A.E. Wright Middle School

I just wanted to take a moment to thank the 7th Grade Language Arts teachers at A.E. Wright Middle School, in Calabasas, California, for choosing The Paper Bag Christmas as their December reading project.  It's been wonderful to get so much positive feedback about the book, both from the teachers and the students. I'm told that their final assignment, following vacation, may include a note to me.  How nice!  Maybe some of them will even want to post their letters here....(hint, hint)...

Go Spartans!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

Leia Mais…

Winners, Winners, and more Winners

Happy Thanksgiving!  I just waddled in the door after a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with the whole Milne clan.  What a great day!  Sure, I'm ten pounds heavier, but I'll worry about that later.

As promised, today is the official end of my book contest. First, let me say THANK YOU to everyone who entered.  I didn't expect such a huge response!  Believe it or not, there were nearly 500 entries!  Yes, I said FIVE HUNDRED!!  Most of them were post-card entries, but there were also many great Thanksgiving recipes shared online.

Here are the lucky winners:

Prize # 1 goes to Jackie Wisherd, from La Mesa, California, who submitted a delicious recipe (post-card submission) for Praline Candied Yams.  It was delicious!  I'll post the full recipe soon so everyone can enjoy it.

Prize #2 goes to Lisa Helms-Guba, from Annapolis, Maryland.

Prize #3 goes to Kristy Kimball, from Calabasas, California.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this contest.  For me, it made this a Thanksgiving I will not soon forget. 

Leia Mais…

Christmas Contest...for Thanksgiving

Yes, it's been far too long since my last book contest.  But the drought is over!  I am happy to announce the easiest book contest in the entire universe (okay, that may be a stretch...but the criteria for such things is very subjective, so I'm sticking with it).  There are 3 separate prizes up for grabs:

1. Two signed copies of the newly released PAPER BAG CHRISTMAS (with its beautiful new cover!). The perfect Christmas gift for anyone with a heart.
2. Two signed copies of THE NINE LESSONS.  Keep them for yourself, or put them in someone's stocking.
3. One advance reader copy (ARC) of SWEET MISFORTUNE.  You'll be the first person to get a sneak-peek at this upcoming book, which won't be available commercially until June. Wow!  

The prizes will go to three different winners.  Although you can only win once, you can boost your chances of winning by submitting lots and lots of entries.  Here's how:

a) Post a comment to this blog by November 23rd which includes a recipe for your favorite Thanksgiving side-dish or dessert (one recipe submission per person).  My wife will pick the one that sounds the yummiest as the winner, and we will prepare that dish to accompany the Milne family Thanksgiving feast.

b) Send a post-card to ME!  Any post-card will do, so long as it arrives before Thanksgiving.  One entry will be given for every post-card, and there is no limit to the number that you send. The address is 20842 SW LeBeau Rd.  Sherwood, OR  97140. I look forward to hearing from you! [Hey teachers: want to bump your odds of winning? Have your students send me a post-card too!  If they identify you as their teacher, I'll give you and them each an entry in the contest.]

c) Get your friends and family to join my email list.  After they have signed up, send me an email identifying who you strong-armed to join.  You'll receive one entry per person that you 'help' sign up.  Your friends will also receive a free entry just for joining. 

So that's it.  Simple, right?

Here's the fine-print: 
- Winners will be announced on Thanksgiving day.    
- The recipe contest winner will receive the copies of The Paper Bag Christmas (prize #1)  
- All other contest entries (including recipe submissions who didn't win prize #1) will be lumped together and drawn at random for prize #2 & #3.  
- Milne family members cannot submit recipes for prize #1 (we already know what your cooking is like...and we don't need any more of it :-)  
- No international entries will win...but feel free to submit anyway.  Your recipes and post-cards will be welcomed.

Leia Mais…

Sherwood Book Club

I just wanted to say thanks to the Sherwood Book Club for having me at their monthly meeting this past Thursday to discuss The Nine Lessons.  Of all the book clubs I've been to, this one was by far the scariest for me...I think because it was in my home town.  Before showing up I had this nagging fear that the local crowd might be a little tougher on 'one of its own'.  Thankfully, just the opposite was true!  We had a great discussion, lots of terrific questions, and the club members were the nicest people in the world.  Silly me for expecting anything less.  Hopefully they enjoyed it as much as I did and they'll have me back for Sweet Misfortune next June...

Leia Mais…

Sweet Misfortune Cover

To me, one of the best parts about writing books is getting to see what the amazing design folks come up with for cover-art. Usually, when I'm first seeing one of my covers for the first time, I just and stare at it for like 2 hours, familiarizing myself with every square millimeter. So I just finished another two-hour stare session, and I'm happy to report that I love every square millimeter of the Sweet Misfortune cover! The book is not due out until June 2010 (which, by the way, is already a 2 month pull-in from the original planned date), and yet the cover is already set. Gotta love the planning/scheduling that goes into getting a book to market! It really is an amazing process, and the Hachette team seems to have it down to a science.

Leia Mais…