Good Granny/Bad Granny Contest!

Ok, folks – sharpen your writing utensils and let the fun begin! It's what you've all been waiting for, I'm sure – The Good Granny/Bad Granny Contest, where you send me your best Good Granny and/or Bad Granny stories.

Here are the contest rules:
Email to me your best Good Granny and/or your best Bad Granny story. You can either write the story within the email, or send an attachment, either a Word file or Rich Text Format. You can submit in both categories, but you can only win in one category. It increases your chances of winning, and makes my reading experiences that much more enjoyable, don't you think? When you send the email, just make sure the subject heading says something like 'Contest' or 'Good Gran/Bad Gran Contest', or 'GG/BG Contest'.

Do try and keep the stories relatively short. Please try for a maximum of 600 words. I don't mind if you go over that count a little, but no novelettes, please.

The stories can be written by people who are discussing their own Good/Bad Grannies, or by an actual Good/Bad Granny herself, sharing one of her own delicious Good/Bad Granny tales. Or if your mom or mother-in-law is a Good or Bad Granny, you can write about her, too.

When writing a Good Granny story, obviously I'm looking for sweet, adorable, loving yarns. Something to pull at my heart strings. Here are a couple of Good Granny illos from the Good Granny/Bad Granny book, to help inspire you:

Regarding Bad Granny stories, I'm looking for tales about those non-traditional Grannies – the ones who 'Granny outside of the box' so to speak. Maybe your Granny was/is hip and edgy, or maybe you are the funky Granny who doesn't knit booties, but knows how to make one hell of a good martini. Or maybe you had a crusty Granny who smoked cigars, loved her whiskey and swore like a sailor. I like those kind of Bad Granny stories, too. But I think I can live without the Granny who whipped your hide with a wooden spoon and held your hand over the burner to teach you a lesson. That would depress me too much, sorry. Here are the respective Bad Granny illos to help you on that Bad Granny writing path:

The deadline for the contest is Friday, October 26th, so you've got plenty of time to get those Granny stories started. Please send those stories, and  please don't worry about making it an astounding literary work of art – I just want an entertaining, honest tale, told straight from the heart.

So what's in it for you? Well, if you win, you will receive a signed copy by the artist of Good Granny/Bad Granny. Yes, that would be me. Aren't you thrilled? I will be giving out four signed books in total – two books going to the two best Good Granny stories, and two books going to the two best Bad Granny stories. Winners will be contacted via email on November 1st. I will officially announce the winners on this blog Monday November 5th. Please note that I will be posting the stories written by all four winners on this blog. Heck – what's the point of winning if you don't gloat and share?

If  you have any questions regarding this contest, please write them in the comments. I need to know if I've missed any important details, or if the rules aren't clear enough. Eventually I'll be adding a link on the sidebar of this blog to a page about this contest, once I figure out how the heck to do that.

A big thank-you must go out to the folks at Raincoast Books for providing the Good Granny/Bad Granny books for this contest. And here's Mary McHugh's web site, the talented author of Good Granny/Bad Granny. And take a gander at Mary's delightful video where she discusses some of her favourite Good Granny/Bad Granny examples, and then finishes with some wonderful tap dancing!

So c'mon! Get yer Granny on!

Comments

[Beth]

Sounds like fun.
I might have trouble thinking of a story (good or bad) considering my dear g'mothers, but I'll give it some thought!

[Isabella]

I always felt deprived on the granny front - only one, and I'd say she was bad, in that depressing kind of way. I look forward to reading about all that grannies can be.

[trish]

Hi, I'm over here from Beth's. Sounds like a fun contest...I'll have to get my photo album out to spark my memories of my grannies...or perhaps I will use my kids grannies as subjects. Hehehe

[MikeM]

Beth told me about this. I will participate AND link to the contest from my blog

[patricia]

That's great! Thanks for joining in. Can't wait to read your wonderful stories.

[Dorky Dad]

BAD Granny takes kids to hockey games??? No way. That's a GOOD granny.

I must think of a granny story now ...

[Patricia]

I'd love to read a Granny story from you, Dorky Dad! I know it would be hilarious, Good or Bad.

[Stephany Aulenback]

That book looks great -- must get it for my mom. We're always bringing up the time we left Luke (he was about nine or ten months old at the time) with her for one night (ONE NIGHT!) and when we returned the next day we found that she'd taught him to say "NO!" while shaking his head dramatically.

[tracey]

Funny stuff! Found you via the Chonicle Books Blog

[tracey]

Oh good lord, I spelled Chronicle wrong. Hello proof reading.

[clare]

Hi

I LOVE THE SOUND OF THIS BOOK!!!!

I just happened to come across your website and thought it would be great if you wanted to submit a book review on your good granny bad granny book to http://www.granniesunited.com/ . I could then post it to the book review section with a link to a place to buy the book.
http://www.granniesunited.com/reading-room/

If this is not your thing, apologies and best wishes
Clare
admin@granniesunited.com
http://www.granniesunited.com/