Cool Doodles and Name Raffle News

So we’re a handful of days away from the end of the name raffle, and for the last couple weeks it’s like every day is my birthday. By which I mean I get a lot of letters with money inside. Today when I open the mail I think I’m going to wear a festive hat and eat some cake too. I’ve been in the mood for cake lately.

Wait, what was I talking about? I’m not used to being up this early in the morning, and I find myself a little confusticated.

Oh, right. The name raffle.

In a nutshell, it’s going really well. Paypal continues to be friendly, donations are generous, the names are cool, and I’m having a lot of fun opening the mail.

Admittedly, some mail is more fun than others.

For example, here’s a set of notecards that just got sent in with someone’s poor-boy entry:
(You can embiggen any of the images by clicking them.)


Thanks so much, Carly. This really made my day.

And you’re right. Trowbridge is a great name…. Even if I don’t draw it in the raffle, it might end up in the book.

That’s actually the case with a lot of the names that have been sent in. I find myself thinking, “Hmmm…. Seth could be a good name for a farmer. Mellisa doesn’t quite work, but Melias would make for a good noble surname in Vintas.”

Personally, I’m really interested to see what names get drawn….

And now some FAQ:

You said the contest ends on November 15th. Did you know that’s a Sunday? I can’t mail you anything on a Sunday…

True, but people can still paypal in their donations on a Sunday. If you want to mail in your entry, you should send it earlier in the week.

Pat! I screwed up and forgot to enter my phone number and suggested name into the Paypal form! What should I do?

You should weep bitter tears. Did I not put instructions on the blog? Clearly worded instructions? In red?

Seriously though. Don’t worry about it. You’re not alone. This happened to a bunch of people.

If you donated online, I have a record of your e-mail address. I’ll write that on the card and use it to keep track of your entry. Then, if you win, I’ll contact you and get the other information I need.

How much have we raised so far?

Checks and donations are still coming in every day, so I don’t have a final tally yet. But right now I think we’re at a little more than 16,000 dollars. Which is awesome.

That means if you buy one ticket you’ve got (roughly) a 1 in 800 chance of winning. If you buy six tickets for 50 bucks, you’ve got about a 1 in 260 chance of winning.

I’m hoping we can have a strong finish. So how about this? To encourage people to donate and spread the word during the final days of the fundraiser, I’ll draw a third name if we hit 20,000. That means the odds will actually get better for everyone if more people donate.

Is this the only Heifer fundraiser you’re doing this year?

Oh no. Not at all. This is just a warm-up for the people who are specifically interested in my book.

As I’ve mentioned before here on the blog, we’ll be doing something very similar to last year’s fundraiser. Except this year we’re going to have even more prizes, and some cool auctions too. Stay tuned for details.


I live far away, and I know my letter won’t make it to you in time. Can I just e-mail you the name for my poor-boy entry?

I’ve had a few of these e-mails from foreign countries or from people in the army.

While I sympathize, I really don’t want to change the rules that I laid down at the beginning of the contest. Changing the rules partway through is kinda unfair to all the people who would have liked to e-mail in their free entries, but went online and bought a ticket instead.

Maybe the next time we do this I’ll have an online option, but for now, I think the only fair thing is to stick by the original rules.

Once the drawing is over, do we get to know what names you’ve picked?

I’m going to leave that up to the winners. If they’re cool with me mentioning it on the blog, then I might. Otherwise, I’ll respect their privacy.

That’s all for now, folks.

pat

This entry was posted in fan coolness, Heifer International, namingBy Pat45 Responses

45 Comments

  1. Jose Antonio
    Posted November 9, 2009 at 4:52 PM | Permalink

    Damn… Trowbridge truly deserves his name on the book!! Can’t imagine how much I smiled with his paintings!
    And he’s right about one thing.
    You’re quite a down-to-earth writer, and we all thank that!!
    Ponlo en el libro!! Se lo merece!!

  2. wirelessrobin
    Posted November 9, 2009 at 4:58 PM | Permalink

    MMMMMM…… Cake……

    Happy Un-Birthday Pat!

  3. Angela
    Posted November 9, 2009 at 5:01 PM | Permalink

    This is awesome. Best part of those cards: “P-Roth” This cracked me up. If you ever (god-forbid) give up writing for a rap career, this should so be your handle.

    I hope this fundraiser continues to be a raging success.

  4. Chris
    Posted November 9, 2009 at 5:44 PM | Permalink

    6 days to go…
    Can’t wait for the results,
    Cheers,
    Chris

  5. Lea
    Posted November 9, 2009 at 5:48 PM | Permalink

    The “FFFFFFFFF” is golden. If you make a character named Trowbridge he must say “FFFFFFFFF”!!!!

  6. Elicius
    Posted November 9, 2009 at 6:54 PM | Permalink

    Reading your blog post of today, I did a tiny little dance in my HappyShoes(TM).

    I said in an email to you that if there was anyway that you could sort out my silly little mistake I would donate more, and thus! To the Donatey Place!

    Way t’Go Mister Awesome-face!!

  7. Cyphyr
    Posted November 9, 2009 at 7:04 PM | Permalink

    I know how it is Pat.
    Before you were short on names to fit your story.
    Now your short on stories to fit the names.
    I end up making 10-15 page backstories for every one of the names I come up with, even if I never use them.

  8. Vinny K
    Posted November 9, 2009 at 7:09 PM | Permalink

    Trowbridge deserves to be in the book after that. The notecard message was fantastic, especially the little drawings. Anyway, congatulations for the current success of the fundraiser, I hope it makes it far past $20,000 and I wish I could have donated. Alas, I have no money with which to donate. Well, good luck to the what remains of the fundraiser. May fortune smile upon you.

    ~Vinny~

  9. Alicia
    Posted November 9, 2009 at 7:17 PM | Permalink

    so often I see what other people did and wish I’d thought of it first. Way to go
    Carly! I’ll keep an eye out for Trowbridge

    Also, go eat cake pat. I’d have sent you a slice of wedding cake (Cherry cake!), but I don’t think it would survive the trip from England :(

    -A-

  10. John D
    Posted November 9, 2009 at 7:35 PM | Permalink

    *Sigh* Sorry, Pat: I guess I’m one of those messed-up PayPal users you mentioned. No worries, though; I just glad I was able to donate, even if only a little bit!
    Glad the raffle is going so well, it’s an oustanding cause.
    Keep up the fantastic work, and look forward to seeing the results!
    Peace & Love for you, man

  11. LaurafromNY
    Posted November 9, 2009 at 8:12 PM | Permalink

    wow…Trowbridge is an awesomely talented artist…cool name too! It sure fit good as a place/landmark. It even feels like something out of your book and it’s not even in there yet! But, I have to say, you draw and write like my brother!!!! (the two of you are so damn neat and talented even when it comes to a doodle!)

  12. logankstewart
    Posted November 9, 2009 at 8:29 PM | Permalink

    Sweet drawing doodly card things. I agree, Trowbridge is nice sounding.

    Best of luck with the Heifer fundraiser. Did you ever decide on a name for the donating group?

  13. Anonymous
    Posted November 9, 2009 at 9:05 PM | Permalink

    I mailed my check and index card Friday after I left work. When I arrived home and picked up my mail, I was tickled to see that – coincidence! – the winter issue of World Ark had arrived, and even more tickled to see the article about a certain two upstanding authors and their fundraising efforts for Heifer. Good luck! I hope the article brings in heaps of cash and many fitting and fascinating names.

  14. Pat
    Posted November 9, 2009 at 9:15 PM | Permalink

    Heh. The “Ffffff” cracked me up too…

  15. Marjorie
    Posted November 9, 2009 at 10:23 PM | Permalink

    Awesome entry! I live in Trowbrige. (And belive me, and Trowbridge Pat were to invent, whether as a place or a person, would be WAY more interesting…)

  16. Claire
    Posted November 9, 2009 at 10:26 PM | Permalink

    Every day is a good day for cake. :-) My roommate and I occasionally have cake days just because we can.

    Now I feel like my poor man’s entry was incredibly lame. However, my artistic talents don’t particularly extend to 3 X 5 notecards…sort of hard to play the violin on there.

    Anyway, I love your blog, which is almost as fun to read as your book, and will be excited to see which names make it in (even if mine doesn’t. I know “Claire” is pretty boring in fantasy world.)

    – Claire

  17. Smiths4Now
    Posted November 10, 2009 at 12:24 AM | Permalink

    Mmmmm….Cake! Sorry, had to put that in since it is my birthday and I have some left over cake that my mom left since she could only be here on the weekend before! I’d send you some, it’s the best, but probably won’t make that many miles in the mail or via UPS…I know, I work there!

  18. Steve Dowdle
    Posted November 10, 2009 at 1:19 AM | Permalink

    Am I the only one who hears a remake of the Trogdor theme song with Trowbridge’s name in the eponymous slot?

    I am?

    Very well, then. I’ll take my hat and leave.

    P.S. My verification screen for this post is ‘suckerot.’ Maybe we could see that in book 2 as a new dirty word.

  19. Anonymous
    Posted November 10, 2009 at 1:44 AM | Permalink

    fantastic looolability that

    mr. Fussy lol

    wish i was artistic i woulda come up with that first but no as usual someone else copies my unform, un-even-thought-of thoughts and uses it in a far better way.

    neways…trowbridge is pretty kool…brief insight into life of trowbridge

    Kvothe: “I am sayin something incredibly witty/funny/philisophical or maybe just ‘hey’ as P-Roth wrote,Mr Trowbridge how do you respond?”

    Trowbridge: “ahhh..ffffffffffffffff”

    Kvothe: “Oh well, yes i suppose thats true…i ..just ..well, erm..” Kvothe unceremoniously plonks on his arse…outwitted.

    Yes trowbridge has now been blown all out of proportion.

    Pat if you want to use that dialogue, then sure go ahead….not i own that piece of writing got my anonymous name on and everything…

    nice on the funds be proud of yourself, pat your back pat.

    Man Love

    HMG

    ps…WV= Viera…kinda cool

  20. Anonymous
    Posted November 10, 2009 at 8:29 AM | Permalink

    hehehe, I just got back from a sailing trip and the skipper was a high strung German who had trouble speaking English. When we messed up the sails he would bite his nails on both hands ‘fffffffffffffff’ for a while and then shout ‘What you do is not right!’ and just as tense looking as the sketch.

  21. Anonymous
    Posted November 10, 2009 at 2:52 PM | Permalink

    So I can’t tell you how pleased I was to open up my World Ark magazine from Heifer International this morning and see you featured!! Made my day. Love your books. Love Heifer International. Had no idea you were involved. Way to go!

  22. LaurafromNY
    Posted November 10, 2009 at 5:30 PM | Permalink

    This might be silly, but what exactly does the “Fffff” mean? I use that right before saying “ffffffffrickin’ hell” but it might be meaning something else…

  23. israel
    Posted November 10, 2009 at 7:04 PM | Permalink

    Gotta love how everyone thinks Trowbridge should be included. That’s some positive fan support.

  24. Anonymous
    Posted November 10, 2009 at 7:13 PM | Permalink

    FFFFFFFFFFF is a bit of an undefinable catch-all expression losers on the internet use for frustration, anticipation, impatience, and/or raw unbridled excitement.

    SUCH AS:

    PERSON A: “I’m going out and buying an amusement park and all the rides are going to end in full chinese buffets and you all get in for free and everyone gets a red panda cub as a pet.”
    PERSON B: “OMG FFFFFFFFFF yes do it I’m so excited.”

    Also used for swearing and dropping major F bombs, you are correct.

  25. LaurafromNY
    Posted November 10, 2009 at 7:55 PM | Permalink

    OOOOO! Thank you Anonymous! I’ve never heard it other than the swearing, but now it makes sense, the “Fffff” = anticipation for book 2.

  26. Kathy Wise
    Posted November 10, 2009 at 8:02 PM | Permalink

    I fell off my bed laughing at Steve and his replacing of Trogdor with Trowbridge! Funny. Oh and all the comments about the dramatic Fffffff are rolling me over! Just the blog I needed today! I feel like such a lurker checking this blog three times a day just to get a little “P-Roth” in my life! Been hanging out at the Btandon Sanderson site reading all the free chapters and even though it’s good and the Mistborn trilogy is great it’s just not the same. It’s just not rothfuss enough for me!

  27. Anonymous
    Posted November 11, 2009 at 2:25 AM | Permalink

    Hehehe… My sister brought me back a t-shirt from Japan. It has a cat tangled up in yarn on it and a speach bubble saying ‘Ffffffhhh!’

    I think it nearly said a swear…

    Nice work, Trowbridge.

  28. Aileen
    Posted November 11, 2009 at 6:56 PM | Permalink

    Such an awesome idea with the name raffle. Trowbridge should really end up in the book; SO FUNNY! Would love to donate and be part of the raffle too, but PayPal seems to hate my foreign debit-card and being a foreign exchange student in the US leaves me with no other paying options and no time to send in a card. But good luck to the rest of you, going to be amazing reading the book anyway!

  29. ripshin
    Posted November 11, 2009 at 7:03 PM | Permalink

    “But Still! I wish to put forth a name for the contest.”

    I can actually hear these words being spoken, and they’ve been going through my head all day. Eerie.

    There is a voice behind these words and I can’t help but think that it also deserves a cameo in book two. Maybe character Trowbridge could say this line somehow. After all, names are a central device to your story…

    rip

    WV: diummer [dyum err] – appalachian expression describing the state of being less intelligent. As in, “He’s diummer than a stump.”

  30. Roswitha
    Posted November 12, 2009 at 4:33 AM | Permalink

    Agree with everyone who thinks Trowbridge deserves to be in the book. Loved that entry! Pat, not only have you written a great book, but your blog is seriously entertaining AND you have awesome fans.

    I love how much support Trowbridge is getting. Makes me want to submit that name on Carly’s behalf as another entry.

    btw, my verification word is inglordi. slang for inglorious? short for vain ingloriousness? Love it.

  31. Chelsea
    Posted November 12, 2009 at 5:25 AM | Permalink

    that made my day as well, pat. it’s so neat to read through the comments. it’s like a big, geeky community full of people who are far more creative than i am. for what it’s worth, my vote goes for trowbridge getting in the book.
    WV- tanymani. reminds me of some sort of fruity tropical beverage. hmmm…i think i could go for a tanymani right now…

  32. Steve M
    Posted November 13, 2009 at 4:31 PM | Permalink

    Trowbridge is the County town of Wiltshire here in England, or Whistleshire as my daughter prefers to call it. She also calls Dermot O’Leary Dermot Hilarious….

  33. Seth
    Posted November 13, 2009 at 6:40 PM | Permalink

    Can I make a contest suggestion? Can the raffle winners and any others who you have chosen to add their names to the book get a nifty little certificate to frame and hang up? =)

    PS – I hope Seth the farmer gets in too because that was totally my entry heh.

  34. Angela
    Posted November 14, 2009 at 5:32 AM | Permalink

    I feel like a superhero. My check now rockets to you at the speed of snail mail. During the last fundraiser, I kind of felt like an ass for not being able to donate. So, my mental state is much improved now! It’s handy having a job this semester! My parents also fronted some extra money as a Christmas present so I could get the six tickets.

    Huzzah for charity!

    Of course, my letter did seem much more awesome and funny before I read this post. *nervous laughter* Everyone understands jokes based on obscure Scottish history, though, right?

    Yeah, you’re absolutely correct. How could they NOT know.

    *crosses fingers* I hope we break $20,000.

  35. Vae
    Posted November 15, 2009 at 11:05 PM | Permalink

    That all sounds pretty sweet. and yeah, Trowbridge is an awesome name. The linguistics major in me wonders what its etymology is… Suddenly I may have picked up a small, personal research project… But I digress. Congrats on the donations thus far, sounds excellent. And Yes, you are indeed a down to earth, cool writer. Many, oh so many points for you good sir.

  36. Amber
    Posted November 16, 2009 at 4:47 PM | Permalink

    This… is awesome.

    Carly should get the name, at least for the multicolor layout and wicked awesome stick figure-age.

    I am a poor college student and currently can’t afford postage, much to my regret… so I couldn’t send in my lovely card. ;.; Ah well…

  37. Anonymous
    Posted November 16, 2009 at 5:22 PM | Permalink

    It is the 16th and I am dying to know… lol

  38. Kristoff
    Posted November 16, 2009 at 7:32 PM | Permalink

    Incidentally…there is a pub near my house (in MA) called the “Trowbridge Tavern.” They have lots of beer.

  39. Anonymous
    Posted November 16, 2009 at 11:08 PM | Permalink

    shouldnt we be focussing on getting the book out? sorry – im snarky today. sorry pat. trowbridge is good. so is – Kiriakoss.

  40. ESTEBAN
    Posted November 16, 2009 at 11:31 PM | Permalink

    hey Pat i dunno if ud read this or not but i stopped following ur blog 2 months ago, and i missed the raffle

    i was really looking forward to it but.. missed it

    and i feel like i missed on something big and cool

    yeah well i..

    well like

    i dunno i mean

    ok ill just throw this here

    THADRION

    i dont wanna start something where ppl just throw the names in here for free and spam ur blog, im sorry i just live in a place very very far away from u and i already missed the dates, so please just delete this message or ask me to, if u think its innapropriate.

    im gonna donate anyway

    well u said u were always on the hunt for cool names and i really think it fits in that world

    ps. i dont usually read, but i READ ur book, how cool is that? i actually did

    in a country where the average ppl read 1 and 1/2 book a year i read an 800 page one in 2 weeks

    i did, thats the effect of the name of the wind

    thats how good it is

    thx

  41. Anonymous
    Posted November 17, 2009 at 3:37 PM | Permalink

    Is it true that TWMF will be out in May of 2010 (as recorded by Amazon)?
    I must admit, I am doubtful, especially since they’ve had the wrong dates up for extended periods of time in the past. However, I do hope you’ll say “yes, it will be done by then” and give me an early Christmas present (the promise of another amazing book REALLY SOON!!!)

  42. Haiden Beslan
    Posted November 17, 2009 at 7:55 PM | Permalink

    Did You get my Letters?
    one was written on parchment and ink calligraphy pen, i sent you a picture on Deviant art.

    -Haiden

  43. Alexis
    Posted November 18, 2009 at 6:52 PM | Permalink

    Um Pat, you already have a farmer named Seth- he of the lumpy squash, gave Kvothe a ride into Tarbean after the third string broke on his lute- remember?

  44. Jessiqua
    Posted November 23, 2009 at 12:36 PM | Permalink

    As it is rad that you are doing this raffle, and I do hope Trowbridge gets their name in your book, I am just leaving this comment to tell you you are awesome in epic proportions! I love the fact you are a perfectionist down to one word. It feels good to know someone else is like that, and wrote a book that I enjoyed reading on so many different levels….
    I send warm gooey thoughts…they kinda look like the ghostbusters goo…and wish you luck on the finish of your book. I would wait patiently for most of my life just knowing it will come is good enough, heck It’ll just give me more time to read your book again!
    -Qua

  45. Anonymous
    Posted April 4, 2010 at 2:52 AM | Permalink

    I dont know anything about you, and really,dont care to, you're just "THEE" good writer with "THEE" good story, wish you a million more of those

    keep 'em coming,

    Basil

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