Shadowed Summer Giveaway and Randomness

This was a really happy week for me! I went to the bookstore on Tuesday and got to see several of my friends' books on the shelves! Most face-out even! I have known a lot of authors in my time, but most of them were either already published or about to be published. It has been so fun to see some of my Debut 2009 friends go from barely contracted to on the shelf! And only 82 days for me!!! (Not that I'm counting.;))

So in celebration of this, the first Debut 2009 giveaway featuring the inestimable Saundra Mitchell's Shadowed Summer! You can read all about it here.) This is an incredible book and I have been predicting for months that it is going to be a sleeper hit and possibly an awards contender. Beautifully written, fabulous voice, creepy undead, trust me, you can't ask for more.

Want it?

Easy entry. Just leave a comment with where or who you would haunt if you were a ghost.:D Entries are accepted until I put up my next giveaway which will be on Saturday when I get the time. Could be early, could be late--I suggest you comment now.;)

Okay, now for some serious randomness.

*I've started doing an actual organized homeschooling system with my three year old son who reads and does math at about a first grade level. He needs more structure than he has now and this seems to work really well. His handwriting? Not quite so advanced.;)

*My daughter's new favorite song is Kate Perry's I Kissed a Girl. There are few things funnier than listening to a five year old sitting at the table singing, "I kissed a girl and I liked it. . . . It felt so wrong, it felt so right." Love it!

*My "desk" is eating my closet. One of the really cool promotional things I am doing (that I don't know if I have actually mentioned here . . .) is that Harper is offering specially bound signed first editions of my book. Well, rather than ship me a zillion books, they shipped me a zillion title pages and then they will tip them into the binding process. Smart huh! However, these pages all (obviously) have to be kept very clean, so I keep them on a table locked in my walk-in-closet. Originally the table was ONLY for the pages, but . . . well, my "desk" is now full of lots of things and it has become very apparent to me that when we move this summer, I need an office.



This is said table with the pages in two stacks--finished and unfinished--and lest you think I'm a slacker, there are a ton more finished pages already packed in the box on the right. The box on the left is the recording device for the podcast that I have to do sometime next week. (Yes, next week! Eeek! Deadline approaching!!!) Oh, and that manila envelope on the far left? Estonian contracts. How cool is that!?!?



Worse, my work stuff has spilled onto the floor. Here are a bunch of bags of swag bags that I made for touring and now have lots of extras of (didn't want to run out!) that I will be giving out for lots of other things, such as Saturday's ARC giveaway.:D




And, of course, beside my file box (that looks way more organized than it is!) is the thing that is NOT allowed on my table at all; my drink. Anything that could possibly mar my pages in any way, is NOT allowed anywhere near the table. So much for snacking while working. *sniff*

* Gender neutral names are apparently the new thing. I was getting my daughter's valentines prepared and she had a class list and we had Barbie cards for the girls and Superhero cards for the boys. And I had to ask on over half of the names whether they were a boy or girl. I am so not crazy! Check some of these out!!
Emory (girl), Riley (boy), Morgan (girl), Jaden (girl; this one stumped me because every female Jaden I've seen has a Y in there, i.e. Jayden.) Also, there are only four boys in her class. Odd.

So there's my randomness! I have been crazy busy trying to catch up from tour and meet deadlines this week, so I promise something a little more organized next week.:D

Ciao!