Winner and Boxes

At long last I have five spare minutes and I am here to announce the winner of the Wondrous Strange series!!!

Congrats to A Rick who said:

"I love fairies because they can be sweet or they could be evil. You never know! That is why I love reading about them, to see what angle the author will take!"

Please email me your full name and address to aprilynne pike at "gee" mail dot com and I will get those right in the mail for you!

Okay, this doesn't have anything to do with writing. But I think it's a fun story. Earlier this summer I was reading something about collections and I was talking to my husband and I said, "I don't collect things. Well, I kind of collect dolls, but I haven't added to that collection in years and really, it just fell into my lap to begin with."

And he said, "What are you talking about? You collect boxes."

And my first thought was Boxes? That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Who collects boxes? And I said, "I do NOT collect boxes."

"Sure you do."

"I do not. Well, I have my Tiffany box, but who wouldn't keep their Tiffany box? And I have my perfume boxes, but they're pretty. And I guess I have that turquoise shoebox I've held onto, and that little blue box . . . Oh my gosh, I collect boxes."

Turns out, I collect boxes. I have tons! And, in support of my newfound hobby, my husband got me two new boxes for Christmas this year. Boxes that encompass BOTH of my collections.:D We have gotten rather obsessed . . . er . . . interested in these amazing porcelain dolls. They are ART. Like, they put them in museums. (*disclaimer* These are amazing art, but . . .um . . . they are anatomically correct and most of them have no clothes on. It showcases their full body porcelain hinges. They are very cool, but you have been warned. Don't follow the link if naked porcelain dolls weird you out.) Anyway, it's called Enchanted Doll and they are gorgeous and I want one some day!! Yanno, some day when I have $16K just laying around (the price her last doll went for on eBay). *sigh* So Kenny did the next best thing. He got me two doll-sized tin boxes with Enchanted Doll figures painted on them! So I have dolls, boxes, and two doll boxes!!! They are my new pride and joy.

With the addition of my new boxes, I figured I would actually decorate the top of my bookshelves (now that I've had them for seven months . . . FAIL.) And I thought I would share!

First, my new boxes (and the blue box in the middle was my very first box, about five years ago. You'd have thought I would get the hint that it was special to me when I lugged it through two moves . . . I'm a little slow.) Anyway, the new ones are the yellow and blue ones on the sides.




And the whole shelves, dolls and boxes.:D



I'm very excited.:D

Okay, a couple of things for the future: I traditionally give away an ARC of my new book for Valentine's Day and I will be doing that again, so stay tuned. Also, I have been working on some short pieces for Harper that take place either between Spells and Illusions or during the first part of Illusions but from another person's point of view. (In fact, one of them is first person point of view from a character you haven't met yet.) I am having a blast with that and should know more about when and where they will be posted soon. And as soon as I know, I will let you know. I will also be doing a few excerpts from Illusions starting next week so you will have something to tide you over.

Also, I counted months last week and Illusions comes out in LESS THAN FOUR MONTHS!!!! WHOO-HOOO!!!!!!

Ahem. Sorry about that.

:D

So yeah, lots to look forward to and hopefully more frequent blogging is one of those things.:D

Ciao!