Just a reminder to people that the last day to publish valid entries in the Reader Retention Contest is next Thursday at midnight (your local time.) If you have a story going you have one more week to finish it up: if you haven't started one yet, well, there's still time to pop out some 4-5k words and split 'em up and get 'em out there!

Just a reminder/update on how voting's gonna work this time around:

I won't be tallying vote(s) on stories until probably the beginning of March: that will give latecomers a chance to catch up on the stories and vote for their favorites, including me since I'm waiting 'til things are over to dive into anything. Results of the contest will be posted around March 15th, with prizes delivered some time between then and the 21st.

I'm hoping to have a contest going for March as well, but certain financial things in my life are in flux at the moment so that may not be possible: we will have to see mid-February. That said, there's nothing stopping anyone ELSE from running a contest either! Me and Erin have a little bit of a System going, but if anyone IS interested in sponsoring something contact Erin and she can help you work out precisely what would be involved. Maybe we could even get a contest every month if we did that!

Good luck to everyone! I've been really happy with the results of the contest challenge this time around, thank you EVERYONE, both authors and readers, for joining in on this crazy adventure.

Melanie E.