Girl of Nightmares Winners Emailed or Messaged

And so, this contest comes to a close. I had a bitchin time reading all of your entries (and looking at, and watching, and listening to recs) and I thank you for all of them. I also had a bitchin time tallying up everything. Geez. After all was said and done there were over 1600 individual points.

But the winners are:  Traci D!!! Mia T!!! and Disturbinglynic!!!! I've emailed Traci and Mia, and DMed Nic on Twitter.

Traci D had a junk ton of entries, having sent lots of varied art. Here's a recent piece from her I loved:


Creeeepy.
And Mia did a lovely video using American Horror Story and The Uninvited, which I totally can't find the link to right now. So here's some of her art:

Love it!!

There were a lot of other great videos and art, and funny penguin involved things, so I'm going to reserve them to showcase on the blog later on. Thanks so everyone who flexed creative muscle for this contest, and gave me great music/book recs, and oddly enough, new pick up lines. You guys are excellent.

Girl of Nightmares Contest Entries ie Badassness from you badasses.

When I opened this giveaway a few weeks ago, I didn't think I'd get any mega entries. I hoped for a few, because I love to see people's creativity, and I'm just a jerk who likes to be entertained. But I've gotten more than a few. Several pieces of excellent have flown to my inbox, and they range from the funny to the bloody, to the gorgeous and in-between.

I've also enjoyed your random facts. Hey girl who fell off the bed and "broke her nose" only to have a tape cast take her skin off…great story. Hey you crushing on your neighbor…I'm pulling for you.

The jokes are fantastic. (What kind of bees make milk? Boo bees! Ha ha ha! Dumb humor! I love it.) The music recs are also fantastic. I'm compiling a large list (and I do mean large) to turn into a playlist, so I can listen straight through. Some recs I've gotten before…people have been telling me to listen to The Cruxshadows for I don't know how long. So I will.

And whoever recommended Kit Harrington from Game of Thrones for Cas….excellent. Although in my head he's already cast as Odysseus from ANTIGODDESS 🙂

I wanted to showcase a few of these fine art entries:

From Leah at Much Ado About Books…this looks like one of the doodles I do in giveaway books.

Anime style Anna from Lena N!
Creepy oil from Tracy D!

And finally a gorgeous banner from Heather at Supagurl Books and Tours:

Thank you, everyone, for excellent entries. They've been so fantastic. If you don't see yours showcased here, I'm reserving it for a future post 🙂 Good luck, all! The giveaway is still open for entries. Submit artwork, photo or video as often as you want. I'll close this off on June 1st, and draw winners shortly after…sometime during the following week.

3 Girl of Nightmares ARCs up for grabs. But it isn’t easy…

Okay, so I promised to get the open ARC giveaway up and running, and then I promptly effed off to the LA Times Festival of Books and the International Reading Association conference. Which was fun, by the way. Here's a photo of Kristen Simmons (ARTICLE 5!!!), me, and Annette and Gina Cascone (DEADTIME STORIES).

I apologize for the delay. Chalk it up to me being a lazy d-bag. But here it is. The open ARC giveaway for GIRL OF NIGHTMARES. This giveaway is open to anyone and everyone, including international readers. But it isn't simple. Because I want to have a bit of fun with this. So here are the rules:

You can just comment to enter. That's one point. If you tweet or facebook the contest, that's another point each. (FYI, tally up these points people, and put it in your entry. I ain't good at the maths.)

However, for those of you who want extra entries, do something fun. This can be in your comment: Tell me a joke. A limerick. Give me a music recommendation (because I desperately need them.) Give me a book rec (even though my TBR pile is massive). Tell me something random, about yourself, or about anything. I love random crap. Tell me who you'd cast in the movie. ANY OF THESE WOULD BE WORTH 5 POINTS. But I'm not counting more than two. You can combine them with the tweeting, etc. Again, add up these points.

I may regret this system when I have to count this up.

Finally, for those of you who want SUPER MEGA entries, this is your creative chance to shine.

1. A photo of yourself, doing something ANNA related. Or of something ANNA related. Perhaps acting out scene from the book. Or do a doodle and take a picture of it. I like drawings of penguins. Or perhaps something like this:


This is a dress that a reader (hi Emma!) did for an Anna Halloween costume. Excellent.
Any photos can be sent to me at kendareblake@yahoo.com, please include permission to possibly post them on the blog. Photos will be worth 10 POINTS. Unless I can tell you really went crazy making something, then 20 POINTS.

2. Fan Art. I love fan art, it is in-fricken-credible. You guys are crazy talented, and I adore seeing it. This can also be sent to kendareblake@yahoo.com and will be worth 15 POINTS. Please include permission to possibly show them off on the blog.

3. Video of some sort. A dramatic reading. A re-enactment. A fan trailer you made in the past or now. An explanation of why cheesemaking is a lost art, and how Anna would have made a great cheesemaker if she'd been allowed to live. There aren't really any rules, except that it had to be made with Anna in mind or at least with the contest in mind. Any video, please don't send it directly to me, but send me a link where it's hosted. You can do this in the comments below, or via email. Any video is worth 25 POINTS.

Really, any entry related even slightly to the book, or to the love of reading, that your creative gourds can think of will be relished. Months ago on Twitter there were two reviewers who said they'd dress as minstrels and sing an Anna review for an ARC of Girl of Nightmares (which is where the idea for this contest came from.). Be as creative as you like. Though I will only accept one comment-type entry from everyone, I'll accept multiples of 1-3. Because if you took the time to be insanely creative, random and/or hilarious, that is the least I can do.

Obviously, anyone so inclined could really increase their odds in the random draw, but it's still a random draw. Anyone can win. So if you don't feel like doing mega entries, don't! I imagine most people won't!

Um, disclaimer to cover my butt…if anyone does get creative, don't break any laws more serious than jaywalking. Okay? And to clarify, ALL OTHER LAWS ARE MORE SERIOUS THAN JAYWALKING.

One last photo:


To prove I still have 3 to give, and am not just yanking your butts.
This contest is running through the end of the month. So, the end of May.

Girl of Nightmares Final Cover and some LA Festival of Books Stuff.

Might as well post this at the beginning:

Ooooh, she's gritty. And there's sparkage!

What do you think? Like? Dislike? I think there's more of a definite connection now between the cover of ANNA and the cover of GIRL. And the tortured baddies at the bottom pop more.

Anyway, I've been largely MIA, and for those of you waiting for the next ARC giveaway, I apologize. I'm going to run it as soon as I get back from Chicago, sometime next week. Where I will be at IRA. With the excellent Kristen Simmons (ARTICLE 5).

Last weekend, I was at the LA Times Festival of Books, which was excellent. They gave me a badge and everything, so I got to live my lifelong dream of Wayne Campbell-ing through the backstage area.


Is this cool? We're not mental or anything.

With it, I was able to get into the Anne Rice panel, and listened to her talk about The Wolf Gift (that I have yet to read) and her career and stuff, and it was excellent. She was all, in real life and stuff.

I was also on a panel with Robin LeFevers (GRAVE MERCY) and Josephine Angelini (STARCROSSED). Both very cool ladies. Cecil Castellucci moderated and if you haven't read her FIRST DAY ON EARTH, you should. It's short and poignant. I was tired as a mutt pretty much the whole time, because I get crazy airsick and have to OD on dramamine which basically dehydrates your soul. The only thing that sustained me were the lemon squares in the green room.

And now to return to work on ANTIGODDESS #2.

ARC Winners Have Been Emailed

So check your inboxes, Mary from Sweeping Me, Erin from Cullens to Classics, and Lena from Addicted 2 Novels!

Thank you to everyone who entered the Blogger Love Giveaway. You rock, and so do the names of your blogs. Seriously. So fun and clever. I hope everyone will try again when I do the open giveaway, later this month.

Okay. Um. Peace out and word to your mother.

Blogger Love Giveaway: GIRL OF NIGHTMARES ARCs

So, GIRL OF NIGHTMARES ARCs. I've got some. Here they are:

Photo taken on my kitchen counter. You can see the diet soda syrup for my SodaStream in the background. Mmm. Sodastream.

But I digress. The point is, they're pretty. No, dammit. That's not the point either.

The point is, I love Bloggers. Not only have you guys done so much to champion ANNA over the past year, but more importantly, you love books. And that rules. If you could see me now, you'd see me fist-bumping my chest twice and then pointing a sideways peace sign in your direction. And you would tell me to stop it.

So I would like to do a giveaway of these three ARCs, to bloggers. After this giveaway closes, I'll run another giveaway, open to everyone. But just now, just this time, it's for Blogger Love. To enter, leave a comment, with the name of your blog. You can leave a link if you want, but it's not required. I'll draw the winners Monday, April 2nd. The giveaway officially closes at Midnight Pacific Time on April 1st. Which is Tybalt's birthday.

Disclaimer: I've never run a giveaway before. The livejournal goat might not like it. We'll see if he chews through my wires. Any problems though, email me or Twitter me (Twitter me? Twit me? Tweet? Twat? No, that's definitely not it.) and I'll figure it out and make sure you get entered.

And gear up for the open giveaway, because I'm going to try to have fun with it. And that means fun with you.

These ARCs are a little bit special, because I'm pretty sure it's the only time you'll be able to get the red cover. I'd love it if you'd spread the word of this giveaway, but there won't be any extra entries for Tweeting, etc. And I understand if you don't, because, duh, more entries, less chances. But come on, man. It's for the love.

Listen, Mr. Kansas Law Dog. Law Don’t Go Around Here. Savvy?

Tombstone is a good movie. It just is. Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, shootouts at the OK Corral, in Tombstone, a town I used to visit as a child. I ate breakfast at the saloon I think. My grandpa scammed waitresses out of extra condiments.

Tombstone ends with a line about Wyatt Earp's funeral, saying Tom Mix was a pallbearer, and Tom Mix wept. Well, after Tombstone, Val Kilmer aged badly. And I wept.

Anyway, the quote is said by Ike Clanton, played by Stephen Lang, who most of us know as the rugged military man who fights CGI blue people in movies, and the rugged military man who fights CGI dinosaurs on TV. And it has something to do with this post, besides encouraging people to use the word "savvy" more often, which you totally should.

When Ike lays down the rules to Wyatt Earp, you can tell that Wyatt would like to tell him to shut the fuck up. But he doesn't. He's surrounded by Cowboys, and he's new in town, so he implies he could give a crap about the law, and let's play cards.

When I was first presented with copy edits, way back on Sleepwalk Society, I reacted similarly. Only without wanting to tell my copy editor to shut the eff up. That's just in the movie. The small press and everyone involved was great. But in the first few pages of the manuscript, the copy editor had taken out most of my contractions. I can't remember why. I think they thought they were overused. But whether they were or not, I disagreed. But I let it go. I didn't know what a STET was. I didn't know I could say no, and to leave it as is.

So the early pages of that novel are filled with instances of "I am" and "it is", even though I knew good and well that the sentence "I am going to the market" is not the same sentence as "I'm going to the market." "It is a shame" is not the same as "It's a shame."

The point is, in the end, they're our books. I don't know why I'm mentioning this now. Maybe because I happened to flip through the first few pages of a copy of Sleepwalk Society last week and it bugged the bejeezus out of me. And I need all my bejeezus. I should note that this is all my fault. Nobody strong armed me. If I wanted it left, I just had to speak up. But I didn't, and now I get to be irritated with myself.

OTHER NEWS: I think I might giveaway some stuff on this journal. Which is weird. I never do that. Give me a week or so to think about it, and there may be a few brand new red things up for grabs.

First I plan to soil myself. Then I’m going to regroup and come up with another plan.

Austin Powers. For months afterward whenever my mother asked what I was going to do that day, the line about soiling was my reply. My mother is a patient woman.

But this is a post about plans. Plans about signings with amazing authors. I'll put a list at the bottom.

So onto the other things. This has been a week of catching up, after the crazed sprint that was ANTIGODDESS revisions. I've caught up on some reading, which I'll be posting or tweeting about shortly. I did a fun game of Truth or Dare with the Friday the Thirteeners. Resumed my french lessons. Basically, I cleared my desk to write a new short story about Cas & Co., which I'm really looking forward to. I miss that boy.

Saw the preview for The Raven, starring John Cusack, you know, that movie that turns Edgar Allan Poe into an action hero, or sort of. I love Poe and Cusack as much as the next person who has seen eighties movies, but I don't know about this. Action hero? I thought he was just a brilliant, occasionally incestuous pedophile. Okay, okay, girls married young back then. Still. Ew.

Okay, here's the list:

The New Kids on the YA Block mini-tour, with Kiki Hamilton (THE FAERIE RING), Helen Landalf (FLYAWAY), Kathy McCullough (DON'T EXPECT MAGIC), Megan Bostic (NEVER EIGHTEEN) and Carole Estby Dagg (THE YEAR WE WERE FAMOUS)

March 14th, 7pm
Third Place Books
17171 Bothell Way NE
Lake Forest Park, WA
206-366-3333

March 15th, we'll be visiting Capital High School and then signing at the Timberland Library at 7:30 in downtown Olympia, WA.

March 16th, it's off to Tacoma where we'll be joined by Alexa Martin (GIRL WONDER) at:
Garfield Book Co.
208 Garfield St. South
Tacoma, WA 98444
253-535-7665

At each there will be speed reads, Q&A, and we've sworn to bring goodies.

OTHER EVENTS

In April, I'll be at the LA Times Festival of Books, doing a panel and a signing, April 21st and 22nd. Times TBA.

Also in April, I'm headed to the International Reading Association conference in Chicago. I'll be signing on Monday April 30th from 2-3 and on a panel Tuesday morning from 9:45 or so until 11. Then a podcast of some sort. Kristen Simmons (ARTICLE 5) is going to be there too. I hope we get up to the dickens. Whatever "dickens" are.

And it appears I'll be at ALA in June. Awesome. George RR Martin is going to be there and I'm going to stare at him. And make that "V" gesture toward my eyes, and then in his direction. Until people remove me. Shouldn't take long.

If anyone is anywhere near any of these places, I'd love to meet you. And I know, I have virtually no info yet about the LA Times Festival, and I apologize about that to those who have asked. I'll update ASAP.

This is my dance space. This is your dance space.

Dirty Dancing, I know. Didn't see that one coming. But it was on TV last night while I was writing, so, what the hell. It was weird to look at Patrick Swayze and think that he's been dead now, for years. It seems ridiculous. Impossible. Johnny Castle can't die.

To tie the quote in, doing revisions on ANTIGODDESS occasionally feels like being a dance instructor. For myself. You know the scene where Johnny says, "Don't put your heel down. Don't put your heel down." And dumb Baby keeps putting her heel down and angering The Swayze? Well, that's me. I'm dumb Baby. And I'm also The Swayze. Dumb Baby will write, and then The Swayze will go back over it and say things like, "Don't do that. Or that. And don't do that AGAIN. What are you, trying to kill me? Is this your idea of fun?"

Damn. I know that movie way better than I'd like to. The good news is, revision phase one is almost complete. Then I can stop living in a hole for about a week before I start in on Book 2.

Another little tidbit: there's a moment in these revisions where I have to reveal something. And it's always hard to reveal something, in a way that feels like it hasn't been done a million times before. I kept thinking of that scene in THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, (Fincher's version) where a murderer is about to do the dastardly deed and cues up Enya on the old discman. When I saw it, I chuckled. But after a few moments of Sail Away digging into my eardrums, I thought, "Okay, we get it. American Psycho was a good movie."

But so what if it was a little derivative. It was probably a nod to the other film anyway. And it was done fairly well. That should be a writer's only concern. Do it well.

I've got to get back to the hole now. But first, some of GIRL OF NIGHTMARES news: It's going through a bit of cover redesign. I haven't seen it yet, but word is they want to tie it more closely to Anna's cover. As soon as I've got a final, I'll post it up somewhere.

I'm reading THE SCORPIO RACES. It's bringing out the meat-eating horse lover in me.

You’re my lawyer so I think you should know: I’ve killed a lot of people.

So I've seen a few reviews lately that seem to be pretty upset about a certain cat in a certain book that I may, or may not have written. Okay, I did write it. It was Anna Dressed in Blood and the cat was Tybalt. And, SPOILER ALERT!

He doesn't make it.

I'm very, very glad that this pisses people off. Believe me, if he could read reviews, he'd be really glad too. Because Tybalt is actually my cat. Come on, I couldn't kill some poor random cat, but I figured my own could take it. At first he was flattered. He was all, "Oh, you're putting me in a book." Then I told him what happened to the character and he drew back his paw and smacked me.

Not really. He didn't wrap his little cat-fingers around my throat and scream, "Bring me back, bitch! I'm the heart of this book!" If you read the acknowledgements you'll see I thank him for being a good sport about the whole thing. Although now he keeps pitching me ideas about a cat who flies a helicopter that runs on pineapple juice. Don't judge him. He's a cat. He doesn't understand how the world works.

But this post isn't really about a cat. I just wanted to address how glad I am that people are pissed off when bad things happen to animals. Enough said.

This post is about characters! Characters make stories. It's our job as writers to write characters truly. Truly. They don't have to be sympathetic. They don't have to be people you would care about. Some of the best characters aren't. (See Patrick Bateman, in the American Psycho title quote) But they do need to be true, as true as an imaginary person can be, and if they're not, that's on us.

The character I'm working on now, oh, I'd like to kill her. I love her, but I'd like to kill her. I have tried to write her story five times now. She's in a book that was written over a year ago. And it's just this past week that I finally found her voice. It still slips away, sometimes, because she is flaky and I want to throttle her, (I'm kidding. She's not flaky.) and I look down at paragraphs and realize she's not talking to me anymore and I have to delete huge chunks.

I heard a writer I admire say that characters are just different facets of ourselves. But they can't always be, can they? Or is George RR Martin super, super schizophrenic?