Helllllooooo! I know, I know, I've been MIA from the blogosphere... but for good reason. The last month has been a whirlwind both professionally and personally. I've survived a move, had lots of fun at signings and events, and have been working on writing whenever there's extra time. I thought I'd share some photos to bring you up to date on some of the recent events I've participated in below.
If you haven't been able to come to any of my signings/events yet (listed HERE), I'll be at the Neshaminy Mall Barnes & Noble in Bensalem, PA on Friday, July 8th from 5-7 pm. Also, I'll be signing at the PAYA festival in West Chester, PA on August 27th. I'd love to see you at either event!
And now for the pictures:
Books of Wonder, NYC
Class of 2k11 author panel at Books of Wonder (in NYC) during BEA week. L to R: Sheila O'Connor's arm, Bettina Restrepo, me, Alissa Grosso, Angie Smibert, Geoff Herbach, Christina Mandelski, Kiki Hamilton, Amy Fellner Dominy
Class of 2k11 display at Books of Wonder
I'm with super awesome James of Book Chic (check out his Lipstick Laws review HERE) and fellow 2k11 author, Christina Mandelski.
Natalie Zaman & Charlotte Bennardo, authors of SIRENZ
With a great group of students!
Voracious Reader, Larchmont, NY
Class of 2k11 authors at Voracious Reader in Larchmont, NY L to R: Bettina Restrepo, Alissa Grosso, (front) Amy Fellner Dominy, me, Gae Polisner, Geoff Herbach, Angie Smibert
L to R: Alissa Grosso, me, Gae Polisner, Geoff Herbach, Angie Smibert
Voracious Reader Class of 2k11 display
The Shelf Awareness Image of the Day 6/1/2011 from the 2k11 Voracious Reader event. L to R: Bettina Restrepo, Amy Fellner Dominy, Gae Polisner, Geoff Herbach, Carole Estby Dagg, me, Alissa Grosso, Angie Smibert
Gae Polisner with the henna artist. Yes, 2k11 had a henna artist at our BEA events!
Lipstick Laws signing at Borders in Exton, PA
KidLit Authors Club (KAC) group signing event at Borders in Stroudsburg, PA. L to R: Irene Breznak, me, Cyn Balog, Alissa Grosso, Cynthia Chapman Willis
Some of my favorite KAC authors! L to R: Cyn Balog, Alissa Grosso, Cynthia Chapman Willis
In this picture I'm with Lauren (teen blogger extraordinaire) from Lauren's Crammed Bookshelf at the Stroudsburg signing. Check out her review of my book HERE.
The fabulous KAC display at Borders in Stroudsburg, PA
I LOVE the holiday season... mainly because the month of December gives me an excuse to act like a loony holiday elf for several weeks without being questioned or escorted to the nearest nuthouse. This year I'm even more excited for the holidays because I'll be participating in some holiday blog events this month.
Please be sure to check out the 2011 Debutante Event at Badass Bookie's blog from December 1 to December 25! There will be lots of fun author posts & giveaways - woohoo! I'll be spotlighted on December 3 & 4. Please click HERE to check out the full author/giveaway schedule.
I'll also be participating in the Christmas Countdown Blog Event with another great lineup of authors from December 13 - 24. This event is being hosted by Amaterasu Reads and Fragments of Life. It will be filled with interviews, reviews & lots of giveaways! Please watch for my interview spotlight on December 17.
In other exciting news, the Class of 2k11 has a brand new trailer for you to watch! Yay! You can also check it out & comment about it on YouTube HERE.
I'm excited to announce that the Class of 2k11 has launched today! For those of you who don't know what the Class of 2k11 is, we're a group of 19 MG & YA debut authors (including me) who have come together to support and help promote one another and our books through our debut year - 2011! The 2k groups were founded in 2007 and have been renewing every year with new authors, new books, and lots of fun!
We've been preparing for our launch for about a year now... and after all we've shared, I consider the authors in this year's group to be among my best writerly friends. I hope you'll check our site out HERE to see just how awesome the other members & their upcoming books are. Better yet, join our blog where you'll get updates on contests, activities & news through the year! Even better, If you sign up to our newsletter (at the bottom of the "home" page), you'll be entered in the drawing to win 23 (yes, 23!!!!) Class of 2k10 books - mostly signed!
So, what are you waiting for? Please head on over and check out the Class of 2k11!
Okay, so I'm posting this way later in the day (er, night) than I intended to, but the truth is that I had a REALLLLLY hard time deciding on the winners -- all of the entries to my Spooky-Good Writing Contest were awesome! Thanks to everyone who participated. Since it was tough to pick just two winners, I've decided to give everyone who entered this contest two extra entries in my next multi-prize giveaway/contest, because you all deserve something for your creativity. I'll be sure to post a reminder about the extra entries when the time comes. Stay tuned!
Now for the winners, I have several favorites... but I decided to go with the two that really grabbed my attention and left me intrigued about the characters and plots the most. Without further ado, here are my picks:
Panic set in as I stumbled through the dark, following the eerie beam of moonlight guiding me through the graveyard; I hadn't expected to be haunted by some dead teenaged girl who just so happened to be the Grim Reaper.
This entry left me dying to know more about the teenage Grim Reaper and the MC she's haunting! Love it!
True evil rose above the victim on a dark cold October night, the terror it had caused in the now lifeless corpse was just the beginning of what was to come.
This sentence chilled me to the bone! It's beyond creepy and packed with mystery. It's definitely an attention grabber!
Congrats to the winners! I will be in touch shortly about your prizes. And thanks again to everyone who participated. You're all very talented; keep up the fab writing!
Spooky-Good Writing Contest & Giveaway! Calling all Writers!
Spooky-good writing + spooky-good fun = spooky-good writing prizes!
I've held a bunch of signed book giveaways for readers on my blog, but I think it's about time to hold a contest/giveaway for fellow writers. October is the perfect month to hold such a writing contest; not only is it a spookerific time for fun contests, it's also right before NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) starts, which I know a lot of writers in the blogosphere participate in. I will be giving away two prize packs that are sure to help your writing!
*Please read entire post & entry instructions before entering!*
So here are the Spooky-Good Writing Contest details: To enter, you must create a fantastic first line of a potential book using at least FOUR out of these 30+ frightfully fabulous words:
*All words can be modified to plural, past tense, adjective, adverb, verb or noun forms when appropriate* Blood Bite Cold Terrifying (can be modified to terror or terrorize) Witch Pumpkin (can be modified to jack-o'-lantern) Ghost Skeleton (can be modified to bones) October Trick Treat (can be modified to candy) Midnight Moon Monster Mask Ghoul Dead (can be modified to corpse) Dark Grave (can be modified to graveyard or gravestone) Evil Boo Haunt Demon (can be modified to devil) Murder Panic Shiver Scream Victim Nightmare Knife
Even though this is a Halloween contest, your first line entry DOES NOT have to be scary and/or intended for a horror novel; in fact, the more creative and surprising you are with the words, the better. Your first line could be funny, mysterious, intriguing, creepy, adventurous, informative, romantic, fun, etc. It can be the first line for any age group and book genre, just remember to make it PG (or PG-13). Also, make sure to create a line that will leave me dying to read the rest of the story... and even better, will make you want to WRITE the rest of the story!
And now for the prize details:
I have purchased four reference/writing books that have helped me a lot with my own writing and publication process to give away as prizes (all books are brand new!). These prizes will be broken up into two prize packs (2 books each); one is a writing prize pack, and the other is a publishing prize pack. The two best first line entries will win ONE of the following packages:
*IMPORTANT*Please indicate which ONE prize pack you'd like your first line(s) entered for in your comment!!! Each participant can only be entered to win ONE of the two prize packs.*
Special Spooky Surprise Each prize pack will also include one of my GOOD GOURD Halloween cards being sold by Hallmark now!
Complete Contest Entry Details Breakdown - You must follow my blog to enter.
- Enter once by creating a first line for a potential book using four out of the long list of words listed above.
- Indicate which ONE prize pack you'd like to win in your contest entry (writing package or publishing package).
- You can create and enter more than one first line to increase your chances of winning your chosen prize pack by doing any or all of the following: *Tweet about this contest - +1 extra first line entry *Blog about this contest - +1 extra first line entry *Vote for The Lipstick Laws on any goodreads list that you have NOT already voted on found HERE. - +1 extra first line entry for each vote (up to +3).
- Please leave links to your online shout-outs/votes in your comment
If you do all of the above, you can enter up to SIX creative first lines to be considered for the prize pack you want to win.
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
I'm the author of THE LIPSTICK LAWS, a young adult novel published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on April 4, 2011. I'm repped by Sarah Davies of Greenhouse Literary Agency.
