a time where I *only* wrote short stories--and wrote them simply for fun. (I wrote for five years before I ever started thinking about writing for publication.)

I miss writing short stories, but for me--at least for now--writing novels takes up all my writing time. The short story market is a tight place, both in terms of payment and the ever-dwindling number of markets, and getting more so all the time, and though I miss the rush of being able to get a draft of a story done in a day (or a week. or a month. or six months.), I find there's just as much joy (but of a different kind) in telling a longer tale.

Agent Jennifer Jackson weighs in on rejection letters as well

Finally, Novel in 90 -- If your new year's resolution was to write a novel, or if you're working on one and want to share your progress with others, this could be the place for you. Participants commit to writing a novel of apprx 68,000 words in 90 days. My hat is off to everyone participating!