24

It's after midnight, which means we're in the last day before BLOODROSE hits stores. I'll admit that I have very mixed feelings about BLOODROSE going into the wild. On the one hand I'm thrilled that the final book of the Nightshade series will be in readers' hands. I can't wait until you see what happens and I hope you revel in the adventure as much as I did.

On the other hand I cried a lot (seriously, a lot) while writing this book. It's a journey coming to a close. And while there will be more stories set in the world of Nightshade, this particular story does have its ending. That's a bittersweet reality that I'm still coming to grips with.

In the last hours before BLOODROSE arrives, there are a couple of things I want to mention.

1) My post about endings. It's the best answer I can offer about everything that happens.

2) My donation to Defense of Wildlife. Your support is invaluable: Here are the details for what' I'm doing: Because I'm committed to advocating for wolves, I've decided to tie in BLOODROSE to this action: for every picture of a reader and her/his new copy of BLOODROSE that is sent to me via email, Facebook, or Twitter I will make a $2 donation to Defenders of Wildlife.

And to up the stakes: If in its first days of release BLOODROSE climbs into the top 10 of the Barnes and Noble (and remember that B&N has an exclusive edition with additional content!) and/or Amazon rankings I'll up that donation to $3 per picture.

And finally: Because BLOODROSE is book 3, Nightshade moves from the New York Times Chapter Book list to the notoriously-difficult-to break-into Series list. If BLOODROSE hits in the top 5 of the NYT series list I'll increase my donation to $5 per picture.

I encourage you to support wolves and spread the word about the risks of taking gray wolves off of the endangered species list. I hope you're as excited as I am for next Tuesday. Thank you so much for sharing Calla and the packs' journeys with me!