Thanks to everyone for participating in the LIFE AND OPINIONS OF AMY FINAWITZ contest! We had a great time reading all the entries. There were some tough decisions, since everyone was so gosh darn clever, but eventually Nancy Mercado, Laura Toffler-Corrie and I narrowed it down.
So without further ado here are the winning tweets...
FIRST PRIZE (signed book and critique):
Runners-up (an awesome batch of evil fortune cookies!):
If you're one of the winners, please write me an email with your address! Congrats!
Do you need some summer laughs? Of course you do! Well, good news. Laura Toffler-Corrie's debut middle-grade novel, THE LIFE AND OPINIONS OF AMY FINAWITZ, will be released into the wild next week.
It's a hilarious novel, with a brilliant and wacky cast of characters, and I know you'll be that person who guffaws on the subway while reading it. Because I still do.
So. We're running a contest: a Fortune Cookie Twitter contest!
"Why fortune cookies?" you ask, innocently. "Well," I say, "fortune cookies play an important part in our heroine Amy's story."
One awesome way you can get a feel for Amy's fortune cookie flair is to read the sample chapter here. But here are some examples of fortunes Amy finds in the book:
- When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
- When you make change, come back a dollar.
- 7/5ths of all people do not understand fractions.
Your task: Tweet us your fortunes. What kind of fortunes? Well, fortunes specifically for writers! The fortune cookie you’d want to open if you were a writer working on a revision, or waiting for a review, or trying to get published, etc. The sky's the limit!
Let's start with the prizes to entice you.
THE RULES:
- Follow author Laura Toffler-Corrie on Twitter: @LauraTofflerCor.
- Enter your fabulous, fortunes on Twitter. (Fortunes posted as comments to this blog post will be enjoyed, but not judged.)
- You MUST use this hashtag in your tweet: #amyfortune (If you don't use it, we'll never see it!)
- You may enter up to 10 (TEN) fortunes.
- As we know, good fortune should SPREAD. Share the love! Spread the word about the contest!
- Laura, Nancy, and I will be the sole judges of the contest.
- The deadline for this contest is 9AM Eastern Time on Tuesday, August 3rd (release day!). Winners will be announced Friday, August 6th. There are no exceptions to this! If any fortune tweets are sent after that time, they will NOT be read.
Now get thee to Twitter and start predicting!
First of all --
Happy Valentine's Weekend!
I hope you had a great V-day. Mine was really fun... and I got flowers from my valentine. They were so pretty, I had to post the picture so you could enjoy them too. And, not having received roses on valentines in over a decade, I can tell you they were a wonderful surprise.
Also, my valentine and I went to dim sum with my friends. Have you been recently? Oh my gosh -- so much food. And though it's delish, it's not the best for you. So it is a rare and wonderful treat.
And at the end of dim sum -- what else? The fortune cookies...
This time, my fortune read, "You will hear pleasant news soon." Uh... thanks? What the heck is pleasant news, anyway? I guess it was better than some fortunes I've received, but it was kind of anticlimactic -- especially when my sister's said, "Your lover will never leave you." No fair!! Who writes these things?
So, I actually save my fortunes. Here is a (blurry, I know) picture of the latest collection on my fridge's door.
Let's check for accuracy:
"You will have great fortune and luck." (Hmm... jury's still out on that one.)
"Your love life will change for the better." (Ok, this seems to be true... but I don't want to jinx anything.)
"Your financial situation will soon be improving." (Is the check in the mail? I'm not so sure.)
"You will receive an unexpected gift." (YES! The roses!! Although, wait -- this fortune is from a few months ago.)
"You will hear pleasant news soon." (Crossing my fingers that this is from my super agent about the draft of the MS I just turned in...)
Anyway -- in the spirit of the fickle fortunes of chinese food and love -- here is the final giveaway of Valentine's Week on Books, Boys, Buzz!
To enter, please comment about a fortune you received and if it came true. Extra brownie points if it's about LOVE! Extra double brownie points if it's funny.
One lucky winner will receive the prizes shown -- a copy of the YA anthology LOVE IS HELL (starring Scott Westerfeld!) and a box of delicious Emily's Love fortune cookies.
You have until Monday at 10 AM PST to comment here and enter to win! The winner will be announced later that day here on the Buzz Blog. Tell you friends to stop by and enter -- both weekend giveaways don't end until tomorrow!!
Good luck and xoxo!
Heather
www.heatherdavisbooks.com
Never Cry Werewolf - Sept 2009 HarperTeen
The Clearing - Spring 2010 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
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"The greatest gift is love." I love this one because it so so true!
Enter me, please :)
-Ann
behapppppppy(at)hotmail(dot)com
I have to post on this one because one of my students gave me a box of those same fortune cookies on Friday for Valentine's Day! She was so thoughtful as my name is Emily and she knows I love chocolate so she bough the chocolate covered cookies-- great kid, right?!
As I opened the first cookie, I split it in half and gave the student one of the halves. Then I pulled out the fortune and it said,
" True friends share their chocolate."
We high-fived each other and had a good laugh. I saved the fortune on my desk at school.
Emily in AZ
One who admires you greatly is hidden before your eyes.
This makes me think that a person I could have a relationship with may be right in front of me.
My favorite fortune, and the only one I kept said "You look pretty." And of course it came true, because I did!
When I was single, I got one that said I was about to meet a tall, dark, handsome stranger. I kept it on my desk at work...and lo and behold, that's exactly where I met my husband!
I once got a fortune that read:
"Please don’t eat me. I love you."
It was hilarious (but too late, I'd already eaten half of it!)
I never remember the actual fortunes but I always look at the lucky numbers on the back and if my lucky number is on there I put it on my bulletin board. So I am always on the lookout for 10 in the lucky numbers.
sports[dot]erikalynn[at]gmail[dot]com
My sister and I went out to dinner one night and the fortune I got said "There is a true and sincere friendship between you both." I like it because she is my best friend.
"You will have great fortune in the coming year."
So far coming true.
Rachel R.
[email protected]
mybkclub.com
I haven't had a fortune cookie in a while so I can't remember my actual fortunes, and I don't remember them ever coming true. They are always fun though.
I just remember how somehow my mom heard about the little trick of adding "in bed" to the end of fortunes and my dad used to get so mad when she would say that! Haha. I think he was a little embarrased.
I actually gave my friend a personalized fortune cookie for a friend that said "may one I'll get you a better present." ahaha I'm still waiting for that one day ;P
Oh I totally forgot to write the fortune! But I don't really remember any of my fortunes...I have really bad memory..
I cannot remember the last fortune that I got from a fortune cookie, but it must not have been too memorable. My kids think that I am crazy because I actually make them read theirs out loud. I really cannot remember one of my fortunes ever really coming true, however.
I would love to be entered and wow, those are some beautiful flowers!!
Okay, this a completely honest-to-God true story. Totally creepy, too.
My mom ordered Chinese food, and while we were waiting, me and my friend Emili went to take a short walk. While we were doing that, I was telling her about all the dreams I've been having lately that have come true. (Like a really vivid dream of a school bus catching on fire - and it happened a week later!) My dreams came back up after we got home and were eating our food. I opened my fortune cookie, and Emi said:
"Wouldn't it be funny if it said something about your dreams?"
I laughed and ate my cookie - saving my fortune for very last, as always. I turned it over to look at it and my mouth dropped open. I think I would have choked if I was still chewing on my cookie.
Em said "Shut up." and rolled her eyes. I just handed the fortune over to her.
"Your dreams are real. Listen to them."
Not kidding. Creepiest thing that's ever happened to me. I wish I had our reactions recorded. Ha.
Thanks for the contest! :) It's a good one.
I've received fortune cookies predicting great love, which I have, great wealth, which I'm waiting on if I'm counting it as monetary, which I am, and wonderful friends, which I have.
I love the fortune cookies, never seen a real one in my life.
I can't remember many specific fortunes, but I think I got one that said I'd make a new friend... and sometime after that I met my best friend!
paradoxrevealed (at) aim (dot) com
sounds like you had a good time.
i sometimes keep my fortunes, but i don't remember any of them.
though, i've been following my horoscope this month, that's kind of similair.
apparently i will be ready for romance by the end of the month.
I once got a fortune that said "embrace change; don't battle it"
I don't really have a story to go along with it. I know it's true. It's never a good thing to fight change because it's gonna happen whether you like it or not. But I'm definitely one to fight it. Though hopefully the change that's happening to me now turns out to be awesome. I really hope it will anyway. I'm trying to be optimistic for once.
Having my girls when I was only 19 completely changed my life but I think it was a pretty good change. So I suppose in a way that fortune has helped me to try to embrace change as best as I can.
-Breanna
[email protected]
I save my fortunes all the time! It's funny, I got one last semester that said "A photo doesn't capture your charm"
I was taking photography at the time.
~Meredith F.
rosesaremyfavorite at hotmail dot com
my last fortune cookie said: you will be kissed.
A day later i was kissed, yes..by a person I will not have choosed to be kissed..
"One must kiss a few frogs before Prince Charming comes along"
I've gotten lots of frogs until I met my bf, and we've been together for 3yrs. So far the fortune has been accurate, and I just hope my bf is not a frog.