And the winner is…
Marcia Strykowski
♦ January 31, 2017
♦ 41 Comments
Thanks so much to everyone who participated in my New Year’s Day Giveaway. I appreciate that so many of you took the time to comment whether you wanted to win a book or not (and hey, if you’re not a winner today, you could always borrow or request one of the Amy books at your local library!).
My plan was to accomplish more writing this month and I guess you could say I did that. Much of my time was spent on editing (believe it or not, I’m smack dab in the middle of a huge scifi/fantasy book). Other time was used for polishing and submitting two projects (one a middle grade and one a picture book—wish me luck!) Some nights I spent reading and reviewing new books or kicked back with a bit of illustration thrown in for good measure. This plus library work and hanging out with (most important!) family and friends kept me busy.
What about you? Been busy? Do you ever feel you have too many interests? Jill of all trades, master of none? So hard to squeeze in eating right and exercise, but somehow we manage to do that, too. (Well, most of the time…)
But you don’t want to hear about all this, you clicked on this post to see who won. Right?
I couldn’t have asked for a better turnout…a hatful of entries!
And then my lovely assistant reached in and selected two names.
And the winners are…… drumrollll……. Oh, oh, I just thought of this jingle which will bring New Englanders back a few years. Anyone remember Community Auditions? It ran for 40 years and was very similar to today’s popular talent shows, but on a local scale and with one huge difference—viewers voted for their favorite of the six contestants by sending in postcards by snail mail. Here’s part of the theme song: “Star of the day, who will it be?” But back to our winners, here they are:
Congratulations to Leandra and Ashley! I will make sure they know they’ve won and then they can privately send me their addresses. As described in the last post, they have their choice of prizes, either a signed copy of Call Me Amy or a signed copy of Amy’s Choice.
Whether you practice one interest or many, support one cause or several, I hope everyone is making great headway in accomplishing their own 2017 dreams. It seems the first step to making your wishes come true is to at least show up to the challenge. This is no dress rehearsal, be who you want to be on this the first day of the rest of your days. It’s never too late, go out and grab all you can from life! (Did I throw enough clichés in there?)
Most of all, be good to yourself, take time to rest, relax, and pat yourself on the back. If you prefer just chillin’, good for you (an enviable pursuit!) As for me, in this year of political turmoil, I’m going to try to focus on what’s bright and right with the world. 🙂
Marcia Strykowski 
Congrats to the winners! I love your quote and scenic photo.
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Thanks, Yvonne, it was fun to put together the picture and saying—yet another distraction to keep me amused.
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Congrats to the Winners! So far 2017 is moving in the right direction. Good luck with your projects.
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Great attitude, lets make it our best year yet. Thanks!
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Dear Marcia, I wish you all the luck in the world with your submissions, how exciting! Don’t forget to let us know how you get on and to update us as your scifi/fantsy book progresses. I for one can’t wait to hear more.
Congratulations to Leandra and Ashley, I don’t have any knowledge of Community Auditions or the theme tune, but I loved the way you built the suspense.
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It may take quite a long time to update my progress since the publishing world is slow as molasses, as they say. 🙂 Just as well you’re not familiar with the Star of the Day theme song, it’s all I can sing once it gets stuck in my head! Thanks for always leaving such nice comments, Barbara!
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I’ve been singing ‘Let it Go’ from Frozen ever since our granddaughters visited last year, we saw the film so many times. Sadly, my singing voice is awful so my impromptu performances are not appreciated.
I will be singing it all day now I’ve thought of it. 🙂
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So funny! I’m sure you sound quite lovely. 🙂 I will picture you singing ‘Let it Go’ all day and hopefully won’t break into song myself!
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Congrats to the winners. I hope they enjoy the books 🙂
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Me, too, thanks! 🙂
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I enjoyed this post — suspenseful and refreshing. Good luck with your writing.
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Why thank you, Anne! 🙂
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Congratulations to both winners. I am sure they are going to enjoy this give away. So glad to read that you are accomplishing some of your writing goals already. Wishing you more success in the coming month of February. Thanks too for stopping to visit me.
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Nice to hear from you, Deborah, thanks for your comment. I hope February is starting out wonderful for you, too!
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I’m so excited to be one of the winners!! Thank you!! I own both books but I want to give Amys Choice to my friend. Her name is Brittany for signing.
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What a kind gesture, Ashley. It’s nice to share books with friends. Your email just came in, too, so now that I have your address, I’ll sign Amy’s Choice to Brittany and send it right out. Thanks for participating!
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HI Marcia!! Your’e back! I’ve been missing your posts–kept checking in to find something new. And I have to know– is your lovely assistant, your daughter?? She is beautiful! OK, and I’m really hoping all goes well with your two books! so exciting! Let us know… And– Im with you on the “too many interests” plan. Even tough I’m retired and should have all the time in the world– I still don’t get to read quite as much as I wish (only so many book hours a week) — and want to get back to painting, start a wedding quite for my daughter, have people in for dinner, take care of our folks… Seriously, there are just not enough hours in the week! But you seem to get so much done!! and still read big fat sci-fi books! Fun to see your new post friend. hugs hugs!
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Hi Rhonda, so nice to hear from you! Yes, that’s my daughter. 🙂 Seems like every day I could use an extra few hours. The best thing I added on several years back is listening to audio books every time I’m alone in my car, so many great stories I would have missed. I hope you’ll get to some of your projects soon. Baby steps, I guess, a bit of quilting and painting each day. Maybe alternate? (I’m trying to inspire myself here, as well) maybe make Thursdays craft day.. I’d love to see how they progress. Your food posts are a craft in themselves, so beautifully photographed and described. Take care and thanks for your note! xo
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Hi Marcia– I have friends from our Lit group who always have a book on tape the in car. I’ll have to check in at the library and see what they have. — Which tapes have you really liked? And what else are you reading right now?? –hope you’re settling in for a good weekend… xox
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Hi Rhonda! Right now I’m listening to A Man Called Ove, only on disc 2. A few audios I’ve recently enjoyed: The Wonder by Emma Donoghue, The Girl in the Red Coat by Kate Hamer and The Summer Before the War by Helen Simonson. The first was a little slow (and I wanted to shake a few main characters several times) but it was worth a listen. The second really held my interest in a suspenseful sort of way. Both books coincidentally had religion as a theme. And the last, Simonson’s, was probably my favorite of the three. If you ever want to see my full list, just google Goodreads with my name (no quotes) and click on my bookshelf. 🙂 xo
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OK Marcia– this comment is a goldmine! I love your taste in books (all those bright kids books!!) and I’m heading over to check your Goodreads list! I read Ove and liked it a lot– the characters were the stars there and it would be interesting to hear it on tape, to get more of a feeling for them. I’ll look for The Wonder (have read reviews on it) and The Girl in the Red Coat (sounds heartbreaking!). I’m reading the Summer Before the Was right now (about half way through). Loved Mr. Pettigrew and this is equally charming–we visited the town of Rye a couple times when we traveled up from Spain– so beautiful. so thanks thanks Marcia– Your’s a treasure. hugs!
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Great, Rhonda, so glad my ideas are useful to you! How lucky that you got to visit Rye, it does sound beautiful. Happy reading!xo
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Read through your Goodreads list Marcia! So fun to see you presented as the author!! God some good ideas. thanks! xo
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Goodreads is such an easy way to keep track of what I’ve read and what I want to read in future! 🙂
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Hi Marcia– you’re more high tech than me– I keep a list of books I want to read on a little tablet in my purse and drag it out every time I go to the library! So far it works good enough. I’m almost done with “The Summer Before the War.” Really liking it. Happy Reading!!
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Glad you’re enjoying The Summer Before the War. I’m not too high tech, Goodreads is just very user friendly. As soon as you start typing a title in the search box, the book comes up and then you get to select whether you’ve read it or want to read it which automatically adds it to your list. Kind of fun! There are still plenty of patrons who come into the library with scraps of paper or notebooks for their book needs. 🙂
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Sounds like I could do this! thanks Marcia.
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Marcia you are off to a great start in the New Year! Best of luck on your middle reader and picture book submissions. Congratulations to the winners! They will enjoy reading Call Me Amy and Amy’s Choice! Wonderful books! I look forward to more of your books in the near future! I love your beautiful photo and quote! Very inspiring! Life is too short with not a minute to waste! Thank you for another wonderful post! 🙂
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Happy New Year, Bette, thanks for your comment and optimism! 🙂
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As long as I’m making baby steps in directions I want to go, I feel happy. 🙂
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That’s a great way to look at it, enjoying the journey is half the pleasure!
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Congrats to the winners! You did a good job building suspense. 🙂
So glad you got some writing and editing done. Sounds like you got a lot accomplished.
Have a great weekend!
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Thanks so much, Stephanie, hope you’re having a great weekend, too!
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I love the Celebrate! photo. I always enjoy your posts. Your lovely assistant is indeed lovely!
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Thank you, Colleen! That photograph was taken in Port Clyde, Maine, which will be featured in my next blog post. 🙂
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What a beautiful blog you have! I know exactly what you mean about writing. I really have to discipline myself. I try to make myself write a thousand words a day, not including my blog reviews. It can be very hard. I don’t think I’m a Jill of all trades so I don’t have that excuse.
Take care!
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Wow, that’s great. A thousand words a day is a good-sized commitment. Thanks for your kind words, Sharon!
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I’m very excited!! Amys choice came wrapped up pretty in my mail today! It was fast to get way over here!! Thank you thank you and for including two sets of bookmarks and stickers. I get to keep one, My friend will love hers! ps your daughter is very pretty
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So glad it reached you okay, Ashley. Thanks for your nice comment!
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Congratulations to the winners! And best of luck with the submissions and revision, Marcia. Sounds exciting ~ a PB, an MG, and the huge sci-fi/fantasy story!
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Thanks, Claudine! We’ll see how it goes. 🙂
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