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Home! Spring! Sleep! Contest Winner!

I made it home from Poland late on Saturday and spent the next 48 hours in a confused daze about what time it was. I wanted to talk at 3:30am. I wanted to sleep at noon. Bah.

But today I am beginning to feel like my spirit has caught up with my body and all is well. I’ll post a few more Warsaw photos later. But now, we must turn our attention to the moment you have all been waiting for: the end of the TWISTED contest. Last month, I offered a free, signed copy of TWISTED to the reader who came closest to guessing when the last bit of snow would melt from my yard. I was a little worried that the snow would leave when I was out of town, but the Nor’Easter that ripped through here deposited a fresh foot.

So I was home when it happened. The last bit of snow melted at 4pm on Sunday, April 22nd. I am racing out the door right now and don’t have time to scroll through all of the entries, but I promise I will do so later and report who won. (One of the errands I have to run is to deliver the signed copy of Just Listen that Sarah Dessen sent to the Mexico Library to honor the bet she lost about basketball last month.)

One more drum roll…my daffodils are blooming.

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Happy Spring, everyone.

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A contest note and hints of review love

I love all the entries for the last drop of snow contest. Keep them coming! You have until March 20th to enter. (For the record – it rained most of yesterday, which ate away at the snow. But we have flurries right now.)

Today I have phone interviews in anticipation of the TWISTED release next week. And I have to get my hair cut. And I have to go shopping to pick up various odds and ends. And return my library books and go to the bank. And pick up my mom from the hospital.

That last item is, of course, the priority of the day. My mom has emphysema and came down with pneumonia. We spent Tuesday in the ER and she was hooked up to meds in the hospital all day yesterday. The meds did the job and and now she can breathe again, so they are letting her out. She is fond of breathing. We are fond of her breathing, too. Mom has emphysema because she smoked. She started when she was 17 years old and finally quit two years ago, when she was forced to go on oxygen 24/7. Please don’t smoke. It is nasty.

A few more reviews (VOYA & KLIATT & Horn Book) came in yesterday ::glows:: but I have to check to see when their publication date is, and if I’m allowed to post them.

Basketball starts at noon and continues all weekend. Don’t like hoops? Then read one of these books about the lies and injustice of “higher education.”

OK, that last sentence was really cranky. I don’t want to be cranky today. I want to be happy. Muffin happy. Muffin. Muffin. Muffin.

edited to add Mom is home safe and healthier from the hospital. Man, oh, man is she feisty. I think it’s the steroids. Poor Daddy. But it is awesome that she is not gasping and that she is so quick to smile again.

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Gazing in a crystal ball & contest to win a signed book

At about three this morning, a chunk of ice the size of a coffee table and six inches thick released itself from our upper roof and crashed into the roof of the sunporch, right outside my bedroom window. The impact put a sizable dent in the two layers of steel roofing. It also woke me up. Nearly gave me a heart attack, in fact.

I think this is going to be a long day.

I leave on the book tour in one week, exactly. First stop will be Arkansas and Mississippi. I have not been to either state yet and am very stoked. The Mississippi event is open to the public. It is actually more of a Tennessee/Mississippi event. The store, Books-A-Million, is in Southaven, MS, which is a suburb of Memphis, TN.

Do you know anyone who lives near Memphis? If so, would you consider begging them to go to my signing on Wednesday, March 22? How about Oxford, MS? I’ll be there on Thursday, March 26th. The bookstore is Square Books, Jr. and the event starts at 3:30pm. Author Karen Hesse (whom I adore) will be there, too, so please, please, grab the dog and the kids and join us!

One of the nice things about having the first part of the tour set in the South is that the chances of sheets of ice crashing in the middle of the night are slim.

It’s time for a contest!!!! Guess when the last bit of snow is going to melt in my yard. Step right up, folks! Declare your guess for the the date and time in the Comments. Guesses must be posted by one week from today, Tuesday, March 20th. The person who comes closest will win a signed copy of TWISTED.

Let the game begin!

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The Contest!

I know I promised this, oh… five months ago. I could say I’ve been busy, which is true, but that would just be an excuse, so instead I’ll say mea maxima culpa.

If you want to win a free copy of the SPEAK DVD, then enter the contest!!

If you just want a signed copy of the DVD insert, click on the contest link above and scroll down.

Let the game begin!

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First catch-update: Indiana PROM contest winner

Still scrambling to get life back in order after the last two months of travel, so bear with me, please.

The whole reason I went to Indiana was to celebrate the writing talent of Chelsey W., a senior at Goshen High School in Goshen, IN. She won the Baker & Taylor PROM contest. As a part of that, I spent a day at her school, speaking about books, life, and really enjoying the company of Chelsey and her mom. Many, many thanks to everybody in Goshen: Chelsey, librarian Theresa Collins, all of the students*, the principal who gave me a Goshen blanket that is wrapped around me as I type this, the kids who came over from the middle school, the OK group – everybody.

*especially Jessica from Delaware who made a point of telling me how much she liked some of the weird things I did to conventional narrative devices in SPEAK and PROM!!! Hi Jess!

I am still waiting for the legal permissions I need to be able to post Chelsey’s submission, and those of the runners-up on the website. Will let you know as soon as that happens.

Other updates to follow through the day!

Indiana pictures!

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