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Radiohead & a new critter in the forest

Eight Days until WINTERGIRLS comes out…

Today is a radio day. I’ve already taped an interview with Dr. Alvin Jones of WCBQ-WHNC-AM in North Carolina. In a little bit, I’ll be chatting with a radio host out in Napa, CA, Jeff Schectman of KVON. BH has taken the Creature With Fangs out on his errands so my interviews are not compromised by 95-snarling pounds of German Shepherd.

This afternoon I’m headed down to Syracuse to tape an interview for the NPR show, “Here and Now.” When I get air dates, I’ll let you know.

In between the interviews, I’m working on my presentation for the book tour. I bring a digital projector with me, and I’ll be showing a Keynote (Apple presentation software, much better than Powerpoint) show in many of the schools and libraries I’ll be visiting.

We’ve had a new person working here in the Forest for a couple of weeks. Her name is Queen Louise and I can’t figure out how I got along without her. Queen Louise is in charge of keeping me organized and helping me juggle. For example, she went in and created the Author Page on Goodreads for me. She coordinated with Theo the Web God to update my website. And she’ll make sure I am ready on time for this afternoon’s trip down to the radio station. With the Queen by my side, I’ll have more time to write. After the tour.

All Hail Queen Louise!!

Can you come and see me when I’m on tour?

Have you entered the WINTERGIRLS contest yet?

Eight Days until WINTERGIRLS comes out…

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Where’s Laurie? WINTERGIRLS book tour schedule

Nine days until WINTERGIRLS is released…

We have the final tour schedule: I start on the West Coast, head South and loop around up to North Carolina. I apologize to the Mid-west! I spent a lot of time there on the CHAINS tour and suspect that my publisher didn’t want me to revisit the area again so soon.

What you see below are only the public events. During the day, I’ll be visiting schools and signing stock at bookstores. A bunch of nice people have written to me asking if I have time for a cup of coffee or dinner or a walk. I feel like a jerk turning down these kind offers, but I don’t have a choice. Every day is jam-packed and I don’t have any extra time, sadly.

If you work for a bookstore in one of the regions that I’m visiting and want us to try and schedule a stock signing when I’m in your neck of the woods, please send an email to Allison DOT Verost AT us DOT penguingroup DOT com.

Get out your notebooks, open your planners, fire up your email and spread the news far and wide!

THE LHA 2009 WINTERGIRLS TOUR

Friday, March 20, 2009
4:30PM Santa Monica, CA
Santa Monica Public Library (hosted by Children’s Book World)

7 PM Santa Monica, CA
Barnes & Noble, 3rd Street Promenade

Saturday, March 21, 2009
12 PM Pasadena, CA
Vroman’s Bookstore

4PM LaVerne, CA
Mrs. Nelson’s Book Shop

Sunday, March 22, 2009
3 PM San Francisco, CA
Books Inc. Not Your Mother’s Book Club Ticketed Event! You must purchase your ticket ahead of time for this one. All of the details about ticketing are here.

6 PM Menlo Park, CA
Kepler’s (scroll down the page for event details)

Monday, March 23, 2009
7 PM Petaluma, CA
Copperfields

Tuesday, March 24, 2009
6:30 PM Seattle, WA
Seattle Public Library, Ballard Branch. Hosted by Secret Garden Bookshop

Wednesday, March 25, 2009
6 PM Tempe, AZ
Changing Hands Bookstore

Thursday, March 26, 2009
7 PM Salt Lake City, UT
The King’s English Bookshop

Friday, March 27, 2009
4:30 PM Houston, TX
Blue Willow Bookshop

Saturday, March 28, 2009
5 PM Austin, TX
SCBWI Members only event

7 PM Austin, TX
Book People

Sunday, March 29, 2009
3 PM Oxford, MS
Square Books

Monday, March 30, 2009
3:15 PM Brentwood, MO (outside St. Louis)
Border’s

Tuesday, March 31, 2009
During the day Kennesaw, GA
Kennesaw State Children’s Literature Conference

7 PM Decatur, GA (outside Atlanta)
Decatur Public Library hosted by Little Shop of Stories (scroll down for details)

Wednesday, April 1, 2009
During the day Kennesaw, GA
Kennesaw State Children’s Literature Conference

6:15 PM Alpharetta, GA (outside Atlanta)
Barnes & Noble, Mansell Crossings

Thursday, April 2, 2009
6 PM Coral Gables, FL
Books & Books

Friday, April 3, 2009
7:30 PM Raleigh, NC
Quail Ridge Books

And, several weeks later…

Sat & Sun, April 25 & 26, 2009
Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. Details to come.

Sunday May 3 – Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Minneapolis, MN
International Reading Association Conference. Details to come.

Friday, May 15, 2009
6 PM Oswego, NY
the river’s end bookstore (scroll down for details)

Don’t forget to enter the contest.

Nine days until WINTERGIRLS is released…

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WINTERGIRLS contest excitement & bookseller love

WINTERGIRLS comes out in 10 days!!!!

::pauses to breathe into paper bag::

To celebrate, we’ve decided to have a contest. A simple contest. A fast contest.

The prize is a laptop skin with the WINTERGIRLS cover image on it. Don’t know what a laptop skin is? We’re ordering them from Skinit – their website explains everything. If you win, you’ll tell us what kind of laptop or phone you want the skin for. We’ll take care of the ordering and have the skin shipped to you.

Contest Rules: All you have to do is send an email to laurie AT writerlady DOT com. Put “WINTERGIRLS Contest” in the subject line. Only one entry per person, please!

Contest starts at noon (EST) today, 3/9/09, and runs until noon (EST) one week from today. At the close of the contest, we’ll put all of the entries in a bowl and pull out four winners. Winners will be notified using the email account they entered with, so please use a valid account.

Feel free to pass on news of this contest and post it to your own blog.

Last week Joe Hill declared that March is Love-Your-Small-Bookstore Month and I seconded the motion. To show my love to my local independent bookstore I went there Saturday night and bought a book for BH.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

A couple of people wrote to me over the weekend bemoaning the fact that they don’t have a local indie bookstore. Never fear, good friends!! You can locate the closest store to you using Indiebound’s store locator.

Still can’t find one that is close-by? You probably didn’t know this, but most locals will ship your book to you, just as easily as A****n will. When you support small businesses this way, your dollar helps the community much more.

So… today’s marching orders:

1. Enter WINTERGIRLS contest.
2. Buy a book (or 5 or 20) from an independent bookstore.

Any questions?

WINTERGIRLS comes out in 10 days!!!!

::reaches for paper bag again::

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Revolution & Joe Hill

Joe Hill is the spectacularly-talented author of Heart-shaped Box. This is not the kind of book I normally read or recommend, because it’s considered “horror” and I am a weenie. But Toddly liked it so much, I had to give it a whirl. To my shock (not my horror) I loved it. Trying new things can be a little scary, but that’s the only way to grow.

Anyway, Joe and me have more in common than you might think. We are both rabid supporters of independent bookstores. We proudly shout our indie support from the tops of the barricades.

Joe has declared March to be “Love-Your-Small-Bookstore Month”. I second that motion.

Will you please join us?

Visit the closest indie bookstore to you this weekend. (Don’t know where it is? Indiebound will find it for you.) BUY A BOOK THERE. Buy a cookbook, or a book that gives spring cleaning tips. Buy a book for a child. Don’t know a child? Buy a book that explains how to make one. Buy something off the IndieNext list, ask the booksellers what their new favorite is. (Booksellers are wicked smart, you know.) Buy a book to help you understand the economic crisis, or cats, or the history of cod. (Yes, I’ve read that one, too. Fascinating.)

Indiebound makes many convincing arguments why we should be buying local. “Spend $100 at a local and $68 of that stays in your community. Spend the same $100 at a national chain, and your community only sees $43. Local businesses create higher-paying jobs for our neighbors… Buying local means less packaging, less transportation, and a smaller carbon footprint….More independents means more choice, more diversity, and a truly unique community.”

Here at the Forest, we’ve had our eyes opened to the importance of shopping local. Because of that, we’re in the process of changing all the bookselling links on my website. Here’s a sneak preview, from the WINTERGIRLS section of the site, still under construction. What do you think?

A Saturday morning in March is the perfect time to join the revolution. Give a shout-out to your favorite independent bookstore in the Comments section!

13 days til WINTERGIRLS comes out…

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Friday Five catching up

1. I picked up my laptop with the new hard drive yesterday. Since the failure of the hard drive was so spectacular and they couldn’t pull any data from it, I set it up to absorb all in the info on the desk computer while I was sleeping. Now I have to configure it to be a lean, mean, travelin’ machine.

I’m also going to try and perform the MobileMe syncing between the two computers and the iPhone. I haven’t tried this since the updates to the MobileMe system. (I couldn’t get it to work last summer, even after OfficeMouse, who is a tech geek, spent hours on the phone with Apple). Is anyone out there successfully using MobileMe to sync their Apple technology? Any tips?

2. Thank you for all of the suggestions about the roof for the cottage. A friend emailed me about a roof/roofing materials on a nearby farm we could reuse. (We’ve been knocking on doors of all the farms near our house in search of old lumber and anything else useful.) Cedar shakes are more expensive than asphalt shingles, but cost less than slate and have a lower installation cost. That might be the right compromise. Someone mention a thatched roof; that would be the ultimate fantasy! But there are only a dozen or so people in the US who can do the work. The closest guesstimate to the cost for a thatched roof? $24,000!!! That is not a possibility.

3. Thank you, Oklahoma! TWISTED has been named to the 2010 High School Sequoyah Book Award Masterlist by the Oklahoma Library Association. Lots of my friends’ books are on the list, too, which is always fun. Thank you, Mitali Perkins, for the heads-up.

4.Thank you, Warsaw, Poland! The school I visited there a few years ago had it teachers’ book club read CHAINS. Yesterday we had a Skype visit to talk about it.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic Happy teachers, half a world away.

5. I figured out how to run the contest. It will be as simple as possible and fast. Watch for details on Monday.

13 days til WINTERGIRLS comes out…