1k-a-day Grand Prize Winner!

Sorry for the delay in posting this, but Blogger didn't like me yesterday morning and I had a concert in the evening an hour and a half away from where I live. Needless to say, I was a little frazzled.

Before I announce the winner, I wanted to thank everyone for participating in 1k-a-day. Tracy and I had a great time (as always) and I hope you did too. Please leave comments (or you can email us) anything that you can think of to make 1k-a-day even better next time. We try to hold it at least once a year (sometimes twice) and would appreciate any feedback you may have.

Here again is a breakdown of items included in the prize packs:


















From Tracy:

- signed copy of UMS
- Class of 2k10 bookmark
- UMS postcard
- UMS character card
- UMS ribbon and cross bookmark - based on Eryn's necklace






















From Tami:

-Beautiful Darkness bracelet
-Twilight-themed playing cards
-A Dexter (the TV Show) pin and lanyard
- Losing Faith by Denise Jaden bookmark
-How it ends by Laura Wiess
-The China Garden by Liz Berry
-Tattoo by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
-An amigurumi crochet cupcake (not shown. Winner can pick the color of "icing" if you want since I will have to specially make this item.)


I wrote down each person that participated in 1k-a-day and then numbered them going down the list from 1-7. I then used a random number generator to selected the winner, which came up #4.

And the winner is.....


MISS TAMMY!!!

Congrats! Please mail your address to YAedge AT yahoo DOT com, as well as what color icing you'd like for your cupcake amigurumi (I pretty much have every color yarn)! Remember, your package will be coming in two parts, one from me and one from Tracy.

Thanks again to everyone. I hope you join us for the next 1k-a-day challenge.

YAedge will begin our regularly scheduled blogging starting next week. Please come back and join us as we talk about writing, reading and great YA books!

1k-a-day Grand Prize Giveaway!

Since the first of July, Tracy and I have mentioned there will be one final large giveaway for 1k-a-day! Today is the day we finally announce what is included! The prize consists of two parts, because we are each including items. The winner will be receiving it in two packages since Tracy and I live in different areas (and heck, even different countries!)

To be entered to win, all you had to do is participate and comment during the month of July! We will be selecting the winner Tuesday (tomorrow), so please check back then to see if you won! Good luck everyone!

If you ask me, there is some awesome stuff here. Some of it is swag from YA authors, a signed copy of Tracy's book (which, IMO is amazing!), YA books and swag from Comic Con! Oh, and a little amigurumi crochet cupcake made by me!

Here is a breakdown of items included in the prize packs:



















From Tracy:

- signed copy of UMS
- Class of 2k10 bookmark
- UMS postcard
- UMS character card
- UMS ribbon and cross bookmark - based on Eryn's necklace






















From Tami:

-Beautiful Darkness bracelet
-Twilight-themed playing cards
-A Dexter (the TV Show) pin and lanyard
- Losing Faith by Denise Jaden bookmark
-How it ends by Laura Wiess
-The China Garden by Liz Berry
-Tattoo by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
-An amigurumi crochet cupcake (not shown. Winner can pick the color of "icing" if you want since I will have to specially make this item.)

1k-a-day Final Friday Giveaway

I know that I mentioned I would be giving the Friday book away on Sunday, but my router had other ideas. Our internet connection hated me, so today is the day! Sorry for the delay. The final Friday giveaway book is an ARC of Immortal by Gillian Shields! Below is the synposis from bn.com:

Welcome to Wyldcliffe, the place that haunts my present, my past, and my future.

Wyldcliffe Abbey School for Young Ladies is elite, expensive, and unwelcoming. When Evie Johnson is torn from her home near the sea to become the newest scholarship student, strict teachers, snobbish students, and the oppressive atmosphere of Wyldcliffe leave her drowning in loneliness.

Evie's only lifeline is Sebastian, a mysterious and attractive young man she meets by chance. As Evie's feelings for Sebastian blaze with each secret meeting, she begins to fear that he is hiding something about his past. And she is haunted by glimpses of a strange, ghostly girl—a girl who is so eerily like Evie she could be a sister. Evie is slowly drawn into a tangled web of past and present that she cannot control. As the extraordinary, elemental forces of Wyldcliffe rise up like the mighty sea, Evie is faced with an astounding truth about Sebastian, and her own incredible fate.

I used a random generated number site, listing each person in no particular order who posted their word count at least once. This week's winner of is:

lostinbelieving (Alison)!!!!!!!!

Congrats! Please email me at YAedge at yahoo dot com with your address and I'll mail it off.

Later today I will be posting a list of items (with pictures) included in the huge grand prize for 1k-a-day! Check back for that and tomorrow I'll be drawing the winner. Good luck!

1k-a-day Final Word Counts and Thoughts

Day 31 word count: 588
SS final word count: 63 187
LI final word count: n/a
WS final word count: n/a
Untitled 1: 1551
Untitled 2: 2002
Skin of My Teeth: 1343

Tracy's 1k-a-day overall word count: I wrote 27 772 words for SS and the other untitled stories and bit for SOMT brought me up to 32 668. I'm glad that overall I made the word count, but if you factor in my cocky expectations (was going for 3k - 1k per project) I didn't do well. I'm not going to dwell on it though, I did write 30k in a month. Nice! I have a few weeks left before it's back to school, hopefully I'll continue to plug away at 1k.

It's bizarre - all the stuff life throws at you when you're doing a timed goal activity like this - our cat getting ill, power outages, gardening adventures, etc. But it's all part of the writing gig - finding a balance between the real world and the worlds we create.

I hope everyone was inspired by our challenge! Enjoy the giveaways. ;)


Day 31 word count: 2,670

Parlor final word count: 37,033

WD final word count:
Dream final word count: 2,212

Tami's 1k-a-day overall word count: 39,245

I have to say, this was my most successful 1k-a-day! I had a great time this month writing with everyone, and I hope you did, too. Thanks for participating and I hope those who won books (or will) enjoy them! I'll be sending out the batch of books/prizes this coming week.

I took this 1k-a-day from a different standpoint then I did the previous. Before, I was working with new ideas, writing 1st drafts which I love. This past month, I was in 2nd draft mode which isn't a favorite of mine. I struggle with the second draft because it's all about trying to see what you did wrong in the first. By the time you're done with the 2nd or 3rd draft, it's down to polishing and taking crit partners' comments to heart. I don't mind that, but the 2nd draft....ew. 1k-a-day helped me plod through. Trust me, I'm grateful for the guilt I felt when I didn't write or hit the 1,000 mark each day. It was great motivation to see all of your word counts, even on the days that you struggled along with me. It's amazing what a little push publishing your word count on a blog each day can do for you. I'm also amazing what writing each day can do for creativity. I was able to work through a few plot points that I didn't know how to solve and came up with my next book idea. I definitely can't complain.

Just because the month of July has now passed us by, that doesn't mean you can't continue to try and achieve 1,000 words each day. Even if you don't hit 1k, sitting down and writing even a sentence can do wonders for a story. It maybe the best or worst sentence you have ever written, but it's words to the end goal.

My favorite art teacher told me many times, You must keep going, even if your drawings are crappy because for every 100 drawings, you will produce one amazing piece of art. All the pain of the 100 is worth it for the one. I think the same thing can be said for writing. You have to get the crappy words/paragraphs/pages/drafts out before finding the gem.

So, join me in continuing the adventure of 1k-a-day. I will not be publishing my word count every day for the month of August, but trust me, I will be writing every day to hit my end goal.

I also want to thank my partner in crime, Tracy, for slogging through the month. I know we both had our ups and downs, but have a lot to show for it. I look forward to the month of August, more writing and starting to critique again.

For those of you not familiar with our normal blog format, please come back and check it out. We have new posts every Monday and Friday (sometimes Wednesdays as well) where we talk about all things writing and teen fiction.