Like so many of us, I was horrified at what happened in Connecticut this past Friday.
A good friend and author, Jamie Manning, quickly organized an auction to help benefit Sandy Hook families. I'm really happy to be able to participate and do something to help remember the victims of this tragedy. The auction starts today (Dec 17th) at 9 AM CST, and lasts for 24 hours. You can find information on the auction items, and how to bid, here:
http://authorsforct.blogspot.com/
I'm giving away a signed copy of Eternal Starling, a swag pack, and the auction winner gets to choose a name for one of the characters in the second Emblem of Eternity trilogy book.
There are a lot of fabulous items up for auction and it benefits a wonderful cause, so please bid and help us help the people of Newtown, CT.
Thank you!!!
Monday, December 17, 2012
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Wardrobe Malfunctions...and Amazon
In high school, I was part of the band. In 1998, I could give you a pretty awesome flute rendition of "Forever in Blue Jeans". Don't ask me to play now, I haven't picked it up for at least 10 years. This bodes badly for my mom who recently told me she wants me to play it at her funeral. Luckily, she's young, and I have 50 or so years to practice. She didn't tell me a song, so she'll probably get "Forever in Blue Jeans" too.
Anyway, as part of my band adventures, we had to play at concerts. I think high school band concerts are mostly an effort to 1. Convince our parents their $400+ instrument investment was worth it, and 2. Trick us into wearing dress clothes on days we shouldn't have to wear them at all. One cold night in February, I made my way from the band room to the auditorium for a concert. It was February in Utah, so frigid is an understatement. I was wearing my concert black attire which included a skirt. Under the skirt, I was wearing a slip. As I walked across the asphalt to the auditorium with a group of other band members, the sharp breeze nipped at my legs. I pulled my coat around myself and kept walking. After a few minutes, it suddenly got a lot warmer.
Strange, I thought. The wind must have died down.
No. That wasn't it. My curly Carrie Bradshaw-like hair was still whipping my face with solid slaps.
But my legs were so warm. Why would that be?
I had my answer as I started to trip. I looked down, and saw a bit of crumpled fabric on the ground. My slip had fallen straight to the asphalt. Face hot with embarrassment, I checked to make sure my skirt was still up--luckily, it was--then stepped out of the pool of fabric on the ground. I discreetly bent down, picked up the slip, shoved it in the arm of my coat, checked for witnesses, blew out a relieved breath when there weren't any, and I never told a soul. I vowed to do my best to never to have a wardrobe malfunction again.
...Then I got invited to a black tie dinner with my husband. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, was the keynote speaker.
In my defense, I've barely remembered to brush my hair because I've been working like mad on revisions. So, I didn't really think about the dinner, or my outfit until the night before the event. There was a moment of panic about what I'd wear, then I remembered a fancy black skirt. Yeah, the skirt was a couple of years old, but it was formal. It would work. I decided I'd pair it with a lacy white shirt and black jacket. I had a teeny, tiny moment where I thought, hmm...I haven't worn that for awhile I hope it fits, but then I had a great idea for the scene I was working on and went right back to that.
The day of the event, I realized I didn't own a pair of panty hose. In the hose aisle of Target, I got this text from my husband: Does black tie mean I actually need a black tie?
See, I wasn't the only one unprepared. Using my vast knowledge of all things etiquette (read: I watch a lot of Hollywood awards shows and the fashion critiques after), I explained that while "black tie" used to mean tuxedo, he could get away with a really nice suit, and while his tie with smiling soccer balls on it was out of the question, the dark purple satin tie he wore to our wedding would work just fine. He still bought a black one on the way home from work just to be safe.
Tie crisis averted, I grabbed a pair of panty hose, went home, and attempted to get dressed. The key word there is "attempt." First, as I pulled the panty hose up, they ripped. I kid you not. I haven't worn panty hose in a VERY long time, but nylons are not made like they used to be. So, I grabbed some nail polish to try and fix the hose crater on my thigh. With that emergency managed, I slipped on my skirt, zipped it, and watched it fall down. What the...??? I picked it up. It fell again. Thanks to Jillian Michaels' commitment to kill me 5-6 days a week, the skirt I thought would be kept up by my hips, wasn't. My husband stared at me, the skirt, and me again. Then the conversation went like this:
Husband: "That's a problem."
Me: "You think?"
Husband: "Can you pin it to something?"
Me: "Like what?" I asked, frantically throwing things around in the drawer where the safety pins should be, "My bra?" Pause. Deep breath. "And we're out of safety pins."
Husband, in a very helpful tone: "But we have paper clips!"
Yes, nice to meet you, Mr. Bezos. I'm sorry, did a paper clip just fall off my skirt and hit your shoe? Do you sell safety pins on Amazon?
At that point, we were already running late. No time to go shopping for a new dress. And my only other option was my baby blue, 15 year old prom dress. That seemed like an excellent way to make a bold, bad, statement. With some pretty impressive skirt MacGyvering, I was able to keep the skirt up with a belt. I covered the bunches it made with a shirt that went over the skirt, and had a band around the bottom that would help hold the skirt in place. My jacket also helped cover most of the waistline disaster. But, remembering my past band concert slip adventure, I made sure to kept one hand on the skirt all night.
Wardrobe malfunctions aside, the night was definitely inspiring, and I really enjoyed listening to Jeff Bezos. I didn't realize Amazon had started as an online bookstore. The host of the event asked a lot of questions about ebooks and print books. Jeff said Amazon was trying to sell ebooks for years, but no one wanted them because people didn't want to read on a computer. So, Amazon decided, hey, let's make a device people will want to read on, and make it easy for them to publish their books. The Kindle was born, and ebooks and publishing changed forever. He said people read four times as many books in the year after buying a Kindle than in the year before buying a Kindle. He was also asked if he thought ebooks were a threat to physical books. His answer was really interesting. He said he didn't think physical books would ever go away, but he thinks in the future they'll be used differently. He compared it to horses, saying we still like horses, but we don't commute on them. The thing I really took away from the speech was that people change, technology changes, and Amazon succeeds by listening to their customers.
And next time, I'll remember to try my outfit on BEFORE the event.
Anyway, as part of my band adventures, we had to play at concerts. I think high school band concerts are mostly an effort to 1. Convince our parents their $400+ instrument investment was worth it, and 2. Trick us into wearing dress clothes on days we shouldn't have to wear them at all. One cold night in February, I made my way from the band room to the auditorium for a concert. It was February in Utah, so frigid is an understatement. I was wearing my concert black attire which included a skirt. Under the skirt, I was wearing a slip. As I walked across the asphalt to the auditorium with a group of other band members, the sharp breeze nipped at my legs. I pulled my coat around myself and kept walking. After a few minutes, it suddenly got a lot warmer.
Strange, I thought. The wind must have died down.
No. That wasn't it. My curly Carrie Bradshaw-like hair was still whipping my face with solid slaps.
But my legs were so warm. Why would that be?
I had my answer as I started to trip. I looked down, and saw a bit of crumpled fabric on the ground. My slip had fallen straight to the asphalt. Face hot with embarrassment, I checked to make sure my skirt was still up--luckily, it was--then stepped out of the pool of fabric on the ground. I discreetly bent down, picked up the slip, shoved it in the arm of my coat, checked for witnesses, blew out a relieved breath when there weren't any, and I never told a soul. I vowed to do my best to never to have a wardrobe malfunction again.
...Then I got invited to a black tie dinner with my husband. Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, was the keynote speaker.
In my defense, I've barely remembered to brush my hair because I've been working like mad on revisions. So, I didn't really think about the dinner, or my outfit until the night before the event. There was a moment of panic about what I'd wear, then I remembered a fancy black skirt. Yeah, the skirt was a couple of years old, but it was formal. It would work. I decided I'd pair it with a lacy white shirt and black jacket. I had a teeny, tiny moment where I thought, hmm...I haven't worn that for awhile I hope it fits, but then I had a great idea for the scene I was working on and went right back to that.
The day of the event, I realized I didn't own a pair of panty hose. In the hose aisle of Target, I got this text from my husband: Does black tie mean I actually need a black tie?
See, I wasn't the only one unprepared. Using my vast knowledge of all things etiquette (read: I watch a lot of Hollywood awards shows and the fashion critiques after), I explained that while "black tie" used to mean tuxedo, he could get away with a really nice suit, and while his tie with smiling soccer balls on it was out of the question, the dark purple satin tie he wore to our wedding would work just fine. He still bought a black one on the way home from work just to be safe.
Tie crisis averted, I grabbed a pair of panty hose, went home, and attempted to get dressed. The key word there is "attempt." First, as I pulled the panty hose up, they ripped. I kid you not. I haven't worn panty hose in a VERY long time, but nylons are not made like they used to be. So, I grabbed some nail polish to try and fix the hose crater on my thigh. With that emergency managed, I slipped on my skirt, zipped it, and watched it fall down. What the...??? I picked it up. It fell again. Thanks to Jillian Michaels' commitment to kill me 5-6 days a week, the skirt I thought would be kept up by my hips, wasn't. My husband stared at me, the skirt, and me again. Then the conversation went like this:
Husband: "That's a problem."
Me: "You think?"
Husband: "Can you pin it to something?"
Me: "Like what?" I asked, frantically throwing things around in the drawer where the safety pins should be, "My bra?" Pause. Deep breath. "And we're out of safety pins."
Husband, in a very helpful tone: "But we have paper clips!"
Yes, nice to meet you, Mr. Bezos. I'm sorry, did a paper clip just fall off my skirt and hit your shoe? Do you sell safety pins on Amazon?
At that point, we were already running late. No time to go shopping for a new dress. And my only other option was my baby blue, 15 year old prom dress. That seemed like an excellent way to make a bold, bad, statement. With some pretty impressive skirt MacGyvering, I was able to keep the skirt up with a belt. I covered the bunches it made with a shirt that went over the skirt, and had a band around the bottom that would help hold the skirt in place. My jacket also helped cover most of the waistline disaster. But, remembering my past band concert slip adventure, I made sure to kept one hand on the skirt all night.
Wardrobe malfunctions aside, the night was definitely inspiring, and I really enjoyed listening to Jeff Bezos. I didn't realize Amazon had started as an online bookstore. The host of the event asked a lot of questions about ebooks and print books. Jeff said Amazon was trying to sell ebooks for years, but no one wanted them because people didn't want to read on a computer. So, Amazon decided, hey, let's make a device people will want to read on, and make it easy for them to publish their books. The Kindle was born, and ebooks and publishing changed forever. He said people read four times as many books in the year after buying a Kindle than in the year before buying a Kindle. He was also asked if he thought ebooks were a threat to physical books. His answer was really interesting. He said he didn't think physical books would ever go away, but he thinks in the future they'll be used differently. He compared it to horses, saying we still like horses, but we don't commute on them. The thing I really took away from the speech was that people change, technology changes, and Amazon succeeds by listening to their customers.
And next time, I'll remember to try my outfit on BEFORE the event.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Vegas, Baby!
Guess where I'll be this weekend???
Las Vegas!!!!!
The Vegas Valley Book Festival to be exact. I'm SO excited to hang out with tons of amazing authors, meet people, and sign books!
Speaking of signing books, I'll be at the huge author signing from 3:00-5:00 pm on Saturday, November 3rd. If you're in Vegas, stop and see me! I'll have bookmarks and tattoos, and maybe some leftover Halloween candy if it survives the road trip. :)
The festival address is:
Historic Fifth Street School
401 S. Fourth Street
401 S. Fourth Street
I hope to see you there!!!
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Halloween Scene!
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Want to know what Evie, Alex and Emil are doing for Halloween???
The scene happens after Eternal Starling ends, but before book 2 begins.
You can also win an Eternal Starling swag pack, so go enter!
Happy haunting!!!
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Signing and Sand Dunes!
Whew! I'm finally catching up from being out of town. Idaho Falls was so much fun!
My signing at the Grand Teton Mall Barnes and Noble was fantastic! I met so many awesome people! (Hi Michelle! *waves* I got your email and will email you soon!). And the store staff was amazing! Huge thanks to Kaaren, Bobbie, Jessica, Rachel, Melissa, Eraleigh, and Chet! (I hope I spelled your names right!) I can't wait to come back and sign there again!
I had TO. DIE. FOR. cupcakes and coffee here. They're opening a store near my house in Utah. It could be trouble. Lots of trouble.
Our hotel was 3 blocks from the falls! Every night was like going to sleep with a sleep machine on the waterfall setting. We ate dinner across the street from the falls at a yummy Mexican restuarant, walked along the water, and Pippin had a grand time investigating all the new smells and meeting other dogs.
Idaho Falls is only about 40 minutes from the St. Anthony sand dunes! One of my, (and Evie's) favorite places in the world! This photo is like Where's Waldo, only it's Where's my Husband. Can you find him? He was waiting for the rest of the people in our entourage to get to him.
And speaking of our entourage...here they are:
My grandpa, husband, and sister in my grandpa and grandma's dune buggy.
My husband (on the yellow Suzuki), and my Dad (on the silver Raptor).
My brother and sister. With their vision problems, the wide open sand is one of the only places they can drive their ATV.
And me! I haven't been to St. Anthony for so long! It was SO good to get back on a four-wheeler again!
And last but not least, this is one of my favorite spots at St. Anthony! In Eternal Starling, Evie and Alex have a pretty important chat at the sand dunes. This is the exact spot I was thinking of when I wrote that scene.
So, that was my trip in a nutshell! I've had some requests to do an Eternal Starling get-together at the sand dunes sometime. Maybe when the last book in the trilogy is released? It sounds like fun to me! What do you all think?
Monday, August 13, 2012
Are you in Idaho???
If you live near Idaho Falls, I'm signing books at the Grand Teton Mall Barnes and Noble this Saturday, August 18th!
Here's the address:
2300 East 17th Street Suite #1101
Idaho Falls, ID 83404
I'll be there from 1:00-4:00.
If you want more info, here's the event link!
Here's the address:
2300 East 17th Street Suite #1101
Idaho Falls, ID 83404
I'll be there from 1:00-4:00.
If you want more info, here's the event link!
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Summer YA Scavenger Hunt!!!
Welcome to YA Scavenger Hunt! This tri-annual event was first organized by author Colleen Houck
as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus
material from their favorite authors...and a chance to win some awesome
prizes! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from
each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you
can enter for our prize--one lucky winner will receive TWENTY-SEVEN signed books, one book from each author on the hunt in my team! But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for 72 hours!
Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are TWO contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the BLUE TEAM--but there is also a red team for a chance to win a whole different set of twenty-five signed books!
If you'd like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt homepage.
Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are TWO contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the BLUE TEAM--but there is also a red team for a chance to win a whole different set of twenty-five signed books!
If you'd like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt homepage.
SCAVENGER HUNT PUZZLE
Directions: Below, you'll notice that I've listed my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the blue team, and then add them up (don't worry, you can use a calculator!).
Entry Form: Once you've added up all the numbers, make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.
Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should
have a parent or guardian's permission to enter. To be eligible for the
grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by August 5, at
noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without
contact information will not be considered.
SCAVENGER HUNT POST
Today, I'm hosting Victoria Strauss on my website for the YA Scavenger Hunt!
Victoria Strauss is the author of eight novels for adults and young adults, including the Stone fantasy duology (The Arm of the Stone and The Garden of the Stone) and Passion Blue, a YA historical. She's also co-founder, with Ann Crispin, of Writer Beware, a publishing industry watchdog group that provides information and warnings about the many scams and schemes that threaten writers. She lives in Amherst, Massachusetts, where she writes, gardens, and spends way too much time online.
Find out more information by checking out Victoria's website or find more about the Victoria's book here!
Victoria Strauss is the author of eight novels for adults and young adults, including the Stone fantasy duology (The Arm of the Stone and The Garden of the Stone) and Passion Blue, a YA historical. She's also co-founder, with Ann Crispin, of Writer Beware, a publishing industry watchdog group that provides information and warnings about the many scams and schemes that threaten writers. She lives in Amherst, Massachusetts, where she writes, gardens, and spends way too much time online.
Find out more information by checking out Victoria's website or find more about the Victoria's book here!
EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
When seventeen-year-old Giulia, the orphaned, illegitimate daughter of a Milanese nobleman, learns she’s to be packed off to a life behind convent walls, she begs an astrologer-sorcerer for a talisman that will secure what she’s certain is her heart’s desire: true love and a place where she belongs. But does she really know the compass of her heart? The convent of Santa Marta is full of surprises, including a workshop of nuns who are creating paintings of astonishing beauty using a luminous blue mixed from a secret formula: Passion Blue. As Giulia’s own artistic self is awakened she’s torn: should she follow the young man who promises to help her escape? Or stay and satisfy her growing desire to paint? This richly imagined novel of a girl’s daring journey towards self-discovery transports readers into the fascinating world of Renaissance Italy, where love and faith and art inspire passion – of many different hues.
I'm swooning over the gorgeous cover!!!
The Scavenger Hunt is over, so Victoria's deleted scene is no longer available, but make sure to put Passion Blue on your to-buy list, and watch for it to come out in November!
CONTINUE THE HUNT
To keep going on your quest for the hunt, you need to check out the next author! Click here!
Don't forget that the Eternal Starling eBook is on sale for the Hunt! You can also enter to win an Eternal Starling swag pack including a signed bookmark, signed bookplate, tattoo, and a bookmark and pin with original artwork of Alex Night by talented artist, James Vallesteros! Enter the giveaway below!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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