Welcome back, everyone. And Happy New Year! I hope you all had a fantastic, safe, joyous holiday season. 🙂

Traditionally (because more than one year of doing something makes it a tradition, right?), this would be the week when I detail my writing-related resolutions for 2015, and compare my successes (and/or failures) against the list from 2014. But the truth is, I haven’t made any resolutions yet. Shocking, I know. So we’re going to postpone that for another week and get right down to the thing you’re all waiting with bated breath for — the winners of the holiday giveaway. Well, Round One, anyway.

All total, I received 525 entries, making it by far the most successful one I’ve done to date, thanks in part to the generous donation of a custom cover design from Cardboard Monet’s Ashley Ruggirello, and the fact that this really is a pretty cool prize. If it weren’t my giveaway, and I had something that was actually finished, I would have entered! But, since it is my giveaway, that obviously isn’t allowed. It’s not as much fun as helping someone else if I keep the prize for myself. 😉

So, as I’m sure you recall, there are two rounds to this particular giveaway. The first, which ended last night at midnight, required contestants to enter via a variety of ways listed on the Rafflecopter widget. The second will be different. But, before I tell you exactly what that means, let’s find out who those lucky Round Two participants are.

The Round One Victors

Anne Tilney

Tammy Walsh

Catherine Oliver

Magali Frachette

Tiffany Treichel

Danielle Roy

Susan Nystoriak

Kelly DeVos

Anna Patrick

Amanda Tatman Carney

Teressa Aune Ewing

Mary Ellen Wall

Nicole Tone

Erin Deeds Beaty

Emily Pichardo

Kelsey Simon

Kelly Heinen

Stacie Hanson

Amelia

Crystal Christie

Mary Liles Eicher

Talynn

Katherine Pisana

Priya Kanaparti

Thank you all so much for entering, and congratulations on surviving the first round of cuts! 🙂

The fun’s not over though. Now we get to the real meat of the competition — Round Two. If your name is on that list above, I’ll need you to submit a query and the first five pages of your manuscript (or a synopsis) by January 15th. I’ll review all the entries, looking for the person I think would gain the most benefit from this prize, and the ultimate winner will be announced, here, on January 30th. Best of luck! (And don’t worry, there will be an email detailing this heading out to the winners shortly.)