Monday, June 11, 2007

We're Partying With...

May we have the envelope, please?

The winner of the First Annual (maybe) Disco Mermaid SCBWI Summer Conference Scholarship is…

Wait.

First, we wanna give you a little taste of the judging process…cuz it was insanely difficult and y'all deserve to suffer along with us. Some entries literally brought tears to our eyes. Most made us burst into laughter. A few were formatted creatively (how come we never realized there were thirteen letters in Disco Mermaids?). All were worthy of the Mermaid money…and that’s not an overstatement at all.

Chipping away at the top seven began to appear impossible. It came down to tearing apart each entry, reason by reason. In the end, all three Disco Mermaids agreed that one entry stood out through the entire process. We can’t wait to meet, we can’t wait to hang out with, and we can’t wait to party with…

STEPHANIE BLAKE
a.k.a. Colorado Writer

Of course, we want to meet all of you. So, whether you’ve already signed up for the conference, or if you decide to splurge at the last minute, we’re gonna figure out a time to meet up in the hotel lobby (you know, near the bar). And if you entered this contest…the first drinks are on us!

And now, a collection of our top Thirteen (Funny) Reasons Why people wanted to win:

  1. “When I sell my book” has become our retirement plan.
  2. I need some better L.A. stories to tell at my 10-year high school reunion next year. “I ran into Pauly Shore at Trader Joe’s once” just isn’t all that impressive.
  3. I want to meet my LJ and blogspot writing friends, and see whose pictures are more than ten years old.
  4. I lost my virginity in the very hotel of the Los Angeles SCBWI conference--Room 1212 to be exact, and hope to relive the experience.
  5. [What if another winner] pocketed your money and spent it on horrible things, like drugs? Then you’d be on the hook for being an accomplice in their drug addiction, leaving you wide open for legal problems, even jail, and I can tell you one thing for certain. If that happened, your first novel would go out-of-print even before its release. You don’t want that to happen, do you, Jay? Well, do you?
  6. Surround me with people who don’t think I’m strange when I frantically grab a napkin and write down an idea before it is lost.
  7. I want to see if Lisa Yee really brings those Peeps EVERYWHERE.
  8. (each reason in this entry was given a different genre) Horror: I woke up to find the words, “Win or die!” written in blood on my bathroom mirror. I’m not ready to die. You hold my still-beating, crimson, dripping heart in your hands.
  9. I confess. I need to learn how to write shorter, clearer sentences and do you think if I won your award that the conference would help me understand how to do that?
  10. I need the money because I’m as broke as a joke. I used Best Buy computers to type this up but I think the Geek Squad has caught on to me and this may be my last communication unless they’ve taken my picture down at CompUSA.
  11. I haven’t been to L.A. in almost five years. -- I’m definitely out of the L.A. loop. My body has gone to hell and my face looks like sh*t. Give me the incentive to lose weight, get a face lift and a fanny tuck. You can do it, you know you can!
  12. I can stay at my Grandma’s house. My Great-Grandma lives there, too. And who knows how much longer they will live, you know.
  13. Thirteen is my lucky number, so I thought I had a chance in hell.

25 comments:

Greg Pincus said...

You're good eggs. Really. You are. And I hope that doesn't give you any costume ideas!

Congrats to Stephanie and to y'all for a great and sweet idea....

Stephanie J. Blake said...

I'd like to thank the Academy (Robin, Jay and Eve) for giving me this wonderful opportunity! "You like me, you really like me!" It's a dream come true. You have no idea how much this helps me!

I'll be a Disco Mermaid stalker for the weekend at SCBWI LA. I'm designing my *buttons as we speak!

*I will be wearing at least 1 button at all times (well not in the hot tub) that says I LOVE THE DISCO MERMAIDS.

I'm stoked to meet you all!

Disco Mermaids said...

And we'll wear buttons that say WE LOVE YOU, TOO...which, without knowing the circumstances, might come off as cocky. But, oh well. You deserve it!

And, Greg, as our first commenter on this post...your first drink's on us, too! (I think we're feeling a little too generous right now.)

Lisa Yee said...

Dear Colorado Writer,

Peepy and I are looking forward to meeting you.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations Stephanie!
And thanks again Jay, Eve, and Robin for such fun. I think you guys are great for doing this!
- Ruta

Anonymous said...

There goes my face lift.

Stephanie J. Blake said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Congrats, Stephanie!

And thanks, Disco Mermaids, for helping me remember there's more to writing than art and business.

rilla jaggia said...

Congratulations, Colorado Writer! Btw, who is Lisa See...? ha ha. Now you're a celebrity, you will be open to pot shots ;)
And to you DM's good on you for the good deed of the century. Let's all wear WE LOVE YOU buttons. Make it into a great love fest...
ARe you going to be handing her an Oscar...I mean a Mermy? Speech...speech...speech...we are dying to know what the winning reasons were.
And DM's since you're so busy handing out drinks...how about a mojito to each of you on me ;)

gail said...

Free drinks? Now I'm missing out on free drinks too? Look everyone's buying each drinks. Damn! Maybe I'll win the lottery. Oh, that's right I can't go anyway. Someday I'm going to meet you mermaids though.

Stephanie is going to have a blast! Congratulations to her.

gail

Stephanie J. Blake said...

OMG, Lisa YEE knows my name. See, I said I was a dork! I was too excited about seeing real live fire fighters this morning...had a field trip with the kids.

Anonymous said...

Wow! I didn't win but you made me feel like I won anyway! You guys are great - Can't wait to party with you all! Can't wait to party with Stephanie and congratulate her.

(Can I throw her in the pool and see if she swims?)

Christine S.

Disco Mermaids said...

She's an Honorary Mermaid...of course she can swim!

- Jay

Disco Mermaids said...

Eve can't swim.

Hmmmm...

-Robin

Catherine Ipcizade said...

Congrats Stephanie!

Anonymous said...

You guys are a TOTAL CLASS ACT.

Brenda

rilla jaggia said...

That's a cool idea, Christine. Maybe a Mermy (the Oscar for children's book authors who win the DMS) can be silver flippers to ensure the winner floats to the top of the slush...pool ;)
Mmmm could do with a pair of those myself!

heidi said...

You guys LOVE colorado writer--not surprised she won. Congrats, CW!!

LindaBudz said...

Congratulations, Stephanie! Couldn't have gone to a nicer gal!

CJ Omololu said...

Eve doesn't have to swim because I'll bet she looks fabulous in a swimsuit.

Yay Colorado Writer! You're gonna have sooooooo much fun!

Anonymous said...

Kudos Stephanie!

This contest was the best. I really enjoyed entering and even though I didn't win, the contest inspired me to write! Although, I thought my "enlarge poster of DM and chant a poem of gratitude every morning" was funny.

Irregardless, I will be at the conference. Hope to see you all there.

Disco Mermaids said...

Funny?

Oops.

We read the Disco Mermaid poster chanting as a beautiful way to start each day.

But now that we think about it, yes, that is kind of silly!

Natalie said...

Congratulations, Stephanie! It looks like 13 is your lucky number!

Anonymous said...

Dang! You had a scholarship contest? I'm going to have to start reading blogs more often. Double dang!

Don Tate II said...

Congratz Stephanie. You'll have a ball. The Mermaids are good people. I mean fish. Or..uh, sea creatures. Well, you'll find out.