Maggie Stiefvater's Blog: Maggie Stiefvater, page 396

Contest Reminder - One Day Left to Enter!

This is just me saying that, if you missed the blog post announcing the Giant Forever Contest, today's the last day to enter. Cool prizes include things like a chance to read FOREVER early and an advanced review copy of THE SCORPIO RACES. Details here!

TA-DA! THE SCORPIO RACES U.S. Cover!

So, I still can't tell you anything about it (I'm aware this is like the longest, slowest reveal ever. It is like the American Idol of book reveals), but I am happy that I can finally share the U.S. cover of THE SCORPIO RACES (coming October 18th).

This is all I'm allowed to say at the moment:

"With her trademark lyricism, Maggie Stiefvater turns to a new world, where a pair are swept up in a daring, dangerous race across a cliff--with more than just their lives at stake should they lose."

Oh yeah, and it's a standalone novel (not a series), with blood, beaches, and kissing. My favorite that I've written so far. Ever.


What do you think? Let Scholastic hear ya at www.twitter.com/scholastic!

Twelve Steps to Road Trip Readiness

I'm sure pretty much everyone know that I am taking my '73 Camaro on nearly month-long road trip for FOREVER this July (dates here). Many people have expressed the idea that I am insane to take a car older than me on a 3,700 mile trip where getting places on time is crucial. I am here to say that the key to success in these matters is PREPARATION. Allow me to describe for you the 12 steps to getting a '73 Camaro ready for a road trip halfway across the country.

STEP ONE:

Buy the car. Name it Loki. Tell the IRS it's your business vehicle and proceed to drive it to every school and library event ever invented. Realize that the windshield leaks, so you'd better put your books in the back seat. Also, the driver's side window doesn't roll up all the way. Also, sometimes, the glove box won't shut.

These are cosmetic things. Superficial.

Tell yourself you are not a superficial girl.


STEP TWO:

Learn the international language of motoring. i.e. when you are traveling to an event, and people begin to point frantically at you, they're not admiring the paint job. They're trying to tell you about this:


STEP THREE:

During a hard winter, observe your Lover accidentally taking a piece out of your car's finish with a snow shovel.

Suspect that it was pushed, not fell, because Loki has taken to stopping randomly in the middle of the road and Lover is tired of coming to rescue you.


STEP FOUR:

Okay, so apparently you are a superficial girl.

This thing's getting painted. Blog readers vote red. Red it is. Well, not quite red. Really, it's TANGERINE KANDY, if we're being specific.

You are always a specific girl.


STEP FIVE:

Decide that, while you're at it, you'll replace the hood that comes open while you're driving sometimes, because it seems wrong to paint a crappy hood in TANGERINE KANDY.


STEP SIX:

Good bye, snow shovel tattoo. Hellloooo, beautiful!

You, authorfriend, are driving this baby everywhere from now on. They'll have to surgically remove it from your buttocks to get you through airport security (oh and what a surgery that would be).

You are driving the hottest author vehicle out there.



STEP SEVEN:




STEP EIGHT:

This is the part where Loki goes to the shop and spends four months having the wires ripped out, because the random stopping thing stopped being humorous about 12 months ago.

It would be a terrible crime to lose your sense of humor.



STEP NINE:

Enthusiastically and optimistically map out your tour stops while Loki is in the shop. Complete with little doodles of the things you are doing along the way. Find Lover crouched by the giant map spread in the entrance hall, trying to decipher the hieroglyphs.



STEP TEN:

Make it 9 miles from the mechanic before the car gasps to a halt.

STEP ELEVEN:

Make it 8 miles from new mechanic before car again gasps to a halt. Repeat steps 7,8, 10, and 11 several more times. Stare at the map.

3,700 miles is a long way.




STEP TWELVE:

Buy a new one.

Look What Amazon UK's posted

Why, is that the UK cover for THE SCORPIO RACES?

Oh, it is.

GIANT FOREVER TRAILER CONTEST

First of all, I should mention to everyone asking that Jonas & Plunkett's version of "Summer Girl," along with another beautiful song very appropriate to the series, "Uncovered," are now available on iTunes: here.

Now, the contest. The FOREVER contest . . .

I'm trying something different this time to see if I can make it not take MY ENTIRE LIFE to manage all of the entries. I'm going to be going through ContestMachine and seeing if that helps streamline the process for both entering and counting entries, so let me know how it is for you.

Those of you who have been here awhile know how this works. I have a handful of prizes, and in order to be eligible to win them, you have to embed the video on your blog or FB, or you can link to it in your twitter (the latter makes you eligible for different prizes, so PLEASE read the instructions carefully!)

The prizes are as follows:

1) reading FOREVER early. I do not have any advanced review copies of FOREVER like I did for LINGER, nor does anyone else in the world, but I pleaded with Scholastic for SOMETHING to give away for this contest and they said they would find some sort of early edition of FOREVER for the grand prize winner, to be mailed at the end of May. That's a month and a half early.

2) An advanced review copy of THE SCORPIO RACES (better known as Secret Novel)

3) A Shiver Keepsake Box filled with secret goodies.

4) A signed, doodled hardcover copy of LINGER.

5) Linger Tank tops (4 winners will get these)

6) A Wolf from the FOREVER trailer (5 winners will get these)

7) Signed Bookplates (5 winners will get these)

Now, to be eligible for prizes 1-5, you have to embed the video on either your blog or your Facebook. It can't show up as a link, it must show up as a video. The blog must be hosted on a site that is 100% dedicated to blogging (for instance Blogger, Wordpress, LJ, Tumblr, but NOT things like Goodreads) and you must be 100% in control of the content (no group blogs or communities). In order to be a valid entry, it has to have the video and a link to buy the book: http://www.fountainbookstore.com/auto....

There are two versions of the trailer, one with my music, and one with Jonas & Plunkett's fantastic version of "Summer Girl" from SHIVER. I don't care which one you embed, but if you use the one with Jonas & Plunkett's music, it would be very kind to also include a link to where folks can find the song for sale: http://bit.ly/mPK6mP.

If you win, I reserve the right to verify that the thing was up there. You may enter multiple times if you have both a blog and a facebook (each embed counts as one entry).

And THIS is where you enter for that: http://www.contestmachine.com/hosted/promotion/BYJRWEWBQQ   I sure do hope that works.

Now, for those of you who only have twitters or can only link on your facebook, etc., there is a second half of the contest. To be eligible to win prizes 6 & 7, you must link to one of the two versions of the trailer. I'm not going to make you say something excited, but I'd like it if you did, anyway. ;p To enter for that, post a link to where you linked it here in the comments, and that counts as your entry. One entry per place. You can enter in both halves of the contest if you have a twitter and a FB, etc, but you have to enter in the two different places in order for me to count the entries properly. Again, this may be verified by me if you win.

HERE are the embed codes for blogs (copy and paste only the parts between the <>):
______________________

MY VERSION:  <iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/EbcYV19hkLY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
______________________

JONAS AND PLUNKETT VERSION: <iframe width="560" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NsDtc4SiyY0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
______________________

And the links for FB and twitter, etc (Facebook will usually show the video as embedded if you paste just the link in your status and wait a moment for it to come up before you hit "post"):

MY VERSION: http://youtu.be/EbcYV19hkLY

JONAS AND PLUNKETT VERSION: http://youtu.be/NsDtc4SiyY0
__________________________________________

What else do I need to say?

The contest is INTERNATIONAL.

The contest begins now and runs until the morning of MAY 16TH.

The contest prizes will be mailed out the last week of May.

I'm sorry that this is so long and so detailed, but these things tend to get huge, with several thousand entries, and I have learned to be insane with the details and rules. Pretty much it's common sense, but if you have any questions, let me know. (I will delete them after I answer to keep the comments clear for entry counting).


Thanks, guys!!!! wHoo!!!

FOREVER Book Trailer! And Secret Musician #1 Revealed!

I am revoltingly pleased to be able to share the stop-motion book trailer for FOREVER. After more days of work than I care to admit, the animation is finally done. Later this week, I'll be doing my usual Giant Book Trailer contest and the prizes this time amaze even myself. So, without further ado, here is the book trailer, with the music, "Under the Northern Lights," by moi in the background (this track will be available for free download on my website closer to the book release).



Oh, but wait, that's not all . . . I have been coyly mentioning that two different musical artists wrote two different versions of "Summer Girl," one of the songs from Shiver. I'm delighted to unveil artist #1. Their version of "Summer Girl" will be available on iTunes early next week. Until then, do what I've done, and buy everything else they've ever done. You might recognize some of their songs from the Linger playlist. Why yes, I love this band. It was terribly cool to have them record a track for the books.




Anyway, loads more to come, including a "making of" post and of course, the contest!

U.S. Tour Locations

I'm pleased to say that I have been given my full tour schedule by Scholastic. I don't have all of the exact times or store locations yet, but I'll update when I do (with Facebook events for confirmation). I should mention now that I am getting together some swag for these events. Namely, I'm pretty sure there will be at least one Sharpie guitar, and possibly two. There may also be a Secret Musician singing "Summer Girl" at the launch. Oh! Oh! This is a good excuse to trot out my new author photo. Do you like it? It was hard to find one that didn't have Evil Eyes or Withering Smiles. I also notice that I have my grandmother's nose.

Now, I can already hear the groans of fans out of reach of the tour events below, but a) remember that I will also be traveling for This is Teen with Meg Cabot & Libba Bray, so your area might be one of those and b) I'll be driving a 1973 Camaro to all of these events, which limits the span of the thing. So when you're moaning, "Maggie never comes to Arizona!" just imagine the days of driving and have mercy on me.

Okay, that aside, here goes:

Tuesday, July 12th
7 PM
MacLean, VA: B&N Tyson’s Corner

Wednesday, July 13th
12-1 PM signing
Philadelphia, PA: Children’s Book World

Thursday, July 14th
7 PM
Dewitt, NY: Barnes & Noble Dewitt

Saturday July 16

12pm
Chapters Oshawa
Oshawa, Ontario

Saturday July 16
6pm
Indigo Yorkdale
Toronto, Ontario

Sunday July 17
2pm
Chapters South London
London, Ontario

Monday, July 18th
7 PM
Novi, MI: Borders Novi

Tuesday, July 19th
7 PM
Naperville, IL: Anderson’s Bookshop

Wednesday, July 20th
7 PM
Madison, WI: Barnes & Noble

Monday, July 25th
2 PM
St. Paul, MN: Red Balloon

Monday, July 25th
Timing TK
Minneapolis, MN: Wild Rumpus

Wednesday, July 27th
7 PM
Kansas City, KS: Rainy Day Books

Thursday, July 28th
Timing TK
St. Louis, MO: Pudd’n Head Books

Sunday, July 31st
3 PM
Nashville, TN: Nashville Public Library

Monday, August 1st
7 PM
Decatur, GA: Little Shop of Stories

Tuesday, August 2nd
5 PM
Raleigh, NC: Quailridge Books

Friday, August 5th
7 PM
Williamsburg, VA: The College of William & Mary Bookstore

Hope to see you guys!

In Which Maggie Can't Break Stride

A reader pointed out that it had been 10 days since I blogged, which is true, and it is because first of all, holidays are a terrible thing (they mean everyone else is holidaying but somehow that effect never seems to trickle down to authors), and secondly, I am working on getting the FOREVER book trailer ready to post here on my blog on May 1st, along with a contest of such epic proportions that it amazes even me. I am working working working on it and I cannot break stride or All Patience Will Shatter.

So I will have something to say later this week, I'm certain. But until then, I leave you with this:

Maggie Dispenses Writing Advice Before Caffeine

A reader asked me writing questions via video. I answered them via video.




*I realize the title of this blog post makes it sound as if I will be dispensing caffeine. I'm sorry. The internet has a long way to go before that is possible.

Three Months til FOREVER

Which made me think I should do a video with the world's tiniest teaser.