Category: April Fool Phyllis

In The Pink! – A Winner and Some Good News!

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One of my favorite things about blogging – aside from getting to talk with so many interesting people! – is getting to give prizes 🙂

Today, we have a winner in the PENNY LOVES PINK contest.  I’ll give you a hint.  She (okay, all the entrants were shes, so not much hint so far!) said her favorite pink things were:

1. Laynie! (Even her sling is decorated in pink stickers!)
2. Grapefruit lip gloss from Bath and Body Works.
3. Strawberry Cake, which I made for Laynie’s birthday. 
4. Pink cheeks! Is there anything cuter?
5. Flamingos. Call them tacky, but how can you hate anything that is naturally that pink!


Note the reference to the sling?  How fitting that the winner should be someone who can use a little pick-me-up this week 🙂  It turns out, the winner (well, actually her daughter) needs a little cheering from a broken collar bone, so isn’t it nice we can help?

In case you haven’t guessed yet, the winner is BECKY!  Come on down!  Please use the Email me button on the right hand side of the blog to let me know your address (so I can mail your prize) and how you’d like the book signed (so Cori can get it just right :))

Thanks to all the other contestants.  I really appreciate your enthusiasm.  I wish everyone could win, but alas – not possible.  For those who would still like a copy of PENNY or any of Cori’s other books, please visit Cori Doerrfeld on Amazon.  And thanks again to Cori for such a terrific interview!

And now, for some other great news in the pink department:  April Fool, Phyllis! arrived in the warehouse on Wednesday!  Hurray!  *cheers and throws confetti*  This means that, once they get around to inventory and unpacking boxes, it should be available any time now.  So exciting!  Keep your eye on Merritt Book Store (likely to have it first), Amazon, and Barnes & Noble, and you could be among the first to have your very own copy 🙂

Here’s a sneak peek 🙂

The Cover (OK, you’ve seen this before :))

Phyllis surveying Punxsutawney Hollow
illustration copyright Jeff Ebbeler 2011
illustration copyright Jeff Ebbeler 2011

Really, how cute is Phyllis 🙂
illustration copyright Jeff Ebbeler 2011

Okay.  That’s all you get.  You have to go read the book to see the rest 🙂
Have a great weekend everybody!

Thursday Thrills!

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I know.  You can barely contain your excitement for today’s post.  I apologize if I’m responsible for keeping you up all night, tossing and turning, checking the clock every thirty seconds in hopes that it was morning so you could finally tune in and see who won the contest and what the surprise is 🙂

But you can stop champing at the bit.  The big moment has arrived….  Who knew Thursday could be this thrilling?

First, I am pleased to announce the winner of Monday’s Picture Book Game Contest!

(Drum roll please… Drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!)

And the winner is…. Jenny!

Congratulations, Jenny, come on down!

Let’s show Jenny her prize.  In addition to the SLHill title of her choice, personally signed in any way she’d like, Jenny wins the admiration of her puzzle-solving peers, and the opportunity to have her name up in pink on this blog!  YAY, JENNY!!!  

(Jenny, please use the “email me” button in the right margin of the blog to let me know which book you’d like, how you want it signed, and what your mailing address is.  Well done!)

I think our other finalists deserve a moment of recognition for their stellar attempts, don’t you?  So we will celebrate them in runner-up orange:  Yay, Megan, Teri, and Diane!  Excellent work!

To everyone else, good try and don’t worry… there will be other opportunities to win soon.  You know perfectly well that I can’t resist making up contests 🙂

Now, for the surprise.  Really, could this day get any better?

The book trailer for April Fool, Phyllis! is at last up and running on YouTube!  Here’s the link:

April Fool, Phyllis! – Children’s Picture Book Trailer

Please turn the sound up so you can hear the catchy tune that goes with it (although I should warn you – if you’re like me, it’s liable to get stuck in your head for weeks :))

Please feel free to click “like” and share the link with every single person you know – I want to go viral 🙂  Wouldn’t that be awesome?  Probably there should be a book trailer award for homemade imovie trailers – like an Academy Award – only instead of the Oscar it could be the Phyllis… 🙂

Enjoy, everyone!  And don’t forget to join me here at 10:30 for The Writer’s Club where this morning’s topic will be… anything you feel like talking about!

Blue Monday? Bah! Humbug! Play the Write Contest!

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When I was in school, back in the 1900s, I liked English (surprise, surprise!)

Math, not so much.  I mean, seriously, what are you supposed to do with this?

Well, since you asked, that is the formula for calculating the most depressing day of the year, whereby Sky Travel hoped to book a lot of vacations.

Taking into account the weather, debt, time since the holidays, failure of New Year’s resolutions, motivational level, the need to take action, and the fact that it’s Monday, the formula doesn’t actually work and is completely meaningless in mathematical terms.  And yet it still allows us to know that today, January 17, 2011, is the Most Depressing Day of this Year.  See how useful math is(n’t)?

Even though it’s totally bogus, it has become a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Now that people know which day they’re supposed to be most depressed, they follow along like sheep.

But here’s what I think.  Bah!  Humbug!  I don’t want you to be depressed!  It’s a beautiful day (even though it’s zero!) and I have something to cheer you up!  A game!  With a prize!

Below is a list of (I think pretty) well-known picture books and their authors.  The trick is, all you get is initials.  For example:  CW by EBW (which would, of course, be Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White – yes, I realize that’s not a picture book, I’m just giving you an example – I don’t want to give away the farm!)

Get it?

So figure them all out and list them in the comments (and no cheating! – we’re on the honor system here!  Keep your eyes on your own paper because other people might be wrong, and if you copy you will not have the satisfaction of a job well done and you will feel guilty should you win!)

If you get them all, you will be eligible to win a free signed copy of whichever of my books you want (although if you choose April Fool, Phyllis you’ll have to wait a bit because I don’t have any yet :))  This is assuming anyone plays and that at least one person gets all the answers.

Since I realize not everyone reads all blogs every day, you have until midnight Wednesday January 19 to get your answers in.  You may ask for an extension if need be.  Since I am in charge, and exceptionally nice, I might consider it. And I’ll give you one hint:  these are all traditional picture books – not novelty books or early readers –  and they are all personal favorites (and that was actually two hints!)

So, you’re not depressed anymore, are you?  You’re energized, motivated, and gung-ho to beat everyone else to the finish line!

Good luck everyone!  Ready, set, GO!

1.  CG by HAR
2.  BAJFF by RH
3.  L,L,C by BW
4.  WTWTA by MS
5.  OBAG by PR
6.  M by LB
7.  FNATPP by JO’C
8.  MWFD by RM
9.  PP by SLH
10.  MMAHSS by VLB
11.  HTDD by GZ
12.  AATT,H,NG,VBD by JV
13.  TPE by CVA
14.  TVHC by EC
15.  TRF by MP
16.  TSOF by ML
17.  LPPP by KH

(P.S.  It’s nearly 10:30 – time for The Writer’s Club – so grab your coffee and come on over and say what’s on your mind this morning!  I’m thinking about PLOT – and how hard it is!)

Snow Day!

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Breaking news:  we are having our first official snow day of the year!  And it is actually snowing (which is not always the case – in these days of doppler radar (don’t you love it when I use technical terms I don’t really know the meanings of?) the school districts have been known to jump the gun with a little too much enthusiasm.)

I love snow days!

I’m no longer a kid (I know that comes as a shock :)) and I don’t attend school, so snow days shouldn’t be that different from regular days.  I still have plenty of work to do.

But somehow, snow days are still great.  The kids can sleep late and have a fun-filled, relaxing day.  We can have a fire in the fireplace before evening – so cozy:)  There’s an almost lazy feel to the day because if the school buses can’t venture out then I am certainly not going to endanger society by taking the Dog Mobile out of the garage!  So, no errands.  And something about being holed up, warm and dry, while the snow falls peacefully outside is very conducive to writing stories.  At least for me.  As long as I don’t get side-tracked into reading stories instead 🙂

Aside from writing, I have a special project for today.  I’m almost finished with the book trailer for April Fool, Phyllis!  I know you’ve all been counting the minutes until you can see it, so this is surely thrilling news 🙂  It just needs some more of that nit-picky tweaking I’m so not fond of, and then it needs some complimentary music.  Anyone have any ideas?  I’m open to suggestion.  I can’t wait until it’s completely done and I can share it with you!

Also, I hope you all noticed the totally cool count-down thingy on the right side of the blog page.  It’s counting down to the release of April Fool, Phyllis!  So fun, don’t you think?

In other news, I have allowed myself to be talked into joining Month of Poetry.  Yes, it’s true.  My apologies to all the real poets out there.  I wrote my first Haiku poem yesterday.  It was not good.  Maybe today I’ll try a limerick…  There once was a dog on the hill/who loved to chase after a squirrel…  Maybe not.

But I’m thinking of dogs and squirrels because, at this very moment, Jemma is climbing a tree.  I am not making this up.  A squirrel ran up it (well, let’s be honest – she chased it there) and she’s doing her darndest to get up after it.  Four sets of claws are doggedly (:)) clinging to bark, and it is obvious she intends to catch that squirrel by sheer force of will.  Oops.  Sliding.  If only I’d been a little quicker with the camera!  Story idea here?

So it’s time to get to work (as soon as I take dem dogs for a snowy walk and give the squirrels a little break!)  I hope I’ll have the new trailer to share with you by Monday.

Have a great weekend, and if you live around here, happy snow day!

Pretty On Pink

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As a writer, I spend a lot of time writing.  Flabbergasting, I know.

Some days, ideas and words flow easily.  Those are great days.

Other days, I hit the delete key so often it’s a wonder I haven’t made a hole clear through the computer.  And the kitchen table underneath it.  And the floor underneath that.  Those days are less great.

On a few truly awesome days, I get an offer for a new manuscript (that’s the absolute best!), or I get to see a new piece of a book en route to publication (also amazing as I get to see my idea coming to fruition!)

Christmas Eve, as it turned out most appropriately, was just such a day.  I went down to my mailbox (which happens to be over half a mile from my house) and what should be waiting for me but this:

F&G of April Fool, Phyllis!

Definitely worth the trip to the mailbox!  What a thrill to see my new book nearly finished!  Especially as it came with this note:

I cannot wait to hold the first bound copy in my hot little hands!
Maybe it sounds silly to be so excited, but I am still at the stage where every new book is a source of pride and delight.  Truth be told, I think I will always be at that stage.  There may be writers out there like Jane Yolen who have written and sold over a hundred books who have a more ho-hum approach and can take their success for granted, but if I am lucky enough to publish a hundred books, I will be just as thrilled by the hundredth as I was by the first, and I don’t think I’ll ever take anything for granted!
April Fool, Phyllis! is due out February 21, 2011, so I really should get to see the finished product soon. I will be sure to share it with you when I do.  Jeff Ebbeler has once again done a fantastic job with the art.  The colors are beautiful, the details imaginative, the characters’ expressions just right.  I can’t wait for you to see it!
I am very likely to think up a contest with an advance copy as a prize, so stay tuned if you’re interested!
Now, I should probably get to work on the book trailer, because no matter how many opportunities I give it to create itself, nothing seems to be happening.  So off I go!
But don’t you think Phyllis looks pretty on pink 🙂