Showing posts with label contest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label contest. Show all posts

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Remember That Time I Had News? HOW ABOUT AGAIN.

In lieu of a post with actual thought-provoking content, how about some NEWS!

FIRST OF ALL, congratulations ONE ZILLION TIMES to Erin Bowman, the winner of the cover contest, with her use of a beaaaautiful photograph by John Goodridge!!




NOW. Okay! So!

S&S (and at least one other publisher, if I understand correctly) is trying out this badass new thing where they release a hardcover and a paperback simultaneously.

The logic behind this is that big bookstores like B&N and...oh wait, just B&N (guh my heart my soul) are more likely to stock a paperback than a hardcover because it is thinner and takes up less space. It's also less expensive to ship and generally lower-risk for the store to carry.

This is the main reason BREAK and INVINCIBLE SUMMER were in paperback rather than hardcover. Contemporary YA is a kind of scary place and putting it out in paperback increases the chances that the stores will be willing to stock it. (And I am SUPER lucky that B&N stocked both BREAK and INVINCIBLE SUMMER. Sidenote: they will be carrying ZOMBIE TAG as well. Which is a hardcover. So that news does not really belong in this post. HENCE THE PARENTHESIS.)

But there are people and places that like hardcovers more: some independents, libraries, my parents, etc.

WHICH IS WHY it is really, REALLY exciting that S&S has decided to EXPERIMENT ON ME


no no no not like that

and release GONE, GONE, GONE simultaneously in paperback and hardcover!







I KNOW, Jared and Jensen, cast of Fantastic Mr. Fox, and guy with chair!!

I'M EXCITED TOO!

I will have MORE INFORMATION closer to pub date, when I trust you to remember it (you dear little fish with your horrible memories) but I think you guys can figure out how to best support your chica on this if you are so inclined. You know as well as I do that the best way to show some love for a writer is with that wallet, so. If you shell out the extra money for the hardcover, eternal gratitude (AND POSSIBLY SOMETHING ELSE I'M WORKING ON IT). It shows the people over at my publisher that you like me enough to support me in hardcover, and they like when people like me because then they can wear their I LOVE HANNAH shirts without fear of embarrassment or egg-throwers.

BUT the paperback and the ebook will be available at exactly the same time (I should say when that time is, right? APRIL 17TH, 2012) so buy it in one of those if you'd rather. This is why we give you options. Because we love you.

Pretty, pretty fish.

Friday, September 16, 2011

At Long Last: Cover Contest FINALS!

Okay. Let's do this.

Here are our Top Four in the INVINCIBLE SUMMER COVER REDESIGN CONTEST! These are the 3 from my Top Ten that received the most votes, and the fan favorite you all picked from the remaining entries! I've scrambled their order just for kicks.

You may vote ONCE for ONE cover. Each cover's number is above it. Remember you can click each to make it bigger.

And so you remember what a big deal this is, the winner will receive...

--a signed copy of my first book, BREAK.
--a signed copy of my second book, INVINCIBLE SUMMER.
--a signed arc of my first MG book, ZOMBIE TAG.
--a signed arc of my third YA book, GONE, GONE, GONE.
--their cover, printed up on pretty photo paper, signed by me (if you want me to? It's your art, you might not be into that. Let me know.)
--however many bookmarks I have lying around (three?) signed by me.

AND. MOST IMPORTANTLY:

--the first chapter of my just-sold novel, FISHBOY, printed out and signed. This is pre-edits! Who knows if this chapter will even EXIST in the final draft?? This is a first look that ONLY YOU WILL RECEIVE.

You have until MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19TH, MIDNIGHT EST to cast your vote.

WITHOUT FURTHER ADO:

#1



#2



#3

#4

Sunday, August 14, 2011

INVINCIBLE SUMMER COVER CONTEST: Round #1!

Yes, we have a new look! We so pretty.

So you remember that ridiculously awesome, ridiculously high-stakes contest I had?

The turnout was seriously beyond my wildest dreams. I was worried I wouldn't get ANY entries. Instead I got twenty-seven incredible submissions, and I love them to tiny pieces.

But

THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE.

Because of the ridiculous prize I'm giving away to the winner, it is of the utmost importance that I choose the very, very best. Which means I can't rely on my taste alone! I need you to help me.

I've chosen my top 10 favorite covers. You will see them momentarily (or now if you are impatient and scroll down, but don't because I'm about to give you IMPORTANT INFORMATION). You can vote for one of those. The top 3 with the most votes will go onto the next round, one week from today, where the ULTIMATE WINNER will be chosen!

BUT WAIT. What if you look at them and say "hannah wtf you didn't choose THE BEST ONE"??

Well. After the poll (where you vote for ONE of the top ten covers) you will see a link to a slideshow of ALL of the covers. They're all labeled with "Contest Entry #14" or whatever. Each of those that was not chosen for the top 10 will have a spot on the second poll! That is the FAN FAVORITE poll. And whichever one of THOSE gets the most votes will also move on to the next round, to make a top 4! See? You can fix my mistakes!

You may only vote once, but PLEASE campaign as hard as you possibly can for your favorite cover whether in the comments here, on twitter, your own blog, facebook, wherever. And thank you so, so much for voting (and for entering, if you did!)

A quick recap:

--Below are my ten favorites of the covers I was sent. They're in random order. Most of them you can click to make them bigger, some were subbed to me kinda small.
--You can vote ONCE on ONE COVER.
--Below THAT poll is a link to a slideshow of ALL THE ENTRIES.
--Below THAT link is a poll with each of the entries that was not chosen.
--You can vote ONCE for ONE OF THOSE COVERS.

And here we go!

THE TOP 10

1)


2) (No, I am not really a NYT Bestselling author, but if the cover fits...) >


3)

4)

5)
Photo by badjonni and used under the Creative Commons: http://www.flickr.com/photos/badjonni/5389624442/

6)

7)


8)

9)


10)



Here is a link to the slideshow of ALL the covers (including the top 10). The poll below is for all the covers that were NOT chosen in the top 10. If it was in the top 10, it will not appear on this poll (notice there's no option for "Cover Contest #1" on this poll, because that one was chosen for the top 10). Please don't get the numbers in the slideshow confused with the numbered entries above! Just look underneath each picture in the slideshow for its number and use that.

THE SLIDESHOW




Wednesday, July 13, 2011

The Biggest Contest That Has Ever Been Known to Humankind

SO.

If you recall, yesterday I had some pretty huge news.

To celebrate, I am having a hideously amazing contest. The prizes, which will be revealed MOMENTARILY, are, I think you would agree, completely over-the-top in number and shipping charge. Which is why, in order to win, you have to do something fairly intense and VITAL TO THE SURVIVAL OF HUMANKIND.

You have to design a new cover for Invincible Summer.



As many of you know, there has been considerable drama over the Invincible Summer cover! While I think it's a beautiful cover, the opinion has been raised that it doesn't fit what the book is about. So let's make a game out of it!

Design a new cover. Use stock photos, use MS paint, take photos, scan a drawing, use all text, however you want to do this. Please do not use copyrighted images or otherwise do anything to hurt someone in any way (no real blood, etc). Make a cover that you believe represents what the book is really about.

This is obviously going to be an easier task if you've read IS, but if you haven't, PLEASE don't let that keep you from entering! I recommend reading a bunch of goodreads reviews, here, both positive and negative, and checking out the Invincible Summer tag (at the end of this post) for excerpts from the book and my own commentary on said excerpts. You can find a LOT in the soundtrack posts especially about what I think the important parts of the book are. And you can always ask around! You can always ask me! I'd be happy to answer questions.

Since this is a fairly intense thing I'm asking you to do, I am giving you ONE MONTH FROM TODAY. That means that, on August 13th, I will post a to-be-determined number of my favorites on the blog and we will vote on the winner!

Here's the big thing. I am really terrified that no one will enter. So in order to entice you...the prize.

THE WINNER WILL RECEIVE:

--a signed copy of my first book, BREAK.
--a signed copy of my second book, INVINCIBLE SUMMER.
--a signed arc of my first MG book, ZOMBIE TAG.
--a signed arc of my third YA book, GONE, GONE, GONE.
--their cover, printed up on pretty photo paper, signed by me (if you want me to? It's your art, you might not be into that. Let me know.)
--however many bookmarks I have lying around (three?) signed by me.

AND. MOST IMPORTANTLY:

--the first chapter of my just-sold novel, FISHBOY, printed out and signed. This is pre-edits! Who knows if this chapter will even EXIST in the final draft?? This is a first look that ONLY YOU WILL RECEIVE.

In the words of my hero, worth playing for?

This contest IS OPEN INTERNATIONALLY, but if you are not in the U.S. and Canada, the prize is a little less exciting: You will get Invincible Summer and Break via Book Depo and preorders of Zombie Tag and Gone, Gone, Gone. But still good, right? Three books? Eh?

You have until AUGUST 13TH to submit your covers. Please EMAIL THEM TO ME: until.hannah@gmail.com. And please please spread the word.

Have fun.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

A Need So Freaking Beautiful

(You can still enter the ZOMBIE TAG arc tour right here!)

So you may have seen a bunch of posts today about the release of this amazing book called A Need So Beautiful by Suzanne Young. I don't usually do promotional stuff on this blog, but I make an exception today for two reasons:

1) Suzanne Young is my best friend. Which would be enough all on its own, but
2) A Need So Beautiful is a really, really, REALLY amazing book.

So we're having this wicked awesome contest, but first I'm going to give you a story about an act of kindness that changed my life, like how Charlotte changes people's lives--and her own--with her acts of kindness in A Need So Beautiful.

So once upon a time, about thirty years ago, this guy and this girl were in college and dating, pretty casually. They'd been together for the better part of a year, but they both knew that the guy was going to move out to California over the summer to meet the girl he'd been with before this one. All cards were on the table, everyone knew how it was going to go down.

And then the new girl sprained her ankle, right when the guy was supposed to move out to California.

And it wasn't as if it was life-threatening. It was a sprained ankle. He could have gone anyway. He wasn't obligated.

But he did. He blew off the girl he was supposed to move with (and never called her...but that's a different story) and stayed in North Carolina with the girl with the sprained ankle.

And that's how a random act of kindness changed my life. Seeing as I wouldn't exist if he'd gone out to California. Thanks, Dad!

:)

So here's the contest.

It's the same one from all the blogs, so you only need/get to enter once. The contest is open until June 28th.

There are SO MANY AWESOME PRIZES, and you'll get to choose which ones you want to try to grab on the entry sheet. Pretty cool, yeah? Some prizes are international and some aren't, so pay attention to what's available for you.

There will be 1 winner per item, and then three people will also be chosen to win a signed copy of A Need So Beautiful. Woohoo!

HERE IS THE ENTRY FORM!


And here's how to earn lots of points. You can only enter once, so make sure you have all your extra points ready to go when you fill out the form.

Earn one extra entry for each of the following:
Take a picture of an author's book in the wild and tweet it to the author and Kari (check the form for her twitter handle).
Post a positive Amazon review for a book you loved
Donate a book to a library or classroom
Tweet a good deed you plan to do this week, using the #ANeedSoBeautiful hashtag

Earn 10 extra entries for each of the following:
Take a picture of A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL in the wild and tweet it to us and Suzanne Young
Post an Amazon review for A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL
Donate a copy of A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL to a library or classroom

And here are some of the amazing prizes you could score:

First 3 chapter critique (Jessica at Confessions of a Bookaholic: http://www.totalbookaholic.com/)

YA Lit Swag Bag (Sara at Novel Novice: www.novelnovice.com)

Hourglass Order from TBD – Int (Corrine at Lost for Words: http://lostforwords-corrine.blogspot.com)

Random Books (Jessi at The Elliott Review: http://elliottreview.blogspot.com)

2 Header/Button Packs (Jessica at Hopelessly Devoted Bibliophile: http://www.hopelessbibliophile.com/)

First 3 chapters Critique (Cindy at Books Complete Me: http://www.bookscompleteme.com/)

First 15 pages Critique (Kari at A Good Addiction: http://agoodaddiction.blogspot.com/)

Signed ARC of Hereafter (Kari at A Good Addiction: http://agoodaddiction.blogspot.com/)

Query Letter Critique (Shannon Messenger: http://ramblingsofawannabescribe.blogspot.com/)

Signed copy of Invincible Summer – US/Can (Hannah Moskowitz: hannahmosk.blogspot.com)

First Chapter Critique and a Skype Chat (Keri Mikulski: http://kerimikulski.com/books/pay-it-forward-the-author-edition/)

Signed copy of Tell Me a Secret with signed TMAS art print - US (Holly Cupala: http://www.hollycupala.com/search/label/blog)

Signed copy of Chasing Brooklyn – US (Lisa Schroeder: www.lisaschroederbooks.com)

The Pledge Swag Pack including ARC (Kimberly Derting: http://kimberlyderting.blogspot.com/)

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

And the Last Winner Is...

Nice job, guys! I especially loved seeing you name those Muser books. I'm so proud of my musers.

1. Tons of correct choices, but a few: The Naughty List/So Many Boys/A Need So Beautiful by Suzanne Young, Handcuffs/The Red Masque of Death by Bethany Griffin, When the Sea is Rising Red by Cat Hellisen, The Unidentified by Rae Mariz, Kiss The Morning Stare by Elissa Hoole, and I'm sure many more that I've missed. We're kind of an awesome bunch.

2. Gray!

3. Zombie Tag is out December 20th, 2011. That's just before Christmas and the first night of Hanukkah, so it's a good time to be a present for some middle grader you love.

4. Well, mine would have to be "You've been chosen as an extra in the movie adaptation of the sequel to your life" from my homegirl "Shady Lane," though earlynerdspecial's line from The Engine Driver is way up there. (Although, on my more angsty days? "As I hide behind these books I read, while scribbling my poetry/like art could save a wretch like me, with some ideal ideology/that no one can hope to achieve, And I am never real; it is just a sketch of me/And everything I made is trite and cheap and a waste of paint, of tape, of time" from Bright Eyes's "A Waste of Paint." Good times!)

So we had 16 correct answers! And our winner is...

maine character. :) yaaaaay. email me!

You guys are so fabulous, thank you for being interested in IS! I hope that if you didn't win, you'll scoop up a copy of Invincible Summer on your own. Because, you know, I think the book is pretty cool.

I think in the next few days I'm going to be addressing the issue of the cover and the cover copy that almost all the reviewers have pointed out. It's important! And we might need a refresher course on why you can't use my book to hate your body. Come on humans!

You guys are amazing, and thank you so much for giving a shit about my little book.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

THE LAST SCAVENGER HUNT

Happy Invincible Summer release day! I hope it's as spectacular for you as a Tuesday can be.

So here are the answers from yesterday's..

1. Abby (Also acceptable: Abigail, though I not sure she would agree with me on that.)
2. Shady Lane
3. "Shady Lane" by Pavement, teehee
4. Wil (Zombie Tag) and Will (Break). Wil is short for Wilson, Will is short for William. Go figure.

Everyone got them right! Which means today will need to be much harder...

And the randomly selected winner:

Essie!! Congratulations, Essie! Emailing me within 24 hours would be fabulous.

So we have one more scavenger hunt left! Here are the rules, same as every day:

You will have 24 hours, starting from the minute this post goes up, to answer a series of questions. You will post your answers in the comments section of this post. Some of these questions have multiple (perhaps nearly infinite) correct answers, and some do not. You must answer all correctly to have a chance to be the randomly selected winner. There will be one winner each day, and I will announce that winner in the post opening the next round of the contest. If you do not win, you are absolutely free to enter the next few rounds! If you do win, you have 24 hours to email me your mailing information before I pass off to a different winner. And please do not enter again.

To find the answers of the questions, I suggest you try some of the following strategies:

a) look deep inside yourself

b) Google it

c) copy the answers of someone who posted before you

d) ask a muser. Just saying. These guys tend to know things. They're also busy people, so you might be lucky and you might not.

(Some names to try: @gracetopia, @Sagecollins, @sayitwhirly, @althrasher, @_bethanygriffin, @briannaorg, @suzanneyoung, @brittanimae, @libbymartin, @raemariz)

e) ask me. I may take pity on you, especially if you ask me in a funny way.

f) otherwise bribe/cheat/steal. This is a lawless society.

There will be none of that +1 for following or retweeting nonsense, but I would be ever so much obliged if you would consider adding the little book in question to your goodreads shelf, because I am a goodreads whore and sometimes you need little things to make you happy.

--

Today's rules!

THE PRIZE IS:

One copy of INVINCIBLE SUMMER and one CD of INVINCIBLE SUMMER'S PLAYLIST, as well as one signed bookmark.

THE RESTRICTIONS ARE:

WE'RE INTERNATIONAL TODAY!! Enter from anywhere in the whole world. Even Antarctica!

One entry per customer. No exceptions. Don't make me come down there.

Contest ends at 5:45 PM, April 20th, 2011.

And our questions are:

1) So I know you've heard of the musers. We're a family of about 25 writers. Besides mine, what are two of our published (released already or no) books?

2) As of right this minute, what color shirt am I wearing?

3) What is Zombie Tag's release date?

4) If you had to choose one lyric that best describes you and your life, what would you choose?



Break a leg!

Monday, April 18, 2011

THE THIRD SCAVENGER HUNT

Well done, guys! Yesterday's scavenger hunt had 21 people answering correctly! The answers were:

1. EEF

2. Elise (French middle name in the middle of my mega-Jewish name ftw?)

3. False

4. It's just a jump to the left and then a step to the right, put your hands on your hips and brings your knees in tight, but it's the pelvic thrust that really drives you insane. Repeat!

And the randomly selected winner is...

Karen Yuan!!! Congratulations, Karen! Please get in touch with me with your info sometime in the next 24 hours. But I'll attempt to track you down if I don't hear from you, don't worry.

Time for the 3rd of our 4 scavenger hunts, since Invincible Summer is out TOMORROW!! Oh wow.

The same rules as the days before:

You will have 24 hours, starting from the minute this post goes up, to answer a series of questions. You will post your answers in the comments section of this post. Some of these questions have multiple (perhaps nearly infinite) correct answers, and some do not. You must answer all correctly to have a chance to be the randomly selected winner. There will be one winner each day, and I will announce that winner in the post opening the next round of the contest. If you do not win, you are absolutely free to enter the next few rounds! If you do win, you have 24 hours to email me your mailing information before I pass off to a different winner. And please do not enter again.

To find the answers of the questions, I suggest you try some of the following strategies:

a) look deep inside yourself

b) Google it

c) copy the answers of someone who posted before you

d) ask a muser. Just saying. These guys tend to know things. They're also busy people, so you might be lucky and you might not.

(Some names to try: @gracetopia, @Sagecollins, @sayitwhirly, @althrasher, @_bethanygriffin, @briannaorg, @suzanneyoung, @brittanimae, @libbymartin, @raemariz)

e) ask me. I may take pity on you, especially if you ask me in a funny way.

f) otherwise bribe/cheat/steal. This is a lawless society.

There will be none of that +1 for following or retweeting nonsense, but I would be ever so much obliged if you would consider adding the little book in question to your goodreads shelf, because I am a goodreads whore and sometimes you need little things to make you happy.

--

Today's rules!

THE PRIZE IS:

One copy of INVINCIBLE SUMMER and one CD of INVINCIBLE SUMMER'S PLAYLIST, as well as one signed bookmark.

THE RESTRICTIONS ARE:

WE'RE INTERNATIONAL TODAY!! Enter from anywhere in the whole world. Even Antarctica!

One entry per customer. No exceptions. Don't make me come down there.

Contest ends at 4:30 PM, April 19th, 2011.

And our questions are (today we have a theme!) :

1) Hannah Moskowitz has one sibling. What is his or her name? (hint: are you and I facebook friends? That will help.)

2) What is Hannah Moskowitz's Absolute Write username?

3) That username is a reference to a song. What is the name of that song?

4) Here's the tricky one: A major character in BREAK and a major character in Zombie Tag have the same name, though they are spelled slightly differently. What is this name?



Good luck!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

THE SECOND SCAVENGER HUNT

So! Yesterday's answers were:

1. Sarah Greenhill
2. 445.3 lbs
3. (you guys had good answers for this one!)
4. Gideon

Fourteen people got all four answers correct. And from those fifteen, the randomly selected winner is....

ERIN!! (though the worst lyric of that song is obviously "today never happened before.")

Congratulations, Erin! You have 24 hours to email me your info.

Now for the next scavenger hunt! These are the every day rules. Please skip if you read them yesterday:

You will have 24 hours, starting from the minute this post goes up, to answer a series of questions. You will post your answers in the comments section of this post. Some of these questions have multiple (perhaps nearly infinite) correct answers, and some do not. You must answer all correctly to have a chance to be the randomly selected winner. There will be one winner each day, and I will announce that winner in the post opening the next round of the contest. If you do not win, you are absolutely free to enter the next few rounds! If you do win, you have 24 hours to email me your mailing information before I pass off to a different winner. And please do not enter again.

To find the answers of the questions, I suggest you try some of the following strategies:

a) look deep inside yourself

b) Google it

c) copy the answers of someone who posted before you

d) ask a muser. Just saying. These guys tend to know things. They're also busy people, so you might be lucky and you might not.

(Some names to try: @gracetopia, @Sagecollins, @sayitwhirly, @althrasher, @_bethanygriffin, @briannaorg, @suzanneyoung, @brittanimae, @libbymartin, @raemariz)

e) ask me. I may take pity on you, especially if you ask me in a funny way.

f) otherwise bribe/cheat/steal. This is a lawless society.

There will be none of that +1 for following or retweeting nonsense, but I would be ever so much obliged if you would consider adding the little book in question to your goodreads shelf, because I am a goodreads whore and sometimes you need little things to make you happy.

--

NOW. For the special rules for today.

THE PRIZE IS:

One copy of INVINCIBLE SUMMER and one CD of INVINCIBLE SUMMER'S PLAYLIST, as well as one signed bookmark.

THE RESTRICTIONS ARE:

U.S. and Canada only once again (sorry guys! There will be an international day).

One entry per customer. No exceptions. Don't make me come down there.

Contest ends at 4:00 PM, April 18th, 2011.

AND YOUR QUESTIONS ARE:

1) When played on piano, what are the first three notes of "Ode to Joy?"

2) What is Hannah Moskowitz's middle name?

3) True or False: In INVINCIBLE SUMMER, Claudia is older than Chase.

4) Explain to me, please, how one dances the Time Warp.



Go go go!

Saturday, April 16, 2011

THE FIRST SCAVENGER HUNT

So.

We are having the first of four scavenger hunts today.

You are about to embark on a quest to win a copy of INVINCIBLE SUMMER.

Good luck.

--

First, the rules for every day:

You will have 24 hours, starting from the minute this post goes up, to answer a series of questions. You will post your answers in the comments section of this post. Some of these questions have multiple (perhaps nearly infinite) correct answers, and some do not. You must answer all correctly to have a chance to be the randomly selected winner. There will be one winner each day, and I will announce that winner in the post opening the next round of the contest. If you do not win, you are absolutely free to enter the next few rounds! If you do win, you have 24 hours to email me your mailing information before I pass off to a different winner. And please do not enter again.

To find the answers of the questions, I suggest you try some of the following strategies:

a) look deep inside yourself

b) Google it

c) copy the answers of someone who posted before you

d) ask a muser. Just saying. These guys tend to know things. They're also busy people, so you might be lucky and you might not.

(Some names to try: @gracetopia, @Sagecollins, @sayitwhirly, @althrasher, @_bethanygriffin, @briannaorg, @suzanneyoung, @brittanimae, @libbymartin, @raemariz)

e) ask me. I may take pity on you, especially if you ask me in a funny way.

f) otherwise bribe/cheat/steal. This is a lawless society.

There will be none of that +1 for following or retweeting nonsense, but I would be ever so much obliged if you would consider adding the little book in question to your goodreads shelf, because I am a goodreads whore and sometimes you need little things to make you happy.

NOW. For the special rules for today.

THE PRIZE IS:

One copy of INVINCIBLE SUMMER and one CD of INVINCIBLE SUMMER'S PLAYLIST, as well as one signed bookmark.

THE RESTRICTIONS ARE:

U.S. and Canada only this time (sorry guys! There will be an international day).

One entry per customer. No exceptions. Don't make me come down there.

Contest ends at 2:30 PM, April 17th, 2011.

AND YOUR QUESTIONS ARE:

1) What is Hannah Moskowitz's porn star name?

2) What is the weight of a Tyranitar?

3) What is the worst lyric from your favorite song? (Example: My favorite song is "A Perfect Sonnet" by Bright Eyes, and the worst lyric is absolutely "so I stand in the sun/and I breathe with my lungs" because wow. That's pretty terrible. Obviously there are many correct answers. I want yours.)

4) Who is the first character named in INVINCIBLE SUMMER?


aaaaaaand go.

Friday, April 15, 2011

INVINCIBLE SUMMER Playlist: Song 20

SONG #20: "Bixby Canyon Bridge" by Death Cab for Cutie.

The last very important song, and the last song period.

I always like to say that I write in returns. And it's something I have to remind myself while I'm writing all the time, ha. If a character says something important or goes somewhere important, he has to somehow return to that space, literally or otherwise. There are very few times I'm not in favor of a character physically returning to a significant place. It always helps.

Invincible Summer is a book about returns, really, because it takes place on the same beach, in the same house, but each part has an entire unspoken year in-between it and the next. So there's a lot you're not seeing, and the location is what pulls the story together. If I had them in a different place every summer, it would be a lot more difficult for both of us, probably. It would be hard for you to see what's changed. That's what returns are about: an impossibly easy way to see what's changed when a space or a room or a moment remains the same.

That's what Bixby Canyon Bridge is about.

And that's the end of the book, guys. The giveaways start tomorrow! I'm crazy excited for them. There will be more details tomorrow, but quickly: each one's going to be open for only 24 hours. At least 1 of the days will allow international entry as well, but most will be only U.S and Canada, sorry. They're going to be ridiculously fun for me (and hopefully fun for you) and, well...I hope that you will like them.

I also hope that you will like Invincible Summer.

And I hope you're having a lovely day.

SAMPLE LYRIC:

Barefoot in the shallow creek,
I grabbed some stones from underneath
And waited for you to speak to me.




AND HERE IS THE PLAYLIST:

1) "Turn Up The Sun" by Oasis
2) "Island in the Sun" by Weezer
3) "Just Like Heaven" by Gatsby's American Dream
4) "Bigger Than My Body" by John Mayer
5) "New Soul" by Yael Naim
6) "Across the Universe" by Rufus Wainwright
7) "Boys of Summer" by The Ataris
8) "Slang" by Def Leppard
9) "City Hall" by The Fray
10) "The Worst Part" by Motion City Soundtrack
11) "Time Won't Let Me Go" by The Bravery
12) "Hello Helicopter" by Motion City Soundtrack
13) "No One's Boy" by Marcy Playground
14) "You Can Do Better Than Me" by Death Cab for Cutie
15) "Sorry" by Pushmonkey
16) "Little Sparrow" by David Cook
17) "Long Division" by Death Cab for Cutie
18) "Not Just Sometimes But Always" by Idlewild
19) "Long Long Time" by Guy Forsyth.
20) "Bixby Canyon Bridge" by Death Cab for Cutie.

Saturday, March 26, 2011

A Very Musical Countdown to INVINCIBLE SUMMER

So.

A lot of people make playlists for their books. I am one of them!

I've been trying to figure out the best way to show you guys my INVINCIBLE SUMMER playlist, because I'm pretty damn proud of it, and because it was hugely, hugely important to the creation of the book, even more so than most of the playlists I make

So here's what's up. Tomorrow, I'm going to run a post on the first song on INVINCIBLE SUMMER's playlist, and I'll keep on doing that until I run out of songs.

Here's the thing.

Tomorrow, when I start these posts, there will be 23 days left until INVINCIBLE SUMMER comes out.

I am not sure how many songs are on this playlist, but I *think* it is either 20 or 21.

Which means! I am going to run out of songs to post before time runs out! What to do what to do OH I THINK I KNOW WHAT TO DO.

I THINK ON EACH OF THOSE DAYS, I WILL HAVE A CONTEST.

!!!!!

And who even KNOWS what the prizes will be.

Will they be petite lap giraffes?

Will they be copies of INVINCIBLE SUMMER?

Will they be bushels of fresh fruit?

Will they be FIRE??

Will they be CDs of INVINCIBLE SUMMER's playlist?

Will they be some combination of two of the above suggestions??

REALLY IT'S ANYONE'S GUESS.

----------------

So here are my rules for making playlists. I'm not enforcing them on anyone else! I'm just listing them because this is my blog and I can say whatever I want la la la la la la la.

---MAKE IT BEFORE YOU START. You make the playlist during the plotting stage. You can alter it later, but this happens before you get started. This is how you get the story in the head. This is how you let it roll around and chew on you and all that good stuff stories do.

---DO IT IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. I don't write outlines. I make playlists.

And it works. If I don't know what happens next, I check the playlist. If I'm listening to the middle of the playlist and I realize I have four songs in a row expressing the same thing...uh, maybe something needs to fucking happen at that point in the story. Time to check iTunes for possible plot points!

---NO FAVORITES. If you know me at all, you'll know I love Motion City Soundtrack more than any healthy person loves anything. Which means I've listened to all of their songs a zillion times. I know them backwards and forwards.

You can't use songs you know that well. You need songs that you still have to listen to. When I'm first making a playlist, I put in tons of songs I've downloaded but never listened to if they have titles that sound like they might possibly work. If they don't, it's pretty damn easy to delete it. But The Music Gods make it work surprisingly often.

On that note:

---USE THOSE SONGS THAT SOMEHOW ENDED UP IN YOUR LIBRARY AND YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW. Those songs are there for a reason! It's fate!

---LISTEN TO IT WHENEVER. Sometimes I like to listen to music while I write. Sometimes I don't. Most of the playlist listening I do happens outside of actual writing time. It's the only music I'm allowed to listen to while I'm writing the first draft of the book.

You will get sick of it. You will hum the songs in your sleep. You will discover favorite bits of songs you don't even like all that much. You will discover that you actually hate songs that you thought you kind of liked.

WELCOME TO WRITING.

Just in song form.

I'll kick off with song #1 tomorrow.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

AWESOME CONTEST OF AWESOMENESS

Tadaaaa! I know you've been dying of anticipation.

Well HERE IT IS:



That's right. You can win ARCs of my book Invincible Summer! and Suzanne Young's book A Need So beautiful! And some other stuff too!!

The entry form is right HERE and it is without a doubt the easiest form in the world. Trust us. And that's all you have to do!

BUT if you want extra karma points, it's probably a good idea to add our books on goodreads--HERE and HERE.

Also you could tweet or blog about this because people will think you're cool for knowing about such an awesome contest. True story. Our contest will make you more popular.

Enter! Enter! Enter!

Friday, February 11, 2011

A Contest! A Contest of Awesome Proportions! An Awesome Contest of Awesomeness!

Here is a teaser for the most amazing contest of your life, brought to you by the AMAZING Suzanne Young.

Check back next week.

And you might want to check Suz's blog too. It's possible I'm there. It's possible the link is right here.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

THE WINNERS

I want to thank all of you like crazy. I loved reading your entries.

Without further ado...

The signed copy of BREAK goes to....

Sara!

And the signed ARC of INVINCIBLE SUMMER goes to...

althrasher!


If you didn't win, WAIT. All is not lost. PUT DOWN THE NOOSE.

1. Soon, I will have BREAK/INVINCIBLE SUMMER bookmarks and magnets coming that I won in the Do The Write Thing For Nashville auction. If you entered my ARC contest, then I love you to frickin pieces, and pretty please shoot me an email at until.hannah@gmail.com telling me whether you would like a signed bookmark or a magnet (which will also be signed, if I can figure out how the hell to sign a magnet. Cross your fingers). I promise I won't send you any spam/utility bills.

To make this clearer: I don't give a shit if you entered or not, if you send me your address, you'll get swag. Cool?

2. April isn't that far away. And if you have to wait until then to buy a copy, look at it this way: You're helping me pay for all these bookmarks I'm sending out.

3. If you are a book blogger (have I made it clear yet that I love book bloggers?), pretty please send me an email at the above address with your mailing address and a link to your blog and I will BEG my publicist to send you a copy. I can't promise it'll be possible to get them to all of you, but I can promise that I will try my fucking damndest.

Unnnnfortunately, I know that my publicist won't send overseas. I KNOW GUYS I'M SAD TOO.

Again, thank you so much for entering, and I love you guys to pieces. I'll do another giveaway (of both books, probably!) when I get my INVINCIBLE SUMMER author copies in :).

Friday, July 2, 2010

ARC CONTEST

Hello hello hello I am an ARC of INVINCIBLE SUMMER.



I WANT TO BE ON YOUR BOOKSHELF.



The problem is that I (now I'm hannah again) only have TWO of these. And I get to keep one, because I wrote this book and that's the kind of shit I get to do.

So there is only ONE available.

Here are some reasons you want this ARC.

1. It is uncorrected, meaning there is an entire page that is all in italics for no discernible reason.

2. Possibly the worst paragraph I've ever written somehow survived for this long and is on page 18 of this ARC. It will not be in the final version. I crossed it off and wrote "what the fuck?" next to it.

3. If you don't get this exact ARC, chances are very good that you will have to wait until April 19th, 2011 which, let's face it, is a long time from now.

4. I will sign it, obviously.

5. According to the back cover copy, this book is pretty awesome. "Across four sun-kissed drama-drenched summers at his family's beach house, Chase tries to come to grips with his family's slow dissolution while also finding himself in a chaotic love triangle, pitted against his own brother in pursuit of the girl next door. Invincible Summer is a gritty, sexy, page-turning read from a talented teenaged author that readers won't want to miss."

6. This exact ARC has been BETWEEN MY LEGS.




So. Here is how to enter.

BY ENTERING, YOU SOLEMNLY SOLEMNLY SWEAR THE FOLLOWING:

1. You are a follower of this blog. Don't make me check up on you, bitches. Here in hannahland we use the honor system. This rule is purely because I want more followers. At least I'm honest.

2. You will review INVINCIBLE SUMMER somewhere. Goodreads, Amazon, B&N, Librarything, Shelfari, your own blog, whatever catches your fancy. And dude, if you hate it, give it a bad review. I just want the name out there. ARCs are for reviews, you know?

HERE'S HOW TO ENTER:

1. Comment telling me your own reasons why you desperately desperately need this ARC. The more ridiculous the better. Make shit up. Be hilarious.

2. None of that +1 for retweeting shit. I don't have time for that. Do it for good karma.

3. And the winner is going to be chosen by a random number generator. Yeah, your stories are worthless. I'm just bored.

The contest starts RIGHT NOW and will close in two weeks, on JULY 17TH, 2010. I'll try to mail it out to you soon after that.

You can enter no matter where you are in the world, 'cause I love you bitches. Oh, and obviously one entry per person. Don't make me come down there.

UPDATE: If this contest has over 100 entries, I'll randomly pick another winner for a signed copy of BREAK!

AND GO.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Do the Write Thing

So.

Guys.

This is a pretty big deal.

I'm sure you've heard about the insane floods this week in Tennessee. The fabulous (MUSER) Amanda K. Morgan has teamed up with a few other writers to create DO THE THE WRITE THING FOR NASHVILLE. Basically, it's a HUGE auction and every round has like 12-15 things you can bid on all donated by supahsweet authors, editors, and agents. And every bit of the money goes towards Nashville Flood Relief.

And, guys. You will not BELIEVE how many things that have to do with ME are in this auction. I basically donated my soul to Nashville relief. And now I want you to bid on little pieces of it.

I know there are some really famous writers in here and all, but I am going to be so sad if my things don't bring in some money. I'll probably be so sad that I'll stop blogging or something.

So do the write thing and bid on my stuff, obvs.

Auction starts at 10 AM EST tomorrow. (The website says 9 AM Central. I converted that time to EST because that's real people time.)

And here is your link! BUY STUFF.

Monday, January 4, 2010

I'M ALIVE

And I am going to be a better blogger in 2010. I SWEAR.

I have nothing important to say to you today at all. Can this not count as 2010 blogging? It's 4 in the morning. I think I should be exempt from making sense at this hour.

If I'm smart, I'll delete this post right now. But I wanted you to all know I haven't abandoned you. (And if you sent me a query, I will read it. Really. At some point. I swear.)

Working up to a move on January 13th. Very excited. And I'm getting kittens on the 15th. There will be pictures.

BUT. First, a challenge.

NAME MY KITTENS.

They are nearly identical, two light gray tabbies, both boys.

I'll think of some reward if I end up using your names. It will probably be a fairly nice reward. Aaaaaaand go.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

And the winner is....

The committee (uh, me) has voted and the winner is definitely Miss Sarah and her most fantastic kayaking story. I was laughing all over my keyboard.

Sarah, please give me your character name for this chapter of ALL TOGETHER WITH FEELING as soon as you're ready, because I think right now I have her named Tabitha or something. And she is not a cat.

And she could be a boy, too, so no worries there.

OKAY. Thanks so much everyone who participated! Reading your stories was even more fun than I expected, so I think there will definitely be another contest in the near future...maybe a 2-weeks-until-BREAK contest? Maybe a get-in-the-acknowledgments contest?? Hmmm.

All I know is I need to start blogging more often. I judge other bloggers who only post once a week. Juuudge.

Tonight (or like, three days from now, knowing me) I'm going to post a supah-secret deleted scene (okay paragraph) from Break. It was one of my favorite favorite little bits of the book, but it got cut...so we'll look at that and maybe talk about why our writing that we love is, a lot of the time, not our best writing.

Look at me, having an agenda and shit. Damn, am I growing up???