Utah Locals! Who is EVERBOUND??

I apologize in advance for those who are not local, as I'm not able to run this on a larger scale, BUT if you're one of those lucky peeps who live in Utah, have I got an opportunity for you!

Nope, doesn't even involve a lemon of used car!

This ARC:

is currently en route to me. Interested? I thought you might be, especially since it's not even going to be published to the masses until January of 2013. By my count, still more than 4 months away!

Here's the deal - if you're interested in signing up for the ARC tour, please fill out the form below and keep an eye out for an email to come with additional details!

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Random Stuff Friday and #everneathARC Contest Extension!

1) I was in San Jose for day job earlier this week and had a chance to come back on an earlier flight. It turned out to be the absolutely worst flight I've ever been on since I started traveling with day job. Turbulence from takeoff to landing - like the takeoff and landing were the smoothest parts of the whole flight! Makes me dread the next flight I've got to get on in a couple weeks. :(

2) So I know I've been a bit EVERNEATHy this past week, but come on! Have you seen the cover of Brodi Ashton's book? How could you not gasp at the beauty of this thing? Plus! How could you NOT want your very own??? Last night was supposed to be the end of the #everneathARC contest, BUT due to popular demand, the continued influx of entries, Debbie CranberryFries and I decided to EXTEND the contest another few days! So NOW you have until Tuesday, July 5 at 5pm Mountain time to get your Tweet on! Go check out the deets HERE or HERE! And remember, if you don't win the #everneathARC, you could still get lucky and win yourself a whole load of EVERNEATHy goodies! GOOD LUCK! ( And big ol' fat thanks to Brodi for being such an awesome author support of the contest!)

3) It's the beginning of Independence Day weekend. I'm off work early today and then don't have to come back until next WEDNESDAY! Woohoo! Our big plans this week: the kidlets are going to be in a parade, big family barbecue and fireworks! Always a fun time. Good food, friends and family, and fireworks. That's what it's all about!

4) Also, if you all will remember my twitpic from earlier this week:
after 5 days of untangling on/off, I swear I'm making progress:I know, I could totally go buy another $2.99 thingy of yarn, but I'm finding this whole untangling thing a bit cathartic ... good thing I told Husband he wouldn't have a scarf until ice fishing season in January, so I've got some time to finish untangling!

5) Don't know about the rest of y'all, but I've got a 4 and a 1/2 day weekend this weekend :) Off mid-day today and not back in the day job until Wednesday! So don't forget to get all EVERNEATHy and enter the deadline-extended contest ... be safe on the roads / with the fireworks / working the grill ... and don't forget to have an absolutely awesometastical weekend!

Quote of the Week

"Let's meet at that one place by that tree where we went that one time."

Jack
-EVERNEATH by Brodi Ashton (January 2012, Balzar & Bray)

What was that? What am I talking about? Oh, you haven't read part 2 of the exclusive Brodi Ashton interview to know why that's this week's quote. Well, what are you waiting for? You even still have a chance to win an ARC of Brodi's debut novel, EVERNEATH!! Click HERE for the details on how you can still enter to win!

EXCLUSIVE Interview & #everneathARC

UPDATE: The #everneathARC Contest has been EXTENDED! For your chance to win, keep reading, but know that you now have until 5pm on Tuesday, July 5th to get your tweet on!

A few weeks ago, I had a Twitter conversation with a friend that basically ended up with me landing an awesome opportunity to FINALLY be one of the cool peeps to get an EXCLUSIVE! I mean, come on, who doesn't want one of those, right? And what did I get? Well, according to Michael of HarperCollins, I got the ever-amusing Brodi Ashton! Well, an EXCLUSIVE interview with Brodi, I mean. Along with Debbie over at CranberryFries, we were able to get some insights into Brodi's life, writing and the world of her debut novel EVERNEATH (coming January, 2012).

Ah, yes. EVERNEATH. What is it, you ask? Well, here's the lowdown:

EVERNEATH is partially based on the Greek myth of Persephone: 17-year-old Nikki's been banished to the underworld escapes to return to her former earthly existence with her family and boyfriend. The catch is that she only has six months in this real world before being sent back to Hades, this time forever.

Now if that doesn't sound like you need to CLICK HERE to go add it to your GoodReads, I don't know what does!

You're probably now at the stage where you're wondering, okay, so who is this Brodi character, anyway? Well, she, like about 2.7 million other people (give or take a 100,000) lives in Utah. She's married with two young boys who still have no idea why she's at the computer all the time. Brodi has a Bachelor's degree in Journalism from the University of Utah and a Master's degree in International Relations from the London School of Economics. Several times a week, you can catch up with her and her amusing antics on her blog HERE. And sometimes, if she's not around, her hilarious husband covers for her and it's worth keeping up with the blog just to read his posts sometimes!

And now on to the EXCLUSIVE! part 2. (You can find EXCLUSIVE! part 1 at CranberryFries!)

Me: So Brodi, can you share your favorite one-liner from Everneath?

Brodi: I love it when Jack says to Nikki, "Let's meet at that one place by that tree where we went that one time." And Nikki knows exactly where he's talking about. It really shows how much history they have together and how well they know each other.

Me: What was your first thought when you saw your cover?

Brodi: My first thought was pure joy, and then relief that I wouldn't have to be one of those authors who has to pretend she loves her cover. I absolutely love love love my cover! [Me too!] It's really what I had pictured, only way better because I'm not very creative.

Me: Does thinking about the upcoming signings and other public events make you nervous? Or have you not thought about the groupies and paparazzi who will be stalking you at said events yet? Oh, should I have not brought them up... ?

Brodi: Ha ha ha. For some reason, I have not been worried about paparazzi. Mostly I just hope at least two people turn up to my signings. And then I hope those two people aren't my husband and my mom.

Me: How has working with a "real-life" publishing house editor affected your writing? Do you drink more Diet Coke now than in the era BE (before editor)?

Brodi: I'm lucky enough to have the world's best editor by my side, Kristin Daly Rens. Seriously, I think she was recently voted "Smarted editor on the planet" and was awarded a golden burrito. She taught me (by force, which may or may not have involved a whip) [dare I even ask??] to never stop asking questions about the world in my book, and thus made it a stronger book. And she loves Diet Coke and cinnamon bears as much as I do.

Me: You're working on Everneath 2 right now, what's been the most challenging aspect of writing a sequel?

Brodi: The most challenging aspect has been trying to keep my focus when all this exciting stuff is... I HAVE A COVER! BECCA FITZPATRICK BLURBED MY BOOK! ARC's ARE ON THEIR WAY! ... Sorry... where were we?

Me: What, besides the cinnamon bears and Diet Coke, gets you "in the mood" to throwdown some major wordage and get the creative juices flowing?

Brodi: My friend and critique partner Bree Despain and I have been holding "Word Wars" on twitter where we write for an hour straight and then report back our word counts. It's all about getting as many words as you can, so it allows you to write crap, which is the first step toward writing awesome. Any writers can join in!

Me: And finally, with your books having Greek mythology in the roots, if you suddenly discovered you were a Goddess, what's the first thing you'd do?

Brodi: Easy. I'd cure cancer.
That's kind of boring, though, so how about I'd cure cancer, and I'd also give me the power of having acid for blood. So if someone picked a fight, and made me bleed, they'd be sorry.

Thanks so much for your great answers and giving us some insight into the book as well as you and your writing! So basically what it comes down to is, Don’t mess with the Diet Coke & Cinnamon Bears powered Goddess Brodi, or else you’re gonna be in big, BIG trouble!!

But WE are not in trouble and I know you’re DYING for this next part! … but before we begin, let’s check --

Do you have a Twitter account? Good.

No? Better get one asap or else you're gonna miss a chance to win your very own Brodi Ashton-signed and donated ARC of EVERNEATH! Here's all you've gotta do:

Go get the first half of the "OFFICIAL Brodi-approved #everneathARC tweet" from CRANBERRYFRIES’ #everneathARC post HERE

Go ahead, I’ll wait.

Okay, got it? We’re back now? All right.

Add that to this second half of the "OFFICIAL Brodi-approved #everneathARC tweet":

I want the #everneathARC NOW!!! (deets: http://bit.ly/fLhG0)

Now, put them together and go TWEET IT!!

Easy-peasy right? Of course it is!

Now, if you want some extra chances to win ... there's a few things you can do, and NO, you do NOT have to keep track of your points or come back to us with an email or anything like that. If you just do any of the following things, we'll take care of all the math, counting and adding and stuff for you!

+1 following either of our blogs (+2 if you follow both) - new and old followers, same number of points.

+1 commenting on either of our #everneathARC blog posts (+2 if you comment on both)

and the big one ...once the cover is revealed and available on the PageTurners blog you can get

+5 for changing your Twitter avatar over to the EVERNEATH cover and leaving it up for the next week! (we'll be spot checking - no work necessary from you other than the switch over)

And don't think the ARC is all we've got up for grabs! If that's not enough for you, there's an awesome second prize surprise basket containing oodles of EVERNEATH-y goodies! You won't be disappointed!

This contest is open to all US residents only (sorry international peeps) through Thursday, June 30 and we'll be announcing the winners on our blogs Friday, July 1.

UPDATE: The #everneathARC Contest has been EXTENDED! For your chance to win, keep reading, but know that you now have until 5pm on Tuesday, July 5th to get your tweet on!

And now that you’ve finally reached the end of this forever long blog post – hey, my name is Windy, I can’t help that I’m a bit long-winded, okay? – Click on over to the PAGETURNERS Blog for the big reveal of EVERNEATH’s breathtaking cover! You won’t want to miss it!!

Random Stuff Fri--er, Thursday

1) I know, today isn't Friday, BUT you'll still want to come back tomorrow as the lovely Debbie -i.e. CranberryFries - and I have the fabulous opportunity to offer to you ... the very FIRST Arc contest for Brodi Ashton's EVERNEATH! Along with exclusive interviews with the Bro-meister, this contest runs alongside the cover reveal for EVERNEATH that will be hosted on the PageTurners blog! So I'll see you back here tomorrow, right? Right!

2)In other randomness, I confess, I forgot to blog last Friday and by the time I got around to realizing it, well, I couldn't remember all of the week's random stuff and I was distracted by life-ish things and just didn't get to it. I'm doing better this week, because, well, as I write this, it has just become Wednesday, which means, I'm trying to keep track of the random stuff that's going on. Yay for me! I know, this is weird to those who know me and know I'm a bit of an overplanner and a little Type A. But there you have it.

3) I've been saying I've wanted to learn to knit and crochet forever. I've taught myself how to do needlepoint pretty decently, and, well, that's about it. Unless you count coloring in the lines to be really crafty. But anyway, so my sister learned how, with some help from Mom and Dad. So then she tried to teach me. Apparently I was pupil # 3 to try to learn. I didn't do half bad, but pupil #4, well, just the fact there was a pupil #4 was surprising. So there I am, sitting on my parents' couch with my almost 20yo sister AND 18yo brother learning how to knit. In his words: It takes a REAL man to be willing to learn how, even if I never do it again. Which is true, to that. Because, yanno, my dad totally knows how to knit.

4) A conversation between Husband and 3yo after family dog (a 1 1/2 yo boxer) spastically ran through the house and knocked a bunch of stuff over while we were trying to organize food list for upcoming camping trip --
Husband: maybe we'll just eat Kentucky Fried Dog (yes, I know it sounds gross, just go with it)
3yo: Do you mean Lucy?
Husband: Yes. She's crazy.
3yo: We can't eat Lucy.
Husband: Why not?
3yo: She's a person too.
It was a little bit "aw, cute" and a little bit "how does this kid put this logic together??"

5) And since I started with bookish, EVERNEATH-y stuff, I thought I'd end with some bookish, EVERNEATH-y stuff: LAST CALL for UTAH Book Bloggers!!! If you're interested in the Locals Arc Tour please email me at windy.aphayrath (at) gmail.com by 5pm Mountain time on Friday, June 24!! .... For those of you who have already emailed / signed up way back when the first call went out - I've got you on my list and I've already contacted those of you who I needed additional information from. I will be emailing everyone over the weekend with more information!

Random Stuff Friday

1) I really need to capture a vid of my kid brother jamming out that horrendous "It's Friday" song, seeing as that's the first thing I thought of when I started this post. Every time I say something about Friday, he busts out in the chorus of that and it's hilarious! Regardless, it IS Friday and I'm so glad. It feels like it has been a long, long week. Even if I had yesterday off ;)

2) So every year, between Mother's Day and Father's Day, well, things at this Aphayrath house are jam-packed! We've got 3 birthdays (the 2 kidlets & mine, the parents' days, our wedding anniversary), and then this year we had to add to that 4 graduations (1 college, 3 high school), a family wedding and, of course, a lovely friend's HUGE book release & launch party (*ahem* Have YOU picked up your copy of Elana Johnson's POSSESSION yet?? Well, have you??).. and well, yeah, it's been a busy 6 weeks or so. Just listing it out makes me want to crawl back to bed and take a nap.

3) I'm writing again. Woohoo! After a long and unexpected hiatus, it feels so good to get new, albeit crappy, words down again. Love this feeling and have missed it so, but the break was good, I think.

4) We've lived in our house for 4 years now and finally, FINALLY, we've gotten to some MAJOR yard work. In the last couple of weeks, Husband and a couple of his buddies rented a chainsaw from Home Depot and chopped down 2 obnoxious trees that I've totally hated since the first summer after we moved in. One was a nasty tasting purple plum tree with a mean ol' robin that would dive bomb you if you got too close, and the other was a tall flowering shade tree that while the flowers were pretty, they smelled sort of like dog poop. And we have a dog, so I know that smell. GROSS! So yay! Every time I look at our yard now I feel a bit more Zen.

5) And lastly, if you're a local Utah blogger (reader / writer / general supporter of all things wordish) I've still got a few spots open on the locals ARC tour of Brodi Ashton's EVERNEATH (Winter, Balthazar & Bray). Email me at windy (dot) aphayrath (at) gmail (dot) com if you're interested. Spots are filling up fast! - to those of you outside of Utah, I know Brodi's going to have ARCs out with some of the other tours, so keep an eye out!

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

Random Stuff Friday

1) Finally am starting to feel better now. Hopefully the weekend will give me a chance to get all back to normal, bloggerly speaking. I've been playing catch up for the last week and a half and I hate feeling like I'm falling behind on everything.

2) I've been having some Twitter issues of late and I've found it thoroughly annoying. For some reason, my Twitter/Tweetdeck disconnected itself from Facebook and now my statuses don't flow through. I've done everything I can to fix this, so if you think you can help me ... please? HELP? ... in the mean time, I've resorted to using the Selective Tweets app, which is a pain because I constantly forget the #fb.

3) OK, again ... sorry sorry sorry to all my bloggerly friends who don't live in Utah and want to participate in Brodi Ashton's EVERNEATH ARC tour. I just don't have the bandwidth to go beyond Utah and I'm coordinating everything with Brodi ... so yeah. Sorry. I don't mean to exclude anyone, I just cannot logistically handle that and, yanno, have a life too. Forgive me? Please? Maybe I need to bribe you with prizes for forgiveness? ... hmmm ... I feel a contest coming ... stay tuned .....

4) I don't mean to sound mean here, I'm just repeating a child's observation. The other night after dinner, the kidlets were having Girl Scout Cookies for dessert and 5yo picked up the box of Thin Mints and said, "Mommy, how come if these are Girl Scout Cookies there are only boys on the box?" This was the side of the box she pointed out to me.

5) Finally bits and pieces of spring are starting to appear at our house so you know what that means ... yard work! I probably sound way more enthusiastic about this than I should, but really, Husband and I have some plans for this year that include cutting down up to 4 trees, finally getting a half-decent flowerbed in, AND finally killing the overgrown hydrangea bushes in the backyard (inherited from previous owners). Lofty goals, but I figure, we've got about 6 months to get all this work in, so good luck to us!

Happy Friday everyone and have a great weekend!

Everneath in Utah

I apologize in advance to those who don't live in Utah. But to those who do ... have I got an opportunity for you!

In January 2012, a little book written by a little author from our fair little state will be released. Her name's Brodi Ashton. Ever heard of her? Yeah, apparently she's also sometimes referred to as #1 Crazy by her loving crit group. Anyway, Brodi's got this little book coming out next January called EVERNEATH. Here's the blurb of it I stole from her blog:

EVERNEATH is partially based on the Greek myth of Persephone: a 17-year-old who's been banished to the underworld escapes to her former earthly existence with her family and boyfriend. The catch is that she only has six months in the real world before being sent back to Hades, this time forever.

Sounds interesting right? Yeah, I thought so too. Well, when this tweet came through my timeline:

I replied and asked Brodi if she'd considered doing an arc tour. More specifically, a locals arc tour just because there are so many writers and book bloggers here and maybe we could stretch one arc a bit further. Some gears started cranking, someone was *ahem* volunteered ... and Huzzah!

If you are a writer / book blogger and are interested in an opportunity to read EVERNEATH before it's released, here's your chance! Brodi's generously offered to donate an arc to the cause and this copy of EVERNEATH will be getting a grand tour of Utah, via bloggers.

There will be some fine print details to come around regarding reviews and time you can keep the book, etc, but if you're interested, please email me at windy.aphayrath (at) gmail (dot) com or leave a comment below with your name, email and city so I can start the organizing!

Also, Brodi's going to be at the Utah Book Bloggers Social on Saturday, March 5th. You can get my contact information from her there also!

UPDATE (12:12 pm): Please make sure you are leaving me an email address or some way of contacting you if you leave your info in the comments below. If your profile isn't setup for email responses, I have no way to reach you and won't be able to add you to the list!

Random Stuff Friday

1) I'm still sick. Sorry if I've been MIA in blog commenting. I've been hacking up lungs and what not.

2) It's just recently occurred to me that it has been 10 1/2 years since I was in England (for a school trip). I still talk about it like it was just yesterday. I feel old. Thanks to the CP who had to ask all those Stonehenge questions. And I swear, I'm totally not that old.

3) Earlier this week, I *ahem* admitted to a bit of Bieber fever. I'd like to qualify that statement and remind everyone that I have been heavily medicated for the past 14 days or so due to illness and ... yeah. And seriously? It's not my fault that Glee decided they needed to sing Bieber. Besides, I have to say, the kid did an excellent job getting all sorts of shot up on CSI ... just saying.

4) I'm just throwing this out there today, but I'll be putting up a full-on blog post about this in the coming weeks, but if you're a local (to me), meaning that you live in Utah, I'm helping the ever-awesome Brodi Ashton with organizing a "locals" arc tour for her book, EVERNEATH (January 2012). If you're interested ... details are soon to come!

5) There's a hair appointment with my name on it tomorrow morning. I'm trying to decide how to also cram in a trip to Costco, getting new tires for the car, other grocery shopping and maybe a movie with the kidlets all into tomorrow. It's gonna be a busy weekend!

Happy Friday!