I have a favor to ask from my dear friends here

[Pamster]

Hi everyone,

I have been consumed with getting my first novel in order for this contest I just entered last week, I know I haven't been around in a while but that is because I haven't had much free time. We still don't have an aide yet and I doubt we will, it's just not meant to be I guess, but we're getting by ok.

Now for the favor. It's about this contest, it's for $5,000 and a publishing contract with Simon & Schuster/Touchtone. If you want to help can you go register with the gather.com site you can use a fake name and email if you like, I used my real name and info though because I really hope that mine is selected to move on to the next round but that' remains to be seen.

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474976895350

That is the link to my story and if you can rate it for me that would really mean a lot to me. A lot of people went around voting down every other story with 1's and knocked mine down the rungs along with a lot of other stories and it's not fair. I have rewritten this opening chapter three times and the version I have now would have been rated al ot higher by people I'm sure, but I wanted to make sure I got into the contest before the deadline.

If anyone else is in this contest let me know so I can vote for you. :) Thanks everyone for the help, I really appreciate the fact that we all stick together for things and that we support each other in times of need and I sure have had my share of ups and downs last year so hopefully this year is going to be a little better. We're going to start using the gym again once we get over the colds we've all got.

Thanks again all, I really hate to ask for this, but I don't know where else to turn to help combat the cheating going around in the contest. The gather.com people did remove a bunch of 1 votes from some of the people's stories that pushed their ratings back up but they didn't take any off mine that I noticed. Anyway I should be around again now, so I hope everyone's doing good today. I feel better then I have for a week, this cold hit us all hard and we're just starting to get over it. :)

[Isabelle]

that's not fair! :mad: the essay should be rated on its literary merits, substance, theme, whatever....anybody with an extended family and friends....at all events i'll go there....incognito
Editing: Hey! This is not an essay, I didn't know it was a book and is the first chapter, tomorrow I'll finish

[BrokenBladder]

Pamster I read the story and voted for you. Good luck!!!!

[Lara]

I'm glad you're feeling better, Pamster. Hope everyone else is as well.

I'll check out your chapter tonight (might run out of time it's heading to 8pm already here and I should be off computer) or tomorrow morning. Good luck with it all!

[Pamster]

Thank you Isabelle, it's my first novel and I agree people should vote on its merit, I mean it's not full of typos and grammatical errors and that should mean it gets nothing lower then a five but I can see people doing the 1 thing pushing my score down just to be pushing down the competition. It's really sad I think. Thanks for taking time to read over it. :)

Thank you Lisa for reading and voting for me, I really appreciate it! :D Hope things are going well with you and your family, I can honestly say things here are about average and doing ok so that's good. ;) :D

Thank you Lara! It will take a little bit to read but I think it's still better then a lot of chapters people have sent in that had errors and other problems like not enough character interaction and too much description with too little dialogue. ;)

[AKF]

Surely the people who run this thing know that people will vote down the competition to make themselves look better! They should have a way of accounting for that in the final tally.

I tried to go and read your story, but my school computer blocked the website because they classified it as Personal/Dating?? I'll try from home.

[Pamster]

I think they know about it but I don't know what they can actually do about it. The good news is that they are picking 5 entries they liked to move forward to the next round so that only 15 of the ones that rated highest will be in the second round. After that the third round only 1 entry is picked by the editorial staff to move forward, so they at least are doing that to circumvent the 'cheating' that's going on.

Thanks for trying to vote AKF. I really do apreciate it. :)

[milivica]

You get a 10 from me all the way babe!

[Pamster]

((((((((Lisa)))))))))

Love you hun! I saw my score go up back over a 5 and had a feeling it was you. Thanks for the support I really appreciate it. :D :D :D

[Isabelle]

i don't need to make a critique, right? i have an english language disability :rolleyes: i like the story, is suspenseful, if i want to read the next chapter i have to buy the book, eh? :p :D

[Pamster]

I haven't gotten it sold yet so there's no way to buy it, however I have the second chapter for anyone who wants to read it, just PM me with your email and I can get it out to you. But no one has to leave a critique, comments are welcome but not required.

I am just glad people like it because I wrote it to be read and this is the first time it's being seen publically other then on my website where the unedited version is still residing. ;)

Thank you Isabelle for going over there and reading my story. :) Thanks to everyone who has the time and motivation to check it out. :D

[AKF]

I got over there last night and read it and voted. I really liked it and I want to know what the girlfriend is about to drop on him. Is she pregnant or is she going to dump him? Although, you took pains to explain how safe he is, so I bet she's going to dump him. Either way, I bet he ends up with Nicole.

It's definitely the kind of book I would keep on reading. I gave you an 8 for your efforts!!

[Pamster]

I am so glad you liked it AKF! Thanks for the positive feedback and the vote! I hope that you like the next chapter if I get lucky enough to be able to see it posted. Only 20 are moving forward into the next round to get their second chapters posted. And I need all the votes I can get. :)

If I am not picked to move forward I am planning on posting the second chapter on my live journal so hopefully people will get to see it and let me know what they thought of it after it's posted. :D

Thanks so much for taking time to read and vote for me AKF! :D

[Isabelle]

You sure you don't mind, Pamster? Because I can wait to buy your book when it comes out, how long do I have to wait?
I have waited patiently for all the Harry Potter books, so I know it takes time.... and for the movies

[Pamster]

I don't know if I am going to be the winner or not, I hope so, but I am not counting my chickens before they're hatched. ;) I definitely don't mind one bit posting the second chapter if mine is passed over because I really think the story gets moving in chapter two with what happens between Nick and his girlfriend and what happens after that is really eye opening.

If I do not get moved forward though I will start searching for an agent and publisher for Walk of Fire now that I have revamped it I am confident in it's storyline and think it will be a successful book when it's finally published. :D It's going to see ink and paper, I've decided to go at this whole hog and am not giving up no matter what. :)

[jasper]

I thoroughly enjoyed it! Can't wait for it to get published. I gave it a 10 ... well deserved.

(p.s. I don't think Leslie is going to break up with Nick, I feel it's something else but I don't know what)

[Pamster]

I hope you like it, I sent it off to you just a minute ago so you should have it now Jasper. ;) Thanks for the vote, I really appreciate it. I have to get it up to a 6.6 to be in the lead at all which is a lot of votes yet to go, but I am hoping that it will happen slowly and build up to a 6.6. Most stories are like 5 and under and there are quite a few who got rated up in the 6.5 range so thank you so much for the vote, it really helped! :D

[Isabelle]

i started to read the story i would like to continue. Pamster, if it is not too much trouble, could you PM the second chapter? Thanks :)

[Pamster]

Sure thing Isabelle! Consider it done. :D I hope you like it. :)

[Isabelle]

Thanks, I printed them out :D

[Pamster]

I am tickled pink that you're enjoyig the story Isabelle! :D Can't wait to see what you think of Ch 2. :)

[Isabelle]

it went fast, it has interesting/unexpected detours that surprised me. i like suspense and keeps me on edge...give me more, please :D

[Pamster]

I am so excited that you liked it that much Isabelle! :D Thank you for reading and sharing your thoughts about the story with me. I just attached it to an email for you so you should have it by now. Thank you again for taking time to read it, I am just so happy that it's being enjoyed by you and Jasper both. :D

[Pamster]

Well my entry went down yesterday ranked at 5.9 with 45 votes, not too shabby and 18 comments. Did anyone happen to save the webpage itself? I didn't get to because I didn't expect it to go down when it did. I thought it would wait until today but they yoinked it last night. :p

ETA: A BIG thank you to everyone who took time to read and vote, it meant a lot to me to see my score going to a 6.5 It was so exciting to be a part of this contest, if anyone else enters I hope they link us to their stories, I would vote for anyone here. :D

[jasper]

I'm chugging through the book. It's very compelling ... which is a problem because I find myself reading it when I'm supposed to be doing other stuff! I just spent the last hour reading when I was supposed to be cleaning, but couldn't tear myself away. Pamster, it's all your fault I have a dirty house! LOL!

[Pamster]

LOL!! I should be doing some cleaning too Jasper, but I was caught up editing the book, the cleaning isn't going anywhere. Besides Jackie vacuumed so it wasn't a wasted day, we also did dishes together so some cleaning was accomplished. ;) So happy you're enjoying it Jasper. :D

[Isabelle]

me I supposed to be doing laundry and dinner. Nobody is going is going to heard from me for the longest time :D

[Pamster]

LOL!! I just did my dishes and cleaned up and have Word open as I am again rereading the book, am arounf 147. LOL! I definitely was shedding tears earlier when I was reading the last chapters. I really love this story, it was my first and I am trying to go back and add more dialogue. The only thing I think it needs are more scenes talking with Nick and the other characters. :D

I am so gratified that someone else is reading along with me. Thanks Jasper, Isabelle, I really appreciate knowing how much you're enjoying the story. :)