Random Stuff Friday

 1) It's Friday. In case y'all missed the memo. I guess that's not really a random statement, but I just wanted to reiterate it, hoping that as I enter into the weekend with 2 sick children and 1 husband who will be working all weekend, it will not be as bad as I think it will be.

2) My right foot is falling asleep as I type this. I hate that feeling, but at the same time, it's sort of reassuring that my limbs are reminding me, by tingling like crazy, that they are still there and functional and stuff. Right now the tingling is mostly closer to my ankle and on the top of my foot. I'm wondering if I keep typing about this, if my foot will realize I am blogging about it and quit the attempt to nap or if it will try even harder to fall asleep faster.

3) Husband and I went to the Sunflower Market this week. It's like a quasi-farmer's market sort of store, but anyway, they were filming "The Program" in the store and someday, sometime in the future, you may see us in the background of some show. We're not sure what show. We're not sure what channel, but we are future background tv stars.

4) I asked this question on Twitter and FB yesterday, but no one answered me and I actually wanted someone to give me thoughts. I was sad when no one said anything. Is that weird? I feel all lame for feeling like I was neglected because no one cared about my random question. I'm such a dork. So really, if you have thoughts, let me know.

5) A thought just occurred to me, and this is probably not one of those "Mom of the Year" thoughts: Sick kids require medication. That means they should sleep more right? Like, during the day? Maybe that means I can get some more done on my revisions. And with Husband gone and kids sleeping, that could mean I'd get lots of quiet sort of alone. Hmm, maybe this weekend really won't be as bad as I'm imagining. I can always be hopeful right?

All right, peeps. Hope everyone has a great weekend free of illness!

P.S. In case you were wondering, my foot chose to not fall asleep. I know it was all because I was blogging about it. It got self-conscious.

Oh, and one other note! I'm blogging over at Pots 'n Pens today, so go check out a fabulous interview with the lovely Tess Hilmo, get a tasty noodle recipe AND enter for a chance to win a personalized signed copy of her debut WITH A NAME LIKE LOVE!

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!!

Possession Winners!

I love these posts!

You know why?

Because SOMEONE - in this case SOMEONES - are getting signed books!

Last week a whole bunch of you guys joined in with Nichole, Ali and I on a bloghop on June 7 to help launch POSSESSION by Elana Johnson.

Through the wonders of Random.org (and verification bloghop posts were up), the three winners of the signed copies of POSSESSION are:

Amy McBray
John Sankovitch
Rachel Morgan

Congrats you three! Keep an eye out for an email to come from one of us for your info so we can get the books sent out to you!

And if you DIDN'T win ... you've still got a chance to get some personal Elana-time! There's still time to enter to win this awesome prize! All you have to do? Send a copy of the receipt from your POSSESSION purchase to windy (dot) aphayrath (at) gmail (dot) com! You've got until the POSSESSION Virtual Launch on Thursday, June 16 (at 12:00 pm Mountain time) to get these in! I know you've already bought your book(s), so why haven't you sent me the receipt yet???

Broken Rules: A Possession Bloghop!

Happy Book Birthday, POSSESSION !

And of course, in honor of this grand occasion, we (Ali, Nichole and I) are along with a whole bunch of Baddies ;) are blogging about a time when we broke the rules! It's not too late to jump on the bloghop and add your blog to the list below and get something posted today - you could win a signed copy of POSSESSION! Or you can send one of us a copy of your receipt from your POSSESSION purchase and get entered to win some personal Elana-time! (All the details can be found HERE.)

So then, on to the rule breaking!

Back in the high school days, I honestly was the ultimate Goodie. I didn't break the rules. I did what I was supposed to do and called it good. There was no questioning and only a little bit of wondering what I was missing out on. I'm from a pretty traditional Laotian family and with that came crazy strict parents and lots and lots of family obligations. Friends they would approve of, and never, never did I just "go out" because, well, that's just not what Goodie girls did. I just did what I was supposed to and called it a day.

Flash forward to the following spring ...

(And yes, I realize technically, I was 19 and an "adult" but really, I still lived at home and honestly - in most Laotian families, age doesn't mean much) ... I'd started hanging out with a different crowd, made some new friends and some of them had some pretty colorful histories.

Within a couple weeks, every rule my parents had ever sent flew out the window, shattering as they hit the ground twenty feet below.

I was staying out all night. Coming home just as the sun was coming up and my parents were leaving for work.

I started dating a guy who, although really nice, was involved in some pretty shady stuff.

And I was spending so much time when I was usually with my brother and sister with these people who, at any point if a member of law enforcement came in, would probably have gotten us all arrested for one reason or another.

The thing here that was hard, was that beneath their activities, most of these people were really nice people. I liked them, as people. Maybe not everything they did, but isn't that always the way it is?

In the end, I got tired, bored, whatever you want to call it, and I walked away from the hanging out at all hours of the night. School priorities and finals came around and honestly, there's only so much of sitting around doing nothing a person can handle before you start to think, "yanno, I could be home sleeping."

I think my biggest lesson here is something that reaffirms a lot of other lessons that we've all been taught. You never really know people until you get to know them. So 1) Don't judge others. 2) Treat people with respect. 3)Always remember the Golden Rule.

P.S. As for the guy I was dating? Because we all know that's where most of the curiosity lies ... Well, his decisions changed a lot of his life and years later, I heard from him after he was released from prison. He found me on Facebook. (True story, I swear!!) It was a very thoughtful and sincere letter filled with apology and regret, as well as hope that he'd be able to get his life turned around and wishing me the best in mine. We're FB friends now and that's about the most contact we have, not for any real reason other than we're just very different people from who we were back then. And lesson 4)? Regardless of how you feel or what you think, people CAN change - they just have to want it and need to have the right motivation.

Your turn! What rules have you shattered??

Quote of the Week

"Civilization had too many rules for me,

so I did my best to rewrite them."

Bill Cosby

And just a friendly reminder! The ever-lovely Elana Johnson's debut POSSESSION releases TOMORROW - have you added yourself to the bloghop and pre-ordered your copy of the book yet? Remember, this gives you a chance to win a signed copy of the book or maybe even some personal Elana-time! Check over HERE for all the details!

Possession: the Bloghop & Contest

**Sorry I've been a bit MIA - things have been crazy busy - but man, have I got a reason to be back in the saddle now!**

The day is almost here, and unless you've been living under a rock or in a really deep, dark hole, you know I mean POSSESSION is almost here!

There's a flurry of ways for you to participate in the fun and win a SIGNED copy of the book or other uber-cool prizes, so you are NOT going to want to miss this week in the blogosphere!

Nichole, Ali and I are hosting the first contest and it comes in 2 parts - and you know what that means right? More chances to win!

PART ONE: Join in the bloghop by signing up today, or any day between now and next Tuesday, June 7th on any one of our blogs. Then, on June 7th, POSSESSION's official book birthday, post on your blog about a time when you had to break the rules for the greater good. 3 lucky winners will receive signed copies of POSSESSION!

PART TWO: Anyone who pre-orders a copy of POSSESSION between right this moment and June 7th, will be entered in a drawing for an awesome prize of your choosing. What are the choices you ask? Well ... you'll get some one-on-one time with Elana and you get to choose what that time is used for! A query crit? An online chat? A Skype session? Yep, totally up to the lucky winner!

Feel free to advertise this contest on Twitter, your blog, Facebook, or even by skywriting if you want! The more entries, the more fun!

Good luck to everyone!

Oh, and P.S. All winners will be announced on Wednesday, June 8th! ***UPDATE: The contest has been extended an extra week!! You've got until Wednesday, June 15th to enter and Elana herself will announce the winner on Thursday, June 16th!***

You've Been MATCHED!

Happy Day After Valentine's and ...

Congrats to Marquita (KeeKee) Hockaday!

You're the lucky random winner of the fabulous Ally Condie's MATCHED!

And because I was lucky enough to get to see Ally again for the Breathless Tour, you ALSO get a signed bookmark!

Email me at windy.aphayrath (at) gmail (dot) com and we'll work out all your shipping details :)

Quote of the ... Day

Without Valentine's Day, February would be... well, January.

Jim Gaffigan

Just thought I'd try to keep things in perspective on this sort of holiday day! (It only really counts as a holiday if you get the day off from work.)

Oh! And don't forget! If you haven't entered to win a signed copy of (the ever-awesome) Ally Condie's MATCHED - with MATCHED-ing signed bookmark - go HERE and enter. RIGHT NOW!!

Random Stuff Friday

1) While it is pretty awesome that we've got 5 kick ass YA authors in town for a signing tomorrow, I'm not so sure this is gonna be good for my shoulders / back. Do you know how heavy that many books is?!?! Take into account the ones I'm getting signed for myself, a couple few for good friends who couldn't make it and then a few that may *ahem* show up on here for, yanno, one reason or a *cough* contest *cough* another.

What was that?!?? You haven't entered to win a signed copy of Ally Condie's MATCHED yet? Well what are you waiting for?!?! Run ... er ... CLICK HERE! I bet there will even be cupcakes in it for you!

2) So for the first time since I got it (back in June) Captain Nook's battery is about dead. And low and behold, what do I discover? I can't find the freakin' charger cord. Great. :( Good thing I have to go hit up B & N anyway.

3) I have self-imposed deadlines from now through the end of June for writerly stuff. We'll see how this pans out, seeing as it involves writing lots of "first three chapters" and, uh, I am not one of those people who actually writes chronologically. And also lots of outlining and I am so totally an organic writer. This should be interesting.

4) Oh look! While Captain Nook's charger cord has gone missing, I just found the charger cord for my bluetooth headset. The universe is totally toying with me.

5) When I was little my mom and I used to go to the little Asian store and she'd rent VHS tapes of Thai la khons aka soap operas. This was like, a weekly thing so she could watch her shows. This has been going on for years. Well, she recently discovered she can watch the la khons on YouTube. It's like a mini-Netflix for her, but without the $9.99 fee. Great, whatever. Except now my siblings are kickin' themselves for introducing her to this. Why? Here's my sister's tweet from last night:

Yes, she's gone psycho because my sister's laptop wouldn't turn on so she could use it to watch the la khons on YouTube. Forget that my sister was doing her homework at the time ... what's this world coming to?

I better go let my mom know her la khons aren't leaving YouTube any time soon and my sister probably should finish her homework. Have a nice weekend everyone!

And Without Further Ado

As you'll remember, I told you all about H.o.W. I Stay Calm. After many deep breaths, several Jedi Squirrel battles and a series of cinnamon roll breakfasts, the Utah Chapter of RWA announced the results of the Hearts of the West Writing Contest.

And I took 2nd Place!!

The winners were announced at the Utah Chapter RWA Conference that was held over this past weekend. Though I wasn't able to attend, I was notified very soon after the results were announced and also received some great feedback from the judges of the contest.

Thanks to everyone for all the crossed fingers and toes and eyes and so forth! All your moral support was (and always is) superly appreciated!

YanYan is Yum!

Sorry, I meant to post this earlier, but things have been a bit crazy. Hence the reason this is not a more fabulous post.

However, the important part is .... Who gets the Yum?? Well, the YanYan, but seriously, it is chocolate hazelnut YUM!

And without further ado, according to random.org the winner is

L.T. ELLIOT!

LT, shoot me an email on the best way to get the goodies over to you!

H.O.W. I Stay Calm

It's hard. Sometimes, damn near impossible.

H.O.W. do I do it? I have ADD and --ohhh look,

jedi squirrels!! Oh, wait, where was I? Oh, yeah.

H.O.W. to stay calm. Like I said, it's difficult. Especially as a writer where there's so much waiting and uncertainty and wondering and waiting and waiting and waiting.

Like when you send out a query. And wait. And wait. And wait.

Or if you're past that stage and out on submission. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.

Or when you enter the Utah Chapter RWA Hearts of the West (aka HOW) Writer's Contest. And wait. And wait. And -- what? Wait, WHAT?

I'M A FINALIST IN THE Utah RWA H.O.W. Contest!!!

Check it out at the Utah RWA site.

And now I am doing a little bit of this:

Because, well, all good things should be shared and celebrated!

And I'm doing a lot a bit of this:

Why? Because losing myself in another story is H.O.W. I stay calm.

Keeping my fingers crossed! If you've got some good news let's hear it!

Random Stuff Friday ... and a CONTEST!

1. Little Greeny's back and better than ever. The extra investment in the Geek Squad warranty stuff = Best. Plan. Ever. So now she's got a better hard drive (because they weren't sure what I had, so the guessed and I ended up with an upgrade.) AND they backed up my stuff for free! (normally they charge $100). And the whole thing only took about 25 hours, from drop off until I was able to pick up. Yay! Go Geek Squad.

2. Holy crap, I had no idea that being without my computer for a day would totally throw off my jive so much. But it did. It totally felt like I've been off my game this week - not tweeting like normal, not facebooking or blogging or anything! I feel like I've ended up so disconnected! So now I feel like I have to make up for it. We'll see if I actually can.

3. In addition to my lack of social networking this week ... I have barely been writing. Or rewriting. Or revisioning. Like I said. So off my game. I need to get my crap together. Hoping this 3-day weekend will help - at least on the R & R side (that's rest and relaxing, not rewriting & revisioning). Should help me get my game back right? Let's hope.

4. Last night was crit group night. Can I just say how much I adore my crit group? Love these ladies. Yes, that's right - Ali, Sheralyn and Nichole, I'm talking to you!! They're a ball to hang out with and brainstorm with and they always know just how to keep you grounded. As I've said on Twitter, I'm not exactly uber-techie, hence the shipping Little Greeny off to Geek Squad when she got sick. So this is a little bottle cap magnet one of my crit buds gave me - it's even green to match Little Greeny.

5. Speaking of crit group, we were talking about weird food. I don't remember how the topic came up, but I've eaten my fair share of bizarre foods (by American standards). My family's originally from Southeast Asia and there's loads of things that seem relatively normal to me, but according to some people, are bizarre. Cow tongue, tripe, chicken feet, balut (embryo eggs) and duck blood, just to name a few things.

AND because I decided just right this moment that I want to give something away, all you have to do is leave a comment and tell me what the MOST BIZARRE THING you've ever eaten is and you could win this lovely notebook, along with some Sharpie pens, very normal things for all writers to have. And that's not all! I'll even throw in one of our family's favorite treats: YanYan crackers with chocolate-hazelnut dip! Seriously - the treat is YUM!

And because there's totally yum foodage involved and some countries are so not down with the yum, I have to keep this a USA only contest. Sorry to the international peeps. I'll leave this contest open until, oh, let's say 10:00 pm Mountain time next Tuesday, September 21. The last day of summer. *sigh* I'll pick a winner with the help of random.org.

Oh, and if you decide you want to tweet the contest or FB it or whatev, let me know and I'll throw in an extra entry for you!

Okie dokie, all, have a great weekend!

Plan vs Actual

Ahhhh! It would seem, I don't truly know how to "take it easy" as everyone (including the doc) has advised. So maybe I shouldn't have been so gung-ho about trying to get back on top of my blogginess. Grrrrr me. I'm disappointed in myself.

What I planned: Back to F/T blogging (4-5 posts a week) beginning last Wednesday.
What happened: I posted on Wednesday.

What I planned: Taking it easy over the weekend, getting some rest, before starting back in the office on Monday (today)
What happened: My entire in-lawish family came into town (Husband's grandma has 8 kids plus ALL of their kids) and stayed the entire weekend. My immediate in-lawish family is still here through the end of this week. = No rest for Windy

And finally. . .

What I planned: Opening up the Not-So-Holey contest today
What happened/is happening: It isn't gonna be a Not-So-Holey day. Sorry guys. I wasn't able to get my act together enough to get everything I needed to organize this contest. I am hoping for some catch up time later this week, so I have now been made truly aware that the planned and actual don't always go together. *sigh* So give me a couple more days and I should be ready!

I feel like such a slacker! Sorry sorry sorry. . . this whole recovery thing, it takes a bit longer than my brain and body realized and I'm not sure I really like this :(

Follow Along

Who's a Justin Beiber fan? *crickets* Anyone? *more crickets* Anyone at all? Bueller? Bueller?

Okay, so the other day I was at my mom's house and my little brother showed me a video on YouTube. I know I sound rambly right now, but bear with me. PLEASE, I have a point, I swear. If you've been following me for a while, you know I have a point, and if not, well, sometimes it takes a while for me to make it.

Over the weekend (and probably prior to my rant yesterday) I hit a milestone that means a whole heckuva lot to me: 100 followers.

It is my first 100 and you first 100 will forever be in my bloggy-heart. I WILL be doing something to commemorate this, however, I think that may take a trip to some sort of bookish place that smells of freshly printed paper and coffee beans to inspire me as to what. I don't know about you, but I sorta am feeling a GIVEAWAY to come! Soon, my pretties, very very soon. ;)

But back to this idea of followers. (I <3 you!) Don't you sorta think it comes across a little ... I don't know ... stalkerish? Don't get me wrong. I love the followers I have and I love being a follower, learning through lurking, sometimes jumping into convos I never would've been a part of if I wasn't a stalk-uh, I mean, a follower, but ... yeah. I guess that's all.

Hmmm, maybe I didn't have a point.

Anyway, I don't have any other really profound thing to say about this, but mostly, this rambling came courtesy of this YouTube video that seriously made me ROFLMAO.

Enjoy!

Winners! Winners! Winners!

I know you stopped by to see if you won.

I know it isn't really my charming personality, my ability to make the most random comments or my great hair straightening techniques that draw you in. It was bribery, wasn't it? You can admit it, you succumbed to my wooing by offering loads of AWESOME signed books by Elizabeth Scott and you just couldn't help yourself.

It's okay. I won't take it personally. I probably woulda done the same thing because, like you, I've got that whole “I'm in love with books” problem too.

Anyway, let me get the fine print out of the way because people sometimes forget to read on after they've found out they won.

If you're one of the LUCKY 10 winners of a book by Awesome Elizabeth Scott, please email the address you want the books sent to (again, US only) to me at windy (dot) aphayrath (at) gmail (dot) com also please make sure and let me know if you've read any of the books shown below so I can try to make sure you get one you haven't read yet. Unless you have no preference, then just tell me that too.

And without further ado, the winners are . . .

Kristen from Take It As It Comes
Kelly from The Book Hunter
Readerly Person
Shannon Whitney Messenger
Taffy of Taffy’s Candy
Rebecca L. Sutton
Pam Harris
Aik of The Bookaholics
Kimberly from The Brown Eyes Have It
The Blue Lipstick Samurai

Congrats to all the winners! Don’t forget to send me your info.

And thanks to EVERYONE for coming along for the ride on this first contest adventure and of course, a HUGE-UNGOUS thank you to the uber-fantastic, amazing and overall AWESOME Elizabeth Scott for all her generosity, allowing me to make this contest absolutely fabulous.

As ever, Happy Reading!

Twitterly-dee, Twitterly-do

I love Twitter.

There, I said it.

You don't have to like Twitter, but of all social networking I couldn't give up at this point, it would be Twitter. Why, you ask? I've personally got a couple reasons.

#1) It's 140 characters. That's it. No extras. Unless you really want then, then you can go off and sign up for them. (TwitPic, Twishorts, etc)

#2) The opportunity to "chat" with people I wouldn't otherwise get to talk to. Like I've had convo's with Cindy Pon about sushi and persimmons and discussed my love for Tobey Bell with Susane Colasanti (go read her book When It Happens if you don't know who he is) while getting the latest news updates and participating in discussions with publishing pros with #askagent, #kidlitchat and #yalitchat

Oh, and I guess there's one more... a very important one, I think.

#3) Research. That's right. I said it. I thought I left it behind with my senior thesis in college too, but alas, no.  You see, I hate research. Oh, there are few things I despise more than research ... but what is not to love about how quickly you can get an answer on Twitter? Yes, you can do this with your FB status update too, I suppose, but I've found there's something so much more personal about commenting on someone's FB that often I hesitate to say anything if I don't know them. Twitter takes away the "wallflower" aspect for me.

What about you? Which Social Networking medium could you not live without if you could only pick one?

P.S. If you haven't already, don't forget to enter my Elizabeth Scott is Awesome contest - it's running through Sunday at Noon, EST.  Oh, and you can follow her on twitter too @escottwrites :)

Tweet, tweet!

Awesomeness Everywhere!

If you missed out on yesterday's huge-ungous blogfest to Spread the Awesome, because you were sick or on vacation or living under a rock or something ;), you can check out all the books/authors featured at Elana Johnson's blog. There are still a ton of contests open, so poke around to see if you can get hooked up with free books - some signed by the awesome authors!

Holy wow! There were so many awesome books out there, some I already had on my TBR list, but so many others I was just getting introduced to. Love discovering new books.

I'm off to see what I can find at the library and bookstore.

And in case you haven't yet, don't forget to head over to my post on Elizabeth Scott's Awesomeness for a chance to win one of TEN signed copies of her books - contest open until Sunday, May 9!

Spread the Awesome with Elizabeth Scott Sprinkles!

I'm back! And since you guys were so patient while I was gone, I decided we needed to start things off with some fun: First some awesome spreading, then a CONTEST!

Thanks to Elana Johnson for pulling together this blogfest of Awesome Fun, with over 60 wirters talking about their favorite books! I ended up not being able to choose just one book, but several by the amazing Elizabeth Scott.

Elizabeth writes YA because, in her words, "Being a teenager is both the most amazing and most frightening thing--there's so much going on . . . it can be really exciting, but it's also a lot to deal with!" With that in mind, she's said she could never see herself writing anything else! Thank goodness for us!

And thanks to Elizabeth's generosity, I have 10 . . . that's right TEN of her books, signed and ready to giveaway! Keep reading for the deets.

The Unwritten Rule
Sarah's liked Ryan since forever, it seems. Sarah's best friend Brianna is all things Sarah thinks she's not: beautiful, perky, popular, oh, and Ryan's girlfriend. But one night changes everything and when the truth comes out, it shines a light on more than Sarah expected. A great story putting friendship and loyalty into perspective.

Living Dead Girl
Ray kidnapped Alice several years ago, holding her captive as his little girl. But Alice is swiftly growing up and out of the little girl shell Ray has tried to keep her in. All she wants is to go home. Dealing with a heavy topic and at times disturbing, this is a beautiful and haunting story of love and human nature.

Something, Maybe
Hannah's parents take the cake on the embarrassment scale: her mom's a sometimes employed former TV starlet running a website in her underwear; her dad's rich, old and manipulative, always surrounded with plastic surgery enhanced women for his reality show. When Hannah's finally noticed by her longtime crush, it turns out being in love with someone and being in love with the idea of them are very different. Hilarious, emotional and so real!

Stealing Heaven
Danielle's spent most of her life as her mother's right hand in the family business: silver theft. When her mom cases out the small town of Heaven for their next heist, Danielle expects it to be like any other job. But heaven turns out to be completely different from any place Danielle's ever known and for the first time, she finds herself questioning if the life she lives is the life she wants. A great story about understanding, love and loyalty, another amazing read!

You can check out more about Elizabeth and her awesome books on her website, follow her on Twitter, or Fan her on FB!

Still with me? Okay, now for the Contest-o'-Awesome!

For your chance to win a signed copy of one of the books shown above, all you have to do, is enter! (And have a shipping address in the United States - sorry to international peeps.) The contest will be open from right this second through 12:00 PM on Sunday, May 9. I'll announce all winners in a week!

How do you enter, you ask?

• Comment on this post (otherwise, how will I know you want to be entered? Lol!)

And, for some extra entries, let me know if you're

• Already a follower +2
• A new follower +1
• Following me on Twitter (@windyaphayrath) +1
• Tweet / Blog the contest +1
• Friend me on Facebook +1

Email me at windy (dot) aphayrath (at) gmail (dot) com if you've got questions, and good luck!

If you want to find out about another great book, check out Paul Greci's blog about Carol Lynch Williams' The Chosen One. Or you can check out the entire list of Awesome books you should add to your TBR piles on Elana's blog.

Happy Reading!

Heads Up :)

Yes, I'm interrupting this bloggy hiatus (again), but for good reason!

Just received some confirmation and I'm going to be giving away some AWESOME signed books next week so ... just wanted to give you guys a heads up on my Contest-o'-AWESOME that's going to start on MONDAY, MAY 3!!!

I'll see you back here then! Woohoo! (I love contests!!)

Have a great weekend everyone! (And yeah, I know it's Thursday, but I won't be back until Monday!)

And I just noticed the overuse of the ! in this post, but I can't help it. I'm so excited!!!!!! :D