WINNERS!!!

The blog tour is over, the games are done, and now there's only one things left to do.

Eat cheese.

Okay, maybe I should announce the winners too. Got your wedge of cheddar out? Here we go!

Rafflecopter Winners

Cohlina Mae: Butterman Time Travel Inc. signed copy

Elizabeth Barbarick: $25 Gift Card

Tammy Theriault: $25 Cheese

Leslie Rodriguez: Moonless

Kim Hong: Moonless

Steph Payton: Moonless

Truth or Lie

Kimberly Afe
Suzanne Furness
Angela Brown

Mystery Sentence Game

Winners will be contacted individually via email.

Writerly Wednesday

Last week Sharon Johnston shared two truths and one lie about herself and those who guessed the lie correctly were entered into a random drawing to win a copy of her awesome book, Sleeper. 

The options were:

1. When she was young, Sharon was convinced she was adopted because she looked so different from the rest of her family.
2. She herded an echidna across the road.
3. She played a nun in The Sound of Music for her school play. 

And the lie is:

#3. She actually played Leisel, not a nun. Ooh, tricky, tricky! 

The winner is...

Julie Flanders!!!

Congrats winners! And now, I'm off on a writing retreat. I'll be back next Monday after my brain has been sufficiently drained of all writerly awesomeness to bestow awards and pretend at being human.

If you could go anywhere to just relax and create, where would you go? 

Be a Winner: Let Me Promote your Book

Image courtesy of  Jen Chan

We have a winner!!!

I LOVE bragging about friends books. Writerly Wednesdays here are dedicated to writers and readers. If you've published anything for Young Adults with a fantastic twist (fantasy in all varieties, paranormal, specultative ficiton, horror, sci-fi, dystopian, cheese, etc.), shoot me an email (crystal AT crystal-collier DOT com). I'll be shouting about an awesome books, sharing new covers, or participating in book releases every week--and I'd love to share yours. Spots are filling up quick, so schedule date now. 

Readers, pop back in for the chance to win stuff and learn about awesome reads.

This last Wednesday we played the truth or lie game about Catherine Stine, author of Ruby's Fire. (Check the book out--it's awesome!) Catherine told us two truths and one lie about herself, and those who guess correctly were entered into a random drawing for a free copy of her book. The options were:

1. Catherine sat next to Tom Petty on a first class plane ride to LA.

2. Her son's band played All Along the Watchtower with Eddie Vedder.

3. Buddy Guy invited her to a private bash.

We had some amazing guesses, and people who tore apart the facts, analyzing them. (We love you deep thinkers!) I wish we could smother all of you in cheese for participating, and we (both Catherine and I) had so much fun with this. 

So, the answer is: 

....DRUM ROLL...

#1. Catherine did not actually sit next to Tom Petty on a first class plane ride to LA. 

Way to go those of you who guessed right! You are officially human lie detectors. And the winner is: 

....DRUM ROLL...

Marcy! 

Congrats! Friends, I look forward to chatting at you all after my road trip. Writerly Wednesdays will continue on July 24th. Be sure to stop in then for another AWESOME book and chance to win. 

And now, out of curiosity, what is your favorite, secondary, and tertiary reading genres? 

Pitch Wars, Writers, and WINNERS... Oh my!

You know when you do something spur of the moment that ends with you pulling your hair and laughing manically? Yup. 

On November 26th Brenda Drake posted a contest called Pitch Wars. It's all about creating the ultimate hook, or pitch for a book. Thirty-seven coaches (agented/published writers/editor/industry pros) put themselves out there and asked for unagented/unpublished writers to pitch their completed manuscripts to them. 591 writers answered the call. Each writer could select 3 coaches to pitch. Each coach selected 3 manuscripts to champion--one pick, and two alternates (in case their first choice falls through). These coaches will work with their writers to strengthen their pitches for a final round (January 23-24), when all the teams will pitch their manuscripts to a panel of 16 judges/literary agents. The winner will be the person who receives the most requests for their book. 

I saw the contest and thought, "Hey, I have all the requirements and I've been querying. Why not?" So I vetted out the coaches, picked the three most stellar ones (for my genre), and tossed a few pages at them. 

Response #1: "I really enjoyed reading the material you sent me for DARK MOON. ... you have a really great story here ..." But ultimately, she went with other manuscripts.

Response #2: "You made it into my top ten (out of a LOT of submissions) ... For what you are writing, you do it very, very well. ... I am assuming this will be snapped up quickly..." But again, she passed, offering to help if I don't find this baby a home immediately.

Response #3: "I can't gush enough about your pitch. ...we can wipe the floor with everyone at Pitch Wars then celebrate with Cheese!" 

I GOT PICKED!! 

Was I surprised? Um, more like dumb-struck. So here's my wonderful teammate who is currently bulldozing through DARK MOON so we can pitch it, and wipe the floor with our competition. (Which we will.) 

Meet Sharon: a writer of YA and NA weird fiction and contemporary fiction, a blogger at YAtopia, Writing Teen Novels, Down Under Wonderings, a regular speaker at The Whitsunday Voices Youth Literature Festival, and a NA/YA intern for Entangled. She has a habit of posting weird profile pics and has been stalked by women because of her great taste in shoes.

Together we are the Grimm Writers, and although I never could have anticipated being picked, I couldn't have a better partner. Sharon is AWESOME! 

So I guess the moral of the story is, you can't be a winner without trying. Take a chance. Do crazy things. Jump before you look. You never know what will happen.