Good news, fabulous awards, and TWO irresistible contests!

Deborah Crombie: Lots of news this week! Yesterday, you heard about my daughter’s engagement, and Rhys’s son… (not to each other!) and thank you for all your advice. More Jungle Red news this week, the paperback of Red Hank’s much-lauded (Mary Higgins Clark winner! Anthony, Agatha, Daphne and Shamus nominee!) THE OTHER WOMAN is out!

 Hank: Thank you Debs! Yes, and you know one of the Red’s credos is “celebrate everything.” This is such a big one for me…I am so thrilled I am brazenly telling everyone about it. (Funny about paperbacks…you get to make changes from the hardcover if you want...I made ONE. But I’m not telling what it is. If you discover it, Reds, okay then, you’ll get a prize. But really—it’s no biggie.) 

Debs: Speaking of prizes… 

 Hank: Well, yeah. To celebrate summer reading, I couldn’t resist coming up with some irresistible (!) contests not only for the arrival of THE OTHER WOMAN in paperback, but the brand new THE WRONG GIRL, which is coming out in hardcover this fall! So here’s the scoop…and then see below for one more contest—just for you, Reds readers!


Did we mention:n
THE OTHER WOMAN—now in paperback
Good news, fabulous awards, and TWO irresistible contests!



    
GOOD NEWS
The paperback version of THE OTHER WOMAN is here! But wait, there's more—it includes the first three chapters of THE WRONG GIRL. (Tess Gerritsen says: "Riveting!" And Linwood Barclay says: THE WRONG GIRL has all the right stuff!") Keep reading for the irresistible contests!
    
FABULOUS AWARDS
Yes, this is the iconic Mary Higgins Clark—she presented THE OTHER WOMAN and me with the incredibly prestigious MHC award during Edgar Week.

THE OTHER WOMAN is also an Anthony, Agatha, Shamus and Daphne nominee—the only book to be nominated for all four.

    
IRRESISTIBLE CONTEST NUMBER ONE! Just send me proof you bought THE OTHER WOMAN in paperback...and you'll be entered to win your choice of a Kindle Paperwhite, a Nook Simpletouch, or a $100 gift certificate to the bookstore of your choice! (Oh, okay, three winners!) And hey, if you already have the hard cover of THE OTHER WOMAN, you could use your paperback for the beach or vacation or a gift for a friend.
ORDER THE OTHER WOMAN:
   

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#HANKONTOUR!
Hope to see you this summer and fall—watch for Facebook and Twitter invitations to meet me and THE OTHER WOMAN and THE WRONG GIRL at a bookstore or library near you.
Check the entire schedule here.

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SAVE THE DATE
And mark your calendars—save the date September 10! That's when THE WRONG GIRL goes public at Brookline Booksmith! Come celebrate with delicious treats and special loot. Hope to see you there.

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WATCH THIS
Here's a fun video from BookBliss taped at BEA—with all the scoop on THE WRONG GIRL.

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IRRESISTIBLE CONTEST NUMBER TWO!
Can you pre-order THE WRONG GIRL right now? Well, of course! And proof of pre-order (print book or Macmillan audiobook version) enters you in a very special drawing—to have a character named after you in the next Jane Ryland adventure! (Told you it was irresistible!) It's a fun (and legal) way to put yourself in the middle of a murder mystery.
ORDER THE WRONG GIRL:
   

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Debs: Thanks, Hank.   Sounds terrific...and we wish you all the best.

Hank: Aw. Thank you. 

Debs:  So you said: one more contest?

Hank: Yes, indeed! One lucky Reds commenter will win an ARC of THE WRONG GIRL!  So let’s see--tell us:  are you taking any wonderful vacations his summer? Or happily staying home? 

And thank you again, dear Reds, for everything…

WINNERS: Write First Pre-holiday Writer's Challenge

JAN BROGAN - Well, I don't get a prize, but I'm a winner -- mostly because I found a system that really works for staying away from email and increasing writing productivity. The setting my I-phone alarm for four times a day and not checking email unless it rings has been a life changer (or at least a routine changer.) I'm not sure why this works while other systems have failed, except I really like the sound of that little bell. I must have a Pavlovian dog thing going on, but hey, I'm sticking to it.

And while I did not get a lot of pages written, I made big progress on a Herculean task of starting a historical novel, which has meant A LOT of reading, a lot of highlighting, a lot of printing out from the Internet, and I sincerely thank Avi Love for the great advice on how to handle Internet research without getting too distracted, and tips to make research feel as productive as writing.

Okay, now for prize winners.

The three winners chosen at random are: (To be counted in the raffle you had to comment as least three times, and you could not be a certainly retailer - who shall remain nameless - who spammed the comments page pretty much the entire contest.)

Ann Oxford, Silver James, and Avi Love.

The prizes - offered on a first come, first choice basis are: signed copies of Royal Blood by Rhys Bowen; Dead Head by Rosemary Harris; a US galley of No Mark Upon Her by Deborah Crombie, ABM of The Other Woman by Hank Phillippi Ryan, and a signed hardcover copy Teaser by Jan Brogan.

Although many contributors were inspirational, this time the contest prize will go to Shizuka, for recommendation advice on the kitchen timer and the Freedom and Concentrate programs. The prize for this is a signed copy of One Was a Soldier by Julia Spencer Fleming.

Molly Swobada gets the prize for most brutally honest: "Discipline My name is JELLO."

Signed copies of Roberta Isleib's Asking for Murder and Deadly Advice.

All winners - please email me at Janbroganbooks@gmail.com with your address.

Winners who were chosen at random winners should include a first and second choice for the book prize.

Writers' Challenge Week FOUR

JAN BROGAN - Okay everyone, we are at the finish line. Not the best week for productivity, at least for me. I cooked for fifteen on Thanksgiving and got started on Wednesday, but I did manage to finish an article for the paper, rough out an essay, and finish two books that I've picked up for research.

The good news is that I've learned that I really love being in the mid 1800s, and that I actually look forward to going there each day. That's got to to help with the actual writing.

Likely just as soon as the Challenge is over (tomorrow) I'll get real fiction pages written, but that's okay, I feel like I've accomplished quite a bit.

Prizes are awarded and announced next Sunday. In the meantime, tell me how you fared over these four weeks, and if you managed to hurdle over this vacation week, or were slowed by it.

And of course, what your plans are for staying productive during the unproductive month of December.

Write First Pre-holiday Writer's Challenge

JAN BROGAN: Okay, time for much promised Writer's Challenge.

OH GOODNESS, WHAT THIS TIME? It's shorter. Only four weeks. Mostly so I can slip it in before the holidays start.

HOW IS IT DIFFERENT FROM NANOWRIMO? - (The National Novel Writer's Month writers challenge of producing a 50,000 word novel in only one month, going on roughly the same time.) It's much less ambitious.

WANT TO KNOW MORE? There is nothing to stop you from doing both challenges at the same time, and if you can't keep up NaNoWriMo, you'll still be light years ahead of the rest of us at the Write First Challenge.

HMMMM....?? This challenge isn't so much about output, it's about creating a healthy work habit. In the Write First Challenge, you have to write six out of seven days of the week, and you must write at least two pages before you check your email or surf the web. If you are researching something germaine to your story, you are allowed to go online, but may not depart for EVEN A SECOND from your work research. And you still have to produce two pages.

WHAT IF I HAVE OTHER RESPONSIBILITIES? Like a day job? Then go ahead, check your email all day long and do whatever you have to on the web for your work, but when you come home and get ready to write KNOCK IT OFF. Use your email or your daily dose of The ONION or the Huffington post as a REWARD for getting your two pages done.

WHY WOULD I EVEN CONSIDER THIS? Well, In one month, you'll have about fifty pages written. You'll get to whine, complain, or extol the virtues of the Writers Challenge every Sunday in the JR comments page.

WHY ELSE? Because we are giving away prizes!!

Prizes:
If you post at least three times (on different weeks), we enter your name in raffle and the winners get one of the following books:

Royal Blood by Rhys Bowen

Dead Head by Rosemary Harris

a US galley of No Mark Upon her by Deborah Crombie

an ABM of The Other Woman by Hank Phillippi Ryan

A prize will be given for the most inspirational comment: One Was a Soldier by Julia Spencer Fleming.

And a prize for the most brutally honest: a copy of Asking for Murder AND a copy of Deadly Advice by Roberta Isleib.

All these copies are, of course, signed.

The challenge technically ends Sunday December fourth - which is the last day to post comments on the comment page. I'll announce winners the following Sunday, December 11th.

Sign up in the comments page all week, tell your friends, and please, TWEET like mad!!

Writers Challenge Winners

JAN: Well, I hope everyone who participated feels like a winner - I know I do now that I ignore my email for hours at a time (yes, really!) It was easy to pick the three winners at random, but harder to pick just one for inspirational and one for honest, because there were so many participants who were eloquent in their comments (not so surprising, since you are all writers) and pretty much everyone fessed up to a slip or two.

But here goes: The winners chosen at random are:

Silver James

MaryAnn

E.B. Davis

Most inspirational is a tie, to both Stephen R - who wrote through pneumonia -- and to Ray -- who really helped cheer us on.

And most honest goes to Jack.

Please email me at jan@janbrogan.com and I'll tell you which prizes you won:

We're awarding three signed ARCS -- from Julia Spencer Fleming, (One Was a Soldier), Hallie Ephron (Come and Find Me ) and Rhys Bowen (Bless The Bride). A out-of-print hardcopy of Deborah Crombie's Now May You Weep, An out-of-print hardcopy of Final Copy, and a copy of Drive Time, the last in Hank Phillippi Ryan's award-winning Charlie McNally series.

Writers Challenge - UPDATE

JAN: I'm thrilled with the response to the Writer's Challenge, which was more than 50 brave participants as of three o'clock Saturday. And I'm amazed at how many of you, like me, needed both a kick in the butt, and some discipline to get away from the Internet.

What challenge?

In case you missed Friday's post, here's the shorthand version: You have to write one page every single day (even weekends) before you check your email or go on the Internet for any reason. For six weeks. There are variations for people who have to go to work so early they can't write first, and for screenwriters. Scroll down to Friday, August 6th post for details.

We've also decided you can sign up late, as long as you make up the lost pages. Actually, you can do whatever you want, how would we ever know?? But, we're relying on the honor system. And of course, your desire to write more consistently and at a higher quality.

To qualify for prizes, you have to comment at least three times, updating us on your progress, your obstacles, your solutions, your eureka moments. Please post your comments on Sundays. Otherwise, it might get lost, as topics change during the week.

JAN's Day One (that was yesterday) experience:

I'm a lunkhead who stays up late reading --All Souls by Michael Patrick McDonald kept me up until 1 a.m. last night -- so I usually like sleep on Saturdays. My husband and I had an appointment to see a house on the south shore at 11 a.m. which meant we had to leave home by 10 a.m. To do my page first, I made the supreme sacrifice and set the alarm for eight o'clock. I went straight to my laptop in my jammies. Because I'd left the screen open to Jungle Red Writers comments the day before, I had to immediately switch out of the Internet and into Word. Then I wrote a page, which actually turned into a page in a half. And a good page and a half at that. Although I couldn't do my yoga first, my husband very kindly made me a latte, which greatly assisted my productivity.

It was about 11:30 when I realized, I'd gotten so carried away with writing, I forgot to eat breakfast. So guys, I wound up having breakfast at 2 pm yesterday. And you know what?? It tasted better because I'd done my Writer's Challenge page for the day!!

So if you really want to enjoy every bite: WRITE FIRST!!

NEWS FLASH (As if you needed any other incentive than the sheer joy of productivity)

Rhys Bowen, our blog mate vacationing in the south of France, has graciously offered to give away a signed copy of her newest Lady Georgie book, ROYAL BLOOD, which comes out Sept 7th. Hot off the presses!

To recap: First prize, drawn randomly, is first choice of Rhys' new book, or any of the books below. I'm also offering a free critique of whatever you wrote during the challenge. (sixty page maximum) But this is totally optional -- you don't have to show anyone your work if you don't want to.

Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel, (Hallie Ephron)
Teaser (Jan Brogan)
Dead Head (Rosemary Harris),
Air Time, (Hank Phillippi Ryan)
Asking for Murder (Roberta Isleib)

There's second and third prizes,also drawn randomly from comments, as well as a prize for the most inspired, insightful and helpful comments. Winners will be awarded one of the books above.

ALSO, if you've signed in as "anonymous" for comments, and want to be entered in the contest for prizes, please give us a way to distinguish you from other anonymous commentators. It can be simple as Anonymous #3 or whatever.

To refresh yourself on the details of the challenge, scroll down to August 6th post.

And go out to that keyboard tomorrow morning and KICK BUTT!!

The Writer's Challenge

JAN: If you are a writer, the Internet is both your best friend and your mortal enemy. Need to find an expert or see what a Glock looks like?? The info is only minutes away by Google.


But sometimes, all that time you save goes down the drain in lost productivity. In terms of writing (not promotion) that would be Email, Facebook, Twitter, etc.


Here's the challenge:
For six weeks, starting tomorrow, you must write one, full page every day -- even Saturday and Sunday -- BEFORE checking email or visiting anywhere online. That's the critical part. You can get online as soon as you finish your one page, but no sooner. If you have to check email at work in the morning, the challenge can start as soon as you come home. You are not allowed to go back to the Internet for ANY reason until you write that one page.


Why one page?

• Because if you only wrote one page a day for an entire year, you'd have a novel.
• Because when I gave myself a five-page-a-day quota, I found myself writing drivel, just to get the pages done.
• Because with with a one page quota, you have time to go back and revise earlier pages. Sometimes they bulk up, lengthwise, to create an extra page. (and yes, that counts as a new page.)
• Because one page is eminently doable.
• Because even on the weekends, you can get yourself to sit down at the computer if it's ONLY one page. And the consistency of a writing every day enhances productivity in terms of story structure.
• Because one page often leads to another. In other words, one page is the minimum, not the maximum.

Why now?

• Because for many of us, August is the least productive month of the year. (hey, and I'm even going to do this on vacation)
• Challenging yourself in January when is snowing outside is no challenge.

Why six weeks?

• Because after six weeks, we'll all have 42 pages. If you are starting a novel, that's about where you'd end on a hook, so you'll have enough material to send it to the agent/editor with a query.
• If you are writing short stories -- that's at least two of them.
• Because I host the blog every six weeks.

Why do you really want to do this?

• Aside from becoming a more disciplined writer and an all around superior person, we're also giving away prizes.

No cheating:

• One page is defined as the FULL page, double spaced.
• If, by any chance, you are writing a screenplay, you can still do the challenge, but that's TWO AND HALF pages a day for you.

How to enter?

• Sign into the comments page any time through Sunday (okay Monday for you procrastinators).
• Report in (via the comments page) every Sunday.
• Tell us anything, your obstacles, your solutions, your progress, the best sentence you wrote, or any tricks you've learned along the way.

Prizes:
If you post at least three times (on different weeks), we enter your name in raffle and the winner gets a signed copy of Hallie Ephron's Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel. I will also read and critique your work, if you want. (you can forgo that prize if the idea of critique stunts your productivity. It's your choice.)


There's also second and third prizes, as well as a prize for the most inspired, insightful or helpful comment.


In no particular order, those prizes will be signed copies of:
Teaser (Jan Brogan)
Dead Head (Rosemary Harris),
Air Time, (Hank Phillippi Ryan)
Asking for Murder (Roberta Isleib)


(Rhys is on vacation in Europe, so we didn't want to bother her, but more prizes may be added later.)


The challenge technically ends Saturday September 18th and you have all weekend until 5 p.m. Sunday on the 19th to post your comments. I'll be drawing and deciding winners one minute after 5 p.m.
I'll announce winners September 20th.


So get started and good luck!!