Vampire Academy: Autographed Book(s) Giveaway

Last Thursday night was Richelle Mead's book signing, for the Last Sacrifice book tour here in Seattle - and as promised, I have a few goodies to give away to a few of my lucky followers!


 It was great to meet Richelle - she was really down to Earth and I particularly enjoyed how she spent time talking with everyone...especially all of her teen fans (and there were many!). 


Her husband was even there, taking pictures to post on her blog - and I sat next to him for about fifteen minutes, while I waited to take a picture of my lurv-e-ly friend, Boom! Bridgid (she'll laugh at that, I know), when she got up to meet Richelle.


It was great to hear his thoughts on all the VA madness - and I had to confess to him, I took a picture of him while he was sitting off to the side, reading emails on his phone. Said picture was subsequently texted to my husband with the caption, "Look honey! When I get published, this is what you get to do!" Needless to say, Mr. Mead thought that was ha-larious!


Anyhow - on to the fun and all the details of the book(s) giveaway!


The Inevitable Rules - yeah, there are a few:


 1. Eligibility. Giveaway is open to followers with a valid shipping address (sorry, no P.O. Boxes, please). Yes, that means this is open to international followers, as well!


 2. How To Play. Entry is made by leaving a comment on the giveaway post below, with the following noted:
A. New here as of today? Sign up, cause you need to be a follower of A Little of This & That to win! +1 entry
B. Already a follower as of 12.16.10? Yeah for you! And I know who you are, as I've written down your names! +2 entries 
C. Tweet about the contest with a link to A Little Of This & That? Please leave your Twitter handle in your comment below. +3 entries
D. Blog about it with a link to A Little Of This & That? Please leave your web address in your comment below. +4 entries
E. Add a link to A Little Of This & That to the sidebar of your blog? Why, thank you! And yes, you know the drill, add your web address to your comment below! +5 entries


 Please tally up all of your entries, leave a comment below with your total - and a valid email address so I can reach you if you win! 

3. How Can I Win? A number will be assigned to each of your entries - so say you have a total of 6 entires, you'll get 6 random numbers assigned to your name. Winning numbers (did you catch that? Yes, there's more than one prize!) will be selected via Random.org next Friday, 12.24.10. 

4. The Dreadful Deadline. Contest is open from today, 12.17.10 to next Thursday, 12.23.10 - and a winner will be selected on 12.24.10 (Merry Christmas!). All entries (aka comments) for this contest need to be received before 11:59pm PST on Thursday, 12.23 to be eligible.

5. Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner! I will post the names of all lucky winners on Friday, 12.24.10, so check back to see if you've won (I'll email the winners, as well)! 

6. The Goods. Wanna see what's up for grabs? Yep, books, books, and books - plus a few swag pieces, as well!

Good luck, everyone! And Happy Holidays, too!

Disclaimer. A Little of This & That Blog will not be responsible for: (a) any late or lost entries; (b) telephone, electronic, hardware, software, network, Internet, or other computer or communications-related malfunctions or failures; any giveaway disruptions, injuries, losses or damages caused by events beyond the control of A Little of This & That Blog or by unauthorized human intervention; or (c) any printing or typographical errors in any materials associated with the giveaway.

Barnes & Noble Top Best Sellers for 2010

December 14, 2010: Barnes & Noble has announced their top 100 

books for the year.

For the complete list, see Barnes & Noble Top 100. 

 Great to see YA / Children's books covet 4 of the top 10 positions

(although, you know I'm a big fan of book #6...hey, I love me some shoes - 

and Zappos is the best!).

 

1.

Decision Pointsby George W. Bush

(Hardcover)

Usually ships within 24 hours

2.

The Ugly Truth (Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series #5)by Jeff Kinney

(Hardcover)

Usually ships within 24 hours

3.

Autobiography of Mark Twainby Mark Twain

(Hardcover)

Usually ships within 24 hours

4.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Millennium Trilogy Series #3)by Stieg Larsson

(Hardcover)

Usually ships within 24 hours

5.

Mockingjay (Hunger Games Series #3)by Suzanne Collins

(Hardcover)

Usually ships within 24 hours

6.

Delivering Happinessby Tony Hsieh

(Hardcover)

Usually ships within 24 hours

7.

The Short Second Life of Bree Tannerby Stephenie Meyer

(Hardcover)

Usually ships within 24 hours

8.

Elf on the Shelfby Carol V. Aebersold

(Hardcover)

Usually ships within 24 hours

9.

The Helpby Kathryn Stockett

(Hardcover)

Usually ships within 24 hours

10.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium Trilogy Series #1)by Stieg Larsson

(Paperback)

Usually ships within 24 hours

Coming Soon - Autographed Book Giveaway: Vampire Academy's THE LAST SACRIFICE by Richelle Mead

Coming Soon!

Vampire Academy: Autographed Book Giveaway Contest!

Just a reminder - I'll be posting all details for my upcoming giveaway contest by next Friday, December 17th and how you can win (You pretty much know the drill. Must be a follower of my blog...number of tweets gains more entires, etc.).

So check back next Friday for all the dets - and enter to win a signed copy of THE LAST SACRIFICE - the final installment in the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead. 

And...there may be more than one autographed book being given away...just sayin'. 

Scholastic 10 Trends for YA / Children's Books from 2010

NEW YORK, Dec. 8, 2010 /PRNewswire/ — Scholastic, the largest publisher and distributor of children’s books, today released a list of 10 Trends in Children’s Books from 2010. The list was compiled by editors from Scholastic, including children’s literature experts from Scholastic Book Clubs and Scholastic Book Fairs, divisions of Scholastic that distribute books from all publishers through schools nationwide.

“We’ve seen some exciting innovation in children’s publishing in 2010, including new formats and platforms for storytelling that are helping more and more kids become book lovers,” said Judy Newman, President of Scholastic Book Clubs. “At the same time, we’re seeing a rejuvenation of some classic genres, which I think is evidence of the timeless power that stories and characters have on the lives of children.”

1. The expanding Young Adult (YA) audience: More and more adults are reading YA books, as the audience for these stories expands.
2. The year of dystopian fiction:  With best-selling series like The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner, readers can’t seem to get enough of fiction that suggests the future may be worse than the present.
3. Mythology-based fantasy: Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series set the trend – and now series like The Kane Chronicles, Lost Heroes of Olympus andGoddess Girls are capitalizing.
4. Multimedia series: The 39 Clues, Skeleton Creek and The Search for WondLaare hooking readers with stories that go beyond the printed page and meet kids where they are online or via video.
5. A focus on popular characters – from all media: Kids love to read books about characters they know and recognize from books, movies and television shows. Titles centered around those popular characters (like Fancy Nancy, David Shannon’s “David,” or Toy Story characters) are top sellers.
6. The shift in picture books: Publishers are publishing about 25 to 30 percent fewer picture book titles than they used to as some parents want their kids to read more challenging books at younger ages. The new trend is leading to popular picture book characters such as Pinkalicious, Splat Cat and Brown Bear, Brown Bear showing up in Beginning Reader books.
7. The return to humor: Given the effects of the recession on families, it is nice to see a rise in the humor category, fueled by the success of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, Dav Pilkey’s The Adventures of Ook & Gluk: Kung-Fu Cavemen from the Future, and popular media characters like SpongeBob, and Phineas & Ferb.
8. The rise of the diary and journal format: The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series is the most well-know example of this trend, but the success of Wimpy Kid is leading to popular titles such as Dear Dumb Diary, Dork Diaries, The Popularity Papers, and Big Nate.
9. Special-needs protagonists: There is a growing body of literary fiction with main characters who have special needs, particularly Aspergers Syndrome and Autism. Examples: My Brother Charlie, Marcelo in the Real World,Mockingbird, and Rules.
10. Paranormal romance beyond vampires: The success of titles like Linger, Beautiful Creatures, Immortal, and Prophesy of the Sisters shows this genre is still uber-popular and continues to expand.

For more information about Scholastic, visit their Media Room at http://mediaroom.scholastic.com.  

My NaNoWriMo Challenge...And A Torn Calf Muscle, To Boot!

I have a walking cast and crutches, I'd like to personally thank - but more on that, below.

2010 brought with it, my first attempt at the NaNoWriMo challenge. For those of you who don't know what that incredibly long acronym stands for - it's the National Novel Writing Month competition - where writers from around the world, are challenged to write 50,000 words, during the thirty days of November.

That's right - a 50,000 word novel, in just 30 days.

Impossible?

That's what I first thought, when I set out to take this challenge head on. It didn't help, that I entered into the contest, having just spent almost 9 weeks with the most amazing bout of writer's block, I'd ever experienced in the four plus years I've been writing.

And so I sat for the first few days, staring at a blank page on my computer screen. Waiting. Hoping. And downright pleading that some form of inspiration would strike.

But it didn't.

For the entire first week of the month, I sat there and was unable to type more than a few words here and there. I wasn't able to blog, tweet, or really even draft up a legible email. And to make matters worse, I'd severely torn my calf muscle at one of my CrossFit workouts that same week - and was house bound with one of the most beautiful walking boots, that would make even Christian Louboutin jealous...and let's not forget, the lovely matching crutches (should I mention they were kids crutches? Yeah, evidently the adult ones, were too tall for me).

Seriously - nothing like striking a women, while she's already down.

Sleeping with my foot propped up on a bunch of pillows - it suddenly hit me. Okay, maybe being blindsided in my sleep, at 2:45am one Tuesday morning, is a better way to put it.

I immediately jumped out of bed - practically launching the cat who'd fallen asleep on my foot, across the room - and hobbled as fast as I could, to my computer. And I started writing. And writing...and I wrote, until I heard my alarm go off for me to get ready for work that day (which completely sucked, by the way).

But who was I to complain? I was finally writing again - and chalked up over 5,000 words that night alone.

And two and half weeks later, I crossed the finish line, with 52,770 words - almost 3k more than the goal, and two days ahead of the deadline.

And the best part is? I'm still going! In fact, I think I'll be finished with my entire first draft, in the next week or so - which just blows me away. Especially considering where I was, just three weeks ago.

So in the end, I owe a big thanks to my lovely walking boot and crutches.

Because of them, I was forced to sit down and put fingers to keyboard.

And because of them I have an almost completed WIP.

Thanks, NaNoWriMo for the awesome challenge! I look forward to next November, when we meet again.

Here's hoping I won't need to severely injure myself, to kick my muse into gear.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow...

My snowy street at 7am this morning!

Snow Day!!!

Remember what that was like as a kid? Ah, man...it still doesn't get any better than that!

Well, folks - Seattle was hit yesterday by one monster of a storm! I left work early to try and beat the "second" wave, along with the dubious amounts of traffic that was sure to come with it - and made it home just in time! (And by dubious, I mean the same thing happened two years ago, and it took us 7 hours to get home...a commute that should've only taken 45 minutes at most). All roads were a complete disaster, as seen in the below photo of a jack-knifed semi on I-5 last night.

Crazy jack-knifed semi on the freeway...closing down I-5!

And since I live out towards the Cascade Mountains - we always get a bit more snow than those in the city...and overnight, we racked up an impressive 8" of the fluffy white stuff!

Not to mention, it was fa-reezing yesterday / last night! By 6:30pm, it had already dropped to 18 degrees (F) - but with the high winds (gusts up to 60mph), the wind chill brought the temperatures down below 0. Yes, that's correct - I didn't type that wrong...and no, you didn't see it wrong, either! Below 0, peeps.

Um, can you say brrrrrrrr without your teeth chattering?

My deck - hidden under the 8" of snow!

Anyhow - I do have the fine luxury of being able to work from home if needed...so I didn't brave the streets and go in to the office today. Plus, with it being Thanksgiving week and all - it's amazingly quiet...so I'm taking advantage of that and starting the Holidays a bit early!


The great news? I'm tackling the last 14,000 words I have to finish up NaNoWriMo and I hope to have that done soon! 

 So I leave you to go write...as I hum "Let It Snow, Let It Snow...Let It Snow!" 

 Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!