Category: Contests

Contests and monthly group writing projects from MamaBlogga: mom’s search for meaning.

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Kids/Parenting Ryan/Married Life Fulfillment Contests

June Group Writing Project Day Three

Wow, I’m going to run out of great things to say about the excellent entries for the June group writing project that are still coming in!

Today, we have seven more entries, bringing the total of submitted entries to 23!

Once again, read, share and comment—and don’t forget to submit your entries!

Today, three things I want my son to do just like his daddy:

  1. Be good. I once asked my husband what was the worst punishment his parents had ever given him. He couldn’t think of anything. He’d never done anything to be grounded or anything. (His mother has told me many times that he never gave them a minute of trouble or worry!)
  2. Be sweet. When I first met Ryan, I was deceived by what I perceived to be a “bad boy” act. He is really a good person—and very sweet (to me). If Hayden can be as gentle, caring and supportive to his wife as Ryan is to me, she’ll be a most lucky woman.
  3. Be dedicated to the best things. Ryan has been dedicated to all the right things in his life, from his (our) beliefs to a strict code of behavior (see #1) to his job to our family. He has his priorities right and has made sacrifices throughout his life, some of which have not been easy, to follow the higher good.

Okay, the honest-to-goodness truth: when I found out we were having a boy, I begged Ryan to let our son be just like him. He didn’t make any promises (darn!), but if I can say about my son what Ryan’s mother can say about him in 25 years, I will feel as though I’ve done better than my best as a mother (and, I hope, feel supremely fulfilled in my role as mother!).

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Contests

June Group Writing Project Day 2

We aren’t losing any steam in the middle of the group writing project week! I’m really quite impressed with not only the number of entries that are rolling in but more so their quality. (And I gotta say, Karen at PediaScribe is really working this project—I find that she’s commenting on some posts even before I can! Awesome job!)

Today we have another nine entries in the writing project, which means we’ve received almost as many entries in the first two days as we did in the whole first group writing project!

These posts range from the hilarious to the inspiring, so get to reading! And of course, submit your posts, too.

I had a strange idea for my list today: Three things I want Hayden to forget.

  1. My yelling. I have a temper sometimes (today has been one of those days 🙁 ). Usually I’m good about not yelling at him, but it always terrifies him when I slip. I also hope that I grow in patience and understanding so that as he gets old enough to form lasting memories, this will be less of an issue.
  2. How dirty the house gets some days. I try, I really do, but some days it’s just too much—either the house is just too messy for me to even begin to clean it or I just have too many balls in the air and that’s always the first one that gets dropped.
  3. Where we keep the cookies. ‘Nuff said.

I can’t wait to read your posts!

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Contests

June Group Writing Project Day One

Wow, guys, we’re off to an amazing start in the group writing project! Seven entries today, and all absolutely wonderful! I’m beyond impressed with the entries so far. Thank you all for taking the time to participate!

Without further ado, here’s today’s list:

Discover new blogs, read, comment: they all deserve it! And don’t forget to submit your posts.

My contribution today, as hostess, is “three things I’d like for Hayden to grow out of quickly.”

  1. Temper tantrums. Good luck there, since I’ve been known to throw them occasionally . . . like . . . in the last few months . . .
  2. Completely unintelligible speech. Yes, it’s cute, but it would be nice if I could understand him. Sometimes I think I almost can. On the other hand, he’s suddenly picking new signs with alarming speed: this weekend he learned milk, today he learned bird (which, sadly, he signs just like dog…). Actually, to be fair, I think he’s really begun saying “Daddy,” consistently.
  3. (I always get stuck on #3!) The “everything is food” phase. We’re nearing the end, but a few things still go straight to his mouth.

I’m sure there are better ones, and that tomorrow he’ll assault me with three new things that I want him to grow out of quickly, but for now, as I’m remembering the past few days, all I’m seeing are adorable little traits and habits that will be gone all too quickly on their own.

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Contests

MamaBlogga Group Writing Project, June 2007

This writing project has ended. Please view the full list of wonderful entries at the June GWP Finale, and subscribe to MamaBlogga to find out about the next group writing project!

Last month’s Group Writing Project was such a success, I decided to do it again. So, as promised, this week is the second MamaBlogga Group Writing Project!

The theme for the June Group Writing Project is “Three things I want my kids to . . .” You can finish that infinitive with whatever verb you like (do, say, be, wear, have, get away with), and add any qualifiers you like (today, this summer, before they drive me crazy).

Your post can take any form as long as it reflects this theme—this includes anything from serious to sarcastic, addressed to your children, your future children, your neighbors’ kids, your pets, etc.

You can participate with a blog post, a podcast, a video, a page on your website, etc., etc. If you don’t have a website, contact me and I’ll be happy to publish your entry here on MamaBlogga.

Only NEW posts (i.e., posts have not been published prior to 24 June 2007) are eligible. Posts must be submitted through the submission form before Sunday, 1 July 2007.

Why participate?
There are lots of reasons to participate! All entries that meet the guidelines will be listed and linked to here on MamaBlogga. This an opportunity for you to discover new blogs (and for others to discover yours!). Last week, I came up with thirteen good reasons to participate.

And, of course, there is one more incentive: one lucky post author, drawn at random, will receive a $30 gift certificate to Amazon.com.

Finally, we’d appreciate it if you linked to this post or to the guidelines/submission form on your entry post so that others can learn about the project and participate.

Now get writing!

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Contests

MamaBlogga Group Writing Project: Redux

The MamaBlogga Group Writing Project was pretty successful—and not just for me here at MamaBlogga.

I told you when we started the project that participating in a Group Writing Project was a good way to find new blogs and get visitors and comments to your blog. I took a look at the numbers (which took forever!) and thought I’d let you know how much the GWP made a difference for our participants (see the full list of participants here).

Visitors from MamaBlogga
I looked at my stats for seven days during and after the group writing project. Here’s what I found:

  • Participants received 150 visits from clicks on my pages during those days.
  • During those days, as many as all ten of my top ten most popular outgoing links were visits to participants.
  • At least half of all my outgoing visits were to participants during this period.

Participant Comments
Participants in the Group Writing Project didn’t just get visits from our site. They also got one of a blogger’s favorite things: comments.

  • Entries received nearly 60% more comments than other posts on their blog did that week (after removing an outlier; with the outlier it was still more than 50% more comments).
  • On average, entries received more than nine comments each.
  • The winning entry (which was chosen at random) received the most comments, with 26 comments.
  • That was nearly four more comments than the average number of comments on that week’s other posts.

Visits
I don’t have access to all my participants’ data (though if you’d care to share, I’d love to hear it!), but I can tell you what a difference the GWP made in my visits:

  • On average that week, I received just under 125 visits per day
  • On average, that was up 45% over the same day the previous week (after removing one outlier).
  • My top traffic day that week was the day I posted my own entry. I received 170 visits.
  • My highest improvement was up 76.6% over the same day the previous week.

If you’d like to share your visitor stats, please do!

Why Are You Telling Me All This?
Of course, I’m just trying to get you excited for next week’s MamaBlogga Group Writing Project II!

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Contests

MamaBlogga Group Writing Project Finale

Time for the last status report on the MamaBlogga Group Writing Project. We had one more submission last night after my post, which I ended up adding here on MamaBlogga:

That brings our total count of submissions—all most excellent!—to 18. Pretty cool, and pretty good for our first time around!

All entries
Here is the complete list of entries that qualify for the prize:

The winna!
Chosen at random, the winner of our prize, a $30 Amazon.com gift certificate, is <drum roll>…

If We Live Here by Meghan

Congratulations, Meghan! The gift certificate is winging its way to you from Amazon right now! (And we really hope you get that house—let us all know how it goes!)

Still working on your letter? Even though we’ve awarded our prize, we’ll continue to accept, read, link to and comment on submissions through next week.