Two weeks until launch and just in time for a truly epic giveaway! Now that Mother Nature has graced us with sunshine, fluffy clouds, and pleasant temperatures, it's time to grab that beach blanket, bathing suit, cool sunglasses and your favorite summer read! If your TBR pile isn't big enough already, I have some suggestions of my favorite paranormal picks and am giving them away in honor of my debut launch. Do you like the weird? The twisted? The elegant? The romance? How about the quirky? The lyric? The poetic? The inspired? Well, have I got something for YOU!

***GRAND PRIZE: Three Luminous Chicks of Paranormal Fic!***

ONE lucky winner wins something from everybody:
1. A signed hardcover copy of LUMINOUS
2. An ARC of IMAGINARY GIRLS by Nova Ren Suma
3. An ARC of HOURGLASS by Myra McEntire
4. A packet of glitter temporary tattoos
5. A single serve packet of the divine Bellagio's Sipping Chocolate
6. A packet of marigold seeds
7. 4 novelty buttons & a tiny troll doll c/o THE PULL OF GRAVITY
8. 3 hot-n-sweet mango-chili lollipops
9. A silver, beaded bookmark engraved with Native American blessing
10. A "Fan of YA" complete collection of 2011 bookmarks (some signed by the author!)

***1ST-3RD PRIZE: More Luminous Young Ladies!***

ONE lucky winner wins Consuela's pick:
1. An ARC of DREAMLAND SOCIAL CLUB by Tara Altebrando.
2. A packet of glitter temporary tattoos
3. A single serve packet of the divine Bellagio's Sipping Chocolate
4. A packet of marigold seeds
5. 2 novelty buttons c/o THE PULL OF GRAVITY
6. 1 hot-n-sweet mango-chili lollipops
7. A "Fan of YA" mini-collection of 2011 bookmarks (some signed by the author!)

ONE lucky winner wins Maddy's pick:
1. An ARC of SISTERS RED by Jackson Pearce.
2. A packet of glitter temporary tattoos
3. A single serve packet of the divine Bellagio's Sipping Chocolate
4. A packet of marigold seeds
5. 2 novelty buttons c/o THE PULL OF GRAVITY
6. 1 hot-n-sweet mango-chili lollipops
7. A "Fan of YA" mini-collection of 2011 bookmarks (some signed by the author!)

ONE lucky winner wins Sissy's pick:
1. An ARC of CHIME by Franny Billingsley.
2. A packet of glitter temporary tattoos
3. A single serve packet of the divine Bellagio's Sipping Chocolate
4. A packet of marigold seeds
5. 2 novelty buttons c/o THE PULL OF GRAVITY
6. 1 hot-n-sweet mango-chili lollipops
7. A "Fan of YA" mini-collection of 2011 bookmarks (some signed by the author!)

***4TH-6TH PRIZE: Let's Hear It for the Boys!***

ONE lucky winner wins V's pick:
1. The first of the series, WAKE by Lisa McMann.
2. 2 novelty buttons c/o THE PULL OF GRAVITY
3. 1 hot-n-sweet mango-chili lollipops
4. A "Fan of YA" mini-collection of 2011 bookmarks (some signed by the author!)

ONE lucky winner wins Wish's pick:
1. The first of the Vladimir Tod series, EIGHTH GRADE BITES by Heather Brewer.
2. 2 novelty buttons c/o THE PULL OF GRAVITY
3. 1 hot-n-sweet mango-chili lollipops
4. A "Fan of YA" mini-collection of 2011 bookmarks (some signed by the author!)

ONE lucky winner wins Tender's pick:
1. An ARC of the upcoming, ultra-violent AU REVOIS CRAZY EUROPEAN CHICK by Joe Schreiber.
2. 2 novelty buttons c/o THE PULL OF GRAVITY
3. 1 hot-n-sweet mango-chili lollipops
4. A "Fan of YA" mini-collection of 2011 bookmarks (some signed by the author!)

...I think I'm fanning myself. *Whew!* Okay, now for the details.

HERE'S HOW TO ENTER:

1) Pre-order LUMINOUS for yourself or your library. (We're going on the honor system here.) If you already pre-ordered it, that is valid. This counts as 3 ENTRIES.

2) If you change your LJ icon, your Twitter icon, your Facebook icon and/or your Blogspot icon to a LUMINOUS cover for the duration of the contest (now through midnight, June 30th). Each of those counts as 1 ENTRY EACH, so if you decided to change your icon in all those spots, you would have a total of 4 ENTRIES. Active accounts only, please!

3) Link this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog. This counts as 1 ENTRY EACH, for a possible 3 ENTRIES.

Sample format: It's the Luminous Summer Grand Prize Giveaway! ARCs, bookmarks, buttons, candy, chocolate! http://t.co/Jw0CWyd Now thru June 30th. [Plz RT]

Simple, no? Well, last but not least:

4) Link everything in the comments section with your grand total and you're entered to win! YOU MUST COMMENT ON THIS POST WITH LINKS FOR YOUR ENTRY TO BE ENTERED INTO THIS CONTEST!

5) This contest is open to US residents only.

This contest runs from right now until launch time, midnight, Thursday, June 30th. Winners will be announced shortly thereafter, probably Monday, with much applause. Here are icons for you:

Go forth & good luck!!!

CONFESSION: I haven't been writing.

I hate not-writing. I don't do it often. Writing is my way of processing the world, gaining some sanity and perspective, as natural and necessary to me as breathing. Therefore you can imagine that I have been holding my breath and turning blue as my marbles so skittering across the floor in various directions for the past several weeks. This is not healthy. And, considering this is my long-awaited debut launch (i.e. also known as Lifelong Dream Finally Coming True), this is a really bad time to not be writing as a first time professional writer. And yet, sometimes you must take a step back and consider that perhaps a Higher Power is telling you something and that something is "This is not the time to write." How do you know when this is the case as opposed to, say, normal procrastinating? Well, in case you were wondering, here's a few good hints:

1. A tornado hits your area.

I'm from the MidWest so I know that when sky turns glow-green, that's Mother Nature saying "Stop filming and head for the basement!"

Followed by...

2. A severe thunderstorm knocking out the power for 3 days.

Full disclosure: this is actually a storm pic from guy-sports.com, but you get the idea...

While simultaneously...

3. Contracting a conjunctivitis-like virus that swells one eye completely shut.

Full disclosure: This isn't me. (Thank goodness!) It is Charles Laughton as Quasimodo. (1939)

All the while...

4. Your Significant Other is out of town for the week.

Quote: Decided to take a break from the keyboard and take a hike. That was 40 minutes ago now look where I am. I love CO.

So despite the fact that I really *am* excited about my book coming out and I definitely *will* be posting about my LUMINOUS SUMMER GRAND PRIZE GIVEAWAY and seriously *can't wait* to share about what people are saying about LUMINOUS, my upcoming signings, and what happens when my very first published book hit the shelves, I have to plead for a little time to recover my sanity and empty the freezers.

I'm around and I will be getting back to writing shortly, I promise!