100th Post! People Who've Helped Me, Part 1

This is my 100th blog post! I thought I'd do something special for the occasion. I wanted to list 100 people who've helped me throughout the years I've been blogging, but that would take too long. Instead, I'll start a series of posts listing them a few at a time.

For my first post, I want to mention 21 people from my critique group who have reviewed my chapters and given me constructive feedback over the last three years.

1. Tamara Heiner - Published YA thriller author. I read her novel, PERILOUS,  and can't wait to read the recently released sequel, ALTERCATIONS. She also offers copy editing services.

2. Kate Larkindale - YA contemporary writer and cinema manager from New Zealand. She has written several novels and is now seeking representation. She also writes short stories. Her blog lists the ones that have been published.

3. Janeal Falor - YA fantasy writer, the newest member of our critique group. Welcome aboard! She loves chocolate, like me. I think we'll get along very well.

4. Lexa Cain - American writer living in Egypt, and the most consistent reviewer on our group (affectionately called Laura on our forum). She writes horror, fantasy, and sci-fi. Several of her short stories were published in magazines. She has amazing writing skills. Can't wait for her YA book set in Egypt to be released.

5. Tania Walsh - Australian YA fantasy writer who made me discover Tim Tams one Christmas. She loves to bake, but I still won the snickerdoodle contest against her. Her blog features a mythology manual. Great resource!

6. Cheree Smith - YA urban fantasy, sci fi, and horror writer from Australia. She recently became a teacher and is loving it. Right, Cheree? ;-)

7. Kurt Chambers - MG fantasy author from England who recently published his first book, TRUTH TELLER (which I absolutely love). He has helped me more than anyone with my book by shredding each chapter to pieces and teaching me how to make it better. I can't thank him enough! Kurt and I are the current moderators for our critique group.

8. Ralene Burke - Christian fiction writer who moved to Hawaii and just recently came back to mainland. I learned about voice by reading her novel, one of those a-ha moments that helped me a lot with my own book. Her book is excellent. I hope she gets published soon! She used to be the moderator of our critique group, and was known for organizing fun Christmas parties and intense review frenzies.

9. Jay Eckert - His MG novel, CHILDREN OF MIDIAN, has recently been released and I read it on my kindle. Awesome read! Review coming soon on my blog. He is now studying and put writing on hold, but he's a writer at heart. He'll be back. He maintains a list of MG/YA publishers and agents on his blog.

10. Alex Lidell - YA fantasy author, whose first novel, THE CADET OF TILDOR, will be released by Penguin in January 2013. Her cover is very appealing, and so is her writing.

11. S.M. Blooding - Also known as Frankie, she's the founder of our forum, the one who started it all. She writes Paranormal Thriller, Urban Fantasy Romance, Paranormal Sci-Fi Erotica, Young Adult Urban Fantasy and New Adult Steampunk. Whew! Talk about diverse!  She's written numerous novels, several of them published (YA/Adult). I'm a cameo character in one of them! *grin*

12. Louisa Clarkson - MG fantasy writer from Australia. I still have to finish reviewing her chapters, which I was avidly doing before she got kidnapped by a certain Astro Bot and vanished from our forum for a while. Ah, love! But now she's back so I can finally find out how the story ends. Awesome read involving toads, magic, and a very vain cat. She's also the founder of the Blonde Award, even though she's not really a blonde.

13. Dawne Dominique - Published author of paranormal romance and fantasy. She's also an amazing cover artist, who designed the covers for Kurt and Frankie (listed above). She was the moderator of our group when I joined, and she helped me with very helpful, detailed reviews. Oh, and she's Canadian, like me!

14. Desiree Shear - Known as Dezzie on our forum, she writes YA novels and goes to college (which is why we haven't seen her around lately). She once competed in a review frenzy against Richard (below) and managed to review over 100 chapters in a month! Amazing! Also a recipient of the Blonde Award initiated by Louisa. Being from the Philippines, she is constantly teased about eating dogs.

15. Richard Hartnett - MG writer and professional chef. He competed against Dezzie in a review frenzy, also reviewing over 100 chapters in a month. Dezzie won, though, unfortunately for him. He was good at finding all the repeated words in my chapters. All of them. Now he's doing more cooking than writing so we don't see him around.

16. Mireyah Wolfe - Urban fantasy writer. I called her the YA writer that doesn't write YA, being under 18 and writing adult novels. I can't call her that now since she's not a YA anymore. She doesn't eat dogs like Dezzie, but she is rumored to have killed puppies, which explains her lengthy absence on our forum. Kurt even wrote a poem about it. She never really reviewed any of my chapters, but she made me laugh, so that counts as helping, right?

17. Rachel Lim - YA writer who introduced me to our critique group. She got busy with college at some point and vanished from our forum. She is now in South Korea. Miss you, Rachel!

18. Chris Denton - MG writer from England. He was in our group for just a short time. Funny guy! I hope he finishes his novel. It was a good beginning.

19. Bree C. - Canadian writer of YA fantasy and supernatural. She's very dedicated to her work and has already revised her first few chapters several times, based on our feedback. Her passion for writing will get her far. I love how she's eager to learn and get better at her skills.

20. Riham Adly (Rema) - Aspiring writer from Egypt. She's also a dentist and a busy mother. She was on our forum for just a short time, but we're still in touch through Facebook.

21. Hailey - YA fantasy writer. She was known to give cute and cuddly reviews. They always made me smile. Not sure where she is now. I haven't heard from her in a long time.

Wow, I never realized so many people have helped me with my novels! I hope I'm not forgetting anyone.