Today is the last day to post an entry to the 2013 Spec Faith Winter Writing Challenge, but it is not the last day of the Challenge. For the sake of entries coming in during these last few days and hours, I want to provide ample time for readers to consider and/or critique those pieces as they have the earlier entries.

At midnight tonight (Pacific time) we’ll close the entries but continue to count any thumbs up throughout the week (be sure you click on the thumb and don’t simply say “thumbs up” in a comment.) Then at midnight, Sunday, December 15 (Pacific time) we’ll stop counting any further thumb responses.

The three entries which have received the most thumbs will advance to the final round–a vote by poll–and from those, the winner will be chosen by readers.

I must say again how impressed I am with the quality of entries. Not only is the writing engaging, but the concepts are so varied. There are some really clever ideas: twists, original worldbuilding, surprising intrigue.

For anyone who has not yet read the entries, you can find them by scrolling through the End-Of-The-Year Winter Writing Challenge comments to those in blue. Feel free to mark as many entries as you like with a thumbs up. You may also wish to give a short critique saying what particularly you liked about an entry.

Thank you to all the writers who have taken the time to enter and to all the readers who are giving feedback. I can say from my standpoint, there are some challenge entries I wish were published books because I’d like to keep reading!

Feel free to tell your friends and fellow writers to stop by and give their input, though I’d much prefer if we avoided the “vote for me” kind of campaign. I’d like to see writers get some sense of whether or not readers are engaged by their entry as opposed to which writer has the most friends willing to come over and click on a thumbs up for them.

At any rate, I hope you have as much fun with the challenge as I have.