Chloe Neill's Blog, page 119

Eighty Days Until HEXBOUND!!

As you know, I'm diligently working on HARD BITTEN to get it turned in for the May 2010 release date. But stayed tuned in the coming weeks for such awesome features as:
1. Your first sneak peek of HEXBOUND! 2. The HEXBOUND ARC contest!3. Your chance to win a stack of "New To You" books from Penguin4. The synopsis of HARD BITTEN
And more!
In the meantime, have you visited my new Flickr site? Drop by for pics of Chicago (and other Chloe Neill snapshots).
Happy weekend!

New - Chloe Neill Facebook Page

I've finally gotten around to creating an official Facebook page (as opposed to my general use page), so feel free to "Like!" to your heart's content!

SOME GIRLS BITE receives 2010 Nebraska Book Award

Huge thanks to The Nebraska Center for the Book for giving SOME GIRLS BITE a 2010 Nebraska Book Award for young adult fiction.




Here are the rest of the winners:

ANTHOLOGY: Bruce A. Glasrud and Charles A. Braithwaite. African Americans on the Great Plains: An Anthology. University of Nebraska Press.

ANTHOLOGY HONOR: Loren C. Eiseley, Ray Bradbury, and Aaron Franco. The Loren Eiseley Reader. Abbatia Press/Infusionmedia Publishing.

FICTION: Ladette Randolph. _A Sandhills Ballad_. University of New Mexico Press.

NONFICTION: Joe Starita. "I Am a Man": Chief Standing Bear's Journey for Justice. St. Martin's Press.

NONFICTION HONOR: Robert Cochran. Louise Pound: Scholar, Athlete, Feminist Pioneer. University of Nebraska Press.

POETRY: Dwaine Spieker. Garden of Stars. All Along Press.

COVER/DESIGN/ILLUSTRATION: Mari Sandoz and Kimberli A. Lee. "I Do Not Apologize for the Length of This Letter": The Mari Sandoz Letters on Native American Rights, 1940-1965. Texas Tech University Press. Designer: Lindsay Starr. Cover photos: Courtesy Caroline Sandoz Pifer Collection, Mari Sandoz High Plains Heritage Center, Chadron State College

COVER/DESIGN/ILLUSTRATION HONOR: Forsberg, Michael. Great Plains: America's Lingering Wild. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Audiobooks and Another Project

1. Audiobooks

Only three weeks until the release of TWICE BITTEN on audiobook! Here's the complete release schedule so you can mark your calendars:

November 1, 2010 - Twice Bitten
November 29, 2010 - Some Girls Bite
December 13, 2010 - Friday Night Bites

Tantor also promises audio samples (coming soon!) on the TWICE BITTEN page, so check back!

2. Projects

Fact: I am sentimental, and I keep ticket stubs, booksigning adverts, fortune cookie messages, etc.

Problem: I have no time to actually do anything with this stuff.

I'm currently considering my options (and I have plenty of supplies), I just need time to actually get it done. (Darn you, Ethan and Merit!).

Ali Edwards has already (!) posted the foundation pages for her 2011 December Daily journal. Although I don't have time this year to do a December Daily (although I'm very excited to be spending the holidays with J and his family), I think the foundation for the DD would work really well for any "stuff saving" project. I especially love the big rings and the journaling pages.

Oh, for cute!

As I'm busily typing away on HARD BITTEN to bring you all the vampire-inspired drama you can handle, I thought I'd offer up some stuff I've seen on the webs lately that will keep you busy this weekend.

1. Recipe Binder project by Cathy Zielske. As CZ puts it, for cute!



2. Learn to make biscuits from scratch.

3. If you're in Chicagoland, make plans to visit the Bucktown Apple Pie Contest on October 10.

4. Design your own custom Converses. (Click on "Design Your Own" in the upper right.)

5. Prep an inspiration board. (Those provided by Snippet & Ink are wedding-oriented, but you get the general idea.)

6. Make your brownies more exciting.

--> Also, LESS THAN 100 DAYS UNTIL HEXBOUND! Stay tuned for news about an AWESOME Hexbound ARC contest that includes lots of new Penguin titles!



That is all. Happy weekend, everyone!

100 Days Until HEXBOUND!

Only 100 days until the release of HEXBOUND, and all the Jasony, Adepty, Sebastiany goodness. More details soon about the HEXBOUND blog tour, swag, ARC contest, and sneak peeks!

Random Bits

1. Doesn't Babington House in Somerset seem like the kind of place where Darius West (GP head) would live? (Ed. - You'll be actually meeting Darius in HARD BITTEN.) (Via Sage & Style)





2. Hoosier Mama: This got added to my Must Visit list for my next Chicago trip (Spring 2011?). Lemon chess pie? Chocolate cream pie? Yes, please. (Via Serious Eats)

3. Pretty food from What Katie Ate. (Via Simplesong)

The Momentum

The hardest part of writing a novel is, for me, the initial 20,000 words or so. The book has no momentum, so it feels like every 500 words is a slog to get through. And then, about 25,000 words or so, the book begins to magically take shape. Enough scenes are written that the book has some flow, some emotion, some forward inertia that begins to move things forward. . . until I hit 70,000 words or so, at which point I'll be sick of writing it.

But for now, the sweet spot! Yay!

Songs for Scenes (1)

HARD BITTEN Chapter Two . . . Kiss With a Fist by Florence + The Machine

HARD BITTEN cover is done!

And it's GORGEOUS!!