Some one asked me how I pick the winners for my blog contest and actually, I don’t. I use Random.org to pick the winner—that is, after I add up the number of blog comments and tweets. Then the Random Number Generator does the honors, and a number pops up. Then, voila, we have a winner.
This week’s winner is Alana, who left the first comment on the blog. There is always a moment when I enter all the information and hit the “generate” button that I feel like I am in my own personal Las Vegas.
Who is going to win??
And then when I have the number, I go back and hunt through the entries for that entry. When there is 127 and the winner is 87, I sort of groan and get to work counting. But it was easy this week because it popped up with #1, and I sort of did a double take, and then did the line from Staples.
Wow, that was easy.
So, Alana, contact me and I will get your prize packet of an autographed Julia Quinn, one of mine and a stash of author swag that I coerced my fellow Avon authors to cough up. Which also happens to be the prize packet for this week.
I’m off this week to Philadelphia for PLA, the public librarian conference. If I were answering last week’s question of, who are your heroes, I would have to add my local librarians.
When I started writing in the late 80s, there was no internet, no Wikipedia, no immediate access to the countless people I have met via email over in England who have helped answer my countless questions about their villages, landmarks and history. I simply had my local library and the long wait of written questions sent via the post office to get my answers.
Weekly, I would go into my library and I swear the reference librarian would duck under her desk when she saw me coming. But I would give her my questions, and while I had a passing knowledge of Dewey—having worked in my hometown library all through high school—the librarians could always steer me in the right direction for hunting down answers or finding some obscure, out of print reference book that I had to get my hands on.
So when I get a chance to go speak to a room full of librarians, I always start with two simple words: Thank you.
That leads me to this week’s question, which is similar but a little different to last week’s question:
Who would you thank for helping you along that you might not have thanked? Comment below to enter this week’s blog drawing.
The Rules:
1) Leave a comment below and let me know who you might owe a thank you to, but they don’t know it:
and/or
2) Tweet the following: Who deserves your thanks? Tell the world and enter to win a signed book by #JuliaQuinn! http://elizabethboyle.com/blog/?p=2061 #contest
Do both and you are entered twice! I’ll give you all until midnight, PT, Saturday, March 17th to get your entries in.
Make sure to check back here Monday, March 19th to find out if you won. You’ll have a week to claim your prize.
my mom deserves more then one thank you for all she has done for me. 🙂
An English teacher I had in high school, who has since passed away. A few years after I graduated high school I saw him. He asked how college was going. I said I was little frustrated and I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up. He said to me seriously “I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up”. He had been teaching for 28 years at that point. He was a wonderful teacher and even after almost 20 years I still think of him.
my maid….
My mother and my husband. He encourages me all the time. And I can never thank him enough for that encouragement.
My daughter….she has watched me struggle as a single mom, then supported me fully when I got remarried. She was a great cheerleader right along with my husband when I went back to school for my nursing degree. She is, besides my hubby, my biggest fan. At 17yo you don’t find that often!
Oddly enough, a random stranger I sat next to on a bus two years ago. I was in my first year of law school, and it turned out the random guy was an attorney. He had one piece of advice for me: Don’t quit. It’s hard, and I’ve been tempted to quit and go back to teaching many times, but I fall back on that one piece of advice, and I stick with it.
Oh, and I need to thank my ex-husband, for being so discouraging and not understanding me well enough to know that my contrary nature would take that as a challenge. No, he wasn’t using reverse psychology. His mind doesn’t work that way.
My Mom deserves many more thanks than I can ever give for all she does for me and my family….
Well, to be honest, I try to thank anyone who provides any service with a smile most sincerely. While I try my hardest to thank all service providers (whether it is a random person I am asking directions from or someone who has been on the phone with me trying to resolve an issue 4 different times and has logged over 6hrs with me total) I remember clearly that being thanked sincerely was always the best feeling in retail/customer service for me and I try to remember that it is probably that way for everyone else too. But honestly, the people I try to thank by catching them at the end and looking them in the eye are those poor male nurses that try to draw my blood. I warn every nurse that I will cry, it doesn’t hurt but I am petrified of needles and I cry every time no matter what. Those two poor guys never can handle that at our hospital and end up missing once or twice and having to call another woman over….They feel so bad about me crying and ask me repeatedly if I’m alright. It is sweet that they try so hard when I know my tears are probably working on them like needles work on me. So I try to catch them before they run and say thank you and assure them it didn’t hurt and they did a fine job trying. (I still think they cringe when they see me though…lol)
My grade five teacher. One of these days I’m going to take him for coffee and tell him.
I had a fantastic Italian teacher during the first 2 years of my BA studies. Thanks to her now I can study what I’ve always wanted: interpretation and translation. I have even spent 5 months in Italy as an Erasmus student. Probably during spring I will visit her, and thank her profusely.
My mother- never thanked her enough for being a good mom and grandma. Also my ex- for walking out on us, so that the kids and I could find our own strengths
My grandma. I miss her still every day.
My husband. I’ve thanked him a lot, but he deserves every thank you I can give him!
My fifth grade teacher Mr. Parrish! All of the kids in class were scared of him, including me. One day I wrote a joke on the top front of my homework and then wrote the answer on the back. I got good results out of it and the next time I got a paper back from him it had a joke and the answer wrote on it. We kept this up all year, I ended up really liking him as a teacher and a person. I did really well in school that year. And learned that even though something or someone may seem scary you need to get through it and find someway to relate to them and to make things easier. Jokes can always ease tensions! 😉
My mother. Through everything, even when I’ve been a spoiled brat, has loved and supported me unconditionally. Thank you will never be enough.
my husband. he is the best father. he does everything with and for our kids. amazing a generation difference when his and my father’s did nothing! LOL!
My parents. For giving me every opportunity they never had and for supporting my dreams.
My Aunt Leota. She taught me to knit when I was about 11 or 12. Little did I know then that I would now be designing knitting patterns and selling them on Ravelry!
Of course, my mom would be the obvious choice and I really miss her shoulder and advice! My aunt would be a good coice as she was like a second mother to me at times when it was easier to askadvice or confide in someone not your mother. But I’s like to thank my second grade teacher, who made that year of school so much fun, that it sparked in me the quest for knowledge.
My music teacher deserves a very very big thank you because she expanded my knowledge not only in music abut she showed me how to use my brain to its fullest while playing long and hard pieces with both hands ;)And even though I don’t play now, I still use those skills at work today!
I need to thank my mom. She has always been there for me and the rest of the family. I am very lucky to have her in my life.
I would like to thank my dad, but my dad has been passed away long time ago, so I thanks him in my prayer.
My mom. She was always there for me and made me feel safe and loved.
My younger sister! She’s not only my sister but she’s also my partner in crime, confidant, worst critic, number one fan and best friend. I love her so much! <3
My friend Carol. She has been there for me through so many life events and I am thankful for having such a great friend over so many years.
My friend, Tess. I think of her every day. She was a special friend. She didn’t let her illness slow her down. I am forever thankful to have known her. She touched many people’s lives. I miss her.