Monday, November 10, 2014

It's a Contest!

First, thank you all for being here!

Second, here's the dealy-bob.  Since I'm making my foray into self-publishing after the start of 2015, I'd like you all to be following me when the event happens, so you get the most updated information the fastest.  So, to that end, I'm having a contest.  The prize for this contest is a kringle from O & H Danish Bakery in Racine, WI.  What's a kringle, you say?  Well, since I'm launching the book currently known as Dying Embers first, I'll let this unedited snippet from it explain:


Dawn was breaking over Lake Michigan by the time they reached Racine.  Still too early to make any headway with their investigation, the two weary travelers rented a car and trolled the city looking for the first real meal either of them had eaten in almost twenty-four hours.

“An associate sent me the best pastry I ever ate, and if I remember correctly, it was made here in Racine.  Look for any place advertising something called a kringle.”

Ben cast a sideways glance at her.  “As in Kris?  This isn’t one of those Christmas towns is it?”

She laughed, and she liked the sound.  The last man who’d made her laugh that hard…  Well, she couldn’t remember one, it’d been so long.  “Not as far as I know.  It’s some kind of Danish delicacy.  Just trust me, and keep your eyes peeled.”

Not another block went by before he pulled the car into a parking space along the road.  “Mademoiselle asks and she receives.”  He pointed one well muscled hand toward the sign above them.

“Perfect.  You won’t regret this.”

“We’ll see about that.”

After sitting down with a couple large slices of the buttery, gooey treat, they ate in companionable silence punctuated only by the groan from them both when they finished too soon.

“Well?”

“You were right.  Those things are incredible.”  He patted his stomach.  “Good thing I don’t live around here.  I’d ruin my girlish figure.”

She couldn’t imagine him ever having a girlish figure.  Not exactly the expanding waistlines of many men his age, he still had enough meat on his bones to keep from blowing away in the wind.  Broad and well-proportioned was more like it, and exactly what Jace would’ve enjoyed getting to know, if this wasn’t business.


And here's a picture of what I consider a slice of heaven, if you need more encouragement:

So, for your opportunity to eat like Jace and Ben, all you have to do is follow this blog.  Here's how it'll go down:

1) If you followed this blog before I woke up the morning this posted (follow early, follow often), you already have two entries.
2) If you also followed The Writing Spectacle before this post went live, you have another two entries.
3) Anyone who follows this blog from this point until the end of the contest, gets another entry.
4) Anyone who follows The Writing Spectacle from this point until the end of the contest, gets another entry.
5) If you comment on this blog post, you get an additional two entries. (For those people who don't use Blogger, comment here and then go ahead and 'follow' anyway.  Even if you never see it through Blogger, it can't hurt anything.)
6) Look for an additional chance to gain entries sometime between now and the end of the contest.
7) The contest ends when I get online in the morning on December 1st, 2014.  Anyone who is following my blog at that time gets to be in this contest, and will have an advantage over new followers in the next contest.  (Dates and prizes for that to be determined - depending on how this contest goes.)

Easy, right?  Cool.  Get following.

And stay tuned because I'll be doing other cool things (I hope - I'm tragically un-cool) in the weeks and months to come.

Thanks again for stopping by.  I look forward to seeing you around.

I am not affiliated with O & H Danish Bakery in any way, so don't bug those folks about this contest.  They won't have a clue. They have no idea who I am and I've never even been to Racine, WI.  I just love kringles and the best ones I ever ate came from this place. Like Jace, I used to have an associate who would send these out.  I really miss doing business with those people.

The kringle prize is available to continental U.S. residents only.  (I can't afford the extra shipping on these suckers yet.  Maybe after I sell some books.) And you should probably have a non-P.O. Box address - because these glorious circles of goodness need to stay fresh and who knows how often you check your P.O. Box.  If you only have a P.O. Box, we'll work something out.

If your name is drawn and you're not in the continental U.S., I'll find an alternate prize - like a gift card or something - to award you.  We'll work it out somehow so you get a prize and I don't have to break the piggy-bank open.

11 comments:

  1. Oh for goodness sake! Another contest I can't win because I'm in the UK.... Still I definitely don't need the calories as I'm fat as a house anyway, so I shall just drool over the picture instead. They do look very nice. Perhaps in your next post you could tell us what the filling is? Just to help my drool, you know..

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  2. You can win, Fran. Just not the kringle because I can't see how it would arrive fresh and shipping costs to over there are awful. If I draw your name, I'll contact you and we'll figure something out.

    The one in the picture has a pecan filling - which is their classic kringle - but they come in all sorts of fruit or nut flavors and I think there's a chocolate or two.

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  3. I honestly don't know which of your blogs I'm officially following on Blogger (because I don't use that anymore to read blogs), but I am following all of them on Feedly lol.

    Those treats sound delicious, and exactly what this pregnant woman wants, LOL!

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  4. You're following both of them, Natalie. I got ya covered. And they're totally delicious - especially if you warm them up a little. Mmmm.

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  5. I think I've seen Kringles in the Swiss Colony catalog, but I've never had one. See... you can change my life by picking ME as the winner! Just saying... :)

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  6. Oh man, Stacy, you have got to try one - whether you win or not. And I'm going to use a random number generator, so it's entirely up to chance. Good luck!

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  7. KRINGLES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Oh, uhm...yeah. I think I already follow all your blogs. I am here. Off to check the Spectacle. :)

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  8. LOL, Silver. They're pretty much worth shouting over, though. I think you follow me everywhere, too. Wait, that sounded stalker-ish. She's totally not stalker- following me, folks. ;o)

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  9. Yum! They look delish! I can't eat them, but I'll drool for hours just from the photo. :-)

    I think I'm following you everywhere, too. ;-)

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  10. I HAVE been to Racine, And I HAVE had Kringle, perhaps even from this very bakery, but I will have to win to know for sure. Do any of those juicy tidbits of accomplishment win me bonus entries?

    P.S. Both blogs are followed... check mine out...

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  11. I think I need to speak firmly to my blog roll. I've been seeing you pop up to the top the last few days, but I missed the contest one. I would have noticed.

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