Contest winners!

Hey, everybody! Thanks so much for entering the contest!

I decided “what the hey” and decided to choose two winners!

(drumroll…)

Tracy and Danielle!

I have been so swamped that I forgot how much I like giving things away. So stick around, because I’ll be doing more contests in the future!

Happy Saturday! I am planning to get some exercise (imagine that) and then I’m going to try to do some work on an outline for Book 3. I have soooooo many ideas, and I’m in that “mom from pageant child reality show” mode where I’m like, “You are the BEST idea and the PRETTIEST idea and no other idea in the world is as SPECIAL as you and you are the center of my universe and go pour Mommy another glass of wine while she just watches you practice your pageant walk.”

Very exciting! It has put me in an insanely cheery mood.

k.

1 comment July 3rd, 2010

Contest time! Win a signed copy of Bad Girls Don’t Die!

Hi, everyone! Well, it’s been a while since I had a contest. So here’s the deal:

You can win TWO signed copies of Bad Girls Don’t Die (the Scholastic paperback edition) — one for you and one for a friend! And I’ll throw in a cheerfully patriotic red, white, and blue eye pillow to help you rest your eyes after all that reading!

HOW: Just comment on this post! That’s all! One entry per person (and please don’t enter as your mom, your grandmother, your dog, the duck that lives in that pond you went to once…).

Although if you’re feeling shrewd, you could make a deal with a friend and both of you could enter and if one of you wins, the other would get the second book.

WHEN: Starting… NOW! … and ending at 11:59 PM Friday July 2.

Go! Go! You can do it!

PS – If I get more than 100 comments, I will choose TWO winners! So spread the word!

(Open to US and Canada… Don’t forget to read my contest guidelines for more useful info.)

25 comments June 28th, 2010

Sibling revelry

Welcome to Day 2 of 31 Days of Blogging at Least on the Weekdays or Else!

So, I am writing this post late Monday for Tuesday morning. This is helpful because I can update progress at the end of the day, whereas at the beginning of the day, there is obviously nothing done yet.

The Daily Plah: Day 2
Currently reading: still Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
Song running through my head all day: I Gotta Feeling by the Black Eyed Peas*
Book 2 progress: I am examining story, character, and motivations today and therefore have not increased my page count. No, for real! I did work. Just not pagecountable work.
Other notable facts: Much laundry has been done, much food procured, many dishes washed. The house regains its sense of balance. Also, I learned that if a salad says, “Use by 3-1-10,” use it BY that date and not ON that date, because (if you are me) you will get mild food poisoning and spend the whole afternoon on the couch whining to your dog and rubbing your food baby. (You know what a food baby is, don’t you? If you don’t, this should educate you: food baby at Urbandictionary.com.)

Anyway, I’m much better now. But I had a headache all day. Iffy food almost always gives me a headache. Little Sis tried to help me get rid of it by massaging my head and pressuring my pressure points. While this happened, I discovered that I can still make her burst into uncontrollable peals of laughter, just like when she was a baby and I would fake-sneeze at her. My new method isn’t much more sophisticated: while lying on the couch with her looking down at my face (upside down from her POV), I open my eyes.

Yep, I open my eyes. And she laughs until she cries.

Aren’t little sisters the best?

And then, as an added bonus, Winston came to sit on my stomach, and we played a fun game of “Winston tries to stick his tongue in my mouth”. Despite all of the many co-dependent ways in which I overindulge and baby my dog, letting him lick my teeth isn’t on the list, so it got to be a bit like a game of Whack-a-mole. Kind of.

So anyway, as soon as she pressed on my pressure point (Little Sis, not the dog), I would open my mouth to screech in pain, and Winston would leap forth to try to stick his tongue in my mouth. This would make my eyes pop open, which would send Little Sis into a hysterical burst of laughter.

I don’t know why I’m sharing all of this on the internet except that it’s a little slice of life that shows how much fun it is to have Little Sis here living with us. It turns out that even though I once threw her across the room (ah, no big deal, she doesn’t even remember), and she totally upstaged me in my only good photo from senior prom, there is still a bond between us.

I can relate this back to writing because I write books about sisters, you see.

Happy Tuesday!

Contest time!

Since you made it this far, leave a comment on this post to win a handmade tote/resuable grocery bag by yours truly. You don’t get to choose the bag, because it’s already made, but it is a cute bag. I would keep it and use it myself if I didn’t already have fifteen (and one in the works).

As you can see, it is dark blue with purple vegetables on it (don’t adjust your monitors).

* It is a huge pet peeve of mine to use contractions incorrectly as in this song title: “I Gotta Feeling.” “Gotta” is short for “got to.” It is LONG for “got a.” You see this a lot with “wanna.” Short for “want to.” Long for “want a.” There can be no other explanation than this: the Black Eyed Peas just GOT to feeling, y’all! BTW, I once saw them at the airport and they are all little tiny people.

10 comments March 2nd, 2010

A wee slight bit behindish.

So anyway, I’m here to announce the results of my November contest!

Yes, I am that pathetic.

The winner is CHLOE!

I chose today to do the compiling and random number choosing because I just today finished the stuff for my saintly October contest winner. A number of factors played into this, namely, finishing a draft of book 2, having a whole slew of family members parading in and out of town, going to the dog show, and (worst of all) my sewing machine breaking (perish the thought).

But now I’m sort of caught up (I use that phrase loosely), and I thought it was time to find out whose November is about to get a lot more exciting! Oh, wait, no.

But anyway. Should I do a January contest? Do I dare? I’d better check my March calendar first.

4 comments December 28th, 2009

November contest time! [contest closed]

I’d like to thank everybody for the condolences on the loss of my old kitty. He did have a very nice life. Often when I have a bad day or something unfortunate happens, I remind myself of how lucky I am by finding something to be grateful for. I am incredibly thankful that I had Tigger’s companionship, and also very grateful to have a loving family who were willing to take good care of him into his old age.

So it’s time for the November contest. Win some custom-designed swag as well as a signed copy of “Bad Girls Don’t Die.” I will also add a $15 Amazon gift certificate this month if the entry points top 250!

To enter, just leave a comment below telling me what you’re thankful for.

Here’s the points scale:

+1 for a “thankful” comment
+1 for telling me about a “reverse NaNoWriMo” activity you’re doing–something new and exciting! –OR tell me your NaNo wordcount
+1 for tweeting a link (up to three separate days… don’t forget the #bgddcontest tag)
+1 for using the new “ShareThis” icon below and sharing to the public source of your choice–please tell me which one!
+1 for mentioning on your blog or website (please add the link)
+1 for being or becoming a Facebook fan — click here!, which is actually a great way to keep up with contests and other announcements

And I guess that’s a lot of ways, so we’ll end it there!

Tallying of entries ends at 12:01 a.m. Pacific, Thursday 11/12/09…

Good luck!

(Don’t forget that by entering, you are agreeing to my contest guidelines.)

25 comments November 3rd, 2009

Frogs and bananas and contest winners, oh my!

Hey, everybody! Thanks so much for all the entries in my October contest.

The (randomly chosen) winner is… Nathalie! Congratulations!

Nathalie wins a signed copy of Bad Girls Don’t Die, generously donated as a giveaway by Larramie of The Divining Wand, as well as some fun custom-sewn goodies.

I have to say, the costume suggestions had me rolling. I really loved Nathalie’s idea of the princess and the frog–with Winston as the princess, obviously! Also, H. Mary Cole’s idea that we go as two freak show performers–can’t you just see Winston as the bearded lady? And Bianca’s “Little Red Riding Hood/Big Bad Wolf” idea was wonderful, too. Who gets to be the Big Bad Wolf–me or the dog? Ha! I could dress Winston as Granny.

Kate cracked me up by suggestion that I be Carmen Miranda and Winston be a banana:

And of course, the Dorothy and Toto suggestions ruled… but I love WillowRaven’s idea that I be Toto and Winston be Dorothy.

Of course after ALL that, I remembered that I don’t have a job this year and therefore no place to show off our fantastic costumes. The “D’OH!” heard ’round the world.

So we’ll see. Maybe I’ll whip something up for a Halloween-themed vlog!

Thanks again for all the entries.

Now… back to work with me. I’m about to hit 60,000 words on BGDD2! I specifically stopped 61 words short last night so I could at least feel like I’d accomplished something today, ha ha ha.

Cheers!
k.

7 comments October 12th, 2009

October contest time! [contest entries closed]

Update: The contest is closed! Thank you to everyone who entered!

Time for the October contest! Win a signed copy of Bad Girls Don’t Die as well as some custom-made stuff!

Enter by leaving a comment below telling me what you want to be for Halloween! (+1 entry)

For more chances to win:
+1 Tell me what your favorite Halloween candy is
+1 Share an idea for coordinated Katie/Winston costumes that my dog and I can wear
+1 Twitter a link to the contest — be sure to use hashtag #bgddcontest (up to three extra entries–only one a day)

Sample Tweet (feel free to copy & paste):
Enter to win a signed copy of Bad Girls Don’t Die by @katiealender & other fun stuff! http://j.mp/3GppfV #bgddcontest

Plus, more ways to get extra entries will be revealed before the contest is over!

To get an idea of some of my custom-made bags and eye pillows, click here!

Only entries posted before 12:01 a.m. (Pacific Standard Time) October 10 are valid!

By entering, you are agreeing to abide by my contest guidelines!

Thanks, and happy October!

25 comments October 2nd, 2009

September contest winner!

Thanks to everyone who entered and tweeted! The winner is… Liz!

Liz will get a signed copy of Bad Girls Don’t Die, as well as a custom tote bag and eye pillow, and I am actually just about to run out to the fabric store to buy some awesome fabric to use!

Tomorrow’s Crafty Monday post will feature the custom swag I made for the previous two contest winners, so be sure to stop by and check it out!

Oh, and good job Kate who guessed that the language I’m trying to learn is Japanese! I found an amazing app for the iPhone, and I’m slowly working my way through hiragana, one of the two sets of characters. I lovelovelove languages and I’m so excited that soon I’ll be able to read Japanese! Even if I don’t know what I’m reading, LOL–that will have to come later.

Kate didn’t win, but I’ve decided to declare her the winner of a mini-contest, since she was the only person who guessed correctly! Kate, I’ll be emailing you about your “mini-win”!

Happy Sunday, everyone!

September 13th, 2009

September contest time!

[This contest is now closed!]

You could win a prize consisting of:
- a signed copy of Bad Girls Don’t Die
- a custom-made set of fun crafty stuff, like a tote bag and an eye pillow
- other random goodies

How to enter:
Since school just started, let’s celebrate LEARNING! I’ve recently started studying something that caught my interest years ago.

Enter by commenting below:

+1 – my “something” is learning a language–guess which one! (+5 entries if you get it right–only one guess per person!)
+1 – what’s something you’ve been wanting to try?
+1 – take a step toward accomplishing your “something”–come back and tell me what you did!
+1 – for tweeting the contest, up to 3 entries, no more than one per day (include the hashtag #bgddcontest )

Entries close on Saturday, 9/12/09, at 12:01 a.m. Pacific!

Please note my contest guidelines. By entering, you are agreeing to abide by those guidelines.

31 comments September 4th, 2009

Announcement: New contest time!

Thanks for all of your entries! The contest is now closed. I’ll announce the results soon!

The theme of today’s new contest is Alexis’s Darkroom, a new section of the website full of fun stuff and downloads related to BGDD!

Alexis, of course, is the main character in Bad Girls Don’t Die, and I wanted to have a page of fun extras and links related to the book. We have downloads, photo galleries, quizzes, and links to some supplemental materials I created for the book.

Click here to check it out!

HOW TO ENTER:
+1 entry for commenting below with the name of a book on your TBR (to be read) list!
+1 entry for taking the “Which BGDD character are you most like?” or BGDD trivia quiz and posting your result in your comment! (You can just use the text… using Quibblo’s code takes up an awful lot of room!)
+1 entry if you are the first person to bring a broken or bad link to my attention (it is a new page, after all)
+1 entry for Tweeting about the contest! (Don’t forget to link to this post, mention @katiealender and use the hashtag “#bgddcontest”) — do this up to three times (on three separate days) for more entries!

WHEN TO ENTER:
Any time between now and next Friday, August 14, at 11:59 p.m. Pacific time.

WHO CAN WIN:
Anyone can enter, although I will only ship prizes within North America/the U.S… if you’re international, enter on behalf of a friend! Please refer to this post for more info about previous winners, etc.

WHAT YOU’LL WIN:

(1) A signed copy of Bad Girls Don’t Die, donated to the contest by friend to all readers and the authors’ fairy godmother, Larramie at The Divining Wand.

(2) A custom tote bag (or crafty item of similar scope–apron, throw pillow, etc.) and eye pillow set, made just for you, after a consultation!

So what are you waiting for? Get entering!

35 comments August 5th, 2009