I've been thinking for a while that I should maybe hold my first contest, and today's the day! Something happened that gave me JUST the kick in the pants I needed to get it sorted.
I received a lovely email from my copy-editor, with a thoroughly copy-edited word doc of Entangled attached. This was all very exciting - yet another stage towards publication ticked off. But it was also more than a little bit mortifying... in that she pointed out that there is one particular word that I JUST use to damn much. That word, my friends is 'JUST'. I JUST can't believe that I JUST wrote 'JUST' all the time instead of JUST thinking of a better word once in a while. It's JUST... aaaargh. Truly embarrassing.
So, bad news for me. But good news for you (yay!). So here's what you have to do...
In the comments below, take a guess as to how many times I used the J-word. And please tell me which prize you'd like/are elibible for.To help you out, I'll tell you that the entire ms is approximately 80,000 words.
The winner will be the person who guesses closest to the actual number, which I double-checked myself out of pure disbelief.
Now, the prize... Well, you have a choice. (OK, if you like in the UK, you have a choice. If you're lucky enough to live abroad, you'll be stuck with prize B - sorry!)
Prize A: A copy of Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver. It's got romance! It's got wolves! It's got quiche! Seriously, people, you'd be crazy not to go for this prize.
Prize B: Aha! It's a MYSTERY PRIZE. Only the winner will find out what this is. And they'll only find out if they choose it. Mwahahahaha! I am evil, it's true. Of course, if you're abroad, this is what you're stuck with, but don't worry because it's awesome. Maybe.
So, get guessing. And get your friends and family guessing too. Or don't, because then they might win and you will feel sad. The contest is open until... um... I dunno... Sunday 11th April.
Good luck!
(Gawd, I can't believe I'm sharing the true scope of my ineptitude with you people. That's JUST how much I love you.)
P.S. If you happen to KNOW the actual number because I shared my mortification with you today, you ain't allowed to enter. Soz.
357½
ReplyDeleteNow all you clever writers can show me up with intelligent guesses!
Anne- Loving the half! Maybe that half'll win it for you. Or maybe not... Ooh the tension is JUST unbearable, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteHmmm...can't possibly be as many as Anne's guessed...I'm going for 55.
ReplyDeleteI'll guess 91.
ReplyDeleteAnd oh, do I feel your pain...
Um...I will guess thirty-seven (37). Which is probably extremely wrong...I felt like there should be a seven, and seventeen (17) is simply not enough.
ReplyDelete:)
Keren, Sarah and Liam- Thanks for your guesses. All I'm saying is they made me giggle.
ReplyDeletei'm guessing 423
ReplyDeleteHmmmm...501?
ReplyDeleteFun competition!
Mmm, I guess 322 x
ReplyDeleteErm, 219? That sounds JUST about right, right?
ReplyDeleteOooh, I'm very tempted to enter but I JUST didn't notice that the word appeared that many times. So I won't enter JUST in case I get it right. x
ReplyDeleteHaha I have a bad habit of using the word 'just' too. I'm going guess.... hmm 247 times! I live in Australia so ooooh - mystery prize sounds fun!!
ReplyDeleteThanks and have fun going through your manuscript ;)
hanging.by.a.moment_@hotmail.com
I am guessing 267. Cool contest. x
ReplyDeleteMy guess is 387!
ReplyDeleteaikychien at yahoo dot com
My guess is 450. That seems really high but 80000 is a lot of words and if you think about the amount of times a person uses you and I, it doesnt seeme too bad. I'll just have to wait and see! :P
ReplyDeleteI'm just guessing here but it's just possible that you just said just 500 times which is just so rounded, don't you just think? ;-)
ReplyDeleteMy guess is 455!
ReplyDeleteponine74[at]hotmail[dot]com
I'd go for Prize A :-)
-Debbie
465?
ReplyDeletenot from us but mystery gift sounds exciting! lol
anyway, feeyonachan at gmail.com
Hmmm..80,000 words. I was thinking somewhere around the 500 word mark so I'm going to go higher than most and say 675 JUST for fun :)
ReplyDeleteGood luck everyone and what a cool contest! Am running to look up your book now...
I found the copyedits completely mortifying too, so you're not alone. And your "just" habit reminded me of this excellent tip http://www.natashafondren.com/writing/writing-craft/give-them-a-chance-to-forget/
ReplyDeleteblimey this is funny! I think perhaps 'blimey' is my 'just'. Who am I kidding with 'perhaps'?!
ReplyDeleteI love how much everyone has embraced your personal horror!
I was going to go with a tactical outrageously high number with my eye on the prize - but that seems to have been covered by most people. I therefore say 88
xx
OK, I'm going to hazard a rough guess (and this is a rough guess). On the law of averages, chances are you mentioned it a few times per chapter and there are approximately 20 chapters. So let's say that there could be 2 or 3 per chapter - so at maximum it could be around 60. But I imagine it's even less than that so I'm going for 41. (I'm impressed that some people think it's between 400-600. That would be JUST amazing if it was!).
ReplyDeleteNo copy-editor yet, but I know I'm guilty of using just too much! Fab contest.
ReplyDeleteOk, I haven't seen the comments and I'm guessing....
perhaps.....4680 times of using it?
I'm going to guess 47 (which my husband says is WAY too low, his guess is 150 - we shall see who's right on Sunday!). Ooh and mystery prize B sounds enticing.
ReplyDeleteThis guess is probably completely wrong but I'm going to go with 723 LOL. Good luck with your editing :o)
ReplyDeleteI did a quick search on my 46K m/s and found 101 'just's (oh dear) so I'm reckoning 184. I'd go for Mystery Prize B as I've already read Shiver - loved it btw!
ReplyDelete689 ;) I'd go for Prize A! :D
ReplyDelete