Birthday Gift Winners!

First of all -- this was hard!  I so love to see the other sides of writers' creativity.  The non-writing stuff that is yet another beautiful extension of people's hearts and souls.

So the first thing I want to do is to THANK EACH ONE OF YOU who sent something in.  Each gift was a delight to receive, and I treasure them all.

I am awarding the following prizes for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place:

1st place:  A 3-chapter critique from Authoress and a TINY RED HAT
2nd place: A 1-chapter critique from Authoress and a TINY RED HAT
3rd place:  A TINY RED HAT

(The TINY RED HATS are Barbie-sized and hand-crocheted by Jodi Meadows.  A perfect memento of MSFV.  So perfect, in fact, that I've begged Jodi to make one for me, too.)

Here are my choices:

HONORABLE MENTION: Patricia Moussatche 

This is so beautiful that I wish I could hold it in my hands and caress it.  I am an absolute sucker for gorgeous, homemade cards, and this one is exceptionally pretty.

Thank you, Patchi!

THIRD PLACE: Heather Hawke



The unusual, artistic flair of this one grabbed me.  I love the different textiles -- and the music in the bubble by the bird is HAPPY BIRTHDAY.  Perfect, right?

Thank you, Heather!


SECOND PLACE: Rebecca Thompson

This is SO CLEVER; I just keep looking at it over and over again.  Rebecca spent a lot of time sifting through the blog to find those pictures, that's for sure.  And I love the composition!  My favorite?  "Read the post that started it all!"  The ultimate inside joke.

Thank you, Rebecca!

FIRST PLACE:  Charlie Holmberg

Bestill my heart -- Charlie has WRITTEN ME A SONG!  I can't tell you how many times I've listened to this over the past few days.  I LOVE THIS!  I love this so much that there are no words.  Listen for yourself.  I've included the lyrics below (so you can, yanno, sing along).






Verse 1:

Once when I was stalking agents
trying to pawn off a book
I found a blog called "MSFV"
and decided to take a look

The woman there, she had no face
and wore a red hat to hide her hair
and I tell you, I never thought
I'd still be reading five years later

Chorus:

Five years at Miss Snark's First Victim
Five years of contest entries
Five years of Baker's Dozen
Five years of extra coffee
Five years chocolate donations
Five years of group critiques
Five years of chances to win
her next success story

Verse 2:

I love the posts by Authoress
though I doubt I'll ever meet her
I don't even mind it when she
floods my Google Reader

I have to confess
I think she works for the FBI
How else could she have written
Agent Demystified?

[Chorus]

Bridge:

Every month a secret agent
Every week a fricassee
Authoress on your next contest
I'm begging you--please choose me.
And hey, by the way,
Did you know your blog and I share a birthday?

[Chorus]

Thank you, Charlie!  And HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

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Winners:  Please email me your mailing addresses AND, if you've won a critique, to receive submission instructions at facelesswords(at)gmail.com.

Thanks again to everyone who submitted something!