Congratulations to our newest Great Scavenger Hunt Contest winners!

Huge congrats go to our newest monthly winners of the national Great Scavenger Hunt Contest reading program for kids and teens! Please join me in cheering on the winning hunter:

** Hannah S. **

And the winning librarian:

** Kim Murdock **
      from Lapel, IN

Enjoy your prizes!!

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New Trivia Challenges Available – Dec 09

Check out the December 2009 additions to the national Great Scavenger Hunt Contest reading program for kids and teens!

The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z. by Kate Messner  (MG/Tween)
The Dark Divine by Bree Despain  (YA)
Dial M for Mongoose by Bruce Hale  (MG/Tween)
Gentlemen by Michael Northrop   (YA)
Jungle Crossing by Sydney Salter  (MG/Tween)
Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore  (YA)
Scones and Sensibility by Lindsay Eland  (MG/Tween)
Wings by Aprilynne Pike  (YA)

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Random musing #37

If, when you receive your senior pictures, your mother’s response is, “Are you sure you don’t want to have them retaken, honey?” . . . whatever you do, do not blow off her question just because it was a pain to get them taken the first time.

I promise you, there is a REASON she is asking this.

Your decision to skip a retake may not come back to haunt you until years later. But when the reality of this mistake hits you, she is not pretty.

And also, if they say that when they take your picture for your corporate ID badge, the same rule applies. Trust me on this.

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Happy Honorary Fiver Day!

Happy Friday!

Today is a very special day… it’s Honorary Fiver Day over on Living Your Five! Come join Alyson Noel, Becca Fitzpatrick, Tera Lynn Childs and I as we share the little things we do to make the world a better place.

(You’ll even get a cool Honorary Fiver logo to put on your blog or web site!)

www.livingyourfive.com

We hope you’ll come by and join us. We can’t wait for you to be an official member of Team Fiver!

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Monthly winners + special ARC giveaway!

At the beginning of each month, I get to do one of the things I love: announce the latest batch of You 2.0 blog winners! I have three separate giveaways just for commenters on the blog… except for this month when I have FOUR!

Teen Author Challenge Giveaway

The winner of the Teen Author Challenge monthly giveaway (who will get to select one of the “craft of writing” books from my own personal writing bookshelf) is…

Taylor Noelle!

Way to go! Please contact me here with your mailing address and let me know which writing book you would like to choose for your prize. View the list here.


You 2.0 Prize Dive

The winner of the You 2.0 blog prize dive (who will get to select an item from the official You 2.0 prize basket) is…

Mrs. V!
(aka Mrs. V’s Reviews)

Cheers! Please contact me here with your mailing address and let me know which item you would like from the You 2.0 prize basket.


TWO Cinderella Society ARCs!!!

And this month, I get to announce not one but TWO winners of a signed ARC of The Cinderella Society! One winner is from the normal monthly drawing, and one winner is from the special blog post I did last weekend about why you want to read the book.

So without further ado… the winners of a signed ARC of The Cinderella Society (coming April 13, 2010 from Egmont USA!) are…

Claire!
(aka Bookworm Readers)

~ and ~

Andrea!
(aka Hers for the Reading)

I hope you enjoy the book! Please contact me here with your mailing address and let me know whether you would like the ARC personally signed to keep or generically signed to give away.


Congratulations to all the winners! And thanks to everyone for all your fun comments throughout the month. They seriously make my day.

Keep commenting all month long for your chance to win in the monthly contests and the impromptu Bundle o’ Bookmarks giveaways. (Note: The Bundles change periodically, but you can see an example of one here.)

Happy reading!

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Teen Author Challenge, Week 20 – Celebrate!

Can you believe it’s December already? And if it’s December, you know what that means.

NaNoWriMo is over! Congratulations!

Exclusive TAC Quote of the Week

“Reading counts as writing time. Read outside of your comfort zone. Craft—first, last, and always. Compete only with yourself, but do so vigorously. Do what you can as an ambassador of youth literature and literacy. Be your own best cheerleader. Craft, community, and career are all necessary to success.”

~ Cynthia Leitich Smith
Eternal
(Candlewick, 2/09)

Teen Author Challenge

As all of you NaNoWriMo-ers take your first deep breath since the challenge began back on November 1st, I want to talk about something I’m a big, big believer in.

Celebrating!

Writing a book is a process. A long, sometimes frustrating, sometimes gratifying, always worthwhile process.   It doesn’t happen overnight. If you’re in this for the long haul–taking the germ of an idea and seeing it through to final polished manuscript–you need to learn to reward yourself along the way.

NaNoWriMo is a great example of that because it’s a short-term intense burst of writing. 50,000 words in 30 days. And I’ve been delighted to see so many people celebrating their success (and each other’s success!) on Twitter, blogs and elsewhere. Awesome!

The thing is, I think we should be celebrating more often. Celebrating things that may not seem as huge and momentous but are every bit as important on the road to seeing your manuscript finished.

Sure, it’s easy to remember to celebrate typing The End. But what about writing the largest number of words in a single day in the history of your writing career? What about writing through an illness, yours or someone you care for? What about sending your work out to critique partners for the first time, daring to share your project with someone else who may or may not agree with your choices?

All of those things… and so many more… are worthy of being celebrated.

Now, that doesn’t mean champagne brunch at every turn. (Especially if you’re underage.)   But there are lots of different ways to celebrate. Some things cost money, other things are free. It’s all about finding ways to celebrate that make you feel good!

I like to celebrate by taking an entire day off just to spend with my family and read. I literally have stacks of books in my serenity room (aka library) just waiting for me to read, but I have a terrible time reading them because, if I’m on deadline, I feel like I should be writing. If I have time to read, I have time to write, no? But reading is part and parcel of our job as writers. Not just to refill the well and be inspired, but to explore the finer points of storytelling in the work of our favorite authors.

The nice thing is, it doesn’t cost me anything. The books are already there waiting for me. (And if I couldn’t afford books of my own, I’d simply check them out of the library.) It’s an easy, affordable reward that I absolutely adore.

So this week, as you’re writing, take the time to think about the milestones you’ve passed so far in your writing journey and find a way to reward yourself. You deserve to recognize your own achievements!

Buzz Tip of the Week

Today, I’m offering up the first of two great posts from agent Rachelle Gardner that shed a little light on some basic financial aspects of being a professional writer. If you’ve ever wanted to know how the royalties thing works, here’s your chance.

cba-ramblings.blogspot.com/2009/11/how-book-royalties-work.html

Your Weekly Challenge

How did you do on your writing last week? Comment below with your weekly results from last Tuesday through today so we can cheer your progress!

And if you participated in NaNoWriMo, tell us how you did! Even if you didn’t meet the entire goal, I’ll bet you got far more writing done than you would have otherwise. And that’s always a win.

The Teen Author Challenge Contest

Throughout the year-long Teen Author Challenge (TAC ends June 2010!), I’ll be giving away a book of the winner’s choice from my personal writing shelf. Why am I doing this? Because becoming a skilled writer has two important parts: learning about your craft and practicing your craft. That’s why active participation in each weekly challenge is so important!

So what can you win? Books to choose from include:

1. The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing by Evan Marshall
2. The Career Novelist by Donald Maass
3. Writing Dialogue by Tom Chiarella
4. Creating Characters Kids Will Love by Elaine Marie Alphin
5. Building Believable Characters by Marc McCutcheon

Everyone who participates via the comments on the Teen Author Challenge posts will be entered into this monthly contest.

Go forth and be creative!

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