WINNER ANNOUNCED!

Before I get down to announcing the Fool For Books Give Away Hop contest winner (who will be receiving copies of Joy Preble's YA novels Dreaming Anastasia and Haunted), I wanted to say two things.

First:  To those of you who are new here, WELCOME!  I know a good number of you only joined so you'd have a chance of winning some fabulous prizes, but I hope you'll keep coming back.  I've got a deep & abiding love of YA novels -- particularly those in the paranormal romance genre -- and I love sharing great books with you.

Second:  I found this really fascinating.  Over 100 people entered to win these books.  The entrants represent 31 of the 50 states and cover all points of the continental U.S.  From Maine to Florida, over to Texas and then California, and up to Washington, with a good representation of the "heartland" in between.  These contests show the diversity of folks we can reach through our blogs and also the number of cyber-friends we can make.  Truly, we live in a remarkable age.  Ten years ago, we'd be limited to finding like-minded individuals locally, perhaps in a book club.  Today, our club is the world. Isn't that amazing??

Okay, enough blabbering, now on to the WINNER!  Congratulations to Megan in Ohio.  I've sent her an e-mail and she can expect her books to go out in Monday's mail.

Winners!!

First, I'd like to thank everyone who entered the Dreaming of Books Giveaway for a copy of Huntress.  Over 100 people entered and the winner is Katpash! (She's been notified by e-mail.)  If you joined the blog while entering, thank you so much!  I promise there will be more giveaways in the future.

And now, I'd like to thank Ezmerelda for making me a winner too.  She nominated The Daily Harrell for The Stylish Blogger Award.  I'm so flattered!  Thank you.

And now, here are the rules that go along with accepting the award:
The rules are that you 1) Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award 2) Share 7 things about yourself  3) Award 15 or so, recently discovered great bloggers 4) Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award!


#1 - Done.  You can visit Ezmerelda's blog by following her link above.


#2 - 7 things about me:
     *  I was always the youngest in my classes, so I still think of myself as being pretty young (although I'm not anymore)
     *  I love scrapbooking and being creative
     *  I always wished I could dance and sing - unfortunately, I am horrible at both
     *  I'm the only one in my family with high blood pressure - I'm also the only one with two kids (who are only 13 months apart in age). Coincidence?
     *  I don't like exercise. Or dieting. Laying around with a book and some chocolate is more my speed.
     *  I listen to either The Pulse (channel 12) or The Coffeehouse (channel 30) on Sirius, literally all day long. I can't stand silence when I'm working.
     *  I'm lucky to have two best friends -- my husband and my mom.  They're both awesome!


#3&4 - Pass the award on to 15 or so recently discovered great bloggers.  Well, since I found some new folks as part of the giveaway hop, I definitely have some new blogs to tell you about (but, in full disclosure, I'm not going for a full 15).  Consider checking these out:


     *  Heather Howland's Darkness Bleeds Hope - she's an acquiring editor at a small press and an agented author who offers insights and loads of good stuff on her blog
     *  Matthew Rush's Quintessentially Questionable Query Experiment - informative & inspiring posts for aspiring authors (like himself)
     *  Brenna Braaten's Writing and Reading - because she offers good advice on both for lovers of YA
     *  Shannon Whitney Messenger's Ramblings of a Wannabe Scribe - another aspiring author offering insights, reviews and contests
     *  K.M. Weiland's Word Play - an author who enjoys mentoring others and helping everyone who's on the road to publication
     *  C. A. Marshall's Self-Titled Blog - she's a YA author, an editor, and an agent intern. She talks about it all on her blog.
     *  Jennifer Daiker's Unedited - another aspiring author and prolific blogger with a super-cool header

I Do Declare (Winner & an Award)

The lovely and talented Lisa D. Gibson at YA Literature Lover has bestowed upon me the "One Lovely Blog Award." And I'm tickled pink.  (I apologize. Something about this award makes me want to speak in dated lingo.)

But truly, I'm SO honored that a fellow blogger out there likes The (not quite) Daily Harrell.  *She likes me. She really, really likes me.*  Now if only I could get an agent to feel the same way.

Along with the right to deliver this silly acceptance speech come some responsibilities.  Three responsibilities, in fact.  They are thus:

1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.

2. Pay it forward to fifteen other blogs you have newly discovered.

3. Contact those blog owners and let them know they've been chosen. 

#1 is easy.  You got that in the first paragraph.  Sheesh, I'm good.

#2 is harder because gosh, I have to pick just fifteen blogs and there are some really fantastic ones that I've only recently started following.  So here goes (I'm trying not to duplicate my Versatile Blogger nominees - so if you're not on here, you know why):

1. A Bibliophile's Paradise: she reviews books and lists give-aways

2. Courtney Reads: details & frequent reviews

3. A Little of This & That: a bit of everything literary by an aspiring writer

4. Carol's Prints: YA author and Bookanista

5. Creepy Query Girl: a fun blog & coolest name ever

6. Crossroads: books, stories, music and all things creative

7. DJ's Life in Fiction: aspiring YA writer blogs book reviews

8.  EbyssWriter: blog for beginning writers (and she interviewed me, which is like, WAY COOL)

9. Once Upon a Time in Writer Land: aspiring YA writer on her way to the top

10.  Project 52: 52 books in 52 weeks... you get the idea

11. Supernatural Snark: reviews, interviews, awesome name

12.  The Book Butterfly: detailed reviews & some give-aways too

13.  The Michelle Show: fellow lawyer & YA author. what's not to love?

14. The Writing of Jennifer Albin: new blog with some nice posts on craft

15. Lost in Believing: cool author and blogger (and she's only 14 - wow!)

#3 is a total pain in the rear and all of you nominees can hate me now because you're about to have to do it too. :p  So there!

Oh, but wait... you wanted to know who won my super-fantastic SOUL SCREAMERS give-away, didn't you?  Ha, ha, made you wait. (I'm feeling punchy tonight... it's lack of sleep.)

And the winner is ... *drums rolling on, and on, and on, forever... just get on with it, already!*

Dee (Good Choice Reading)

And while you're at it, check out her blog too!