Year of the Dragon

 Happy New Year!


I'm very excited to ring in the new year. 2011 has been an amazing journey for me. I've been able to see and do more things and visit more new cities in the last year than I ever thought possible. Some of the highlights of 2011 for me include:


Speaking at the National Book Festival in DC
Meeting Orson Scott Card & Christopher Paolini
Attending the Romantic Times Convention in Los Angeles
Getting three books published in one year
Seeing fans on tour
Signing my movie deal with Paramount
Getting a new cobalt blue car with my custom TGR-TGR plates

What a whirlwind year and it's starting all over again in 2012 with more fun and exciting things to look forward to.


Publishing TIGER'S DESTINY
A trip to Hawaii for both work and play
Attending the Romantic Times Conference again (this time with my mom and sisters in Chicago)
Seeing the Tiger Series get published in other countries
The paperback version of TIGER'S CURSE comes out
Concluding the Tiger Series and starting something new

How cool is all that?



This year I am especially grateful for all my fans who have been extremely supportive and super dedicated. Thank you all so much for your wonderful comments and for your constant participation in everything tiger. You guys are awesome!  We've got tons of fabulous contests, games, and prizes in store for you this year. 2012 is going to be A-MA-ZING!



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Bollywood Boy of the Month
Ranveer Singh


 



Ranveer was a fan suggestion and I hadn't heard of him before.

I just have to say you guys sure can pick 'em!



 



His first passion was acting but his second is writing.

Birthday-July 6, 1985





Here's the trailer for his latest movie.







 



He has great hair!



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He seems more of a Kishan to me than a Ren. He has a bad boy edge.







Here's a trailer for his movie Wedding Planners.



 



I just...wow.  Now imagine him with golden eyes.

 

 



This is like a scene straight out of TIGER'S VOYAGE. I need a tissue to dab at the drool.



I can't find an official website and he doesn't tweet but he has a massive twitter fan club @ranveersinghfc who I'm sure would love to hear your comments.



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MY FAVORITE READS OF 2011


I participated in the Goodreads reading challenge and read 50 books in 2011 which is pretty good considering everything else I had to do.  Here are my top eleven of 2011.



Here they are in no particular order.



 



I ate breakfast with Beth at Slappy Cakes in Portland when she came to town. She sent me an ARC of her second book and I love this series. Who doesn't like a space mystery romance?



 



I met Sophie Jordan at the RT Conference and she is awesome! I just finished her third book in her FIRELIGHT series which is called HIDDEN and I was asked to write a blurb. Love, love, love this series.



 



I also met Alexandra at the RT Conference. In fact, I think she was sitting next to Sophie. Time travel and a hero that looks awfully similar to Ren so what's not to like?





 



This was my first steampunk book ever and it was cool! Kady fired my imagination AND she makes her own steampunk boots! Talk about multi-talented!



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I finally met Bree in Utah this month and she is so cool! She has her own nailpolish collection and she gives away a bottle to each fan at book signings. Her werewolf books are divine. =)







Kiersten White is one of the funniest authors I know. Not only do I love her series but she makes me laugh when I read her tweets. My goal is to someday be as talented a tweeter as she is.



 



I met Jeff Kinney at the ALA Conference in New Orleans this past summer and got a signed collection of his books. He was very friendly and warm. Unfortunately right as he was signing the last one they opened the doors. I scooped up my books and hightailed it out of there before I was caught in the stampede of 5th graders so I didn't get to chat with him as much as I would have liked. Love his books. They make me laugh hard and that's a great thing. I finished all of them before gifting the set to my young nephew for Christmas.



 



I finished this series in 2011 and found it compelling. The society Scott created is chilling and fascinating.



 



I originally picked this up because it had a tiger on the cover. Wow! What a ride! They're making a movie too which will be very interesting I think. I love a book that can take the whole world inside it and flip it on end. Really good book!



 



I met Andrea last spring in Utah when I was on tour. Loved her book! I haven't bought her second yet but it's on my list. Great read!



 



This book sucks you in right away and the characters are so real you can almost see them. Such a creative book!



There's my list and remember that most of these are series books so don't forget to pick up the others since I only listed the first one.



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INSPIRATION CORNER
Kelsey's Dresses


I shop for clothes for my characters on the internet often then mix and match to create clothing that suits my purposes. 



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Here is Kelsey's purple dress from her date with Ren at the end of TIGER'S CURSE. I shortened the skirt to make it younger and gave her a touch more sleeve.



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I used these three images to create Kelsey's blue dress from TIGER'S CURSE. The color of blue is more like the first one. None of them are exactly right but they were close enough that I could describe her dress.



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When Kelsey went on her date with Li, she wore something like this in peach.



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In Shangri-la I modeled Kelsey's dress in a Greek style similar to this one.



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I imagined Kelsey's Shangri-la robe with woven flowers to look something like this.



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Here is a picture of the dress Kelsey wore on her Valentine's date. She got the red one.



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In TIGER'S VOYAGE Kelsey had a date with Kishan and she wore something like this but I shortened it and made it a coppery color.

Are you sick of dresses yet? But wait...there's more!



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This one is from Kelsey's date with Wes to the beach party.



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This is Kelsey's top when she cut her hair in Voyage.



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I used the layers of his dress to create Kelsey's pink princess gown from when she was held a captive of the green dragon.



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And then there was the Star Festival! So if you don't already envy Kelsey for her men you can now envy her for her wardrobe. You can see that I spend many hours in "research" for your sake. It would be awesome to have a wardrobe like Kelsey's. I have a weakness for party dresses, not that I need them much since most of the time I dress in sweats. =)



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CONTEST INFO!


CONTEST #1: Tiger's Voyage Art Contest
 
PURPOSE: This is a much anticipated contest. I have received dozens of questions on if and when we would have an art contest for Tiger's Voyage. It's here!
 
INSTRUCTIONS: Using any medium (clay, watercolor, crayon, wood, finger paint), create an art piece that represents a part of Tiger's Voyage. We do ask that they are your own original work. Send me an email at contests@colleenhouck.com with Tiger's Voyage Art Contest in the subject line and the following information: your name, a picture of your art, and a little blurb about your art. You can submit more than one art piece if you so choose.
 
WINNER: Winner will be hand chosen by me (and probably also my husband). When we announce the winners, I'll do some honorable mentions as well--there is sure to be some awesome art pieces headed my way! I will contact the winner by email.
 
PRIZE: Winner's Choice of a hardcover book or an audio book.
 
DEADLINE: Contest ends on January 31.
 
 
CONTEST #2: Design A Dragon Contest
 
PURPOSE: Chinese New Year is on January 23 this year. We will be in the Year of the Dragon. How appropriate with Tiger's Voyage just being released!
 
INSTRUCTIONS: Design a dragon. Another one for you artsy people! However, if you aren't an art person, you can write a description. You can design however much of a dragon you want. Besides how they look (big, fat, small, tall, green, smooth, tusks, an elephant trunk), give them a personality, a favorite food, a favorite sleeping spot, an intense fear. Send me an email at contests@colleenhouck.com with Design A Dragon Contest in the subject line and the following information: your name, a picture (or wording) of your dragon, and a blurb about your dragon. Please only submit one dragon for this contest.
 
WINNER: Winner will hand chosen by me (and probably also my husband). When we announce the winners, I'll do some honorable mentions as well. I will contact the winner by email.
 
PRIZE: A dragon prize pack! I can't tell you what will be in the prize pack--only that it will be dragon themed. (I have a long-time love for dragons so I think this is a pretty cool prize!)
 
DEADLINE: Contest ends on January 31.
 
 



CONTEST #3: If You Had To... Contest
 
PURPOSE: We like to have a simple and fun contest each month. 
 
INSTRUCTIONS: Using the Rafflecopter entry form, answer the question we ask there. After you answer the question, you can mark the other options.
 
WINNER: Winner will be chosen compliments of Random.org. I will contact the winner by email.
 
PRIZE: A bookmark.
 
DEADLINE: Contest ends on January 31.
 
 
 
If there are any questions, please send them to me at contests@colleenhouck.com.
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That's it for now my friends. 



Hope you all have a safe and fun New Years!



I'm planning on pizza and movies personally.



Enjoy!



Colleen