Read 'Til You Drop

As longtime readers of this journal know, I have a monthly contest, where I give away a copy of a book, an ARC, other goodies...

The winner of the last contest is Nathalie D. from Montreal, who receives a signed copy of SORCERY AND THE SINGLE GIRL.  A new contest starts today - sign up early!  Get your friends to sign up!  The more the merrier!

Mindy, dusting off her hands

This afternoon, I mailed all of the packages that I have had sitting around to be mailed.  Yes, some of them have been here for far too long, and for that I sincerely apologize.

Note to self:  The local post office closes at 1 on Saturdays, not at 2.  (At least I could get new mail from my PO Box.) 

Second note to self:  The staff at the big regional post office is as friendly as the staff at the local post office.  Even when they have to walk you through a customs form.  And an insurance form.  And the ridiculous "flammable, breakable, terrorist-created?" questions, after you've explicitly said that you're mailing books.  (They were actually really good - and fast.)

Third note to self:  Write a story about the guy who was mailing a large white 9 x 13 envelope by pasting dozens of two cent stamps on the front of the envelope, lining each one up precisely.  (The Navajo jewelry stamps are pretty - even moreso when seen in row after row after row.)

Mindy, back from successful errands (except for grocery shopping, where she could not find a parking space after driving through the entire lot three times - silly Super Bowl!)

Last night, I sent out the January newsletter, the first-ever quarterly update to my readers.  It included some news, an announcement of the new site design, and Jane Madison's New Year's Resolutions.  It also included a special contest, only for newsletter readers, with prizes that have never before been available to my readers.

If you'd like to sign up for future issues of the newsletter, send me email - mindy@mindyklasky.com - with the subject "Newsletter", and I'll add you to the list!

Mindy, dusting off her hands for work accomplished in the first day of the year

Whew!  I've finally punched a hole through my new firewall, and so I've been able to update the contest page on my website.  Astute web-browsing-beings will now know that Nellie Kim won the November Contest.  They'll also realize that there are twelve more contest-entry-days for the December Contest.

Here are the details:

http://www.mindyklasky.com/contest.html

Mindy, pleased to *at last* be able to update the website again!

The October contest winner (drop me an email, enter to win a free, signed copy of SORCERY) is:  Kerry Stubbs!

I was particularly happy to draw Kerry's name because I've seen it entered month after month after month.  This is definitely a case where perseverance paid off!

If you'd like to enter the November contest, check it out at:

www.mindyklasky.com/contest.html

Mindy, spreading good news

SORCERY AND THE SINGLE GIRL will be in bookstores on September 25!  SORCERY is my second book about Jane Madison, a librarian who finds out that she's a witch.  Jane attempts to balance her job, her love life, and her desperate attempts to join the most prestigious coven on the Eastern seaboard.

According to my editor, there is a *chance* that I can make a national bestseller list with this book IF enough people buy the book very early in its release.  (Enough copies have been printed, and the distribution should be in place...)  Therefore, if you are at all inclined to buy the book, could you consider making your purchase on September 25?

Also, I am going to follow up on last year's successful Virtual Book Tour for GIRL'S GUIDE TO WITCHCRAFT with a new tour for SORCERY AND THE SINGLE GIRL.  I would be happy to answer up to five questions about the book, writing, publishing, or just about anything else, if you will post my answers on your blog or website on or around September 25!  Please email your questions to me with the subject Virtual Book Tour at mindy@mindyklasky.com. 

Anyone who posts answers for my Virtual Book Tour will be entered into a drawing for a gift bag containing a signed copy of SORCERY, some pewter witchcraft charms, notecards, etc.  Also, anyone who emails me a photo of SORCERY in a bookstore will receive a signed cover flat (a cardstock version of the full-color cover), along with a set of tiny pewter witchcraft charms!  Finally, you can enter a drawing for a signed copy of SORCERY by entering this month's contest on my blog: www.mindyklasky.com/contest.html

Thanks to all of you for your constant support! (And please feel free to distribute this message as widely as you'd like!)

Mindy, psyched for the official launch

While we're talking about humorous speculative fiction, here's another chance to land some in your very own mailbox:

http://www.spacejock.com.au/HalNotify.html

Simon Haynes, an Australian with a sense of humor *and* a LiveJournal - halspacejock- writes the Adventures of Hal Spacejock.  Each month, he holds a drawing to give away some of his books - and you don't even have to do anything to win!  (Well, enter the drawing, anyway...)

Mindy, now definitely sure that her to-be-read pile needs to be read...

Jim Hines is conducting a little experiment, over on his LiveJournal:

http://jimhines.livejournal.com/305405.html

You, too, can apply the scientific method!  (And if you're lucky, you can walk away with an absolutely free copy of the trade edition of GOBLIN QUEST.  Check out Jim's entry, and get to know Jig the goblin!

Mindy, contemplating her to be read list and wondering if it's time to add one ... more ... book....

Three more weeks, till SORCERY AND THE SINGLE GIRL arrives in a bookstore near you.  Although the book is technically considered an "October release", its official launch date is September 25.  I am sitting on pins and needles, waiting to see how this baby will do out there in the Big Bad World.

So, to distract myself from worry, I've decided to have a contest.  The first person to send me a photo of SORCERY AND THE SINGLE GIRL in its native habitat (any bricks and mortar bookstore of your choosing) receives a signed cover flat (a cardstock version of the full-color cover), along with a set of tiny pewter witchcraft charms.  I'll also post your photo on my blog and/or website.

In other news, I spent the weekend pounding away on writing MAGIC AND THE MODERN GIRL (the third Jane Madison book, due on 9/30).  I got about 15,000 words written, and another 5000 edited.  That leaves me in good shape for Writing Marathon, which will take place next week.

And you?  How did you spend the weekend?  If you were in the States, did you picnic on Labor Day?

Mindy, mourning the vacation from work of one kind, as she prepare to return to work of another kind...

The August Contest through my website closes tomorrow at 11:59 on August 31!  If you haven't already entered, don't delay!

(The prize this month is a pair of pierced-ear earrings, dangly, gold-tone with black beads and hand-painted black clay circles with white cat-faces on them!  Neko lives!)

http://www.mindyklasky.com/contest.html

Mindy, who has exhausted her stock of exclamation points for the day

At my website, I have (at long last, and after much delay, and with many apologies) announced the winner of the last contest:

http://www.mindyklasky.com/contest.html

And I have launched the next, new, and improved contest there as well!

Join the fun - enter the contest!

Mindy, housecleaning away on the website...

The April Contest (for a signed cover flat of SORCERY) has been won - congratulations go out to Kathy Giannone!

The May Contest is now up and running:

http://www.mindyklasky.com/contest.html

(Long-time contest participants will note a minor change in procedure - I will no longer be emailing back to each entrant a confirmation that I received the entry; I'm receiving too many each month to continue with the confirmations.)

Mindy, contest mistress

The March Contest has drawn to a close, and Margaret Smith was the winner!

And the April Contest is posted - http://www.mindyklasky.com/contest.html

And - here's the Very Special part - the first chapter of SORCERY AND THE SINGLE GIRL is posted for your reading pleasure, along with copy from the back of the book - http://www.mindyklasky.com/books.html


Mindy, post-happy on this grey afternoon/evening

So, I posted news about the March Contest a couple of days ago, and I settled back, fully expecting my mailbox to slowly fill with entries.  (In typical months, I get about 45 entries for the contest.)  Imagine my surprise when I checked my email last night after dinner, to find 45 entries in two days!

Apparently, my contest was posted over on www.online-sweepstakes.com, and a number of the members of that site entered.  I know that some authors have had bad luck with the site, finding that no one follows the rules of the contest, but rather, they just show up saying "Here!  Award me now!"  I've found two "bad apples" (who I reminded that they needed to read the chapter and submit the answer to the question), but everyone else has followed the rules.  And maybe, just maybe, one or two of them decided to read more than the first chapter of GIRL'S GUIDE!

In other news, I've spent the morning and early afternoon pulling together things that need to be mailed.  If you are expecting anything from me, via United States Postal Service, you can calculate delivery times from this afternoon.

Mindy, about to walk to the post office on a sunny day (made moreso by the melting snow from yesterday!)

OK.  So, I had the best of plans...  I was going to do a contest every month.  I was going to award prizes every month.

And then, life took over.

So, the January Contest never quite closed.  It morphed into the January/February Contest.  And it only seemed fair that I award two prizes, one for each of the months that the contest stayed posted on the website.

So - without further ado:  The January/February Contest winners are Claire Warren and Lori Davis.  Claire and Lori - contact me to claim your prizes!

And, in an attempt to regain your faith, I've posted the March Contest :-)

http://www.mindyklasky.com/contest.html

Mindy, looking forward to a new raft of contest entries!

Just a quick reminder - the January contest closes on 1/31!  Check out the rules here:

http://www.mindyklasky.com/contest.html

Mindy, who knows she owes folks a "real" entry soon...

Happy new year, one and all!  I've enjoyed reading so many of your thoughts, goals, and resolutions...  Alas, you won't be reading mine - I keep them private.  (Yes, I know that The Experts say that we should make our goals public, but I just can't do that...)  Suffice to say, I have mine.  I've set my goals, mapped out paths to get to where I want to be, contemplated secondary plans in case the primaries seem to be failing, and I've gotten under way.

Which, for 10:30 on a New Year's Day morning, seems like quite a lot :-)

First matter of business for today, though, was selecting the winner of the Quilt Contest - the three month contest on my website for a handmade, designed-by-me quilted wall hanging based on themes related to GIRL'S GUIDE TO WITCHCRAFT.  Here's the procedure for the contest (which I've used for all of the contests on my website):

1. I take all of the entries, and I place them in a separate e-mailbox, in the order that they were received.
2. I go www.random.org and use its random-number generation tool to select a number between 1 and the number of contest entries.
3. I go to the emailbox and count off, from the top, until I get to that random number.
4. I announce the winner...

And today's winner makes me believe in karma.  Today's winner is an active reader of this journal, and an active participant in my newsgroup.  Today's winner was one of the two high bidders for me critiquing services in Jay Lake's benefit auction for his neighbor.

Today's winner, of the quilted wall hanging, is (drumroll please):  Adrianne Middleton.

I am thrilled beyond belief that the quilt will go to such a good home.

And for those of you who did not win?  Feel free to participate in the next contest:  http://www.mindyklasky.com/contest.html

Mindy, ready to ship off the quilt to the snowy mid-country...

Today is the last day to enter the contest for a handmade (by me), designed by me quilt, based on GIRL'S GUIDE TO WITCHCRAFT.  Enter now, or forever hold your peace!

To enter, go to:  http://www.mindyklasky.com/contest.html

Mindy, tying up loose ends before the end of the year

OK.  One *last* post about the auctionlet.

In the final rounds of bidding, two competitors went head-to-head, both offering extraordinarily generous bids.

It hardly seemed fair that only one of them should win.

And so, through the magic of email, we've arranged to have *two* winners for my little piece of the auctionlet:  LiveJournal's nynrose (who squeaked ahead in the actual auctionlet) and my newsgroup denizen Adrianne M.  Between them, these two big-hearted women donated more than $350 to Jay's neighbor.

I'm thrilled to have been part of this project, and I can't wait to read selections from both winners!

Mindy, feeling that the holiday season is finally, truly underway!

nynrose! 

nynrose cast the high bid for my editing services in the Jay Lake auctionlet, which was also the high bid in the auctionlet overall.  She's posted here several times about a variety of topics, including her foray into NaNoWriMo this year.  I very much look forward to reading her writing and offering whatever constructive criticism I can provide.  More importantly, though, I salute her EXTREME generosity in this endeavor to provide the happiest of holidays to a family very much in need of a season-brightener.

And, I have to add that, on a personal note, the past few days have been quite emotionally topsy-turvy.  Watching so many of you wonderful people bid the auctionlet higher and higher definitely helped me out of my slump. 

Many, many thanks!

Mindy, thoroughly heart-warmed