Release Celebration and Quintuple Giveaway

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Join me this afternoon for Desperately Ever After’s big release celebration! From 1-5 p.m., I’ll be plugging into the Twitterverse to talk about my novel, writing, dogs, fairy tales, beating the winter blues, and whatever else strikes your fancy. I also have FIVE e-books to give away–one every hour! You get one entry for doing each of the following:

• Following me on Twitter
• Liking my Facebook page (if you’ve already done this, “like” my status instead)
• Tweeting #DesperatelyEverAfter
• Signing up for exclusive e-mails

Do all four by 1 p.m. for a total of twenty chances!

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And the paperback joins the party!

Desperately Ever After is now available in both paperback and as an e-book!

Click here to view both

Enjoy and have a fantastic weekend!!

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Desperately Ever After has arrived!!

dfw-lk-dea-cover-midRather than signaling the end of a fairy tale, tonight midnight signals the beginning of mine!

Finally, the e-book version of Desperately Ever After is out! Click here for all the nifty info ;)

Print copies are RIGHT behind, so check back for that announcement  shortly (or, better yet, sign up for e-mail updates by clicking here).

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Friday Roundup and The Week Ahead

dfw-lk-dea-cover-midWell, it’s been one heck of a week!

After revealing the cover of Desperately Ever After on Monday, I was floored to receive 37 entries to the e-book giveaway! But even more than that, your super supportive feedback pasted a smile on my face for two days straight and gave me the mojo I need to face what’s next: the early bird e-book release tomorrow, and the print book release next week. I’m truly floating on air, so thank you all!

Swimming Upstream coverThen, two days later, the lovely Ruth Mancini shared her fantastic publishing story and offered up a copy of Swimming Upstream to one lucky winner as well. Thanks a million again to Ruth for reminding us all that if we believe in ourselves and don’t let the naysayers win, we can achieve anything!

Congratulations to Kristy (aka Feltenk) and Bridget, respectively,  for holding the lucky numbers. Your prizes are on the way.

For those of you still hoping to snag a free copy Continue reading

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Chick Lit Central rocks!

I have to give a huge thanks to Melissa Amster and the rest of Chick Lit Central for hosting me as part of their Disney month interview series. To check out the interview and triple your chances of winning a copy of Desperately Ever After, click here. I had so much fun answering their questions–and reliving my childhood in the process! If you aren’t familiar with their blog, I highly advise taking a look around. Continue reading

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Cover Reveal and the first Desperately Ever After giveaway!

It’s finally here! The highly anticipated (at least on my end!) reveal for the cover of Desperately Ever After, which hits the cyber shelves at Amazon February 1!

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I have to thank the wonderful Hazel Gaynor once again for directing me to Andrew Brown’s Design for Writers. He did a great job tackling my desire for a whimsical and fantastical–but not too girly–design. Yes, there is pink, but we tried to offset it with the orange sky and the deep red font, about which a dear friend said: “The crimson reminds me of blood and thus I feel the desperation.” That still makes me laugh.

Plus, the book Andrew designed for Hazel went on to sell close to 100,000 copies before William Morrow stepped in and gave her two-book/reprint deal. So there’s that…

WIN

Enter to win the very first e-book of Desperately Ever After by leaving a comment below. Just tell me why you’d like to read it by 11.59 p.m. Tuesday, January 28.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS for RELEASE WEEK!!

Tuesday (1/28)In addition to the contest mentioned above, Chick Lit Central interviews yours truly and offers another (double!) giveaway. Hint: It’s Disney Month over there, so a fun time is guaranteed! 

Wednesday (1/29): Ruth Mancini, author of Swimming Upstream, talks about her inspirational journey from self-publication to coveted reprint deal. Stop by to hear all about it and enter to win an e-copy of her acclaimed novel. Continue reading

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A case for the 1990s (and giveaway winners)

Thanks a million to A.L. Waddington for stopping by this week and talking about her new EVE series. There were some fantastic answers to her question — If you were to live in two different time periods, what two eras would you choose and why? — with the most popular being the 1920s, 1960s, and Recency England. Huzzah for Jane Austen!

(I just picked the winners of her ESSENCE giveaway out of a nice blue bowl, so Tiffany Dominguez, Emily Charpentier, and Cosegrove Julia, check your email shortly.)

For me, being a woman made A.L.’s question more difficult. As romantic as Regency England sounds, being forced to marry for money sounds like Hell on Earth, and I treasure not having to walk outside to use the bathroom.

The Roaring ’20s is tempting, but personally I’d jump past World War II and go for the 1950s — poodle skirts and the birth of Rock & Roll, baby!

Then for my second option, I’m going to say the 1990s. Yes, the 1990s. True, I was a teenager then, so perhaps I was just sheltered … but that was before the real estate bubble burst, before 9/11 changed everything, and before social media turned privacy into a dirty word. We still had these cool new things called “Instant Messaging” and “E-mail,” putting us in touch with the world like never before, but we didn’t eat dinner with our smart phones in our laps, and our children weren’t tweeting with total strangers (or schoolyard bullies).

Plus, we still had modern medicine, hot water still came with the turn of a knob, and MTV actually played music videos. What wasn’t to love?

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EVE series author A.L. Waddington wants YOU in her next book!

EssenceA.L. Waddington (hereafter referred to as Angela) is a mother, a writer, and a visionary with loads of advice for aspiring authors. She is the force behind the EVE series–of which the first installment, Essence, came out last week. I am honored to host her during her Essence release blog tour.

After the interview, enter to win one of three Essence e-books on behalf of Angela and Skipping Midnight. And then sign up for her super exciting grand prize drawing: a signed copy of the next book in the series, Enlightened, as well as … wait for it … a walk-on character named after you! Now how’s that for some riveting dinner conversation?!

AL Waddington1. The EVE series is set in two parallel planes of existence–following a young woman as she falls asleep in one and wakes up in the other. Where did you get the inspiration for such an intriguing premise?

My inspiration for the creation of the EVE series was my three teenage children and their strong love for the imagination of something just a little beyond their own existence. I have, hopefully, written my manuscript(s) in a fashion that will appeal to this particular genre’s ever-changing reality that translates into the adult world and allows them to melt into a world grounded in reality yet makes them ponder their own perception of reality.

2. What else can you tell me about the story? What will people love about it?

Hopefully, I have created characters that are relatable to just about everyone. That was my goal; to create the average high school girl who discovers she’s inherited an ability that only a few people have. The EVE series is ultimately a love story between Jocelyn and Jackson. It is freshly unique in that it bridges genres with its cross over between science fiction/time travel/romance/young adult as a work of commercial fiction. The main characters are relatable to a large audience in that their age group is late teens to early 20s. The narration of the story is told from 18-year-old Jocelyn Timmons’ viewpoint and the distinctively different lives that she leads on parallel planes when her soul travels nightly.

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Books provide SHelf Help for the winter blues

ID-10065957Are you feeling blue today?

With spring months away and no more holiday lights to distract us,  mid-January can seem … well … bleak. For many, this is the heyday of seasonal affective disorder–that quarterly depression that my mother thinks is hooey and that I combat with a sunlight desk lamp.

I’m not going to contribute to the myriad articles out there suggesting you:
• invest in light therapy (mine was a gift),
• pester your doctor for Zoloft (pills ain’t the answer, man),
• sprint around the block every time you want a cookie (though I’ve done it; it sorta works),
• or nix the coffee (it suppresses serotonin, which is bad; but it also makes me less like the Incredible Hulk in the morning, which is good).

However, as a writer who can attest to the therapeutic benefits of the pen (or keyboard, or iPad, or whatever), I WILL suggest that you follow Vintage Book’s lead and seek solace between the pages of a book. And I do not mean the sort of book you find in the dreaded self-help aisle.  What I mean is more along the lines of … wait for it … SHelf Help ;) Continue reading

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The Grimm Report: Snow White leaves seven dwarves on short notice

The Grimm Report is always a fantastic source of amusement–especially if you’re in the fairy tale mindset. This is a fantastic little piece by Allison Christie re-imagining what it was REALLY like for Snow White to live with seven quirky men with dubious manners.

Grimm Report's avatarThe Grimm Report

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A Special Report By Grimm Report Chief Girl Power Correspondent,
Allison Christie

allisonsarah16.blogspot.co.uk | @allisonsarah16

Snow White has abruptly left her seven roommates, having grown exhausted of her living arrangement. Ms. White explains, “I was sat enjoying my first champagne breakfast of the new year when the parlour door flew open and in stomped Grumpy. ‘Ha make me a full English,’ he snapped without even a smile. I stared after him in disbelief but after countless hours of domestic slavery, I found myself rising to my feet and heading towards the kitchen, almost as if I was brainwashed.”

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