Winner Ellen Hopkins YA Critique

I usually use a research randomizer to pick a winner but decided to go the old fashioned route.

Step 1. Rip paper into tons of tiny pieces and write entry names on them


Step 2. Place said pieces of paper in a container


Step 3. Pick a lucky name

Here's the deal about the winner.

I entered this crazy YA world about six months ago - wrote a book, got an agent, and was told to network like crazy. I signed up for message boards and listservs and subscribed to authors' blog feeds, desperate to be taken seriously and acknowledged as a writer and not some hobbyist.

The winner of Ellen Hopkins YA critique is coincidentally the first person who reached out to me. I'd been posting/emailing/responding and everyone was nice (including many of the other entrants), but the person that won is the very first aspiring YA author who messaged me, unsolicited, and said - Hey, welcome - you're one of us.

So while I would have been happy with any winner, this one gives me an extra bit of gooey smushy goodness inside. To find out - visit my Pens Fatales post on First Lines after June 10th.