Avalon First Pass Pages and Bookmark Giveaway

I've got a sneak peek of Avalon first pass pages and a bookmark giveaway going on over at my main blog. Check it out here.

Avalon Cover Reveal!

That's right! The awesome, badass cover to my upcoming YA sci-fi thriller Avalon has finally been revealed. You can check it out over at Epic Reads. You'll find the synopsis and you can enter to win 1 of 5 Advanced Readers Copies. It's super easy to enter. Also, the book is coming out January 21, 2014!!! If I've got my math right, that's only 7 months. Woohoo! So go take a look and I'd love to know what you think.

Cheers!

***Originally published at www.mindeearnett.com. You can comment here or there***

Prep School Confidential Giveaway Extravaganza!

Want to win an arc of Kara Taylor's debut Prep School Confidential, along with some other cool prizes, including a signed copy of The Nightmare Affair? Then head over to my main blog to enter!

Signings, Giveaways, and More!

Just a quick reminder that I'm doing a dual signing and author talk with the lovely Liz Coley this coming Saturday at 1:00 at the Beavercreek Barnes & Noble.

If you're still looking for a signed copy of The Nightmare Affair, you can enter to win one AND raise money for the Oklahoma disaster relief over at The Lucky 13s. I'm also giving away a Query Letter + 5 Pages Critique.

You can also enter to win a copy of The Nightmare Affair and a bunch of other awesome books over at the 2014 Debut Authors group, OneFourKidLit.

In other news, the cover reveal for Avalon is coming very soon, sometime after June 5th. And speaking of cover reveals, I've created 2 annotated ARCs of The Nightmare Affair that I'll be giving away as part of The Nightmare Dilemma cover reveal. I'm not sure when that one will be, but it should be very soon as well.

Happy reading and I hope to see you Saturday!

***Originally posted at www.mindeearnett.com. You can comment here or there***

Bookplates!

I'm giving away bookplates! Details on my website here.

Ohioana Book Festival and News!

I've posted details on the Ohioana Book Festival as well as some awesome news concerning my critique partner and her amazing 2-book deal over my main blog. Check it out here.

In other news, I'm thinking of closing this one down...hmmm...keeps thinking...

TLA 2013 Schedule

As promised, I've gathered together the details of what I'll be doing at TLA 2013. Below I've listed my "official" events, but I plan on doing lots of unofficial stuff, too, like totally fan-girling over all the awesome authors that are going to be there. (Seriously, I'm not quite sure how I ended up on the guest list, but I'll take it!)

Anyway, here's my schedule and I hope to see some of you there! Oh, and even if I don't look it, I promise I'm totally approachable. I have one of those faces where if I'm not smiling I look unfriendly, but I swear this is misleading. I'm only unfriendly if you're like a psycho-crazy person. All normal people have no need to worry :)

Oh one more thing, for the official record: LIBRARIES ROCK!!!

• Thursday, April 25, 3:00-3:5) "RIGHT NOW: New Ya Literature Panel" along with A.G. Howard, Robin LaFevers, Joe Schreiber, and Andrew Smith in Room 201, ABC, Level 2
• Friday, April 26, 10:00-11:50, Texas Tea Greenroom at The Omni Hotel Stockyards 2 Room
• Friday April 26, 12:00-12:50, Texas Tea, at The Omni Hotel, Ballroom 5
• Friday April 26, 5:00-8:00 TT4L, at the Omni Hotel Fort Worth Ball Room 1-4, level 2

***Originally published at www.mindeearnett.com. You can comment here or there***

Winners, Libraries, and Rock Concerts

I've posted the winner for my Fall in Love with YA Event over on my main blog. There's also some reminders about my upcoming events at TLA and Edgefest. Linky here.

Fall In Love With YA Giveaway!

That's right! Head on over to my main blog to enter to win a booklet full of exclusive content and signed by all 7 authors participating in the Powell's Book signing next week. Details here.

Fall in Love with Teen Fiction Event at Powell's Book

Two weeks from today me and six other authors from New Leaf Literary & Media will be at Powell's Books in Beaverton, Oregon! I'm super excited to spend time with these talented ladies and to have a chance to talk to readers. Readers are awesome. Seriously. I can't say that enough.

There is also going to be a fantastic giveaway of exclusive content from all the writers to anybody who comes and purchases two or more books through the event. I'm not allowed to say what my exclusive content it is, but I will drop a hint: it has a LOT to do with Eli Booker.

Oh, and since we're talking about events, just a quick reminder that I will be presenting at TLA 2013 in Texas the week after Powell's, April 24-27. AND I will be at Edgefest with a whole bunch of other YA authors that Sunday, April 28. In other words, April is going to freakin' rock, ya'll.

***Originally published at www.mindeearnett.com. You can comment here or there***

School Visit Wrap Up

I've posted the wrap up of my school visit at Valley View Junior High over on the website.  Plus I share some pics of my early writing (hint: both funny and a bit alarming). Check it out here.

Book 2 Title Announcement!

That's right! I've been given permission to announce the official title for the sequel to The Nightmare Affair.

This is my level of excitement over the reality that I get to do this book thing all over again:

Okay...you ready?????

THE NIGHTMARE DILEMMA

Do you like it? There are soooooo many things I want to tell you about it, like how Dusty is confronted with a brand new mystery, this time surrounding a friend, and that Selene has a secret she won't share even with Dusty, and how the romance between Eli and...opps. Better stop there.

But don't fret—I'm certain more official details will be coming soon.

***Originally published at www.mindeearnett.com. You can comment here or there***

Last Chance Giveaways for Signed Copies!

Well, The Nightmare Affair has been out for almost two weeks now. I can hardly believe it, even still! But thank you to everyone who has bought the book, read it, reviewed it, or even given it a shout out. I appreciate it so much. And I hope that people are enjoying the book even half as much as I enjoyed writing it.

That said, if you're still looking to win a copy, there are two active giveaways going on right now. And as far as I know they might be the last giveaways for a while. So don't miss your chance:

• Interview with a giveaway over at Literary Rambles. (I go in depth about my publishing journey)

• Friday Feature: Author Interview and Giveaway over at A.L. Davroe

• Interview and giveaway over at JeanBookNerd

Also, if you're interested in hearing a hint about the sequel to The Nightmare Affair, I drop one in my interview with the fabulous Supernatural Shark. This might also be my favorite of the interviews I've given. The questions were an absolute blast. 

Happy Reading!

***Originally posted at www.mindeearnett.com. You can comment here or there***

Joseph-Beth Booksellers Cinci Event Tonight!

Hey All! I've got another signing tonight at the ultra lovely Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Cincinnati. You can find the official announcement here. They are located at:

2692 Madison Road

Cincinnati, OH 45208

I really hope to see you there!

And don't forget this Saturday I'll be at Mysterious Galaxy in Redondo Beach, California. Details here.

***Originally published at www.mindeearnett.com. You can comment here or there***

McLean and Eakin Booksellers Event Cancelled!

Hey, just a quick reminder that my workshop event at Mckean and Eakin Booksellers has been cancelled due to weather and other winter-sucks type reasons. I'm really sorry for anyone who had been planning to come, and I would be happy to send you some signed swag to make up for it. Just email me your mailing address.

My other events are still on, including the one tomorrow night at Joseph-Beth in Cincinnati and Mysterious Galaxy at Redondo Beach on Saturday. Hope to see some of you there. And a HUGE thank you to everyone who braved the snow and ice and overall yuckiness of last night to attend my launch. It was a blast.

Cheers!

***Originally published at www.mindeearnett.com. You can comment here or there***

The Nightmare Affair is Here!

That's right! Finally after months and months of waiting, the day has officially arrived. The Nightmare Affair is out in stores and shipping from Amazon and other online retailers. I've even seen the book and held it in my hands, and I still can hardly believe it! Thank you so much to everyone who has read and reviewed it already. Readers are the best people. Absolutely.

There are a million other things I should probably say, but right now I've got to get ready for my TV appearance today at noon (egads, how is this even possible???) and then, of course, my book launch tonight at Books & Co at 7:00. It's supposed to snow and sleet and rain and be overall completely yucky today. Go figure. But I still plan to enjoy it.

Happy reading!

***Originally published at www.mindeearnett.com. You can comment here or there***

Reader's Entertainment Radio Show Appearance

This Thursday I will be doing a live radio interview on the awesome Reader's Entertainment Radio Show hosted by Sheila English. The show starts at 6:00 p.m. EST and lasts a half hour. If you want to listen, call in, or chat on the chat board, simply go to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/circle-of-seven. The call-in number is (646) 200-4071.

It would be super duper completely awesome if anybody calls in to talk. I'll answer questions about The Nightmare Affair, the sequel, my favorite sushi rolls, anything's game. Hope to see...er...I mean, hear, you there!

***originally published at www.mindeearnett.com. You can comment here or there***

The Nightmare Affair Official Blog Tour

That's right! The official blog tour for The Nightmare Affair starts tomorrow, Feb 18, hosted by the awesome Itching For Books. Details are posted on my main blog here.

Writer Brain, a Follow-on Post

So the incredibly talented Laini Taylor wrote this amazing post yesterday about having a jerky writer brain. If you haven't read it yet, you should. There's something very comforting in knowing that someone as awesome as Laini Taylor struggles sometimes with getting the job done. And I completely agree with everything she has to say, especially the part about how weird it is that the very thing that gives us our creativity is also the source of our struggles. But the thing is, my experience with this problem isn't at all like hers.

Let me explain. First up, a confession: I have never in my life written a novel out of order. I start with chapter 1 and end at "the end." Always. I am incapable of writing a story any other way. And yes, I imagine that Laini might give me a cat hiss if she were ever to read this. But the thing is, our journeys are still similar. I struggled to write something publishable for years. I wrote four whole novels of impressive (read: ridiculous) length. My first novel was 180k—can you imagine? That's two YA novels in one.

And the thing is, writing all those words was easy. I would sit down at my computer, set a word count goal, and then vomit out sentences and paragraphs until I met it. And I would do it without even thinking about it, with the critical part of my brain asleep. Kind of like this:

Trouble was, these novels, complete and whole as they were—with characters, something resembling a plot, a beginning, middle, and end—all sucked. Big time. Did you read the part about vomit? Yeah, I really meant it. I wrote those first four novels a bit like this:

But just as Laini suggests in her post, when I sat down to write The Nightmare Affair, I decided I needed to do something different. I needed to write a novel that wasn't just vomit. But unlike Laini, that didn't involve tricking the critical part of my brain into staying quiet long enough to let me get the story out. No, it meant just the opposite. I had to wake up my critical brain and force it to pay attention and do its job. That part of my brain is the smart part, the one that can find plot holes, detect character inconsistencies, even rat out the boring scenes.

And guess what? It worked. The moral of the story, I think, is that all writers need to find the way to trick the critical part of their brain into working for them instead of against them. Once you do, magic will happen. And if you're looking for another visual, I imagine it might be a bit like this (because seriously, Sherlock without Watson would just suck, and vice versa)

 Happy Writing!

***Originally published at www.mindeearnett.com. You can comment here or there***

Powell's Books New Leaf Literary Author Event!

So you remember how last fall my awesome agency New Leaf Literary & Media held a major multi-author event that got written up in Publisher's Weekly? Well, they're doing it again only this time I get to go! And yes, I'm completely excited. The event is April 17th,  7:00 at the Beaverton, Oregon location of Powell's Books. I'll be joining these fellow New Leaf authors:

• Kody Keplinger

• Ingrid Paulson

• Leigh Bardugo

• Lisa Desrochers

• Sarah Fine

• Kristin Halbrook

Did you see that lineup??? Seriously, how could you miss this? Oh, and I suspect there might be more news to add to this later. Just saying!

And in case you missed it, quick reminder that my book launch for The Nightmare Affair is March 5, 7:00 at Books & Co at the Greene in Beavercreek, Ohio. For more details on that and the rest of my tour, visit my Events page.

***Originally published at www.mindeearnett.com. You can comment here or there***

Nightmare Affair ARC Giveaway Winners!

That's right. After much debating,  hair-pulling, crying OMG why did we ever sign up for this, my critique partners and I have decided on the two winners. It was really, really hard. All the entries were so wonderful! I really mean it. I mean it so much, that I've decided to give swag packs to all the runners up who want them. You heard me right. If you're not one of the two winners below, but you'd like to receive a Nightmare Affair swag pack, please email your address at mindeearnett@gmail.com.

Now for the ARC winners:

Kierra for her dragon drawing:

and Adzs Hirano for this awesome magickind cloak:

Congratulations! Please send me your mailing information, and I'll get these out ASAP.

And thanks again to everyone who participated.

***originally published at www.mindeearnett.com. You can comment here or there***

Goodreads Giveaway, News, and Stuff

Yes, I know, I'm being very eloquent with that title, aren't I? I guess with how busy I am at the moment, I'm saving all my eloquence for other things, like all the super cool guest blog posts and interviews I'm doing for my blog tour. Speaking of which, that starts February 18th. That's only a month away! Rock on. Info on it here.

The Goodreads giveaway of The Nightmare Affair started today. There are 5 copies available. Enter here.

Speaking of giveaways, don't forget my ARC giveaway contest is open until January 23rd. Details on entering here.

Let's see what else? Oh, my website is getting a redesign very soon. I've seen early comps and they are fabulous. Can't wait.

The Nightmare Affair is getting its own trailer! (How cool is that?)

I will also be going on tour for the release. There are not a whole lot of stops, but I'll be doing a couple in Ohio (duh), one in Michigan, San Diego, and Portland. I'll post details as I get them and as I'm allowed.

I am also working on some extra special content from The Nightmare Affair, sort of an alternate chapter from a different character's point of view. Again, I'll share details as I'm allowed. 

Okay, that's it for now, I think. Happy writing!

***originally published at www.mindeearnett.com. You can comment here or there***

The Nightmare Affair Focus on You Giveaway

Okay people. This very well may be your last chance to win a physical ARC of The Nightmare Affair, assuming you care about that sort of thing, of course :) I'm giving away TWO of them. The contest starts now and ends January 23 at midnight, open internationally.

I don't know about you, but I'm a little unenthusiastic about holding another random generator type giveaway. To hell with luck. It's so...so...random and generally unfair. So instead the winners of this contest will be determined by a panel of human judges. That's right. Actual people. Me and two of my awesome critique partners Lori M. Lee and Cat York.

Now for the details.

STEP ONE: Interpret the term "Magickind" using a visual medium.

In case you didn't already know, all the magical creatures in The Nightmare Affair are referred to as magickind; so nightmares, sirens, demons, fairies, werewolves, unicorns, you name it. Anything magical. This interpretation can be a drawing, a photograph, a sculpture, video, comic strip, anything that involves a visual medium. Be creative. Be entertaining. Show us something beautiful, amazing, scary, funny. I really want it to be a spotlight on YOU. Your creativity and personality. Show me what you got. This piece of art does not have to be new, either. If you drew an awesome picture in the 3rd grade that fits the theme, use it. Seriously, as long as the visual belongs to you, you're good. No copy rights violations, please.

STEP 2: Post the art somewhere on the net.

Put is anywhere: your blog, Tmblr, Facebook, etc. 

STEP 3: Mention The Nightmare Affair in the post.

Post a picture of the cover if you want. Or maybe a link to Goodreads--it's up to you.

STEP 4: Leave a comment on my blog(s) that includes the link to your entry.

That's it. Remember, there are TWO arcs available. And if there are a lot of entries, I'll throw in a 3rd arc (my very last one). There will also be swag packs up for grabs as well. 

Good luck!

***Originally posted at www.mindeearnett.com. You can comment here or there*** 

Nightmare Affair Twitter Giveaway!

I've randomly decided to give away one of my ARCs of The Nightmare Affair on Twitter. To enter, just tweet that you want to win using the hash tag #NightmareAffair. My handle is optional (@mindeearnett). Winner will be picked tomorrow evening, open internationally.

Good Luck!