Nathan Bransford | Writing, Book Editing, Publishing

Helping authors achieve their dreams

Yeah, Wow

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8 hours x 60 minutes = 480 minutes

/

267 entries

=

an entry every 1.7 minutes

+

Makers Mark

=

I can still do this.

UPDATE 9:23 PM:

My wife came through for me: homemade eggnog in a mason jar!!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Nathan Bransford says

    Well, that all depends. The previous record for entries was around 650, so I was expecting in that ballpark. We’re halfway there in 8 hours, which puts us on pace for somewhere around 2,000.

    That would be surprising.

  4. Sophie W. says

    I can’t imagine how insane judging all those entries is going to be. If you actually get 2,000 entries, I’d get another judge. At least one of you might emerge with your eyeballs intact.

  7. Lady Glamis says

    Nathan, you brought this on yourself, you know.

    You have a lot of followers….

    🙂

    Um, 2,000 entries. Wow. I wouldn’t expect you to judge too quickly. I’m sure it will slow down. 🙂

  9. Merc says

    Too bad the time machine prototype is MIA or I’d send it to you, Nathan, so you could have time to judge in a more sane fashion.

    Wait, if I had a time machine, I’d actually have more novels written, or be rich…

    Okay, must rethink this now. 😉

    Good luck!

  13. Just_Me says

    *hands you more Makers Mark*

    Nathan~
    You’ll survive this too. It’s called a random number generator. You set it up to pick a number between 1 and 2000 and let it do the work. If you really don’t like the entry, hit enter again and make the number generator try again….

  14. Marilyn Peake says

    Nathan,

    Wow, that is a huge number of entries. I admire your tenacity. By Friday, I think you will have added a new page to the “Yes, we can” chapter of our times…or maybe added a new chapter to the book…or a new book to the series. That’s a serious number of entries. Thank you for taking the time to do this.

  15. Stephanie says

    Nathan,

    Thank you for exposing yourself to this madness. Perhaps it will slow down in a bit, and you will be able to return to sanity.

    We all know that this is something you do in “your free time” however limited that is.

    The idea of a smaller window of opportunity is a good one. Heck, now that I’ve entered mine, you could cut it off anytime. Say, now. Or now. Or now.

    Rock on!

  19. Margaret Yang says

    This could be the Next Big Thing.

    Writers have NanoWriMo, wherein they attempt to write an insane amount of words in November. Now agents have…let’s call it NaPaJudWe (National Paragraph Judging Week–NaPa for short) wherein agents try to evaluate an insane amount of words in a week in December.

    I could totally see it going national. Really! Hey, nobody thought NanoWriMo would get so big either.

    BTW, I’m not entering. Good luck to all participants.

  21. Anonymous says

    The number of entries forecast only sounds formidable. People who work with words are used to eyeballing vast amounts of content.

    Now, about the benefits of Maker’s Mark…

  22. Adaora A. says

    Wow…

    But surely you must know that you have an enormous readership. You can’t possibly be entirely shocked?!

    We expect funny pictures of spicy food consumption to chronicle the journey.

  23. Kathleen Peacock says

    You have to contend both with your own popularity and the fact that people have been spreading the news far and wide.

    Maybe the mob will give you time off for good behavior or, you know, slide cheese slices under your door* so you don’t starve while wading through thousands of entries.

    Yes – that was a Microserfs reference.

  24. Laura says

    Heh, Yeah, thank goodness mine was extremely short!

    good luck, and try some really good red wine… antioxidants are better for you and your heart! 🙂

  27. Marina says

    Nathan,
    Remember, sometimes insanity is a virtue, and it can spur good luck. Just look at what it did for Britney. Okay, bad example.

  30. Sarah Jensen says

    All I can say is good luck. And you shouldn’t even be reading these comments with all the paragraphs you have to read.
    I’d do a shorter window of time next time, or say it cuts off at so many entries. Of course, since you write the rules, you could do that now.
    Best of luck, there are some darn good entries. I’m enjoying them and wouldn’t want to have to judge.

  34. R. Daley says

    Nathan,

    There has to be a breakthrough first novel that is destined for the NY Times bestseller list in there. Your task is to identify it.

    Good luck! BTW…I just bought stock in the Maker’s Mark. I think you’ll need quite a bit to see yourself through this endeavor 🙂

  37. CC says

    You can do it Nathan!

    Go, go, go!!

    (Was I the only one that caught the “wife” reference with the eggnog? So, we sort of now know where you were even if it’s not our business. That’s a good woman, to put up with the rest of us.)

    I plan on reading all the entries. I got a good start last night. Some of these are really quite impressive.

  38. Anonymous says

    (Was I the only one that caught the “wife” reference with the eggnog?)

    I caught it, too. Congratulations, Nathan!

  39. Precie says

    1) You are the definition of insanity.

    2) Congratulations on your apparent nuptials!!!! I thought someone had mentioned something during your absence about a wedding or honeymoon or something…but you know how how rumors spread. I hope all went beautifully and you’re enjoying wedded bliss! (FYI–Running this contest is probably NOT a way to guarantee wedded bliss.)

    3) I have to assume your wife knew of your condition (insanity) before marrying you. I wish her lots of luck during this contest too. 🙂

  41. Inmodify says

    I really liked this one:

    Eliza K.

    “In the city, Boss is a man of girth, worth, and expensive shoes. Hand-crafted leather. Hand-hammered steel toes. Hand-stitched soles. The hands of the people help him stand, as he once put it between wisps of smoke. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen Boss open his mouth without smoke trailing out. He’s a demon too, in his own way. Not like me, of course, but still. I’ve seen him steal as many souls with only words.”

    I get a sense of both characters and want to read more.

  43. Bryn Greenwood says

    Hopefully there’s a whole vat of eggnog just off screen. My question is…isn’t the judging just a matter of reading through the entries until something catches your eye. Oh, right. Still involves reading all the entries.

  45. Liz says

    All I can say, Nathan, is you’re a good man. And thank you. Just reading over the entries and noticing which ones I liked and what they had in common gave me another insight on a necessary revision to my manuscript. So having this contest has already helped a new writer developing her craft. Thank you.

  47. Thomas Mason says

    Nathan,

    Congrats on the wedding and I hope that you’ve got enough eye drops to get you through the judging!

    I imagine by the time all is said and done you will have close to 2,500 entries!!

  49. Ulysses says

    Congratulations on the joining of your houses. I’ve been married for 19 years and I still wouldn’t trade the fair Penelope for the world.

    … Not that anyone’s made me the offer.

    Seriously, we’d not think less of you if you brought in some help on this one. After you were featured on blogger’s main page (or whatever it was), I began to notice a ton of new names in the comments. If that translates to a bump (or rather, a tower, a mountain) in the number of entries, then I fear for your remaining sanity.

    Nobody likes a sleep-deprived, alcohol-fuelled, newly-married agent when they’re overworked and cranky.

  50. Stacey says

    This is going to be more fun than your stack of e-mails from when you were away. You’re already at 573 comments and you have two more days, I think you’ll beat your record!