The race for romance, round 2 has officially begun! On Monday, September 24th, Gather.com announced the 25 finalist who will now move on to round 2 of the First Chapters Romance contest.
The Writin' Wombats, "A convivial group of writers, readers and critics in support of each others' work." is proud to be able to say that 15 of the top 25 finalists are members of the group. For members of our group who did not advance, we are also proud of your participation, and wish you the best of luck in your own publishing efforts. The other 10 finalists also get wishes of luck from us!
As an added highlight in this round, three of our finalists, Judi F., Jamie C., and Dale C., are pledging to use the Gather points they earn on their chapters to purchase Home Deport cards, to be donated to Habitat for Humanity. I've also joined them, and every point I earn from now until the close of round 2 will be donated to the same great cause. For details, click here:
First Chapters and Habitat for Humanity - A Winning Combination
Read, review, rave, and rate your favorite entries with ten shiny gold stars. The reward for one lucky (and hard working!) writer will be a guaranteed publishing contract with Pocket Books/Simon & Schuster and a $5000 cash advance!Â
And there's a reward for reading and commenting as well. Members who post the most insightful comments on each of the 5 winning submissions in the second round,will win a $50 Borders Gift Card!
The following list highlights the entries of our finalist members. They all request that you stop by, read their chapters and leave them a thoughtful comment (and maybe be rewarded in the process!). And if you fall in love with any of these smart, strong heroines, irresistible heroes, and exciting stories, please gift them with your rating of ten gold stars. For the purposes of this contest,
ONLY VOTES OF 10 STARS COUNT.
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  Voting is open until 11:59, October 8, 2007.Â
The 15 Wombat finalists in the First Chapters Romance round 2 are, in order of their Wombat membership date:
The Wolf Huntress by Jamie C.
In Over Her Head by Judi F.
Bear Country by Dale C.
Peace, Love, and Chocolate by Layla Morgan Wilde
Beauty and the Geek by Sarah C.
A Scandalous Overture by Jerrica K.
Safe Sex and Home Repair by Lauren C.
Trust Me by Starr T.
Fate and Destiny by Tracy B.
Kick Start by Caren C.
Dancing With My Dream by Dena S.
General Counsel by Isabel B.
Enchanting the Earl by Allison N.
Here Comes the Wedding Planner by Kristin W.
Three Alarm Tenant by Christine M.
Good luck to all the Wombat finalists!
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Comments: 52
Cathy
"Members who post the most insightful comments on each of the 10 winning submissions in the second round,will win a $50 Borders Gift Card!"
I thought there were only 5 finalists selected after Round 2?
My 10 and comment for more points for you!
-Judi In Over Her Head
Please read and rate my entry:
A Scandalous Overture
Congrats as well to the other Wombats such as Jessica, JC, Vivian and myself who did not advance. The feedback in this last round was outstanding and will help all of us to improve our current and future manuscripts.
Stop by the chat thread, tell us you're P.O.'d, or just keep doing as some apparently unhappy people are doing here, and down rate this article. Never have I seen anything drop so fast. From 10 to 6.5 in less than an hour. That's a lot of DB 1's!
It's ok. I understand frustration, hurt, and anger. I'm personally P.O'd at the number of really good chapters I read that didn't move on.
That said, I'm still here to support all 25 winning chapters, and especially our Wombat friends.
Mean-spirited evil gnomes Sherrie ;)
And how could I have forgotten "The Aardvark Huntress"?!
All of you: gracious, fierce, loyal, righteous, intelligent, mature...Need I go on? I'm proud to count you my friends.
Ken: Good spirit, but what have you got against aardvarks? Should I be offended?
Here, quick! In one of John's holes...
Now, everyone, go read, vote, and give lovely shiny 10's to your favorites!
Duck? I thought he was an aardvark?
This is a wonderful way to help those in need. Thanks for pointing us in the right direction. I just hope my measly amount of points will help.
Also, I'd like to thank Pat for her wonderful, thoughtful comments throughout this contest. I know many of us that didn't make the second round still feel like winners because we've received helpful, constructive advice from Pat and many of the other Wombats!
Thanks for making this contest a positive experience!
Tammy
Hilarious.
As if that will help them magically NOT have gotten dumped from the first round.
Hilarious.
Anyway, props to all who have made it! I look forward to reading.
I did find this a bit funny though.....man, talk about legends forming...a year from now we'll have all descended from saints! "Let us never forget the Wombat roots. It began with a rant; people hurt and angry after FC1. From those ashes, the wombats rose, really, more like a Phoenix."
Actually it was just Markymark getting called for sticking his leather-covered size 9 in his mouth. And by that I mean his SHOE. But who am I to stand in the way of legend...
Yes yes, we all rose and flew to the sky. In fact all Wombats were born of virgin conception. Our feet have never touched the ground and we can materialize alcohol in our hand at the mere thought of it!
Good work putting this together and thank you Lisa for telling us about it.
Caren
Fate and Destiny - Chapter 2
If anyone would like to see what happens to my Mer folks, check out:
It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a...Merman?