Category Archives: Photo Contest 2011

Published: June 30, 2012

The Photo Contest: Explanations and Prizes

Once, years and miles away, I did a photo contest on my blog.

It was way back in 2008. It was the first time I realized how creative and enthusiastic my readership was.

Fast forward to April of 2011. The Wise Man’s Fear had been out for a month, and I tossed the idea for a second contest out onto the blog.

Then the photos started coming in. And coming in. And coming in….

People sent more than a thousand pictures. Amazing pictures. Terrifying pictures. Pictures that clearly broke my rule of “Don’t do anything dangerous or illegal.” People got crazy. People got naked. People asked for an extension to the deadline so they could comply with FAA regulations. Seriously.

I felt like I’d gone into my backyard to start a campfire and accidentally ended up with a volcano instead.

And, much to my shame, it’s been more than a year, and I still haven’t posted up the winners.

The biggest problem, of course, is that it takes a long time to sift, sort, and pick winners from over a thousand pictures. Complicating things was the fact that I got some bad news last august which knocked me out of play for a while. Then came the fundraiser, which, while awesome, ate up a couple months. Then my assistant left unexpectedly and I had to hire and train some replacements….

And of course, I had a few other things to do, too. Like hanging out with my little boy, and, y’know, writing and stuff.

It would have been easy if there had been 70-80 pictures and half of them were crap. But there were so many, and there really wasn’t much chaff at all.

Simply said, I was unprepared for the full extent of your combined awesome.

Y’all caused me one other problem by being too cool. When I saw the quality of the pictures that were coming in, I realized that I was going to have to produce something really worthwhile in terms of prizes.

You see, for the first contest, I just gave away signed books and posters to the winners. But that was before we opened up the Tinker’s Packs. These days, I’m guessing most of you who really want signed books, posters, or a t-shirt have probably bought them already.

I wracked my brain for a long time. Because so many of the pictures were so cool, I really wanted the prizes to be cool. But I couldn’t think of anything….

Then the lovely folks at Badali Jewelry dropped me an e-mail. They were wondering if it was okay if they made some talent pipes in gold to go with the silver ones they were already selling.

I e-mailed them back saying I’d really rather they didn’t make any gold-colored pipes. If the pipes are meant to be replicas of the jewelry from my world, it wouldn’t be realistic for there to be any gold ones. The only pipes given out at the Eolian are silver.

Well, except for two. Deoch and Stancheon each have a set of gold pipes because they own the Eolian. They get the gold pipes because they run the show. They’re the ones behind the scenes make everything work….

That’s when I realized what I could give out as a prize….

I asked Badali to make a special batch of gold talent pipes. And they did.

Now before you get too excited, they’re not solid gold. They’re plated.

That said, these are pipes that money can’t buy. These are pipes you can only get from me. I’m giving them out to people that have done nice things for me. People who have helped with the book. People who have made me happy.

For example, I’m giving them out my beta readers, because their feedback helped me polish and refine book two.

And I’m giving them to the folks that win the photo contest. Because they have filled my heart with geeky joy.

That means if you see someone wearing a set of gold pipes, you know that person is some special flavor of cool.

So. Now I have prizes and time to finish organizing categories and picking winners. That means you’ll be seeing the results of the contest over the next month or so. I’m going to be breaking them into several blogs because there are *way* too many for me to post up in just one blog.

Hell, there were ten blogs worth of pictures in the first contest, and this time around we easily have 7-8 times more photos. I’m going to have to make some hard choices….

[Edit: The grand prize winner’s link works now, or you could just click here and take a look…]

So get ready, folks. You’re going to see some cool stuff in the weeks to come….

For now, if you *need* to look at some pictures, you can peek at the honorable mentions I’ve already posted up and set Seussian-style rhyme over here.

pat

Also posted in fan coolness | By Pat43 Responses
Published: August 16, 2011

Photo Contest – Prologue: A Sussian Sussurus

Okay. It’s been a long time coming, but I’m finally ready to post up some of the pictures from the photo contest.

Part of the reason it’s taken so long is pure option paralysis. People sent in more than a thousand pictures, and they were not mostly crap. In fact, they were mostly awesome.

That put me in a strange situation. I can’t post a thousand pictures up on my blog. Even fitting them into categories is too much for me.

Last time when I did the photo contest, there were a handful photos that didn’t fit into any particular category. So I did a Miscellaneous blog for them.

But this year, there were so many photos that a single miscellaneous blog couldn’t begin to fit them all. So instead, I’ve decided to start off the contest with a bunch of the photos that I liked, but that for one reason or another didn’t make the final cut.

Also, I decided to put them all to verse and include a sort of framing narrative. I can’t remember why exactly I decided to do that, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Personally, I blame it on the fact that I’ve spent a lot of time reading Green Eggs and Ham to Oot lately.

The pictures aren’t as big as I’d like, but I had to do some resizing to make them all fit. Rest assured that you can click on any of them and embiggen to your heart’s content.

*     *     *

That Pat Rothfuss. That Pat Rothfuss.

Oh how he makes me want to cuss.

At first I liked him fairly well,

But he blew his deadline to hell.

His second book was much too late,

So now I hate him. Hate! Hate! Hate!

***

Would you read book number two?

Please do read it. Do! Do! Do!

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You could read it in a tree.

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You could read it with some tea.

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***

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I would not read it in a tree.

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I would not read it with some tea.

I do not want to read that book

I will not take a single look.

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***

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Would you read it on a stone?

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Would you read it all alone?

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***

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I will not read it on a stone.

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I will not read it all alone.

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I will not read it in a tree.

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Or drinking some odd robot tea.

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***

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You could read it on your bike,

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Or really anywhere you like:

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Snug in bed with a green frog,

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Right beside this rusty cog,

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Doing art with a quill pen,

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Or while you sit and do zazen.

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***

I hate this book, do you not see?

I will not read it, let me be.

I will not read next to this tyke,

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Or zenning out beside my bike.

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I will not read it while I dance,

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Or bookmarked by spongebob squarepants.

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I will not read it in a tree,

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Or sipping on some pleasant tea,

(With kindle Agatha Christie.)

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I would not read The Wise Man’s Fear

If you threw in a keg of beer,

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A good foot rub, and eight fresh pies,

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Enlightenment with jumbo fries.

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Not if you tossed me in the stocks,

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Pressed me between heavy rocks,

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Threatened me with a t-rex,

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Not even if …

***

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… book two has sex.

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***

Say!

I rather think I like this book,

Now that I’ve stopped to take a look.

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It’s good enough to read at sea,

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Or upside-down, or in a tree.

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I’ll read it when I’m far from home,

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and lend it to my garden gnome.

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I’ll gaze upon it while I harp.

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I’ll take it with me when I larp.

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I’ll raise this book up to the sky.

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It belongs next to firefly!

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To this fine author’s art I yield,

A man outstanding in his field.

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*     *     *

Man. You have no idea how long that took. It was fun, but I’m never going to do it again.

Thanks to Valerie for helping with the layout of this one while I was busy with other things. Otherwise it would have taken me even longer to get it posted.

Now that this one is out of the way, we’ll have some other picture blogs before too long. As well as the continuation of the ComicCon Chronicle and other assorted geekery.

Later all,

pat

Also posted in bitin yo style, fan coolness | By Pat93 Responses
Published: June 30, 2011

Photo Contest: Prelude

So for a while now, I’ve been sifting through all the photos that people submitted to the contest. More than a thousand photos in all.

Needless to say, it’s been taking a lot longer than I expected.

It’s not just that life seems determined to get in the way. Neither is it the fact that there are more photos than I expected, or that so many of them are clever. It’s not even that so many of them were so obviously taken as an act of love. (And I mean that literally in some cases.)

The real problem is that so many of the pictures are really good.

While I’ve been sifting through them, organizing them into categories, and trying to winnow some of them out. I keep thinking of what happened last year when I went to Neil Gaiman’s House on the Rock shindig on Halloween.

He had a costume contest there, American Gods themed. And the winners were going to get to ride the carousel. Yeah. The carousel that nobody gets to ride.

Needless to say, the competition was fierce. Of the thousand or so people that attended, I’m guessing almost half dressed up.

(One of these days I’ll get around to telling the whole story of that day, the story of how I got to ride the carousel with Gaiman, but for now I’m just going to tell a tiny piece of the story.)

Anyway, the vast array of costumes paraded in front of Gaiman. The line went on and on. The outfits were clever and funny and elaborate.

And, more than anything, they were acts of love.

It goes on for hours. Sexy costumes, smart costumes, detailed costumes. Then, eventually, after everyone has had their turn in the spotlight, Gaiman goes up to the microphone, shaking his head.

“I hate you all,” he said.

He gets a big laugh, because he has enough charisma to pull off a line line that and make it charming.

He explains that he was expecting maybe a hundred costumes. He said he thought it would be fairly simple to weed out the rubbish ones, and pick the good ones as winners. (I specifically remember that he said “rubbish,” because that’s a word you can only really get away with if you’re British.)

There were too many good costumes, he complained, and he only got to let 8 people on the carousel. There could only be 8 winners.

Then he settled down to the hard job of picking the winners.

I’ve been thinking about that a lot these last couple weeks as I look through all the photos that were sent in for the contest. Honestly, I’m amazed at the lengths people went to for some of their pictures.

Anyway, I just wanted you to know that you’ll start seeing the results of the contest soon.

Soon….

pat

Also posted in contests, fan coolness, Neil Gaiman | By Pat31 Responses
Published: April 25, 2011

Photo Contest Update….

I’m back from having my brain scanned for science. (Pictures forthcoming). And yesterday, I’d played with little Oot and unpacked my bag, I took a look at my planner.

And it was strange. There was nothing on it. Nothing but a vast blankness stretching out in front of me.

It was a glorious sight, and it means that for the next two months, I don’t have hardly any trips planned at all. (Or I’ve forgotten to write them down.)

This is something of a relief. While I’ve enjoyed traveling around and meeting y’all, I’m kinda exhausted. The other day I did the math and realized that since February 28th, I’ve only spent 20 days at home.

This is hard if you have hermitish tendencies like I do. I’m a homebody at heart, and I’m looking forward to relaxing, getting back into my normal routine, and spending more time with my baby.

While I was catching up on my e-mail, I found about five or six messages asking if they could please have more time to get ready for the photo contest. Some people complained that they only heard about contest until recently. While others pleaded that midterms, rocky relationships, or hectic job schedules had ruined their plans.

Here’s the one that got my attention the most.

Dear Pat,

Without divulging all of our information because we would like it to be a surprise.  FAA regulations are delaying our plans.  It is unlikely that we will be allowed to launch prior to the end of the contest date.

Is it possible to get an extension?

If April 30th is a hard deadline, then we will try to work around the FAA.

[Name Withheld]

Now at first I had the FAA confused with the FFA (Future Farmers of America) and I was thinking, “No big deal. They can work around some farmer’s regulations….”

Then I realized that these folks were talking about the Federal Aviation Administration. And I got worried.

Let me say this emphatically. Do not attempt to “Work Around” the FAA or any other federal agency in order to take a picture for this contest.

Edit: Just to prove that I am right: (And I’m always right, statistically speaking.) Here’s a relevant comment from below.

I occasionally fly in a helicopter for my job and the topic of FAA regulations since 9/11 has come up. It is my understanding that it is quite possible that those who attempt to “work around FAA regs” may find themselves having to work around a sidewinder missile fired from an intercepting fighter jet. Just something to consider.

Seriously. If you missed the whole “Don’t do anything dangerous or illegal” rule, maybe you want to check out the contest guidelines again, reading a little more slowly this time.

To put it plainly. If you’re doing anything dangerous or illegal in the photo, I simply won’t use it. I won’t even post it up as an example of cool photos that aren’t eligible for winning. It pains me to say that, but I have to stick to it.

As far as the deadline goes, I don’t see why we shouldn’t extend things a bit. It isn’t like this is a term paper or anything. It’s supposed to be fun. So if y’all want more time, you can have more time.

  • The new contest deadline will be May 15th at midnight.

Also, I feel like I should mention that you don’t need to go to extraordinary lengths for your photos. Some of the best photos I’ve seen so far aren’t big-budget productions that require filing a flight plan.

For example:

(Now I’ve got the Dawn of Man music stuck in my head…)

You see? A little cleverness goes a long way. (Though having a decent camera doesn’t hurt, either. Grainy cell-phone pics aren’t impressive.)

If you have any questions about the contest, you should head over and read the rules.

Then, if you have any more questions, you can ask them in the comments below.

Later all, I’m off to bed.

pat

Also posted in fan coolness | By Pat44 Responses
Published: April 1, 2011

Photo Contest II: The Return

So I’ve been slowly digging through my backlog of fanmail. Most of it has been extraordinarily pleasant. There have been a few turds in there, but they’re so rare as to be statistical anomalies.

While reading them all, I’ve also found three letters similar to this one:

Dear Pat,

I read name of the wind long, long ago back in 2007. And I’ve been a reader of your blog for just about as long.

Back in 2008, when the paperback version of The Name of the Wind came out, you did a photo contest. I remember it was a ton of fun seeing all the photos people took of themselves and your book. Do you remember the girls that got naked and painted themselves with your book covers?

So I was mostly wondering, are you going to do a photo contest again? I remember you saying you were planning on it, but that was a long time ago…

Best Wishes,

Sandra

“Do you remember the girls that got naked and painted themselves with your book covers?”

This is perhaps the most ridiculous question in the history of ever. Of course I remember that picture. I still consider it one of the absolute high points of my writing career. The blog I wrote about that picture back in 2008 is as true today as it was back then.

You want to know one of the best things about this picture? The women were honest-to-goodness rocket scientists. I shit you not. They were aerospace engineers.

The truth is, Sandra, I planned on doing a photo contest as soon as the second book came out. But with the chaos of revision followed by the book tour, I just plain forgot about it.

But now my failing memory has been jogged by you and several other diligent readers. Looking over the blogs from the first contest has warmed my heart and reminded me how much fun it was seeing all of those pictures.

Like this one of the most furious baby in the world:

Or the one where someone made pants for my books:

(Yes. Pants. For my book.)

All the entries from Captain Joe. My favoritest fan I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting yet.

(The name of his steed? Thunderplumb.)

Or one of my favoritest, simplest pictures:

So hell yes. Photo contest. Let’s do it again.

Here are the rules.

1. The picture doesn’t need to include you, but it does need to include the book.

2. Photo manipulation is legal, but by no means required.

3. Multiple entries are allowed.

4. Pictures will be judged on their general coolness. Categories will include anything I feel like, for example: “Most Awesome,” “Most Funny.” “Most Sexy” “Most Dramatic” and “Most Best.”

4b. I reserve the right to add extra categories, remove categories, and pretty much do whatever I like when it comes to the organization and presentation of the pictures.

5. You can’t do anything illegal or recklessly dangerous.

5B. Yes. Even if it’s cool.

5c. Yes. I’m serious. I won’t post up your picture at all if it’s obvious you’re playing in traffic or climbing a fence into a military base. Play nice. Be smart.

6. Winners will win. Winning will include some manner of prize. The nature of the prizes is yet to be determined, but I’ll do my best to make them cool.

7. All photos will be judged in a completely arbitrary and subjective manner.

8. Pictures should be jpgs no larger than 4 megs each. (Lest y’all crash my gmail account.)

9. You have one month to get your pictures submitted. The contest is over April 30th at Midnight.

[Edit April 25th] Contest Deadline Extended! New deadline is May 15th.

For those of you that are interested, here are the blogs that show some of the best pictures from the last contest:

Photo Contest Part I – Shrines

Photo Contest Part II – Babies

Photo Contest Part III – Anthropomorphic and Athletic

Photo Contest Part IV – Celebrities and Foreign Climes

Photo Contest Part V – Driving, Reading, and Animals

Photo Contest Part VI – Miscellaneous

Photo Contest Part VII – Drama

Photo Contest Part VIII – Eros, Filius, and Agape

Photo Contest Part IX – Covers and Cosplay

Photo Contest Part X – The Grand Prize Winner

If nothing else, you really need to check out that last one. The grand prize winner was awesome to such a degree that I’m still stunned by it. Time has not dimmed its luster by one iota. Their prize was that they got to beta-read book two.

How to Submit Your Picture.

E-mail your pictures to the following address: paperback.contest {swirly at sign} gmail.com

If you send a picture to that e-mail address, make sure to include:

  • The photo(s). (duh.)
  • Your name.
  • How you want the photo to be credited, if it’s different than your name.
  • Your mailing address. (Where to send your fabulous prize.)

Are you ready? I’m so ready. I think this is going to be awesome.

pat

P.S. If folks want to suggest things that might make good prizes, I’m open to suggestions in the comments below.

Also posted in calling on the legions, contests, cool things | By Pat93 Responses

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