How’s This For an Offer?

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:32:29 -0800

I’ve given away a lot of books on this blog. But I’m hoping this giveaway will take the prize.

At the end of this month, I’m clearing out a paid storage space which is 75% full of brand-new-in-the-carton rare first edition hardcovers of my first two books, Funerals for Horses and Earthquake Weather. It just doesn’t make sense to keep paying to store them.

Now. Here’s the only problem. There are more than I can fit in my garage. Some may go to fulfillment sellers, and that’s all well and good. But what about my loyal readers?

Here’s my Brainstorm. Here’s the best offer I can make to my loyal readers:

Send me a self-addressed, padded mailbag. It will need to have enough postage to cover 2 pounds, 2 ounces of books (plus the bag itself) from my zip code to yours. You might want to put your own address as both the “to” and “from” on the mailbag, because if you make a postage mistake, it’ll come back to you instead of me.

Send it to me at P.O. Box 552, Cambria, CA 93428.

And I will send you a signed first edition of both books.

Why not? Who’s more important than my readers? I have more of these than I can really use or store, and who deserves them more than you?

You can learn a lot more about these titles by going to “Books” and then “Backlist Titles.” Then again, they’re rare signed first editions, and they’re free. So that might be all you need to know right there.

Advance Reader’s Copy Giveaway

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:13:37 -0800

In case you’re wondering what I’ll do to mix it up after all those book giveaway blogs, here’s your answer. I’m giving away books before they even become books.

I just received four advance reader’s copies (what’s also called bound galleys) of my brand new YA novel Jumpstart the World (there’s more information about Jumpstart on my book pages). The book is not even due out until October of this year. But you can get a copy much sooner than that.

I’m giving the first of the four away in this blog (other three to follow). Here’s all you have to do: Leave a comment, telling me why you want to read it. I’ll pick my favorite at the beginning of April. Then, for those who didn’t win, you can just stay tuned for three more giveaways.

As always, if you have that one version of Internet Explorer that just won’t seem to mesh with this comment forum, feel free to email me your comment. I’ll post it for you.

Good luck!

Blog Vacation Over

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:45:20 -0800

Okay, so I went a little crazy blogging in December. So I’ve been taking time off. Besides, I have to get these novels written sometime.

But here’s what else I did on the last day of December, while I was waiting for the ball to drop. I updated my “Books” page to include all my 2010 releases. At the time I had to use placeholder “images” instead of the actual cover art, and placeholder book pages. But the covers are all in now, and each new release has its own page.

First in line will be my novel Electric God, which is being rereleased in the UK in April. I’ve started a new page for it, because it seems to represent a whole new life for that book, which was published in the US in the year 2000.

Second up is the long-awaited (by me, anyway!) brand new trade paperback edition of Pay It Forward. Ten years later the book is still in print, and is just about to be reissued in a bigger format, better quality hardcover (translation: not mass market) and, yes, in case you’re wondering, with the original comet cover. I did not create a new page for it, however, as there’s a great deal of info on the Pay It Forward book page, and there’s no point making this site too complex.

But those are not really new, you say. True. But these next two are.

In September, my brand new adult novel Second Hand Heart will be released in the UK by Transworld (US readers, bear in mind that The Book Depository offers free international shipping) and in October, my brand new Young Adult novel Jumpstart the World will be released in the US by Knopf (UK readers, ditto).

So I hope you’ll check out my new and improved book page, and that you’ll click through to the new titles and read more about them. As the next few months go by I’ll add a lot to the new pages, including--but not limited to--audio excepts, and review quotes when they become available.

And , who knows. Maybe I’ll even get back in the habit of blogging regularly. Stranger things have happened.

A Blog About Happiness

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 10:56:59 -0800

A couple of months ago I bought a new pair of RayBans to replace an old scratched-up pair I’d had for years (I get terrible eyestrain headaches from less expensive sunglasses). Yesterday, at a friend’s memorial, they were in the pocket of my raincoat when I leaned on them and broke them. I thought maybe they could be repaired, and I wasted some time trying. I didn’t succeed in fixing them, but I did poke a nice hole in my finger with the tiny screwdriver in the process.

Then this morning got off to a rocky start. They’re building a house behind mine, in what was once a pristine field with an ocean view. And I mean right behind. A few feet from my back fence. They whacked down two beautiful, huge, healthy trees to do it. And now I get to listen to construction all day long. But that’s just one of those things you have to accept. Short of buying the acre lot myself (I tried, but it was beyond me financially), there’s nothing much more to be done.

This morning, however, they woke me up at 6:30. They were out there in the dark, flooding the work area with the headlights of one of the pickup trucks and hammering on something. So I put on my robe, and discussed with them the laws that limit them to a 7:00 a.m. start. They expressed contrition (always to be taken with a grain of salt in reference to a purely voluntary act) but that didn’t stop the deafening concrete truck from showing up (in reverse—beep, beep, beep) at 6:50.

So let’s just say the morning required a little…reframing. I had one more conversation with the building foreman, who assured me that this was the last “concrete morning” and the last time they’d be pushing to stay on schedule. Then I gave up and ordered a new pair of sunglasses.

Later in the morning I was driving through town with Ella (my dog), and surprised myself (and probably her) by announcing that I had decided to be happy.

So, a blog about what I think happiness is. I’ve been experimenting with the idea that it’s a decision.

Now, that’s an easy statement to argue. You may say, “But there’s so much I can’t control, and it makes me unhappy.” Right. True. There’s a lot we can’t control. But if we could be happy anyway, then we could be happy. Case in point: I’m tempted to be unhappy about a house behind my back fence. But there’s a house on either side of me, and one right across the street. I look out and see them all the time. And they never make me unhappy.

I’ve been noticing lately how often we feel we have “justified resentments.” I hear people say, “I have a right to be upset about this.” And I think, Yeah. Sure you do. But why would you want to be? I always have a right to unhappiness, but it’s not a right I’m all that anxious to exercise.

So here’s my wish for the New Year. I wish for us to all be happy. And by that I don’t mean I wish for every inch of the Universe to line up to suit your preference. Not because I don’t want that for you, or for myself, but because it’s—let’s face it—not bloody well likely. So my wish is that, whatever comes your way in the New Year, you choose to be happy. Happy with it, happy in spite of it…it really doesn’t matter. I just hope we can choose to be happy.

To Link or Not to Link

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 10:25:14 -0800

Three times in the past few months I’ve had it come to my attention that a “reciprocal link” would be in order (friends have launched wonderful new sites or blogs, and it always helps to have some kind of mechanism for encouraging people to discover them). Here’s the thing, though. I don’t have a links page. I could create one easily enough, but I can’t seem to find a place in me that feels it would work well on this site.

But these are unusually cool people who are doing very good things. So I’m going to blog about them. With links. There’s more than one way to get where you’re going.

First up is my friend Anne Allen. She has a blog for (mostly) writers called “Anne R. Allen’s Blog: Writing About Writing. Mostly.” Anne is a humor writer (mostly) and it comes through in the blog. Her prose is sharp enough to cut glass (for those of you who are not writers and just want to be entertained) and full of detailed advice about the current fiction market (for those of you who are writers and would find it entertaining to get published).

You can check her out at: http://annerallen.blogspot.com/

Next up is my friend Christian Marcus Lyons, who recently launched a blog called “Writer on the Verge: a Personal Journal on Novel Writing.” It’s a bit of an “inside job,” in that Christian’s focus is more on inspiration and the creative process. So, if you’re a writer, the two blogs cover different aspects of what you’ll encounter and should be equally helpful, albeit in very diverse ways.

You can find him at: http://writerontheverge.wordpress.com/

But let’s say you’re not a writer. You might want to check out my friend Anne Smith’s new art website. In addition to charcoal, pen and ink, collage and digital images, she features what she calls “affordable art” (her works on greeting cards, tee-shirts, mugs, etc). Cat lovers might enjoy “The High Priestess” (she who must be obeyed). A great card to be exchanged between cat people.

Her site is: www.AWSfineart.com

I hope you know this is not an advertisement of any sort. I just hope that some of my readers may find these sites to be of interest.

And I guess that’s about as reciprocal as I get.

Happy Holidays.
-Catherine

A P.S. of Sorts

Sun, 6 Dec 2009 11:17:48 -0800

I’m just getting the hang of this whole U.S./U.K. thing myself, so thanks for your patience.

After writing and publishing my last blog (just minutes ago), I learned something new. I published the same blog on Red Room, and linked it with the book “When I Found You” (because of course Second Hand Heart is not yet available). Up popped a link to Powell’s Books, where When I Found You can actually be ordered by U.S. readers.

Now, I do want to note that it ships from an “international partner” and that an extra $4 will be added onto your shipping cost because of it. But that’s still the easiest and most reasonable deal I’ve found for ordering a U.K. book from the U.S.

So, I guess I have good news for U.S. readers as well. Here’s the link:

http://www.powells.com/biblio?show=mass+market:new:9780552775724:11.50&PID=32568.

I’ll be putting a button for it on the When I Found You page as well.

If you get a copy and try it, please let me know what you think. Of every book I’ve written, When I Found You takes the prize for the number of people who say they think it’s my best yet.

And nothing would make me happier than to share it with my U.S. readers as well.

Thanks,
-Catherine

And now, a P.S. to my P.S.: I just learned about a great site called The Book Depository, which offers free worldwide shipping. This means that my U.S. readers can buy When I Found You at a great price and my U.K. readers can do the same with my U.S. titles. I’m going to put link buttons to it on the book pages, but in the meantime the link is: http://www.bookdepository.com

What’s Next, the U.K. Version

Sun, 6 Dec 2009 10:26:22 -0800

I know this is hard on my U.S. readers. I wish I didn’t have to divide books and readers into countries. But, for those of you who don’t know, the selection of my novel Love in the Present Tense for the Richard and Judy Book Club (if you’re in the U.S, think Oprah Book Club with a British accent) changed my U.K. career significantly. As a result, I’m able to market books directly to my British publisher, even as I’m still in the process of finding a new adult publisher here in the U.S.

So, if you’re one of my U.K. readers, good news.

I have just signed a contract for three new novels (over the next three years) with Transworld Publishers.

It’s time to tell you a little about the first of those three.

It’s called Second Hand Heart, and it’s the story of an emotionally charged relationship between a man who just lost his beloved wife in a car crash and the young woman who receives her donor heart. It delves into that mystery of “cellular memory,” the apparent explanation behind the curious phenomenon of transplant recipients experiencing trace memories of their donors. And it’s tentatively scheduled for fall 2010 release.

If you’re one of my U.S. readers, two small consolations: One, I’ll do a giveaway when it comes out, the way I did with When I Found You. Two, you can always buy a book from the U.K. It just costs a lot more to ship it, for which I apologize.

At some point I’ll likely match these same adult novels (adult as opposed to YA, not adult as in...well, you know what I mean) with a U.S. publisher. And of course you’ll hear about it in this blog first.

So...wait for it...please stay tuned.

-Catherine

And the Winners Are...

Wed, 2 Dec 2009 08:53:09 -0800

In the past, when I’ve done a book giveaway blog, I’ve encouraged creativity and expression in the comments, and chosen the ones that seemed to stand out the most. I guess I thought my system would work here, too, but it didn’t. Quite. Because every comment reflected an equal love and generosity. Each person who left a comment showed the same degree of esteem for the person they’d chosen to receive the small gift at hand.

I knew I’d never be able to choose. I didn’t want to eliminate anybody. In fact, if I’d had 38 of these paperbacks on hand, I think I would have given two to everyone who left a comment. I don’t, unfortunately. I only have a very small handful more than I’ve offered to give away. I decided I could go one more winner, but after that I was out myself. So I chose 11 winners at random, drawing names in a blind system. Those whose names were not drawn, I’m sorry, but I will keep doing book giveaways, and there will always be another chance.

So, here goes.

The winners are: Harmony Book Reviews, Shine on Me, C.K., Joybells, Reading Junky, Shaelah Lewis, Lucy in the Sky, Lisa, Katie, Birdie S. and Joan Enders.

If you are C.K., Joybells, or Lisa, please get in touch with me, as I’ll need your mailing address. If you are one of the other winners, I know how to reach you, thank you, and I will be in touch.

With a wish for us to all to go calmly into the holiday season,
-Catherine

More About Reappearance

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 10:05:22 -0800

At the end of my last blog, I mentioned that I’d soon be coming out with a new video excerpt for my YA novel The Year of my Miraculous Reappearance. Unlike the terrific new video for Love in the Present Tense, this is one of mine, with my voice (as always) over a video created by me.

I would have had it ready sooner, but there’s the issue of the novels. Writing them, I mean. It’s time-consuming, and I insist on putting it first in the pecking order of everything.

But now, here it is:

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE VIDEO

As promised, I’ll announce the ten winners of the paperbacks in the first week of December. Which is this week. So check back soon.

Many thanks,
Catherine