The….. winner…… is…… atthebottomofthispost.
But first, I promised to discuss more about what went into my decisions. And before we begin delving into the ins and outs of first paragraphs, I think I should probably state this up front for the record:
It’s just a first paragraph.
Lots of really great books have very quiet and/or unremarkable first paragraphs. Your book is not going to succeed or fail based solely on its first paragraph. While I do think a good first paragraph can help grab a reader, I hope the takeaway from this contest isn’t to elevate the first paragraph more than it deserves or convey that it’s essential to cram the entire plot into the first paragraph or to make it overly clever or to treat it as anything but it what it is: your reader’s first impression of the book.
I also want to emphasize, as I did in the last contest, that I think I read these first paragraphs differently as an agent than a lot of readers do. Lots of people look at the paragraphs and think, “Is this a book I want to read? Am I hooked? Would I buy this?” When I’m reading a paragraph (or a partial), I’m looking for execution more than I’m looking for whether there’s a catchy plot introduced right off the bat. If the writing isn’t there it doesn’t matter how much I like the concept.
Also, have I mentioned how hard it was to choose the finalists? It was hard. In order to show you the kinds of decisions I was making as I was whittling the 2,500 down to the longlist and the longlist down to 10, I thought it might be helpful to discuss some of the honorable mentions, both to give them credit where due for being awesome, and to show the kind of hairsplitting I had to engage in to reduce the list to just the ten finalists.
There were paragraphs, like John Askins’, where I really loved the concept. What isn’t there to like about a novel opening with a toilet-trained monkey in some bar in Guadalajara? But I felt that the transition between the second sentence and the third was a little choppy, and I didn’t feel that “potty trained” needed to be repeated in two sentences in a row and instead thought those sentences could be combined. Like I said, splitting hairs.
There were paragraphs like Jenny W.’s, which opens up such an appealing world. I love the idea of a man casually shooing away a monster going to the bathroom in the front yard. But while at first blush it read so smoothly and has such a great voice, there was a contradiction in the paragraph that I couldn’t quite get over – if it was the narrator’s first time seeing the monster, why were they on a first name basis and seemed so familiar with each other? It seemed like the catchy first line contradicted the rest of the paragraph.
There were other paragraphs, such as L.T. Host’s and Vanessa’s, where there’s a high concept hook right off the bat. These are classic “I want to know more” openers, and seriously, I really want to know more please e-mail me. But in a competition for best first paragraph, I had to leave out ones that had an interesting, straightforward concept but mainly left it at that. I really liked these paragraphs and don’t want/need a paragraph that’s overwrought or needlessly florid, but I couldn’t help but feel that there could have been something just a little bit more to invite the reader a further into these worlds even if there’s a high concept idea introduced right away.
Can you tell how subjective this gets when you’re choosing between 20-25 of the best written paragraphs? It is.
Now. Circling back: do I have an overarching philosophy when it comes to first paragraphs?
Sort of.
I was pretty surprised at the specificity of many of the people who weighed in on the You Tell Me on what makes a good paragraph, not to mention how contradictory many of the opinions were. Some people only wanted in media res, some hate in media res. Some want description, some don’t. Some like beginning with dialogue, some hate beginnings with dialogue. Some want to be grabbed by the throat, some want to be led in gently. Some want spare, some want florid. It definitely explains why there are such wildly divergent opinions about the paragraphs.
I don’t have any set preferences when it comes to structure and approach. frohock left a great comment that sums up my feeling about first paragraphs almost entirely. Essentially, I think the first paragraph has three important functions: it establishes the tone/voice, it gets the reader into the flow of the book, and it establishes trust between the author and reader.
The concept of flow and rhythm is especially important. It’s hard to begin reading a book. The reader is starting with a blank slate and doesn’t have much context for understanding what is happening. It takes a lot of brain power to read the opening and begin to feel comfortable in the world of that book. So even if the novel starts with action, or especially if it begins with action, it’s very important to draw in the reader methodically, with one thought leading to the next. The flow of the words and a steady building goes a long way toward hooking the reader. Quite a few paragraphs jumped around or felt scattered, and it made it difficult to stay engaged.
And on the trust issue: I shy away from anything that feels like a gimmick. A novel is simply too long for gimmicks. Not only do they get exhausting, anything that is clever merely for the sake of being clever comes at the expense of trust between author and reader. To put it another way: if a first paragraph is how an author makes their first impression, using a gimmick in the opener is kind of like going to shake the reader’s hand while wearing a hand buzzer. There might be a quick thrill, but they’re probably not going to trust you after that. There was a feeling of forced cleverness in many of the entries where I wasn’t able to lose myself in the paragraph and forget the hand of the author who was writing it.
In any contest where someone is reading 2,500 paragraphs basically in one setting, originality is probably more important than it would be normally. While there were plenty of openings in this contest that were very good, there were stretches where things kind of blended together. The ones that were different tended to stand out in the contest, even though I fully recognize that you can write a perfectly competent but unremarkable first paragraph and still write a very good book.
Lastly, I would urge everyone to read as many of the entries as possible. There really is no substitute for reading them until your eyes bleed and see what begins to jump out at you once they’ve begun to blend together. Manning a slush pile is a tremendous learning opportunity for any writer, and reading a couple thousand of these is the closest approximation.
And speaking of blending together, here are some of the things I saw a lot of as I read through the entries. Bear in mind that I’m not saying you can’t use any of these elements in your first paragraph. Anything can be done well. But these are common tropes that I picked up on:
– There were quite a lot openings with setting/rising suns and characters bathed in red colors, as well as moons and characters bathed in twilight.
– Girls looking in mirrors/brushing their hair/looking in mirrors while brushing their hair
– Holy cow, or should I say Holy Dead Bloody Cow were there a lot of corpses and blood in the first paragraphs. “Blood” was used 181 times, and that doesn’t count the euphemisms. Not necessarily a bad thing (and one of the bloody ones made the finals), but wow.
– You wrote a lot of paragraphs in the second person.
– One common trope involves a person who is dying but feels all detached from the experience. Sort of like: “I am dying, but I feel nothing but a bemused disinterest about it. Isn’t it curious that I’m dying? I suppose I should be scared right now. This is peculiar indeed.”
– Waking up/waking up in a panic/waking up in a burning down house/waking up from a really good dream/waking up from a really bad nightmare/waking up and not wanting to wake up/waking up and realizing actually dead.
– Gripping the steering wheel tightly
– Contemplating the depth of an important moment, especially: “If only this one thing hadn’t happened, then everything would have been different.” “It was just like any other day, only then this one thing happened.” “This was the precise moment when everything changed.”
– The pull the chair out from under the reader several times paragraph, like this: “Statement. Well, it wasn’t that per se, it was somewhat like this. Or should I say rather more like this. Still, it was indeed kind of like that original statement. Only kind of not really.”
– Common phrases: “consumed with fear,” “last thing I/he/she wanted/expected, “washed over me/him/her, “top of my/his/her lungs,” “farthest thing from my/his/her mind,” “(blank) – literally,” “they/my mom/my grandmother say(s) that (aphorism).”
Like I said, any of these things can be done very well, and I’m not trying to say you shouldn’t use any of them. It’s just difficult to make something unique out of elements that are very common, and I think we’re all generally drawn to something that feels different.
For instance, someone along the way pointed out that SATURDAY opens with the protagonist waking up. So it can be done, particularly if your novel takes place over the course of one day and particularly if your name is Ian McEwan. And if anything, the same trope in the beginning can result in wildly different results. “Dark and stormy night” can lead to WRINKLE IN TIME or it can lead to this paragraph from PAUL CLIFFORD, originally written by the long-dead Edward Bulwer-Lytton, the inspiration for the bad-writing contest of the same name, which I assume someone entered in an attempt to trick me.
Heh.
Here is why I ended up choosing these ten finalists:
Josin L. McQuein pulls you in with the geometry-teacher-as-devil idea, and then keeps it going with a great punch line. I really love “I want to strangle myself with a hypotenuse,” not only because it’s funny, but it’s geometrically accurate! Great voice.
Alanna. Confession: I am not generally a fan of the second person. But I thought the writing and the concept here are quite spectacular and I didn’t hesitate to include this paragraph as a finalist. I thought it was moving to have the action going in reverse, the prose was top notch (love: “The dust falls out of the beam of light from your window and settles back on the scarred wooden floor”), and I found the interplay between the writing and subject very evocative. I might have liked it even better if it were third person, but this is some serious raw writing talent on display.
K and A. What I love about this paragraph is how fully-realized this world is and how effortlessly the details are melded into the paragraph. I was drawn in by the list of people and how they aren’t what they say they are, but what really drove this paragraph home for me was that the new arrival shows up with a protest sign that says “Peace not plasma.” K and A didn’t stop with the plot concept, there are small details throughout that creates a very convincing and interesting world. This is a great example of how a world can come alive with small details.
M has an instantly memorable setup: a protag with a changed name on the run from some murders. But it’s more than just an interesting concept, there’s a great voice too. I love that the character is looking out for the reader. Now. Is Mara the culprit or a witness? I guess we’ll have to read on to find out.
Jackie Brown. I really liked the interplay between inside and outside in this paragraph. At first it seemed like the child was perhaps dangerous (she’s wearing a mask and we see her staring in the door and is compared to a ghost), but then the action subtly shifts and we’re seeing things from the perspective of a very human-like child staring inside at a mysterious veiled figure. I found the experience of reading it very unsettling in a good way, almost like, “Hey, wait, my brain was just in that house what in the heck is in there?”
miridunn. I thought this paragraph had very strong writing, great rhythm, and it’s about a very wrenching subject. Quite a few people who read the first couple hundred paragraphs mentioned this one as a standout, and I think it’s a reflection of how gripping it is right away.
Travis Erwin. The humor and sense of place just shine right through. The joke about the titles of other coming of age stories is hilarious and instantly memorable. Very clever and very funny.
Simon C. Larter. This is another paragraph that combines great rhythm with great details, which suck the reader into the story. I thought the writing was smooth and the tension palpable.
Lisa Marie gave an immediate, gripping sense of grief, and I thought the contrast between the precision with which the protagonist moved on and the mystery of the note was interesting and moving. A very nice progression throughout the paragraph.
Maya. There were a whole lot of paragraphs that began with a character outside in nature and contemplating where they are in life and thinking about what’s next. I chose Maya’s to represent this group because I thought the different elements came together very nicely – the pomegranate juice, the sound of the orchard, and the bark in her back all meshed with what she is thinking about her past. I found it to be an elegant and nicely balanced paragraph that appealed to all of the senses and evoked a place.
Congratulations to all of the finalists!
And now…
I have tallied the votes.
The four runners-up are….
miridunn
M
Josin L. McQuein
Alanna
Congratulations! Please e-mail me about your query critique and signed THE SECRET YEAR bookmark.
And now, the author of the stupendously ultimate winning paragraph and the winner of a prize of his choosing and a galley and our undying admiration is….
TRAVIS ERWIN!!!
Congratulations to Travis, and thanks so much to everyone who participated!
mythicagirl says
TRAVIS!!!
YEAH!!! I voted for you! Stellar first paragraph, just stellar!
Thanks for the contest Nathan, and may I just add (extending my fifteen minutes of fame) I'll have the first chapter of my man versus woman, kick az post apocalyptic saga on my blog.
I'll also have the sketches of the graphic novel of said novel up later today.
One more thing, People please check out http://www.zuda.com for some of the best on line FREE comics. There's artists looking for writers over there..hint…hint. Please vote for this month's winning comic.
My favorites that already won are BAYOU, High Moon (werewolves in the old west-oh my)and Blood Hunter
TRAVISSS!!! You are the man! Loved all the finalists!
ann foxlee says
Congrats again to all, and well done Travis!
Thanks for the contest (and the 20 bottles of visine you probably used to get through it) Nathan!
L.J. Boldyrev says
Congrats to all! Travis, way to go!
Nathan, thank you for taking the time to let us all in on what went through your head when picking these paragraphs. I've already used your blog for so many things, but I think I have to add this post to my favorties for future reference.
Cass says
Nathan,
The finalists were all so good. They should all take pride in the fact the placed where the did.
Congrats to Travis!
Thanks for giving us the why's and how's your choices came to be.
Fun contest!
dcamardo says
Great contest, Nathan!
I just have to say that even before your comments in this post, just reading a great number of 1st paragraphs and hearing others talk about what makes great 1st paragraphs makes one take a sober look at his/her own paragraph. I had already made changes to my paragraph before you announced the finalists.
Although your comments here definitely helped, I feel I could grasp a sense of what works just by reading the paragraphs. And it was actually pretty refreshing to see what first paragraphs were "publishable".
Thanks again, and congrats to all the finalists and honorable mentions.
Wayne K says
Congratulations Travis. Good job.
Jo says
Wonderful contest and great work from everyone. I voted for Alanna but it was a very difficult decision and Travis's was absolutely a stand-out.
Gina says
Congrats, Travis! Well deserved!
And thanks for this mind-boggler, Nathan. Things can truly be learned by reading so many different openings in a short time.
My biggest personal epiphany was how irritating the excessive use of adjectives and adverbs really is. You think you know it in theory, but that´s nothing compared to experiencing it on such a large scale. Duly noted.
Anna says
Congrats to Travis and yeah for miridunn making the runners-up!
Fadz says
Well done and congratulations, everyone. Especially Travis.
Kudos, Nathan, for going through over 2500 entries in a few short days. You the man!
Deb@RGRamblings says
Congrats Travis!
Sharon Kirk Clifton says
Hold on. I'm getting down to the winning intros. But for a moment I have to ponder how in the world you can peruse 2,500 paragraphs at one sitting, especially when most of them are not remarkable (I'm guessing)and you don't have the rest of the story to reward you for the effort. Okay, now I can move on to the winners.
inthewritemind says
Congrats Travis! And a big thanks to Nathan for doing this contest 🙂
Maya / מיה says
Congratulations to Travis and the runners-up! I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who voted for my paragraph… having complete strangers say that enjoyed my writing felt incredible. I originally didn't think my paragraph had a chance because nothing really happens in it… it's such an internal moment that my character's eyes are closed. (For the record, action starts in the second paragraph.)
In fact, entering this contest at first made me question myself. I saw how much great writing is out there and felt I couldn't stand out… I even commented on a Writerunboxed.com post (Finding the Will) about this feeling. So getting selected as a finalist was an incredible confidence boost and a great reminder that self-doubt isn't always accurate!
Anyway, thanks for this experience, and congrats again to Travis. Nathan, brace yourself for a query when my WIP (women's historical fiction) is finished! 🙂
DebraLSchubert says
Nathan, Thank you so much for this. Travis is one of my favorite blogging buds (you keep picking them, hmm…) so I can't wait to congratulate him.
My sincere congratulations to the winners and all who posted. I imagine many were seriously considered by Nathan for the top positions.
Sara says
Thanks for explaining why you picked those specific paragraphs. Some of them I was a bit confused on, but your explanation probably helped me understand more than anything else.
Congratulations to the winner and the runner ups. Very exciting!
Jodi says
Congrats to Travis, and runners up miridunn, M, Josin L. McQuein and Alanna!
And thank you so much, Nathan, for giving us such an in-depth analysis to ponder. Loved it!
Jenny W. says
Thanks for the honorable mention and follow up comments about my paragraph.
For those who may be curious, the apparent contradiction is intentional. Jerry the neighbor, is a bit of an inept mad scientist type. Though this the first time he's appeared as a monster the sentence is meant to allude to his penchant for appearing in other forms.
Thanks again and congrats to the finalists and all others.
P. Grier says
I am glad. Travis' was my second favorite– thanks for the learning opp, Nathan!
Sheila says
Congratulations, Travis, and to all of the finalists!
And thanks, Nathan, for sharing your insight. I've learned a lot.
Travis Erwin says
Wow …
I'm stunned, elated and yes even teary eyed.
Nathan, you, this contest, and all of the people who took the time to vote, stop by my blog and email their support, as well as those offering their congratulations have truly made my year.
Those who know me realize this has been the year from hell for me. Between the tribulations of life and the struggles of trying to publish fiction I have spent much of the year doubting my abilities so to be selected from so many talented entries means more to me and my psyche than any of you will ever know.
That paragraph comes from my memoir which I am only about halfway through a first draft of but being selected will no doubt provide me the kick in the pants I need to sit my butt in the chair and write the rest.
I tip my hat to Nathan for his continued devotion tot he education of writers all over the blogosphere and to all my fellow writers for having the courage to enter and have their work judged. It is an honor to have been chosen among such stiff competition.
Okay I've rambled on long enough. I'll stop writing this comment but I refuse to get rid of the big smile on my face.
L. T. Host says
Congratulations to Travis, and great job all!
It was a truly daunting thing even to decide between those ten.
Nathan, thanks for the mention again. I just finished my first draft of this one and I am definitely sending you a query when it's ready!
Maya / מיה says
Gordon, when Nathan runs a "whole manuscript" contest with 2500 entries, are you volunteering to judge?
Amanda says
Congratulations Travis!
This was great fun, and I loved the opportunity to read so many fabulous starts to novels!
Stephanie says
Great contest Nathan. Thanks for your thoughts on first paragraphs. I did one of the "overdone" paragraphs, and now I have something to think about. Oddly enough, that change to the paragraph was based upon a critique that I received, which just goes to show that you are correct about subjectivity. However, if you see one thing over and over again, I understand that it must be done amazingly well in order to work. Much in the way that editors keeps saying they don't like rhyming picture books (which I don't do), but many of the picture books on the shelf are rhyming. They don't mind wonderful rhyme. They don't want bad rhyme. You've given us all a lot to think about.
Congratulations to Travis and the runners up! Nicely played.
Santa says
Congrats to Travis!
Thank you Nathan for hosting the contest. I rarely put my stuff out there, so I your contest was my first time out there.
Natalie Whipple says
Yay Travis! Congratulations! What a great contest:)
Nathan Bransford says
gordon-
Since your first tack in criticizing the contest was that I'm not a writer so who cares what I think, I don't think I'm going to be much swayed by your views. If I've damaged any potential Steinbecks out there with this contest I can only hope they become Faulkners instead – he's better than Steinbeck anyway.
Deniselle says
Congratulations to Travis! 🙂 And thank you to Nathan for a great post. The contest was a lot of fun and that list of tropes jumped at me too, reading (admittedly only a small portion of) the entries. One thing I'd add is "character running/being chased". But maybe it wasn't quite as common as it felt to me.
Gordon, can I just say as one of the people who didn't place: this contest taught me a lot about writing, and it gave me a newfound inspiration for my own unfinished novel. I've even considered, for the first time, joining an online writing community where I'd get some feedback on my work.
I didn't really expect to place, because I haven't worked all that hard on that first paragraph. Of course a part of me did hope I'd be picked, but it wasn't a huge shock and disappointment that I wasn't. All the winners were well written and well thought out, and I think they deserved their wins and mentions more than I did.
A writer, however artistic, has to face many rejections in his or her career. If you can't handle losing in a contest like this, how on earth are you going to handle getting rejected by an agent?
Melanie Avila says
Congratulations Travis and the four runners-up!
Nathan, thank you so much for breaking down your decisions. As one of the zillion writers guilty of one of your "trope" openings, this is very very helpful.
Michelle Moran says
Congratulations, Travis! And great contest, Nathan!
Stephanie says
I just saw that I had a typo in my post, so ho well. More importantly, Gordon, it is not necessary to be so judgmental. The point of the contest is to help writers to see what A particular agent sees as a great first paragraph (and maybe for said great agent to get a chance to read a lot of chaff to get to the kernel that might lead him to a good client). If you don't want to play, don't play.
I think Nathan's point is that a first paragraph IS important — it sets the tone and hopefully leads the reader on. With as many manuscripts as editors and agents see, every writer should want to do everything possible to keep in the "possibility" stack, rather than getting tossed to the "no" stack. A great first paragraph is one of the tools that a writer has to avoid the toss. It will not be enough if ONLY the first paragraph is good.
Look at it this way, if you have hert disease, you want to improve as many of the risk factors as you can, in order to avoid the bad outcome. If you are a writer you want to improve as many of the elements/risk factors as you can, to bring your writing to the best possible level. Any time that you can get feedback from others, especially others who work in the business and make the decisions, it is an advantage. It is an opportunity to learn.
That's what we all must do, be open to learning and improving. To take a position that you know best and don't need to hear about ways to improve is a writing death sentence, like a heart patient who says, "That doctor doesn't know what he's talking about. I don't want to exercise or take medications or stop eating greasy cheeseburgers for lunch every day." It's a choice that can be made, but the outcome won't likely be the desired one.
Rhonda says
Having picked the winner almost makes me feel like a winner. Congratulations to Travis.
Chumplet - Sandra Cormier says
Yeah, Travis! I knew it!
Melissa Marsh says
Woo hoo! Way to go, Travis!!!!!!!!!
Jackie Brown says
Congratulations to the finalists, to the runners-up, and to our winner, Travis. You should be proud of your exceptional paragraphs.
Nathan, thank you for hosting this contest and for selecting my entry as a finalist. I'm a fledgling novelist, and your nod to my early work is a win in itself.
Responding to that acknowledgment, I evicted "self-doubt" from my apartment this weekend, pulled in the welcome mat behind me, and slammed the door.
Finally, thanks to all of you who voted for my paragraph.
Travis!!
Welshcake says
Well done Travis and all the finalists.
Cheers for running this competition Nathan. Hope you'll recover from the eyestrain in a couple of weeks.
Paul Neuhardt says
Gosh, I would have sworn that Nathan was a writer, what with the writing he does and with actually having a novel in the process of being published. I wonder where I went wrong with that?
Be that as it may, I found the exercise as valuable as any other writing exercise, and better than some. Here is what I learned:
1. I have come to realize that my first paragraph didn't suck. It wasn't that good, but it didn't suck. When I got to Nathan's list of "common" traits in many of the entries that caused so many to fade in to the background, guess what I found? My paragraph. Well, not word for word, but it was described in a general way. I don't know that I'll change the focus of the first few pages of my story, but I'm seriously considering it.
2. As an extension of #1, I have to really look at my entire first chapter. How did I do with the entire first chapter, not just the paragraph? When I'm being honest I'm afraid that the entire first chapter is not special enough to capture the reader. Oh, I'm confident in my story, but not in how I'm presenting it. This contest was a great lesson for me, even though my involvement was very, very minor.
3. As for Gordon, I believe my daughter's hip, young and grammatically incorrect answer would be, "Pretentious much?" Seriously dude, lighten up. It was food for thought and some fun. Nothing more.
4. It was food for thought. It was educational. And it was fun. Mission accomplished.
5. To Travis: Please accept the congratulations of someone who has never heard of you before but who would now very much like to read your work. The praise I would give to your first paragraph is this: I wish I had written it.
Heidi C. Vlach says
Congrats to Travis and all the other awesome entrants!
And it's nice to hears your thoughts on opening paragraphs, Nathan. I didn't enter this contest precisely because my opener is a quiet lead-in. If you ever have a Shiniest Paragraph From The Middle of Your MS contest, though, I'll be on it like a seagull on a french fry!
Phyllis says
Congrats to Travis and the runner-ups.
I read 1600 of the entries before the finalists were announced, and I had serious trouble with all the entries blending into each other. I kept skipping entries when I discovered something that had been done before. There were a lot entries that started out with something "my mother used to say". It got on my nerves and made me miss miridunn's wonderful paragraph.
Nathan, your explanations on how you read the paragraphs and what you based your decisions on were great. Level-headed and informative.
stacey says
Congratulations, Travis! Wonderful job!
T. Anne says
~*Big Congrats Travis!!!*~ Can't wait to read the book!!!
Thank you Nathan for your generosity! I feel like I just participated in a great workshop.
mythicagirl says
Dearest Gordon,
If you choose to be a writer, I can only leave you with what my mother has advised me, "You better get you some backbone then."
Jeanie W says
Congratulations, Travis!
Thank you, Nathan, for hosting another first paragraph contest. It's fun to see what the writers who follow your blog are working on. Thanks also for all the terrific writing advice. Today's warrants a bookmark.
Morgan Xavier says
Wonderful contest! I truly enjoyed this 🙂
I also appreciate your thorough explanations of the paragraphs that made it to the final round.
I am curious…you mention an aversion to gimmicks or forced cleverness. What constitutes a gimmick? I ask because I'm afraid I may be guilty of such writing.
Nathan Bransford says
morgan-
I think gimmicks are elements that are clever on the surface but don't arise naturally from the world of the story, or are there for the sole purpose of tricking the reader.
I personally think readers like to be surprised, but not tricked. In other words, if the surprise arises out of the story, great. If the surprise arose just because the writer was being coy with the reader and pulling the rug from under them, not so much.
ryan field says
Congrats to Travis and everyone else.
Merry Monteleone says
Congratulations, Travis!!! Happy dances all around!!!
Nathan,
I thought it was a spectacular contest with a lot of unbelievably good entries. Thanks for the fun.
jongibbs says
Great post!
Congrats to all the winners 🙂
Arabella says
Very illuminating. Congratulations to the winners!
And now I'm off to rework my own first para. How, I don't know, but . . .
Aargh! It's so hard, like tacking a bobble onto an entire book.