Holy Acknowledgement Surprise, Batman!

This week has been a tough one for me - getting up at 6am is taking its toll, and I slept through my alarm more often than not. I've loved my productive mornings, but making myself into a morning person when the sun doesn't rise for another two-to-three hours and it's cold (and dark and cold and AAGH and did I mention cold?) is hard work for me. I'm still enthusiastic about my projects, but I'm struggling to find the enthusiasm at 6 o'clock in the morning. Plus, there's Life Stuff, which I'm not going to get into.

And then I sat down to read a friend's book*, and got curious about who her editor is (because the book is awesome), and when I turned to the acknowledgements I saw this:

Holy patooties, fruities!

And then I jumped around like a maniac, because my name is in the acknowledgement section of someone's book, OH YEAH!!!!

Here's the thing about writing books.

It's hard. You're all alone, and you know it probably sucks, and you're struggling to fix it, and you don't know if you're making it better or worse. You finally get it to where you think it's shining like a shiny thing, and 99% of the industry people you send it to tell you that thanks, but they'll pass. It's HARD. And that's the way it has to be, because quality matters, but knowing that doesn't make it any easier. (It makes you more able to be a grown-up about it, though, which is important. Be a grown-up.)

And then you see your name in the acknowledgement section of a friend's book, and you remember that night months and months ago when you answered an email with exactly the right questions, and you remember what it was like to read those early pages, those treasured secret words, filled with hope and possibility.

You remember that you have allies. You remember that you are an ally to other people.

And you feel so freaking lucky to be able to participate in the magic of creating stories for young people.

I am so grateful that I get to do this. I work with some of the most awesome people in the world. We make magic together.

What made you feel lucky this week?

*The book is A POCKET FULL OF MURDER, by R.J. Anderson, and it is delightful. Perfect for the magic-and-mystery-loving 8-12 year-old in your life.

Accountability Count: Don't even ask when I got up; Worked on WIPs every day, YAY ME I GET COOKIES; language and music are suffering, but have been Filling the Well like crazy, so I feel okay about that. Also, NEW WEBSITE COMING SOON-ISH, watch this space.

Reading: Worlds of Ink and Shadow, by Lena Coakley, which I critiqued an early chapter of years ago and which is AMAZING and #1 on the Globe and Mail Juvenile Bestseller lists, YESYESYESYESYES! More on that next week.

Watching: Jersey Boys and The Good German

In the Mail!

FIRST: I've been having some problems with the internet at my house. Something caused a short in the phone wires, so the landline and internet went *poof* for a week. But we had a VERY nice man named Scott from Expenet Communications* in to fix it this morning, and he did an amazing job, so the blog is back in business.

I answered a knock at the door the week before last, and GUESS WHAT THE POSTMAN HAD FOR ME!

A box from your publisher can only mean one thing...

IT’S REAL!

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG...

Of course, I had to spend some time playing with different ways to stack them up.

Swirly spiral style...

All stacked up!

My publisher told me that BITE INTO BLOODSUCKERS will be available in September. That’s THIS MONTH!! Aaaaaaah!

To celebrate the release of my FIRST BOOK (!!), I’ll be holding a fun contest and giveaway, so watch this space!

Meanwhile, I’m going to go back to stroking that gorgeous** cover…

Me and My Book!
Photo taken by Kristi Penny

How is your week going?

*Scott Hinchcliffe is a miracle worker who is very nice, very fair, and who likes to talk politics. In other words, he is my kind of telephone repair person. If you live in the GTA and you have phone issues, you should call him.

**Gorgeous is relative. I have argued on this blog that mosquitoes are gross, and even that the very photo of a mosquito that graces this cover is gross. But at this point, any cover with my name on it is a gorgeous cover.

IT'S ALIVE!

I woke up yesterday morning to a Google alert about a company that claimed to be offering a PDF of my book, BITE INTO BLOODSUCKERS.

You know, the book that isn’t out yet? The book that no-one except my publisher, my co-author, the printer, and myself should have a PDF of?

There’s nothing like a little e-piracy to jump-start your week, you know? UGH.

So, I forwarded the email to my publisher, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, so that they can look into it and send whatever legal letters they need to send. If you ever find yourself in this situation, ALWAYS LET YOUR PUBLISHER KNOW. Also let your AGENT know, if you have an agent. They can tell you if you need to do anything and what that “anything” should be, and also, it’s just good for everyone involved to know about all the things going on with your book.

ANYWAY. My publisher is looking into it.

BUT GUESS WHAT ELSE MY PUBLISHER SAID?

They said that my author copies are on their way to me! And THEY SENT PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE!

Photo by Winston Stilwell @winstonstilwell

My book is real! And it is book-shaped!

So, my week is pretty much made. How is your week going?

Friday Forward: Books in the Wild!

It's Friday!

TGIF, guys. This has been a really heavy week - both for me personally, because TREE PLANTING/rewriting/landscaping/kids/GAAAH, and for humans in North America. I'm compiling my thoughts on the heinous acts of a white supremacist who opened fire on nine people in Charleston, and those thoughts will follow at some point (probably on my tumblr), but for now, I think my blog post on how racism is woven throughout America's narrative will suffice.

And now for some fun!

I took The Kidlets to the bookstore on Monday, and I found some awesome books that I've been wanting to sink my claws into. So, of course, I did what anyone would do.

Where are my books? IN THE BOOKSTORE!

I took a selfie! Because, CRAZYWRITERLADY.

I was really excited to see my friend Debbie Ohi's book on the top shelf at the bookstore. This is her first solo picture book, and I am SO excited for her! (And, it's an awesome book. It's about a boy who loves books, and one day he notices that… DUN DUN DUNNNNNN… is books are disappearing! The culprit and the solution have to be some of the cutest plot twists ever. You guys need to go out and buy it, because, seriously. It's adorable.)

And look, look what else I found?

GRABBY-HANDS

See that book on the far right? The whimsical-looking one? I have been waiting for Maggie Stiefvater's latest addition to her MG titles for aaaaaaaages. I love it when my favorite YA authors write books that I can share with The Kidlets.

And then I got to the bus stop and pulled out the IndigoKids Summer Reading Guide that one of the store people put in my bag, and look what I saw on the cover?

Eeny-meeny-miney...

See that book there? The one on the bottom right-hand corner? The one that is awesome? I bought Kevin Sylvester's book, Neil Flambe and the Bard's Banquet, as soon as it came out, and Kidlet Number Two (who will henceforth be referred to as "Love Nugget") read it in an afternoon and then asked me if he could try the recipes.

THAT'S RIGHT. RECIPES. I might be even more in love with this series than I was already, and I'm thrilled that Kevin's book is on the cover of the reading guide. It totally deserves to be there, because it is amazing. Go buy it.

So, that's what I'm reading this week. How about you? What are you reading?

Cover Reveal! Goodies! HUZZAH!

I’m just back from a whirlwind weekend at the SCBWI Canada East conference The Art of Story in Montreal - and what a conference! I saw so many people, and learned SO MUCH, and have so much to share...

But not yet, because I need to decompress and gather photos together and collect my thoughts a bit first. My post-conference post (har har, SEE WHAT I DID THERE?) will come later this week.

In the meantime, guess whose book has a final cover!

It's coming...

This girl's book!

I don't know how covers have gone for you guys, but this cover went through a LOT of changes. A LOT. But boy, do I love this version. Just look at that proboscis! Just look at the hairs on that mosquito! Just look at that blood-filled abdomen!

MOSQUITOES. THEY ARE SO GROSS.

But I love it. I am giddy with cover love.

And look what the UPS man brought me? GOODIES!

Witness my two-tone gorgeousness!

I ordered this awesome tote bag and hat to promote my book! In case you don't know yet, BITE INTO BLOODSUCKERS is the non-fiction book for 7-11 year-olds that I wrote with Kari-Lynn Winters. I got the bag and hat from Vistaprint, and I just LOVE them! Aren’t they gorgeous? (Well, okay - the mosquito isn’t gorgeous. But the MATERIAL is gorgeous! I love the two-tone look.) The tote bag is made of sturdy canvas, and it’s big enough to hold ALL THE THINGS. It’s going to be perfect to bring to school visits! And the hat is just perfect for summer weather!

I am going to be carrying this bag and wearing this hat EVERYWHERE!

To find out more about BITE INTO BLOODSUCKERS (my first book!), which is coming SOON, and to pre-order a copy, check it out online at Amazon, Chapters, and Books-A-Million. (You guys! BOOKS-A-MILLION!!!)

Thanks for your support, and thanks for stopping by!

Announcing...

A while ago, I hinted that I hoped to have some good news to share soon. And then a few posts ago, I mentioned that my trip to New York City for the SCBWI Winter Conference had even more awesome than I was able to include in the post. There's no way you could have known, but those things were connected.

Hee-hee. I know. I'm such a tease.

ANYWAY. You probably want to know what my news is, right?

I bet you do.

Yup.

Have I drawn this out long enough?

How about now?

Okay, NOW. I have.

Okay, already!

I wanted to wait until all the paperwork was finalized, buuuuut, now that the contract has been signed, I am THRILLED to announce that…

I am now represented by the AMAZING Laura Biagi, of Jean V. Naggar Literary Agency!

I queried Laura last September and she requested my full in November. After she read my manuscript, we made an appointment to chat in New York on the day that I arrived for the conference. Chatting with her was fantastic - I could see that she had really thought about my manuscript, and I could also see that she really "got it". She is smart and on-the ball, she's a great communicator, she gets and loves what I'm working on, and I am so, so excited to have her by my side as we plan my career together!

So. Laura Biagi, Agent Awesome. MY AGENT. I can't believe I get to type that.

What is this crazy life?

To celebrate, I'm giving away a free query critique. Comment with your email address for one entry, share (and link to your shares in the comments) for more entries. The winner will be randomly drawn at midnight on Friday, March 13th/Saturday, March 14th.

And as always: you guys have been with me since my earliest days, and your support has kept me going through both light and dark moments. I love and appreciate every last one of you. Thanks for stopping by!

On Delays, and Why They're Not Always a Bad Thing aka, I HAVE A RELEASE DATE WOOOO!

SO… Apart from those last two posts, it's been a while, eh?

I told you this blog posting thing would be pretty erratic. I'm pretty sure I warned you guys about this. I definitely meant to...

ANYWAY…

Update time!

Book! Much book!

Actually, not that much. Because DELAYS.

A lot of things have happened with my book. My editor got a different job, which meant that my co-author Kari-Lynn and I got a NEW editor. I could have cried about this, but both our editors have been really awesome, so I just feel lucky to have had the chance to work with TWO amazing editors instead of one. (YAY! Cue happy tears! Okay, not really… But YAY!)

But that's not why we're delayed. The delay is because our book is part of a series, and our publisher, Fitzhenry & Whiteside (which publishes excellent books, by the way - no, seriously, award-winning books), bumped the book BEFORE our book, so now OUR book BITE INTO BLOODSUCKERS, which was originally scheduled to come out in October of 2014, is now coming out in the spring of 2015. On MARCH 17, to be precise. Mark your calendars!

I know it's traditional for authors to be a little sad and down in the dumps and throw themselves a bit of a pity party when this kind of delay happens, but I'm actually okay with it. In fact, I'm BETTER than okay with it. Because when you think about it, bugs are a spring and summer thing, and while there are a few non-bug creatures in this book, (vampire bat, anyone?), the vast majority of them are bugs. So I think this timing is actually pretty perfect.

ALSO: Web Series Adaptation!

I have written a web series! It's an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, and you are going to love love love it! I found a really smart, talented filmmaker named James to do storyboarding with me and co-write a few episodes with me before I wrote the rest of it and it will be awesome! James found a blogger and art designer extraordinaire named Olivia to make a set! IN MY HOUSE! I have a set in my basement where a bathroom will be one day. Oh, yeah, baby. I can't show it to you yet, because SURPRISE, but it looks amazing. I have cast most of the roles in the web series! I have FILMED (and also directed) ONE THIRD of it! (The rest will be filmed as soon as I have an actor to fill the last role, which will hopefully be soon, because among other things, it would be awesome if we could finally turn that space into a second bathroom.)

So, basically, once this baby is done and launched, I will be adding "screenwriter, director, and producer" to my list of credentials. But more importantly, I WILL HAVE CREATED A WEB SERIES!

You have no idea how absolutely terrifying that is to hold in my heart.

Seriously.

But it's also really cool, and I hope you all love it.

HOWEVER, I had hoped to have it done and launched and all over the interwebs by now, but I don't because of the whole not-being-able-to-find-the-right-actor thing. And I'm glad it's not done yet, because I've been using this time to perfect the scenes and rewrite and rethink and it is so much better than it would have been otherwise. So this delay, while unanticipated, has not been a bad thing. It has forced me to actually do a not-rushed-job on this series, and I can't wait to share it with you.

SO: here's to rolling with the punches, looking on the bright side, and embracing the opportunities that delays present. Because this is the arts, and delays are inevitable.

Thanks for stopping by.

P.S. BITE INTO BLOODSUCKERS has a pre-order page on Amazon! How cool is that? There is a special place in my heart for the people who pre-order copies of my book. If you would order it, I would love you forever. Seriously. ALSO: that cover is a stand-in for the REAL cover, which will be revealed shortly.

Friday-ish Forward: You Are Stardust, by Elin Kelsey and Soyeon Kim

This book is amazing. We borrowed a copy from the library and immediately went out to buy our own copy once we had read it.

Here's my full review:




Happy reading!

F is for Fire Hydrant

I was out walking with my kids one morning when my older son noticed this:

Just in case the firefighters weren't sure...

It still makes me giggle.

F is also for Friday, which it is right now, and for #FridayReads, a Twitter hashtag that I try to use every week, because it's fun and it builds community and it's great to share good book titles with other like-minded people. Today is a family day at my house, but I'm going to get in some good reading time with my son as we work our way through BEYONDERS by Brandon Mull, 

You can't click to look inside, but you can go buy it at the bookstore and it is WORTH IT.

and then later I'll finish reading DUST by Arthur Slade 

This book is surprising and sneaky and evocative and totally amazing.

and then dip into THE FIRST PART LAST by Angela Johnson 

I'm looking forward to reading this VERY much. It's outside my normal reading pattern, which is a great thing.

and if I still have time after that, I'll crack open THE FAULT IN OUR STARS by John Green.

WOO-HOO!

Phew!

What are you reading? And does your neighborhood identify their fire hydrants with signs showing pictures of fire hydrants, or am I alone in this?

SCBWI NYC 2012 Wrap-Up

Last weekend, I went to New York City to rub elbows with writers, editors, and agents from all over the kidlit world.

It was amazing. I got to hang out with my wonderful friends Helaine Becker, Mahtab Narsimhan, Maureen McGowan, Robin Walton, and Kari-Lynn Winters. I got to meet my amazing, gorgeous, ridiculously talented critique partner and friend, Antje. And I got to meet incredible people like Cassandra Clare, Sophie Blackall, and Dan Yaccarino.

I got to hear Chris Crutcher say that if you listen to enough stories, the truth starts to float, and it is that truth that you write. He was an amazing speaker, but when I ran into him at the gala on Saturday evening, I learned that he is also an amazing person.

I met and had a great chat with Lin Oliver, who is a really neat person, on top of being incredibly talented and funny and wonderful. And she read my joke out in front of EVERYBODY, which was totally awesome.

I came away inspired and bursting with ideas. I have so many great ideas, I'm having trouble deciding what to work on next. Thank goodness I'm in the middle of something - by the time I finish, something will have settled out of the mix and I'll know where to go next.

But most of all, I met this guy:

Henry Winkler ZOMG!

And he loved my hair. I have it in writing.

And that pretty much sums up my weekend.

What's going on with you guys?

Friday Favorites: Licensed Toys

It's Friday! The sun was shining, there was a light dusting of snow floating down through the air, and I finally started some strengthening exercises for my shoulder.What an awesome way to end the week.

And to top it all off, I opened my son's Scholastic leaflets this morning and saw that fellow writer, all-around wonderful person, and friend Helaine Becker has some AWESOME news: the porcupine in her Christmas book, A PORCUPINE IN A PINE TREE, has been turned into an adorable little plushie! I don't want to accidentally breach copyright by posting a picture of it, so I'll link to the Scholastic page, which is HERE, so you can go over there and admire it.

I'll wait.

ISN'T IT CUTE?!? I'm so thrilled for Helaine and Werner (who illustrated the book), I can't tell you. Except, I just did. Um... (Hey, it's Friday. Don't judge.)

So, this got me thinking about a good theme for this week's Favorite: licensed stuff! You know, those character-based dolls, bookmarks, stationery sets and the like. Some people hate those things, but I'm a total sucker for having physical evidence of my obsessions.

When I was a kid, I loved the Hello Kitty erasers and stationery sets.

Now, I'm into plushies. I'm particularly fond of the Zoobies. They're large plush toys that have soft fleecy blankets inside. They start out looking like this:

Ant then you open up a couple of velcros and do a bit of unrolling and they end up like this:

PERFECT for snuggling up under with your favorite book, or for keeping your legs warm during a four-hour typing marathon.

I've got the Olivia one in my office, but there's also a Very Hungry Catterpillar one that I'm really hankering for.

So how about you? Is there a character-inspired toy/stationery set/thing-a-ma-bob that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside? What's your favorite?

Friday Fun: Happy Days are Here Again

Well, if you like network TV, they are. *grin*

Next week marks the return of all my Must-See-unplug-the-phone-put-the-kids-to-bed-early shows: The Mentalist (Thursday nights at 10 on CBS), Grey's Anatomy (Thursday nights at 9 on ABC), Castle (Monday nights at 10, also on ABC), and Glee (Tuesday nights at 8 on FOX). (Okay, not so much Glee anymore, but it's still pretty good. If they can get back the quirky humor and get out of the formulaic rut they've fallen into, they'll be back on top. It would also be good to improve the dubbing of all the singing parts. But I digress.)

How about you guys? Do you watch network TV? What are you excited to see the return of?

Friday Shout-Outs!

So, my extraordinary crit buddy Lindsey Carmichael, who blogs at Ten Stories Up, has a short story in the anthology Canadian Tales of the Fantastic, which you can find HERE.

And make sure you go check it out, because the stories will be full of magic and mystery and wonderfulness. If the rest of them are even almost as good as Lindsey's, this anthology will be wicked-good. Plus, the cover rocks, in a wonderfully fantastically twisted (literally) way.

GO, Lindsey! And make sure to go to her blog and congratulate her, guys!

Happy Friday!


Edited to add: Due to migraine complications, I'm not up to promoting my contests in the interwebz today, so I've EXTENDED THE DEADLINE to win a SIGNED copy of Maggie Stiefvater's FOREVER, the brilliantly satisfying conclusion to the SHIVER trilogy, over HERE, until 11:59pm PST on MONDAY, SEPT.5th. So keep spreading the word!

MMGM: JACOB WONDERBAR, and a GIVEAWAY!

FIRST: Have you entered to win a signed copy of FOREVER by Maggie Stiefvater? Go HERE to do that.

So, for those of you who don't know, Marvelous Middle Grade Monday ( aka MMGM) was started by Shannon Whitney Messenger, writer and blogger and WriteOnCon organizer extraordinaire, because she thought that middle grade books deserved a little more attention on the interwebz. And I agree!

So this week, I'm spotlighting a book that I really liked, and that my 8-year-old son (who reads up, so don't go thinking that this is a chapter book) LOVED.

JACOB WONDERBAR AND THE COSMIC SPACE KAPOW, by Nathan Bransford, is a tale of three kids who trade a corn dog for a spaceship and accidentally break the universe. Here's the jacket copy: "Jacob Wonderbar has had a weird day. First there was that incident with the substitute teacher and the sprinklers. (Okay, maybe that wasn't so unusual for Jacob.) Then he and his best friends, Sarah and Dexter, discovered a silver man and a spaceship in the woods near their houses. Weirdest of all? The man offered to trade his ship for a corn dog! It sounded like a pretty good deal to Jacob, until he and his friends took their new ship for a test ride...and accidentally broke the universe. Now they must fend off space pirates, escape a planet that smells like burp breath - and find a way back home, before it's too late for them and their friendship.


The first book in debut author Nathan Bransford's hilarious planet-hopping series proves that all good adventures really do start with a corn dog."

I really liked this book. The action moves along at a good pace and the characters are well-done. I loved that Sarah Daisy's desire to appear as strong as the guys is actually as much of a flaw as a strength, and Jacob and Dexter both proved to be less caricature and more character, which was a real plus. The adventures they found themselves on were hilarious, as were many of the side characters, including but not limited to the villainous mischief-maker Mick Cracken. Additionally, this book shows that Bransford has honed an almost impeccable sense of comedic timing, which pops up throughout the book to great effect (as my son's giggling and guffawing proved). Finally, I really, really liked the way Bransford handled the best-friend-crush issues between two of the characters. Twelve years old is a time when kids start to feel extra-fond of their BFF but don't really know why, and I think Bransford navigated that murky territory extremely well here. He didn't ignore it, but he didn't make a huge deal out of it either, and I think he did a great job with that aspect of the storytelling.

Basically, if you have a kid between the ages of 8 and 12, this book is a really good bet.

And I'm giving away a copy to one lucky follower in the US or Canada!

To win, here's what you have to do:

• Follow this blog. (Old followers +2, New followers +1)
• Comment on this post. (+1)
• OPTIONAL FOR EXTRA ENTRIES: MyFacePlusSpace, with links in the comments, for +3 per link; Tweet it, with links in the comments, for +1 per tweet (up to +5); dedicate a blog post to it, with link in the comments, for +3; Put it in your blog sidebar, with link in the comments, for +5

That's it! Contest will close on FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, AT 11:59pm PST (that's 2:59AM on Saturday for East-Coasters).


This book rocks, guys, so spread the word!


And for more Marvelous Middle Grade, check out Shannon's blog HERE for her post and links to other MMGM bloggers!

FOREVER by Maggie Stiefvater - AND A GIVEAWAY!

I promised you on Monday that I'd do this post on Wednesday.


Then my dad arrived from out of town.


And I forgot.


*FAIL*


Sorry guys! In an attempt to sort-of honor my promise, I'll include the 5 people who commented on yesterday's post in the list of entries for this prize. Which is awesome, by the way!


So, I went to Indigo Yorkdale (that's in Toronto) to meet Maggie Stiefvater, and it was amazing. I made new friends, I got to chat with some pretty cool people, and we all gazed with wonder at the sharpied guitar, which was covered with Maggie's incredible artwork.

The Sharpied Guitar

And then, of course, there was Maggie. She was incredibly nice and very funny. And she had some awesome wolf stories!

Maggie = Awesome

And then, of course, there was Tessa Gratton, Maggie's best friend and partner in critiquing amazingness, who I had a lovely chat with about her own book and who told me that I have princess hair, which made me feel all happy inside.

Tessa and Me. With Princess Hair.

And, of course, there was the signing. DID I MENTION THE SIGNING? By Maggie? Of books?


I HAVE ONE SIGNED COPY OF FOREVER TO GIVE AWAY TO ONE LUCKY WINNER.

I also have swag for one lucky runner-up. (bookmarks, keyring, etc.)


In case you don't know anything about FOREVER, here's the blurbie from Amazon: "In Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other. In Linger, they fought to be together. Now, in Forever, the stakes are even higher than before. Wolves are being hunted. Lives are being threatened. And love is harder and harder to hold on to as death comes closing in.

The thrilling conclusion to #1 bestselling Shiver trilogy from Maggie Stievater."

I really loved this book. I love Maggie's lyrical storytelling style, and I found the characterization to be even stronger than in the previous two novels. Each character felt very real to me, and I am so impressed when an author manages to do that across the board with all of her characters.

I also loved the ending - which i can't tell you about, except to say that it wraps things up while still leaving the story open at the same time. It feels like a very satisfactory ending, but it's also clear that life for these people is going to continue, and not everything is certain, and that is okay. These are my favorite types of endings - this part of the story is over, but there will be more to come, and we will never know about it, and this is okay! Because this is the way life really is. Awesomeness.

It's an amazing book. I still want to move into it; just pack up my clothes and go live in the bookstore in Mercy Falls with Sam and Grace and everyone else. I loved it.

SO, you want to win this, right?

Here's what you have to do:

• Follow THIS BLOG. (+2 for old followers, +1 for new)
• Leave a comment on THIS HERE POST RIGHT HERE. (+1)
• FOR EXTRA ENTRIES: MyFaceSpacePlusThingamy this post for +3 points, if you leave a link in the comments; Tweet it for +1 per tweet, up to 5 tweets, if you leave me the links in the comments; Put it in your blog sidebar for +5, if you leave me a link to your blog in the comments.

THIS CONTEST WILL SELF-DESTRUCT ON FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2ND, AT MIDNIGHT PST (THAT'S 3AM SATURDAY MORNING).

Happy entering, guys, and good luck to everyone!


*Edited to add PICTURES!!! Thanks to my friend Michele for sending them to me! You rock, Michele!

Friday Favorites: Book Trailers!

I have an admission, and it's one that might offend a lot of you, so please try not to hate me, but...

I'm not really fond of book trailers. I find most of them to be klunky and amateurish and full of bad acting or weird lighting or generally non-professional-looking stuff.

(I majored in film and theatre. I'm a little snobbish about total amateurs basically making an ad. It's a character flaw. Try to forgive me, okay?)


BUT!

Thanks to Cat Gerlach, whose blog can be found HERE, I have found a winner!

This is suspenseful. It is professionally done, in every way: acting, script, lighting, editing, music, etc. And I AM DYING TO READ THE BOOK NOW.

This is the standard to which we should hold ourselves when creating book trailers, people. Behold: the trailer for MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN.

So creepy!

Don't you all want to run out and get it now?!? I know I do!

SO, you tell me, since I typically don't seek out book trailers: what good ones have you seen lately? What else have I missed?

Aaaaand, MORE CONTESTS!

Hey there! Do you write funny? Have you got a funny scene of 350 words or less in your WIP? Can you whip one up in a matter of minutes (or even hours)?

YES?

You're in luck, because Uber-blogger and MG-Writer Extraordinaire Nathan Bransford is hosting a JACOB WONDERBAR Funny Writing Contest Spectacular Happening Event over on his blog, which you can find HERE. HURRY! It closes at 6PM PST today! And if you scroll down to the 186th comment, you can read my entry! Or, you can just read it below:


Bartholomew Ophelia Treebottom IV was bored. He swung his legs, heels banging in time with the bonging of the clock tower. Bored...Bored...Bored...

Tuesday was always a boring day. It was the day his parents reserved for their weekly trip to the taxidermist’s shop. His father was a world-renowned specialist in stuffed dead tarantulas, and was always on the lookout for a new specimen. His mother accompanied him, because the taxidermist’s wife made excellent omelettes. Bartholomew never went; dead tarantulas were boring.

Just then his neighbor Mandy tripped by, her eyes gleaming. “I’m breaking into the haunted Whaley House.” She cocked her head. “Want to come?”

Bartholomew considered. Haunted houses never really were. They were always just full of old junk. And dust. Dust made him sneeze. Bartholomew hopped down. “Alright, then.”

The door was locked, but the window opened easily, so they clambered in. It reeked of rot, and Bartholomew gagged. The room was covered in an inch-thick layer of dust, and stringy cobwebs stretched from corner to corner. His father would have loved to see the spider that had woven those webs. Bartholomew reached out to touch one, when a loud moan rolled down from upstairs.

Surprised, he fell forward, grabbing at the web - which was much more rope-like than he had expected - and bringing it, and a nearby lamp, crashing down. The lamp snagged on the curtains, which tore from their rod and landed with a whump upon Bartholomew, setting off a sneezing fit as he flailed about in a frantic attempt to free himself. Mandy screamed. Bartholomew jerked his head free just in time to see Mandy, covered in fake cobwebs and stuffed tarantulas, careening backwards into and over the side of an overstuffed armchair, upsetting a basket of something that, Bartholomew belatedly realized, looked like eggs. Peals of cackling laughter drifted in from the hallway.

As he sat, rumpled curtains hanging from his shoulders, rotten egg dripping down his forehead and off his chin, it occurred to Bartholomew that his parents, and Tuesdays, were not as boring as he had thought.


Also, don't forget to enter to win a copy of THIRTEEN REASONS WHY, by Jay Asher, HERE.


Happy Thursday!

CONTESTS AND GIVEAWAYS!

I'm going to take a break from the usual blogging schedule this month. It's summer, my kids need attention, my WiP needs attention, and I figured we'd all benefit from switching things up a bit. Besides, half of you are going to be on vacation some time this month anyway, right?

SO - contests today!

First up is Gabriella Lessa's contest, in which entrants post their 30-word pitch and first paragraph in order to win critiques from one of four editors at Sourcebooks, who will also be judging the contest. Yeah, that's right - your pitch and first paragraph read and judged by an editor at a closed house. This is a golden opportunity, guys, so go HERE to enter.

And now, I'm hosting a giveaway of my own, for a very special book.

A while back, I won a copy of THIRTEEN REASONS WHY, by Jay Asher, from Shannon Whitney Mesenger. It took me a while to get down to it, because I'd heard that it was pretty much a read-it-in-one-sitting thing, and I wanted to make sure I had enough time to at least get thoroughly into it, rather than sneak a page in here and there.

I had heard right.

Even though I ended up not being able to read this in one sitting because of demands from my kids and needing to sleep and write and things like that, I read it pretty much constantly until I had finished it - I snuck in pages while I was cooking, I read it curled up on the sofa when I should have been critiquing or revising, I read it on the bus... I could not put this book down, and when I absolutely had to put it down, I could not stop thinking about it.

And when I finished reading it, I could not stop thinking about its implications for me and my own life.

THIRTEEN REASONS WHY goes beyond the descriptions of it as original and fresh. This is an incredible, moving, thought-provoking, life-changing book. It will make you re-evaluate how you behave, how you speak to and about others, and how you go about living your life. And it might even change the way you think. This is a really, really important book.

So, I'm going to give away an unopened, unread, hardcover copy to one lucky blog reader.

THE RULES:

• Follow this blog. Not my Twitter account, not my Google+ account (although those are good, too). This blog. All followers get +1 for this.
• Comment on this post. Another +1.

That's it! Simple giveaway, simple rules. If you spread the word this time, there won't be any extra entries, but there will be virtual pie and hearts forever from me. :-) And since it's only the one book, this one is OPEN INTERNATIONALLY! Woo-hoo!

The giveaway closes NEXT FRIDAY, AUGUST 19th, at MIDNIGHT WEST-COAST (that's PST) TIME, to give my followers over there a chance to get their last-minute comments in.

And... Begin.

Friday Favorites: Winnie the Pooh, Winnie the Pooh...

FIRST: Have you entered yet to win signed copies of Lauren Oliver's BEFORE I FALL and DELIRIUM? Go here to do it now...

I love Winnie the Pooh.

Actually, I should clarify: I'm not a fan of any of the TV series, or the "New adventures" spin-offs. I'm talking about the original Pooh - the books by A. A. Milne, and the classic "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh," a compilation of three shorter Disney films about Pooh's adventures in the Hundred Acre Wood. I grew up laughing at Pooh's quirks, Tigger's exuberance, and Rabbit's inattentive bossiness.

So, you can imagine how excited I got when I saw this trailer:

I couldn't wait to share this with my kids, and they, fans of the original classic that they are, couldn't wait to see it. So we went this week, and let me tell you, it did not disappoint. The animation is perfect, the humor is clean and pitched perfectly at the intended audience, and, most importantly to me, it is true to the original stories. There were no explosions, or high-speed chases, or war-machines. This movie is innocent - the way most children, in their hearts, really are. It finds its way through moments of joy, and fear, and laughter, and loneliness, as honestly as any little girl or boy left to his own devices with a handful of stuffed animals would, without the stuff and fluff of hyped-up battles and souped-up guns. My boys - especially my 8-year-old - giggled and guffawed through the whole thing.

My kids did notice a few differences: this film's Rabbit wasn't at all the same as the original one, being much more actively bossy and much less likely to slump against the wall moaning, "Why, oh why does it always have to be me?" They re-used the old joke about Pooh misinterpreting "issue" for a sneeze, but this time the characters got pretty deeply into explaining what they really meant. Everyone was a little more wordy than before, and as a result, the film lacked some of the subtlety of the original.

But that didn't take away from its appeal - a truly "G"-rated movie for the young children of the 21st century. And if the other animated movie released this summer by Disney is any indication of where things are headed, it may well be the last one ever. Better see it while you can.

The 200-Follower Celebration Lauren Oliver Giveaway!

I know last week I promised you an extra-special giveaway if I reached 200 followers, and when I promise, I deliver. I was going to do a vlog, but... I don't know how. It's a caveperson thing. I'll learn, eventually, but in the meantime, you'll have to live with just pictures. And no voiceover. Boo.

ANYWAY - back to the giveaway! Which is extra-awesome, because the prize is double the size.

So, a while ago, I went to my local bookstore to see the lady who wrote these:

Lauren Oliver's NYT Bestselling Books

And she very kindly did this to them:

Lauren Oliver's signature in her books.

And I'm giving them both to one of you.

Pretty great, huh? And doubly great, because not only are these books incredible, but they're by an intelligent, thoughtful person. I love it when I love a book, but love the author even more.

The Rules:

• Be a follower of this blog. (+1)
• Leave a comment on this post right here. (+1)

And, that's pretty much it! Each person gets a minimum of two entries. But if you want extra entries:

• BLOG about it (+5)
• LINK to it in your sidebar (+5)
• TWEET about it (+1)
• MYFACEPLUS+ about it (+3 for each of those)

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, leave me links in the comments section so I don't have to spend hours on the Web searching for your MyFacePlusTweetLinkyBlogs. I get enough screen time as it is. I'm starting to turn an interesting shade of flourescent. My husband is a little wierded out.

This giveaway will remain open until Midnight on the night of July 31st, when it will close and I will do a lot of math before handing over the result-choosing of ONE WINNER to RANDOM.ORG.

And I'm sorry, but these are chunky (meaning HEAVY) books, so I have to limit this one to the US and Canada.

Are you excited? Because I am SO excited to be able to give these to you!

Happy entering!