E. J. Noyes

Author

Guess how many words are in this jar.

If you follow me on Twitter then you’ve probably been witnessing my ever-expanding word count as I worked to finish my first draft of Pas de deux. Procrastinating as I do, I had an idea. A giveaway! Like one of those “Guess how many jellybeans are in this jar” type scenarios.

So here’s the deal. Right now, my FINISHED, UNEDITED FIRST DRAFT of Pas de deux sits at 118,147 words (I know, I know. I don”t know how it got so big either). I’ll give it an edit, it’ll be beta read and then I will tidy it up for a final draft and submission.

Guess the word count of my final draft – that is the one I will submit to my publisher, Bella Books, for editing and whatnot – then tell me what you think it is in a comment on this post, and whoever is closest will win a signed copy of Pas de deux.

Curious about the novel? Bella Books has some info for you!

A few things for you to consider:

  1. The book isn’t due out until May, 2021 so I can’t send books until then because I just won’t have them.
  2. I do not plan my novel plots in depth, or the size, or anything like that. I just write and then play around until I’m happy. So I could add 1000’s of words, I could remove 1000’s of words, I could remove and then rewrite 1000’s of words. It’s a lucky dip of word count guessing!
  3. If there’s a few of you who have guessed correctly, or who have guessed equally as close (Like I wrote 100,000 words and someone guessed 100,005 and someone else guessed 99,995 then they’d both get a copy. Is that maths right? Whatever, I’m sure you get the idea).
  4. The manuscript is due to my publisher the 1st day of 2021. I could submit it on that day, I could submit it early. I don’t know. So this competition will run until I submit it, in which case I’ll cut it off and announce the winners.
  5. I won’t look at the entries until it’s time to trawl through for a winner, so my bias is non-existent.
  6. One guess only please. And please put a valid email so I can contact you should you hit that magic number!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  45. Dear E.J.,

    I am looking forward to reading your new opus. My bet : 116780 words, although, I wish it would be more than 150000 so the reading last longer!
    Thank you
    Olin

    Reply

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