And the Special-Query Stamp Contest Finalists Are…

Hi everybody! *waves*
I know I said I'd post tomorrow, but I already have the list... so why delay it one more day? =) 

First of all, THANK YOU ALL for participating! And for sharing your first pages with me!  As I said, I had a blast reading them all, once, twice, thrice, (fourice? Fourfold! Thanks, Jay)!  I’ve gotta admit it was sooooo difficult to choose.  At first, I had like 50 finalists—no kidding.  But then I said, “Hoo boy, that means I’ll have to read 500 pages!” So I kept narrowing them down till I got to the final list below.

So, congratulations to:

Ruthanne Reid

Jo Hart

Chelsey Blair

Kimberly A Miller

Rebecca Paulin
Lori M. Lee

Amy Machelle

Heather McCorkle

Lizzie C. Friend

Brian Kell

Shayda Bakhshi

Elizabeth Reinhardt
Josin L. McQuein

Mary Holm

Katy Upperman
Jenn Nguyen
Caitlin Darrell
Nik Johnson
Sara Riouch

Kimberlee Turley
Shallee McArthur
Sarah Nicolas

Meyn Lorenzo
Sarah Enni
Cassandra Marshall

Christa Desir
Cait Peterson
Taryn

If your name is up there, please email me your first 10 pages along with your query to loveya.blogspotATgmail.com.  Don’t attach, just paste everything to the body of the email, and don’t forget to include your name, genre, and word count of your ms.  Put “Special-Query Stamp Finalist” + the title of your ms in the subject line. 

I’ll *try* to announce the winner in the next 2 weeks, so please send your pages today or tomorrow so I can start reading ASAP.  I’ll wait until Tuesday at midnight to receive the first 10 pages + queries.

For all of you who didn’t make it, I’m so sorry.  You know I’m all for helping you guys land agents, and that’s the reason I did this contest in the first place.  But, can you imagine what agents would say if I tell them, “Hey, I have 80 winners in my contest”???  

BUT…  since I read all the entries so many times, I know exactly why I didn’t pick some of them. So, if you’re interested in knowing why, AND IF YOU HAVE A THICK SKIN, I’d love it if you asked me what happened.  Send me an email to:  loveya.blogspotATgmail.com  and put “Please Explain” in the subject line. In the email, paste your one-sentence pitch and your first page (EXACTLY as you posted it in the contest) so I know what entry we’re talking about.  Note that I’ll probably start answering these explanatory emails AFTER the contest ends. So have patience with me, okay?

Oh and one more thing. Just so you know, I didn’t eliminate anyone because of typos or word count (I'd said 240-250 words). However, if I was on the fence with an entry, typos and word count helped me decide.  (There was more than one entry with 300+ words. And more than one entry with typos, too.)

I guess that's it.

I hope y’all had fun! And I look forward to hearing from all of you! =)

<3

Monica