Posted on by Pamie · 28 Comments

YTIFH Book Giveaway: Thank You for Being a Friend

I’d like to host my own little book giveaway, to thank you guys for all the support and passion you’ve given You Take It From Here and for making this book-writing thing a little less lonely. From the Amazon and Goodreads reviews, to the pictures of you with your copy you’ve posted to Facebook and Twitter, you’ve made me feel so much better about writing this novel. It’s sometimes a little frightening to put so much of yourself out there that somebody can literally put it in their cart at Costco.

So I’m giving away TEN SIGNED COPIES of You Take It From Here. This book can be for you or for your best friend, to say thank you for being there, for being weird and funny and loving and wonderful.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment below telling us about your best friend, something he or she did that was above and beyond what you’d ever expect from someone. What was his or her true moment that changed everything about your relationship and bonded you for life? Read more

Posted on by Pamie · 13 Comments

free for you

This week has been an ass-kicker. A “no” on a job I wanted (that happened at the exact same time we got rear-ended on the highway), another no, another no, Oprah ending, a plumbing clog that has caused septic nightmares coming from inside the house. And since methane gas inside the house isn’t enough, a family of skunks have taken up residence in the backyard. Judging from the smell, they are easily frightened multiple times a day. I lost a notebook that had story notes I needed, but more importantly contained apparently the only copy I had of my landlord’s address and the rent is due… No, don’t bother looking for the notebook, I think I lost it 30,000 miles in the air. (Sudden screaming baby made me accidentally overturn my purse in 18C.)

Since my father’s no longer around to buy multiple lottery tickets every week, I need you to keep hope alive by blindly entering a contest with the brazen assumption that you’re going to win because you’re a winner and that’s what winners do. That’s what my dad would’ve done and I need someone to be a winner. Some good news, people. Let’s find it. Read more

Posted on by Pamie

Hi! This is awkward, right?

First I wanted to thank those of you who have written personally or blogged publicly about how much you enjoyed/identified with Going in Circles. Your words are very kind, and truly appreciated.

I mentioned earlier that All You Magazine has chosen Going in Circles as its Book Club Selection for May. They’ve now posted their supplemental material, which includes a contest/sweepstakes/semi-dangerous-sounding-event that you and your book club might find interesting. Read more

Posted on by Pamie

dewey day two

I can’t stop messing with these MRI scans the imaging center gave me on a disc to take home. So I put up today’s Dewey contest to give me something to do that will actually be productive.

Did you know it’s National Library Week? Go hug your library. It misses you and you will certainly miss it if it suddenly has to go away.

I’m in an Outsiders kind of mood today, so the wishlist is for the Westfield Detention Center. Books donated will be filling a library where Mount Holyoke students volunteer their time to read with/to the boys detained at Westfield.

And congrats to Nicolle R. Bougas, who donated yesterday and will be receiving a signed copy of Going in Circles.

Posted on by Pamie

Yes! The Dewey Donation System is Back!

Oh, boy. I have no web skills anymore, people. But what I do have is a stack of free copies of GOING IN CIRCLES and a desire to help out some libraries.

Do you guys miss Dewey like I do? Okay, good. Because I put up a small contest for this week.

Down and Dewey Book Drive

I’ll do the work if you do the clicking. Each day I’ll throw a few wishlists up, each helping a different library in need, and one donor a day will receive a free, signed copy of my book. You can enter as many times as you like, and for as many days as you like. I figure we can tag a few wishlists a day, giving lovely surprises to librarians all over the place.

Today’s wishlists are for Children’s Hospitals. Go, give, and spread the word! Dewey’s been on Facebook since you were on Friendster, and he has a brand spanking new Twitter account.

Posted on by Pamie · 1 Comment

Unique Artistic Vision and Semi-Worthy Poetry

Caught up on TiVo, and it turns out that I hate the show I thought I’d like, and I like the show I thought I’d hate. How about that? The Anna Nicole Show was so disappointing. I couldn’t even find a reason to laugh. I just sat there staring, wondering why nobody bothered to make it funny. Obviously there was enough footage that it could have been funny, but it was cut in such a way it looked like the footage right before the Behind the Music guy goes, “But Anna Nicole’s lifestyle couldn’t take much more abuse.” And then every shot of her sliding into a tub with her stilettos scratching the finish would be in slow-motion over and over and over.

Then, I’m all giggling like an idiot at The Rerun Show, a show I wanted to see because I thought I’d hate it. The guy that does Mrs. Garrett cracks me up with every line. But, as Wing pointed out last night I just find Mrs. Garrett impressions funny, mostly because they remind me of my own Mrs. Garrett impression. (By the way, when you know you’ve got a good friend when she can totally call you on your shit and instead of blushing or getting defensive you crack up because she saw the truth where you were still trying to talk bullshit to yourself.) But I did find some of the parodies funny, when the actors find that one bad acting trait the original actor had and exaggerate it. Like having Tootie never stop flopping around and wiggling while she talked. Or how Kimberly was always having to wear some kind of dance outfit.

Ignoring the segue, I need to tell you the really exciting news I received just before I left for out of town: I may already have what it takes to be a writer. It’s true. I just received the documentation.

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Posted on by Pamie

the winners

man, this took forever.

Oh, my God. There’s nothing better than the Bust A Groove soundtrack. I am shaking my ass all over the office. You can’t stop me. I don’t care if I only got four hours sleep. Heat has the best damn song. I swear to God. It rules. Rules. Here’s how much it rules. I’m gonna give it to you. There’s my gift for you. Have fun. Happy Birthday Month (If you got here too late, sorry).

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Posted on by Pamie

Birthday Week Contest Entries

You make the call

I’m using Jesse’s CSS here (I like it, don’t you?). You can thank him for keeping it the same as it ever was.

The family reunion went very well. Aside from it being the worst weekend ever for travel, everyone eventually got into town and we had a great weekend.

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Posted on by Pamie

Like Sixteen Candles

but without jake ryan

How lame is this webpage’s birthday week? Seriously. Last year it was all fun and games, and this year I’m all, “My cat’s big. I’m busy. Do some work for me.”

The good news is I can safely announce one winner of one of the contests. By an overwhelming vote I won the entry design contest. So many of you wrote to ask me to not change the design that I’m going to say that the people have spoken. So, the one design that was sent in (you know who you are) will get a special one-day-only entry when I get back.

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Posted on by Pamie

it's almost time

announcing birthday week contests

stee wrote about our Kevin Spacey and Buffy sightings. He also scribbled some props for me on the collaborative entry that we did that won him a diarist award:

hee.

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