Yay! I officially made it to the two-year mark on my blog. Two years of comments, questions, and debates. On my post announcing my Blogiversary Contest, we had enough comments to earn three winners!
The worst part of the contest was picking the names. The worst, you say? No, that doesn’t mean I didn’t want anyone to win. *smile*
However, after random.org spit out the winning numbers, I saw how many other people wouldn’t be a winner. I wish I could let you all win. Seriously.
I’ve said it before and I really mean it. You’re the reason I blog, and I appreciate you so much that I wish I could do something for each one of you.
*ding* Oh wait… Maybe I can.
Do you remember a few weeks back when I posted about how to make the most of a scene? I talked about how we should include at least three elements in each scene to ensure we’re not too heavy with info dump or backstory. I also linked to a blog post of Janice Hardy’s where she broke down scene elements by level of importance.
In the comments of that post, some people had mentioned how a checklist of that information would be helpful. I’d vaguely agreed and said that if I managed to get around to it, I’d share the links.
Well, as part of my way to give a gift to everyone—even those who lost in the Blogiversary Contest—I made the time yesterday to create worksheets going along with that post. I’m an Excel newbie, so this took way longer than I expected, but you’re worth it. *grin*
Does Your Scene Have the Right Elements?
Worksheets to the Rescue!
Up first, an MS Word version of a worksheet listing the elements of a good scene, broken down by importance:
Click to Download Elements of a Scene Overview – MS Word ’07 version (.docx)
Click to Download Elements of a Scene Overview – MS Word earlier version (.doc)
And then an MS Excel version of a worksheet (this one is in list format and can be used for multiple scenes):
Click to Download Scene Elements Worksheet – MS Excel ’07 version (.xlsx)
Click to Download Scene Elements Worksheet – MS Excel earlier version (.xls)
I hope my gifts to you are helpful and useful. Ask away in the comments if you have any questions about them or how to use them.
Do You Have Suggestions for Other Worksheets?
Let me know if you have suggestions for other gifts for my readers. Is there another post that could use a worksheet to go with it? Do you have other blog topics you’d love to see?
Let me know how I can help you, and I’ll do my best. (Especially if you can remember another one of those vague “oh yeah, I’ll try to get around to it” promises I’ve made in the comments over the years. *smile*)
Blogiversary Contest Winners
And now, the part you’ve all really been waiting for… Here are the winners of my Second Annual Blogiversary Contest:
Congratulations to you all! You should receive an email from me within the next day, so start thinking about what prize you want. Should I be worried?
What do you think of the worksheets? Do you have suggestions on how to improve them? Do these help make up for the fact that you didn’t win? *sad face* Do you have any suggestions or reminders for me about other writing helpers I could put together?
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