I have had a couple of people mention that they felt bad for winning more than one prize in our new #FirstLineFriday Trivia Quiz, and wondering if they should not play every week. Folks, to me, that would be like penalizing those who are well-read and have a good memory. NO ONE should feel guilty about winning multiple times. (Ask Ken Jennings!) In fact, I’m thinking of having a Grand Prize Winner now and then just to reward those who do play often and well.
You may enter only ONCE each week, of course–make your first guess a good one–but you may enter every single week for as long as we have this contest running. And I don’t care if you win every time you enter. It’s not like you’re stacking the deck in your favor, and we aren’t talking the Power Ball Lottery here, anyway. This is meant to be fun, and every person who enters has an equal chance of getting the correct answer. The earliest entries with the correct answer will win, but that just means you should all immediately start setting your alarms on Thursday night, so you can be ready at 8:00am sharp on Friday morning. 😀 😀 😀
Seriously, please do not feel “guilty” if you have won more than once. We’ve only had 2 Fridays when all five winning slots got filled, anyway, so it’s not like you’re keeping anyone else out of the running. The goal is to test your memory of great lines, AND to give everyone a chance, whether they recognize the line or not, to see some super examples of how to start a book.
I’ve gotten a wonderful response to this idea so far, and I would DEARLY LOVE to continue this game for some time yet. There are so many worthy opening lines out there, and this is a chance for us to focus on them, while digging deep into our memory banks for the answer. The free downloads are just meant as a way to thank you for playing.
So, let’s have no more worrying about whether you’re playing too often, or winning too many times. You aren’t. Just jump in and give it a try. Guess, if you want. There’s no penalty for being wrong. No one will even know but me, and I promise I won’t tell a soul! 😀
Now, stay tuned for next week’s #FirstLineFriday. I might leap forward in time a bit with my selection. We’ll see. Hopefully everyone will play and we’ll have five happy, non-guilty feeling winners!
Have a great weekend, everybody!
The Write Stuff 
Sounds good to me! ❤
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I’m glad, Trish. I’m looking forward to seeing more folks taking a guess, and not worrying a bit about winning multiple times. This is about a FUN way to take a look at an aspect of writing that can pull a reader in right from the start, or send them running. And to maybe get a free book for your efforts.
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Sounds fantastic! Thanks so much for this, Marcia. I’m loving these Friday quizzes 😊❤️
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So glad to hear that, Harmony! And folks were thrilled to have your book as one of the options this week. Definitely hope to include surprises like that when possible. 🙂 Thanks so much for offering Polish Your Prose as one of our prizes! ❤ 🙂 ❤
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That’s fantastic, Marcia 😊
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You’re a doll, Marcia. That set my mind at ease. Can’t wait for Friday!
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That’s the ticket! 😀 I’m looking forward to seeing if you get this one. I’ve already got the post set up and ready to go, and I think it will be interesting. Then again, I think they’re all interesting. 😀 Oh, and thanks for not pointing out my typo in the post above, O Wondrous Editor! I saw it as soon as I checked out your comment. Hahahaha. Fixed it, and I hope it was the only one. 😀
Looking forward to seeing how everyone does on Friday. 😀
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Blogs are a lot more casual than published works. I goof in mine all the time; I can’t criticize others for doing what I do myself. 🙂
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I know, but I do try to catch them. And I’ll go back in and correct things days later, if I see something while answering comments, etc. Can’t help it. 😀 But it’s not the end of the world, for sure. 🙂
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I do that, too. (I think I have a touch of OCD about it.)
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I think you can be excused. After all, it IS one of your (many) jobs! 🙂 How can you not automatically seek out and fix typos and the like? 🙂
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Aww, that’s a nice post. I really enjoy playing and look forward to it each Friday.
I can’t believe I missed the Great Gatsby line. I just read that book not that long ago, LOL!
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See, as Staci and I discussed, it’s not really such a great line for everyone. I’ve read the book at least twice and I honestly didn’t remember that line at all. It just goes to show you that it IS possible to write a wonderful, enduring book without a great opening line. Good to know! But still some of these lines are really “sit up and take notice” kinds of things, so hope you’ll enjoy reading them and playing along. Win or lose, the examples are pretty darn good, in one way or another. Mostly. 😀 ❤
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