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CAKE FOR BREAKFAST!!!

I posted today’s first entry early, because I was up way before dawn getting ready for the trip. I was buzzing around the house, fretting, chewing my fingernails, trying to remember absolutely everything and wishing I could go to the airport 24 hours early.

Just before 8am, someone knocked on the door. It was a stranger bearing cake. Of course we let her in!

Image and video hosting by TinyPic She didn’t stay a stranger for long. Meet Dawn, of MuchAdoAboutCake.com. She makes delicious custom cakes in Syracuse.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic Uncle Penguin asked Dawn to bake a WINTERGIRLS cake for us. It was thoughtfully timed so that we could enjoy it for breakfast today AND tomorrow.

A bunch of our kids are coming home this weekend and we’ve promised to leave some for them.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic But we didn’t say how much!

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Ready… Set…

WINTERGIRLS and the 10th Anniversary edition of SPEAK officially debut tomorrow!

Be still my beating heart.

I have one hundred million things to do in the next twenty-four hours. If I show up at bookstore events with knots in my hair, you’ll know I never made it to Item #37. Remember to pack brush.

I will be Twittering regularly on tour. You can follow me on Twitter by searching for my name, halseanderson. I think I have figured out how to post photos to my Twitterfeed, so it should be fun. Don’t know what Twitter is? This will explain.

School Library Journal has a great summary of the release of the two books, plus all the magical things that have happened to me in the past six months.

Many thanks to Cecelia Goodnow for a wonderful interview last week that resulted in an article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. A little bird in Seattle told me that the article ran in the last day of the P-I’s paper version. It has gone to an online only presence now.

Two good questions have come in recently:

When’s Wintergirls due to be out in the UK?

The UK rights have not been sold yet, but I am told by my agent that negotiations are ongoing.

Who took the awesome picture on the cover of WINTERGIRLS?

That is the work of Canadian photographer Alexandre Denomay. I think he was 18 or 19 when he took the photo. He might be 20 years old by now.

Back to packing!

WINTERGIRLS and the 10th Anniversary edition of SPEAK officially debut tomorrow!

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Contest winners & Bob the Builder

We have winners!!!!

Last night Queen Louise ordered her squires to participate in the Official Drawing of the Names. They dutifully complied.

drum roll……..

The winners of custom WINTERGIRLS laptop (or phone) skins are:
Jennifer Forgotten!
Mindi Scott!
Tressa Korson!
Kara Huck!

You’ll be receiving an email from Queen Louise with the details about what happens next so we can get the skin to you. Thanks to everyone for participating!!

Bob the Builder showed up to the cottage project yesterday.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic He brought a very large machine.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic He plucked out the tree stumps from the site, then added a couple tons of dirt and tamped it down. (Notice the last, lingering snowbank.) Next up: a mason comes next week to form up the forms (I think that’s the right way to describe it) so the concrete slab can be poured.

I’ve been receiving early sightings of copies of WINTERGIRLS on sale already. Since I’m not J.K. Rowling, booksellers are not compelled to hold the book to the release date. If you see it, buy it!

If you see it, you could also take a picture of you standing in the store with the book. Send it to laurie AT writerlady DOT com.

March Madness News!!! Since my Georgetown Hoyas are not in the NCAA tournament this year, ::weeps::, I am supporting Syracuse University. For the third year running, Sarah Dessen and I have our bet going; if her team (North Carolina) goes farther than mine, I will send a signed copy of my new book to her public library. If my team goes farther, Sarah sends her book up here.

Haven’t had time to do my brackets yet. I think I’ll do that on the plane Thursday.

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Three Days

Three days until WINTERGIRLS arrives…

The first fan video!

And the WINTERGIRLS website is up and running. I am waiting for a Family Support information sheet, being written by a woman whose daughter struggled with anorexia, and one of the professionals who worked with their family.

What else does the site need?

What should I remember to pack for the book tour?

Remember to enter the contest before noon (EST) today!

Three days until WINTERGIRLS arrives…

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Magic Window Update & much scurrying about

WINTERGIRLS comes out in 5 days….

So, what does an author do in the days before book tour?

This author has been very busy with interviews. I had a great one yesterday with a reporter from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and have a bunch more lined up for next week. Today I hope to finish the Keynote presentation I’ll be taking on the road with me, and start packing. Am also busy emailing back and forth with the Web God as he puts the finishing touches on the WINTERGIRLS website.

While I’ve been crossing off things on my to-do list, work continues on the Cottage.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic Our tree guy chopped down the dead 200-year-old maple and cleared out the smaller trees from the spot where we want to build.

Image and video hosting by TinyPicThe dark spots are rot. We could also see shadows where spiles had been inserted to tap the sap.

BH and a buddy of his have been busy on the magic window. They had to sand out every frame, patch and strengthen weak spots in the wood and start preparing thingies (have no idea what they are called) that will hold the glass. They found a mixture of wire nails and cut nails. The presence of cut nails confirms their suspicions that the window was buit in the late 1800s.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic By Friday, the window was strong enough to be stood up. That’s his buddy on the left, BH and me in the center, and Queen Louise to the right. The glass guy came to take a look at it and will soon give us the estimate for the cost of the glass. Fingers crossed about that. The plan is for the magic window to take up most of the south wall of the cottage.

I’ll end with a couple of links for those of you who can only catch up with this blog on weekends.

Can you come and see me on book tour?

Have you entered the WINTERGIRLS contest yet?

Did you see the WINTERGIRLS book trailer?

How about the short video where I explain why I wrote the book?

WINTERGIRLS comes out in 5 days….

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