A New Way to Earn Bonus Points for Haunt Jaunts Contests

The other day author Priscilla Bettis left a comment on “The Weird and Unusual Days of Summer” that inspired me to start something new around here. Namely, a new way to award bonus points for contests.

Priscilla always manages to leave either thought-provoking, enlightening, or entertaining comments. Sometimes all three at once. Once in a while, her comments even spark a new post.

In this case, however, she inspired a whole new way of awarding bonus points for contests.

Don’t worry. I’ll still have ways to nab them via social media and such too. Newsletter subscribers will also still be rewarded with subscriber-only bonuses.

Speaking of, if you’re not a subscriber and don’t want to miss out, visit the Newsletter page and use the fast and easy signup form to become one. (In fact, newsletter subscribers are going to receive info on how to claim a free gift of these new bankable bonus points, no comments required.)

Anyway, here’s what happened that sparked all of this.

The Bonus Points Muse

At the end of every post, I usually have a “Check-In” section with a question. The Check-In for the “The Weird and Unusual Days of Summer” post was: “Do you have any favorite weird and unusual days of summer?”

Priscilla’s response was: “We have four black cats, so Black Cat Appreciation Day is now at the top of my list.:-) I mark the beginning of summer neither meteorologically nor astronomically. For me, summer starts when the chiggers appear and summer ends when the school buses appear.”

I always admire Priscilla’s clever wordsmithery and way of looking at things. In this case, I thought it was super clever how she said she views the beginning and end of summer —with chiggers and school buses! Never looked at it like that before, have you?

My second thought, —after “How clever!”— was, “I wish I could award bonus points when people come up with super cool answers like this.”

Then I asked myself, “Well, why can’t I?”

“But how would I track it?”

I stewed on it for a second and figured Google Sheets was as good a way as any.

So that’s what I’m going to do from here on out.

How Comment Bonus Points Will Work

Basically, if you leave a comment on any of our content, meaning any blog post or one of our YouTube videos, and it tickles me in some fashion, whether it makes me laugh or impresses me with novel thinking, I’ll reply letting you know that you just earned bonus points to use in future contest. Then I’ll enter the points on the tracking sheet.

If I see your name among contest entries, I’ll let you know that you have X bonus points available to use.

You can use them all at once, or apply only as many as you want. Because I know some prizes thrill some people more than others, so I’ll make it easy for you to apply your bonus points towards the stuff you really want to win.

Yes, it’s a little extra work, but you’re worth it!

Check-In

Do you want to earn ONE (1) bonus point right now? Leave the comment, “Thanks, Priscilla!” and I’ll add it to the tracking list!

And, Priscilla, if you read this, yes. You’re eligible for this bonus point too. (Thanks again for inspiring this fun idea!)