Peppermint Cookies Honored by SCBWI

Ok, so that sounds a little inflated, but my Peppermint Snowball Cookies were First Runner-Up in the SCBWI WWA Annual Cookie Contest! Woohoo! The competition was heated -who could beat out the first-place winner, Whoopie Pies from Chadwick?

Of course, the best part about last night was getting to hear YA superstars Lisa Schroeder and Liz Gallagher talk about their paths to publication as well as voice lessons from up-and-coming YA breakout Jolie Stekly (I ought to know - I've had the pleasure of reading her YA manuscript, and as for voice, it hits all the high notes!). Check out Jolie's blog soon for a writing exercise based on her talk.

And the second-best thing? Getting to show off my bound TELL ME A SECRET galley!

For those asking for the prize-winning cookie recipe, here it is (modified a little from Northpole.com):



PEPPERMINT SNOWBALLS

1.5 cups powdered sugar
1.25 cup butter (softened)
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
.5 teaspoon salt
.75 cup finely crushed peppermint candy
granulated sugar

Heat oven to 350 degrees. In large mixer bowl, combine the powdered sugar, butter or margarine, peppermint extract, vanilla and egg. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often until creamy (2-3 minutes). Reduce speed to low. Add flour, baking powder and salt; Beat, scraping bowl often until well blended (1-2 minutes). By hand, stir in 1/2 cup candy. Shape dough into 3/4 inch balls; roll in granulated sugar. Place 1 inch apart on cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until set. ENJOY !!

Neverending Story Winner!

is...

But wait, first we have to admire the glory that is The Neverending Story movie...

And reminisce about some of the best lines:



"I'm allerrrrrgic...to...yooooou!"

"If you want to save our world, you must hurry!"

"Bastien, pleeeeeeeaaaaase! Save us!"

"Moooooooonchiyaaaaaaaaaald!"

"One grain of sand: it's all that is left of my vast empire."


Ok, obviously I remember this movie a mite too well? So please, take it off my hands...


GENEVIEVE NINE!


Yay!!!!!!!!!

Please contact me with your email, and we will arrange for delivery.


Thanks, everyone, for participating!

A Blog Holiday

That's right, this blog will be taking a little hiaitus until the New Year's while I spend some quality time with the family (and this novel revision!).

Stay tuned in January for a a new look and some brand new features! Secrets! Authors! Secret Authors! Author Secrets! And soon there will be a lot of chances to win your very own advanced copy of TELL ME A SECRET (and other related goodies)...

If you haven't signed up to win the Neverending Story DVD, now's your chance! I'll pick a winner at 5pm PST on Friday and announce Monday. And I'll still be around all month at readergirlz, Twitter, and Facebook!

Happy holidays, and see you next year!

A giveaway! Yes, a giveaway!

It's Wednesday, so why not?

My spouse is the biggest sweetheart in the world. He bought my favorite childhood movie for me not once, but twice. So I now have a spare, unopened DVD of The Neverending Story.

Seriously, no snickering. I loved this movie! I loved it so much that I dressed up like the Golden Eyed Commander of Wishes (a.k.a. Moonchild), complete with white gown and jewel in the middle of my forehead, saying, "Bastian, pleeeeeaaaase! Save us!"

Even better was the book, by Michael Ende - an amazing volume printed in red and green to separate Bastian and Atreyu's stories and with chapters beginning with letters A to Z (the movie actually only covered up to about chapter H), which I read...let's see...no fewer than a dozen times (thanks to my cousins for introducing me on that fateful Klamath Falls camping trip where I stayed up until 3 a.m. - a big thing at nine years old - and cried, yes, cried, because I didn't want the book to end).

So if you would like to win a pristine copy of The Neverending Story movie, here's your chance!

1 pt: leave a comment
2 pts: become a follower (or remind me that you're already a follower)
3 pts: retweet or repost!

Don't forget to leave an email if you don't have a blog - I will toss all the names into a hat on Friday at 5pm PST and announce next Monday!

December at readergirlz

Lots happening over at readergirlz! If you missed last night's crazy RAVE with twenty or so of readergirlz Circle of Stars alumni, you can check out the transcript!

All month at the readergirlz blog, we are hosting respected and award-winning fantasy author Tamora Pierce to talk about Trickster's Choice and Trickster's Queen. Chat live with Tamora on Wednesday, December 16th at 6 pm PST/9 pm EST.

Plus, two of our co-founders deserve congrats: Parents Magazine named Lorie Ann Grover's BEDTIME KISS FOR LITTLE FISH one of the Top 20 Best Children’s Books of 2009!

And Kirkus named Justina Chen's NORTH OF BEAUTIFUL one of the Best Books of 2009!

Hooray! Both of these books are well-loved in my house!

rgz RAVE Homecoming!

The rgz Circle of Stars is coming home!

Join me tonight for an unprecedented chat at the readergirlz blog, 6 pm PDT/9 pm EDT, with a huge list of readergirlz featured author alumni, all at the same place for one wild and crazy rgz RAVE! Here are just a few of the all-star cast:

Coe Booth, Dia Calhoun, Janet Lee Carey, Cecil Castelucci, Justina Chen, Rachel Cohn, Holly Cupala, Liz Gallagher, Nikki Grimes, Lorie Ann Grover, Ellen Hopkins, Sarah Miller, Mary Pearson, Mitali Perkins, Dana Reinhardt, Laura Resau, Melissa Walker, Ellen Emerson White, Rita Williams-Garcia, Sara Zarr...

...and others from the young adult community who jump on in. It will be a Fan Fiesta!

Beth Kephart's writing contest!

Beth Kephart, wonderful writer and our first Author-in-Residence over at readergirlz, has published the fourth and final readergirlz writing contest:

"...a challenge that asks you to look at something familiar and transform it into the unexpected. Check out the video posted here. Send your best work to kephartblogATcomcastDOTnet. The winner will receive an advanced reading copy of The Heart is Not a Size (which is due out in March from HarperTeen). The winning work will be posted on this site. Our deadline is December 30, 2009."

And check out the winner of Beth's previous writing contest! Congratulations, Kiera!

Thank you, Realm!

Realm Lovejoy, graphic novel artist and author extraordinaire (check out her amazing graphic novel, CLAN!) , wrote the sweetest post about me while I was on vacation last week.

It also includes a little painting I did for her art-flower exchange program in memory of her grandma, in which she gave me a print of one of her truly beautiful Art Saves poster.



Thank you, Realm!

Thankful Thursday

Is there anything not to be thankful for?

• Family and friends who are a joy to know and love.
• Really cool people to work with.
• An abundance of blessings, both personal and professional.
• Revision solutions...?
• Finally, a really good recipe for soft caramels.
• Good books in my TBR pile (and hopefully time to read them someday!)
• A future of uncertainty, but a surety of peace.
• Dancing Princesses!

What are you thankful for?

Readergirlz accepts prize from the National Book Foundation!

I'm so proud of readergirlz and thankful to the National Book Foundation for awarding us the 2009 Innovations in Reading Prize!

Lorie Ann Grover and Dia Calhoun, two of the original readergirlz co-founders, went to NYC to accept the award and attend the National Book Awards dinner! Check out how beautiful they are:





They even partied with the judges, Coe Booth and Nancy Werlin, who worked with Kathi Appelt, Carolyn Coman, and Gene Luen Yang to choose the finalists!

And yay for Laini and Jim! You can read all about their trip to NYC (as finalists - woohoo!) over at Laini's blog. Don't miss Arthur Levine's pink beard!

Congrats to everyone, who are all winners in my book!

rgz LIVE! chat with Marelene Carvell: tonight!

This evening at 6pm PDT/9pm EDT, I'll be at the readergirlz blog, chatting with featured author Marlene Carvell:



See you there!

Speaking of the Golden Coffee Cup...

...I am serving up today's hot java over at Seize the Day. Let me know if it's helpful to you!

Day 23 of the Golden Coffee Cup: Purpose.

And One More Secret...

Guess where I've been for the last week?

Yay! (Happy Anniversary, honey!!)

One - No, Wait, Two - of my Best Secrets...

Last year, as I questioned my sanity for committing to write 25K words on my work-in-progress, I accidently hit on Secret #1 and had my first 5K day ever...

Cracking the Whip with Cherry Caramels.

Ok, so the caramels were great, but they weren't the secret. The secret is this:

I set the timer. For 15 minutes. With a modest goal, 300 words. I usually hit 400 or more, and within an hour, I had over 1500! By the end of the day, I'd hit 5K.

I've been singing the praises of this method ever since. I mentioned the strategy to a new Facebook friend, and here's what she had to say:

I did the egg timer thing and my goodness. It started slow with 96 words in my first 15. The second yielded 193 and so on and so on. My most recent in 15 minutes... 338 words! I was overjoyed.

My crit partner and I have started doing timed writing online at night and comparing counts before dueling again. It's fun for her and working wonders for me.

...Which leads to Secret #2: find a friend to crack the whip with you. For me, this happened accidentally. I posted about my 5k day, and the next day, Jolie decided to do it, too. The challenge was on!

Jolie is Better Than Bum Glue.

This is the exchange, by the way, that led to the Summer Revision Smackdown, where you will find all kinds of excellent tips from favorite authors.

If you try it, let me know how it works!