Scribblescribblescribblescibble…play in the snow…Scribblescribblescribblescibble…play in the snow…Scribblescribblescribblescibble…play in the snow…Scribblescribblescribblescibble…play in the snow…Scribblescribblescribblescibble…play in the snow…Scribblescribblescribblescibble…play in the snow…Scribblescribblescribblescibble…play in the snow..
…drink hot tea by the fire, curled up with a good book.
So………..
Last summer I decided to try a book trailer contest for SPEAK and TWISTED. The plan was to offer it to summer reading groups at libraries. But I didn’t get much response from summer reading groups and I had a lot of email from teachers who wanted to offer the contest to their students.
So……….
I extended the deadline. The contest rules were spread far and wide. Note: I used my writerlady.com email account for all correspondence for this contest. And then I went on book tour. Whilst on tour, gremlins attacked the server that hosted the writerlady email account. It was a nasty vicious ebomb and the company who owns that server had to totally shut down my account. Permanently.
Meanwhile, I was traipsing across the country, merrily handing out my business car with the email address on it. And the Incompetent and/or Lazy Server Company did not contact me to let me know that the Writerlady Email account had been, in effect, blown up. I didn’t find out what had happened until after Thanksgiving. A million gazillion apologies to anyone who tried to contact me from the middle of October to the middle of December. The email is up and running now, so please try again.
(Yes, the Evil Server Company could have contacted me. They have my private email, my phone numbers, and my house address. They managed to get my bills to me on time. Yes, I am beyond annoyed about this. Know any good lawyers?)
So………
Earnest readers and film makers did, in fact, enter the contest. I am sure they were all alarmed when the email they sent to me was bounced back, but the beauty of the contest structure allowed me to find all the entries on YouTube, so everyone was considered.
So…….drum roll
reaches for the envelope
The winners of the 2008 TWISTED book trailer contest are Suki and CJ from Atlanta!!!
The winner of the 2008 SPEAK book trailer contest is Sharpieinkwarpaint from Canada!
And an honorable mention goes to Parmandiriel (I think she’s from Montana), for her SPEAK trailer!
Many thanks to everyone who helped spread the word about the contest and to everyone who entered!!! (And a thousand curses on the heads of the Evil Server Company for messing up my mail!)
It is a loverly thing when friendly readers take care of my blogging responsibilities.
Instead of creating my own post today, I direct you to a fun interview with me over at YAthenaeum, a YA book community based out of one of my favorite bookstores, Books and Books in Coral Gables. They asked super questions! (Do you understand the movie reference at the end?)
Thank you, good readers of the YAthenaem!!!
Tune in tomorrow for the announcement of the winners of the TWISTED and SPEAK book trailer contests and an explanation of all the email and server problems we’ve been having here in the Forest for months.
PS – I am back in wicked serious writing mode and loving it.
THAT was a good, long winter’s nap.
If you don’t remember (it’s been a while since I posted, explanation coming up), by mid-December, I was a wee bit of a mess. The book tour was fun, but long, and I got sick as soon as I unpacked my suitcase. This was my body’s way of forcing me to rest. And then my cousin died and …., well, it was awful. I spent the last two weeks of December not working. I cleaned and decorated and cooked and baked and baked and baked and slept and slept and slept and pondered mortality and the snow falling in the Forest.
I even made a Bûche de Noël (a cake made to look like a Yule Log).
Between Christmas and New Year’s we had waves of relatives and friends visit.
This is the BH side of the clan.
When the Halses came to dinner, we put out Christmas crackers that had crowns inside of them. Dad and Mom sported their crowns regally.
My crown made me look like a dorkoramus, so my sister decided to keep hers on the table, not on her head.
New Year’s Eve was look and full of merry-making. New Year’s Day was sorting and cleaning and preparing new adventures.
I have to come clean on my 2008 Resolutions. They were defeated by the book tour. Specifically, the third week of the book tour. In truth, I rarely averaged running the 20 miles a week I had hoped for. I think it’s going to take a few more years of consistent training until my body can handle that without injury. I was able to write every day up until the first day of book tour that had a 3:30 am wake-up call. Also, I did not win the lottery.
I have learned my lessons.
1. Resolutions need to be reality-based.
2. Book tour is an alternate reality during which resolutions do not apply.
2008 Resolution Tracker Totals
Total Miles Run: 621
Number of Writing Days: 334
So, without further ado, drum roll … LHA’s 2009 Resolutions
I resolve to run 750 miles in 2009. (This is a more realistic goal than last year, but secretly, I really, really, really want to hit the 1,000 mile mark)
I resolve to write every day in 2009. (With the aforementioned altered-reality-during-book-tour clause, above).
I resolve to reduce my use of the word “should.”
On New Year’s Day, BH and I suited up and ran three miles in the snow to start on Resolution #1.
747 miles to go!
What are your resolutions?