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Anybody rememer those cute comics? Anyhow, I was tagged by Angela (Library Girl Reads) for this 6 Things That Make You Happy Meme.

 
6 Things that make Me Happy

1. My Family
2. Coffee
3. Good Books
4. Nephew's laugh
5. Sunshine
6. Book contracts

Here are the Rules for this meme: Link to the person who tagged you. Post six things that make you happy along with these rules. Then tag six others (letting them know, of course). Let the person who tagged you know when your entry is complete.

Tagged: pamelalibrarian , brookesbooks , deenaml , kathrynsmith , debbierfischer , nikiburnham 

My editor at HarperTeen was let go yesterday. That completely blows.

Over on Supernatural Sisters I'm talking about how authors fantasize about the Winchesters in their fiction.  Come visit and share how you portray them in your writing.

Ever since I was little I’ve had a thing for series. I fall so in love with characters that I hate the idea of never seeing them again and series allow me to continue visiting with these people who’ve become real to me and to watch them grow. At my library it’s practically impossible to find the first book in a series on the shelf. Either it’s checked out or it’s been stolen (sad but true). As I’ve mentioned, I’m working on a sequel to Sleepless and I’d love nothing more than to develop Trinity as a super-sleuth/dream warrior. With that hope in mind, I’m offering a contest with the first books in some of my favorite YA series.

Marked – House of Night Series – P.C. and Kristin Cast
Prom Dates from Hell – Maggie Quinn Series – Rosemary Clement Moore
Dead is the New Black – Nightshade series - Marlene Perez

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To enter please leave a comment telling me why you like (or don’t like) series and what your favorite series is. The close of this contest is midnight on February 13, 2009. A random drawing will determine the winner on Valentine’s Day. If you’d like to earn an extra entry, please spread the word about my contest. Send me a link to the buzz you’ve posted on your blog or website and I’ll give you another spot in the pot. Good luck!   

Yes, I've taken my geeky Supernatural fangirl enthusiasm to a new level by banding together with several other Winchester obsessed writers to demonstrate just how much we <3 Dean and Sam. Won't you please check out Supernatural Sisters, join the discussion and help us spread the word?

Wow! This month has been a whirlwind of crazy-making fun. My children are now 14 and 11. (Impossible!)  And Christmas was blessed and boisterous. Here's my fave gifts:



My hubby bought me a crackberry! You practically need a degree to operate it, but now that I'm getting the hang of it I LOVE IT! A lot.


Betsey Johnson Cha Cha Cheetah tote. I bought it with money from my dad and G'ma. I'm not so sure what G'ma would think, but I say it's purrrty.



My mom got these for me and I'm crazy about them. I blame brookesbooks  for my Ed Hardy adoration. She introduced me to him in San Fran.



Okay, okay. Technically this is my son's xmas present, but I've learned that I'm pretty good on the drums! Anyone else rockin' out? What were your favorite gifts?

HarperTeen asked me to guest blog. I hope you'll stop by. :)

For all you wonderful readers, my editor told me today that sales have been good and they'd like to see a proposal for a sequel! Thank you, thank you, thank you for telling me how much you enjoyed SLEEPLESS and would like to see more of Trinity. I definitely feel she has more story to tell and you're helping to make that happen. Keep your fingers crossed and I'll keep you posted.

And, I sold another book! HOLLYWEIRD will be coming out with Flux in the Spring/Summer of '10 under the name Tess Clark. It's about two teen girls who won a trip to the set of their favorite TV show only to learn the hunky hero is actually the son of Satan and the only person who can keep them safe is a fallen angel working undercover as his personal assistant. This story was inspired by my obsession for the TV show Supernatural. What's so hysterical is I wrote this proposal BEFORE the current story arc with the angels. I'm telling you, I have this weird, woo-woo affinity with the show's writers. They should really have me write with them!

Thanks again for your friendship and support. :)

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and if you went out shopping this Black Friday I hope you got some real deals. I did!

 I had an absolute blast with this contest. Your comments were a TON of fun to read.

It's great to hear so many people would like a sequel to Sleepless. I'd love to be able to to do one. I'll pass your comments on to my editor. For those of you who haven't read it, I hope you'll check it out. Put it on your Christmas wish list, your parents will like that 1) you're asking for a book and 2) that it's only $5.99! :)

Thanks to all of you and your help in spreading the word, I had a WHOPPING 62 entries! Woo-hoo. And now, without further delay, my handy-dandy random number generator says

BOOK JUNKIE

is the grand prize winner. Congrats to you and please contact me (terriclarkbooks at aol.com) with your mailing info.

However, you all made this so much fun for me I was inspired to give away two more prizes. Yay! That said, the RNG picked

kissofparadise

as the winner of an autographed copy of Sleepless and

Tifi-Chan

as the winner of an autographed copy of Breaking Up Is Hard To Do. Please contact me (terriclarkbooks at aol.com) with your deets.

Thanks again to everyone who entered. And for those of you wondering what I really will be writing next...stay tuned. I hope to have exciting news I can share next week. :)

Hugs, Terri

I have so much to be grateful for this year. One of the things I'm most thankful for is the wonderful letters I've gotten from readers and reviewers. You've been the greatest gift to me this year. To thank you I'm holding this contest and all you have to do is tell me what you'd like to see me write next. :)

It doesn't matter if it's a project you've heard me talk about before, or if it's just something as a reader you'd like to see more of, I just thought it would be fun to hear your ideas. So tell me what you'd like to see next in the comments section and if you link this post somewhere and let me know I'll put you in for a second entry. The winner will be chosen on Black Friday (Nov. 28) and will receive: 

1 Hardcover of Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

1 Hardcover of Pretty, Little Liars by Sara Shepard 

1 Hardcover of Braless in Wonderland by Debbie Reed Fischer

1 Hardcover of Undone by Brooke Taylor

1 Autographed paperback of Sleepless

1 Autographed paperback of Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

1 tote bag from my very own library district

and, finally, 1 woven dream catcher bracelet.

So, what are you waiting for? What would you like to see me publish next?

This month has been a difficult one. I'll spare you the details, but today I'm trying to regroup and find some new focus and motivation. I'm revisiting my notes from this summer's RWA and there's so many good nuggets here that I thought I'd post them.

Gail Blanke--

Living small, doesn't serve the universe.

Let go! Don't hold onto things.

Never wait for the courage. You may wait a lifetime.

Create with new eyes and ears.

The world belongs to the one who stands out.

You are powerful beyond measure.

Dreams and nightmares must be fed to live. Feed the dreams, not the nightmares.

Eric Maisel--

Quit negative self talk!

Ideas come to a quiet mind.


I'm going to work on all of these.... Read the rest of this post

According to my fancy schmancy random number generator the lucky winner of the authentic navajo dream catcher is

pixie6690!

Thanks to all of you who entered. Look for an upcoming November contest soon. :)

I have a Halloween blog posted on HarperTeen where I share my fave things about this spooktacular holiday and show off my make-up magic. I hope you'll check it out, let me know what you think about my special f/x skillz and let me know what your fave thing about Halloween is!

I just got the most gorgeous, genuine Navajo dream catcher! It's 4 inches wide and hand-wrapped in real buckskin with duck feathers and horse hair. The artistry is beautiful and the dream catcher comes with the artist's bio. I'm giving this away Nov. 1. To enter this contest -- and insure you have sweet dreams :) -- please answer the following questions and email me at terriclarkbooks at aol dot com with Sleepless Contest in the subject line. 

Please do NOT post the answers in the comment section or they will be removed.

If you haven't read Sleepless yet, you can find the answers in the special sneak peek at http://browseinside.harpercollinschildrens.com/index.aspx?isbn13=9780061375965.

Answer all the questions correctly and your name will go in a drawing. The winner will be picked using a random number generator.

Please feel free to post this contest info on your blogs or sites! If you do post it somewhere, and send me the link, I'll give you an extra entry. Good luck!

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1. What does Coral encourage Trinity to go buy?

2. Who did Kiri say Trinity Michael's looked like? And what band is she from?

3. Who did Trinity bemoan she didn't have lusty fantasies about?

4. When Dan first met Trin what did he call his own dad?

5. What tool is used for bloodletting?

6. What are UM's colors?

7. When Trinity's mom tells her she might outgrow her dreamwalking she scoffs at the idea and say they're not like ____ or ____.  (Fill in the blanks)

8. What is Trinity's IM screename?

9. After her conversation with Coral, Trinity reads a new sci-fi novel right before she falls asleep. Who was the author? 

10. What do the switching channels on Trinity's TV say to her?

 It's teen read week! Right now I'm reading WALKAWAY by Alden R. Carter and in my immediate YA TBR I have lots of BOOKS WITH BITE:

The Otherworldlies / Jennifer Anne Kogler
Bliss / by Lauren Myracle
The graveyard book / Neil Gaiman
Betrayed : a House of Night novel / P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast.

What YA books are you reading this week?

And teens, don't forget to vote for your Top Ten and check out what's happening at your local library!

Okay, I don't know why that particular line jumped into my head, I think it has something to do with serious sleep deprivation from this $%&^&*^$ sinus infection that WON'T DIE. Anyhow, I want you all to meet my good friend, Angela. She used to work with me at the library, but sadly moved away. However we keep in touch and she's due to have a baby girl in two weeks! Angela is a HUGE reader, loves paranormals, and just started her own review blog--LibraryGirlReads. Won't you please stop by, say hey and bookmark her blog!

I hope you'll come see me tomorrow! 

Yay! This morning went really well. I ended up getting there early because I overestimated how much rush hour traffic there would be, but the teacher introduced me right away and off I went. Mostly I just spoke about what inspired Sleepless--a Denver Post article on violent criminals pretending to be insane and dreams. The kids really responded to the archaic psychological "cures" I told them about and to the different kinds of dreams we have. Then I opened it up to the class for questions. They were awesome! I don't think there was ever any "dead air" and I ended up speaking for close to an hour and a half. I really enjoyed the kids and Ms. Crespin. (We've totally bonded over Supernatural!) It was a great first experience and I'd happily do it again. I hope I hear from some of the kids, they were asking how they could reach me. :)  

I have my first school visit on Tuesday. I'm speaking to approx. 30-35 juniors and seniors for a contemp lit class. The teacher said they're  mostly interested in hearing about the publishing process and my journey as a writer. I have an HOUR to fill. That seems so long. LOL. Anyhow, for those of you who've done school visits I'd love to hear about your experiences. Please share tips and advice. I'm scared of boring them to death. Thanks!

I LOVED last night's premiere. From the Carrie-esque moment of Dean clawing himself out of the grave to Sam's newly found demon dusting talent to Dean being touched by an angel the episode rocked except for one thing...Ruby. Bring Katie Cassidy back. Now! I know Genevieve Cortese has fans because of Wildfire, but Katie can do more acting with her eyebrows than Gen can do with her whole body and Ruby is not the same complex, kick ass cookie she once was. Budget concerns or not, I hope they bring her back. Surely with the BritBitch gone there's gotta be some extra moola.

Wanna win a signed copy of Sleepless and a dream catcher necklace? Head on over to Harmony's Book Reviews, where she's hosting me as her Author of the Month. Good luck!

Book Chic, the coolest guy in the blogosphere, has been kind enough to host me this week as the Fresh New Voice of YA where I blogged about dreams, gave an interview and discussed upcoming projects. Lastly, he gave Sleepless a glowing review that made me giddy. Together we're giving away an autographed copy of Sleepless and a dream catcher necklace, so stop on by and show him some love. :)

Tomorrow my wonderful library is having an author reception for me from 2-3 pm to celebrate the release of SLEEPLESS. I don't know how many of you are Coloradoans, but I'd love to see you!

Smoky Hill Library, 5430 S. Biscay Cir., Centennial. For more info click here.