For the love of... Quickie Advertising

I've spent the last several days begging and pleading for votes for my manuscript that I've entered into Harlequin's So You Think You Can Write 2012 contest.  I've "spammed" people in my email contact list. People, to be honest, I don't even know very well.  My child's teachers, past and present... people I barely know who I've emailed with on a casual basis, long-time friends, old boyfriends, baby daddy, old work collegues, and even older school chums.  Any and all of the above, it simply doesn't matter.  You want to know the surprising part?  I've received more positive feedback and votes from people I've picked up along the way in more recent years than those I've known for half of my life.  I have mixed feelings about that.  It's disheartening because I thought that I would, for sure, have their votes, their well-wishes behind me; and it would simply be a matter of convincing the newer people to get behind me, too.  Funny how people can surprise you, disappoint you, and gut you when you least expect it.  All of that, though, is for another night's blog.  Tonight, I'd like to share just how inventive (not) I've gotten with trying to get my contest submission out there.  Take a look:

Last night's Twitter pic to prove that I am, in fact, working hard on revisions and increasing the word count.

This morning's Pinterest pin to expose this to those who might be randomly scrolling through the boards looking for something interesting to occupy a few minutes of their time.

And, finally, the one Twitter pic that got me started on this cheap form of advertising.  Such simple graphics and not so great lighting but the sentiment is still the same.

I'm putting it out there into the Universe that I need some help here.  I want this sooo badly, I can practically taste it.  And even though I am extremely uncomfortable for letting it all hang out there, publically speaking, knowing everyone I know now knows about this and what might turn into an epic failure on my part, I'm still giving it my 100%.  I KNOW that even if I don't win this competition, even if I don't make it through to the next round, I KNOW that this will be published one day.  It just might have to travel a long road to do so and wouldn't it just be freaking fantastic if I could simply spend that time writing my next great novel instead of trying to unload this one.