So Many Things To Tell You!!

Well, it's the beginning of December, so time for my monthly progress report.

November saw the release of Betwixt, so that was a great lead-in to one of my favourite months of the year... December. Why do I love it so much?

 Because I love Christmas!! The family time, the presents, the decorations, the food, the history... I love it all.

And speaking of Christmas, that is my first piece of news. I am involved in the Christmas For Authors celebration that is being run by Young Adult and Teen Readers. If you'd like to take part in the Treasure Hunt Giveaway, you can check out my recent blog post here. This celebration will be running throughout the month and there are so many giveaways and awesome prizes. It is definitely worth joining in the event.

December has kicked off with a bang for me as A Tale of Many Reviews is currently hosting the Betwixt Blog Tour for me. Day One was filled with amazing reviews. I am so excited that people are enjoying it so much. Thank you so much to all the participants. I feel honoured to be featuring on your amazing blogs. There is a giveaway running and there will be plenty more posts to come - including interviews, a tweet chat between Nicole and Dale and a few other goodies. If you'd like to follow along, you can check out the tour schedule on my YAlicious site - Betwixt Blog Tour.

The first book of my fantasy trilogy is well underway. In fact I am hoping to finish it before I fly home for Christmas (in two weeks!! Squee!!). I am finding this project extremely challenging, but also so much fun. I have never written anything like this before and it's really stretching me. I currently have a "Name That Troll" competition running through my updates newsletter. The person who comes up with the best name for my monstrous yet completely adorable baby troll will win an Amazon gift card. If you'd like to participate, you can sign up for my Book Updates and Giveaways Newsletter. Entries close December 21st.

I had a photo shoot last week with some of the students from Suzhou Singapore International School. One of the teachers there helped me out and snapped some shots of these gorgeous kids. They are going to be the faces on the covers of my fantasy trilogy - The Elements Trilogy. The books are tentatively titled - Unknown, Unseen, Unleashed. I can't WAIT to see what my talented graphic designer comes up with. We've been discussing ideas and I think these covers are going to be pretty awesome-sauce.

On my YAlicious blog this month I have some pretty cool posts coming up - I have the amazing Patti Larsen visiting the site on Thursday, a surprise book blogger will be doing an interview for me the week after that. I also have some posts planned while I'm away for Christmas, including a giveaway, so keep your eye out for that.

In the meantime, I really hope you have a fantastic December filled with lots of warm, Christmas fuzzies. I know this season can sometimes be stressful, but it's also a season of giving and reflection and I hope you can all come away feeling better for it :-)

Christmas for Authors Treasure Hunt

It is very fun to be involved with such an awesome event. Jodie and Derinda are amazing women and I want to take a moment to thank them publicly for all they do for the writing community. We love you ladies. Keep up the amazing work!!

If you'd like to know more about this super cool event, you can check out the Christmas For Authors Facebook Page.

Okay - so for this game you need to find my hidden word in the text below, which you then add to the rafflecopter giveaway. This hunt is so worth taking the time to participate in. The prize is AMAZING!!

To find my word, you just need to extract the bolded letters from the text and make them into the word.

In honour of the Betwixt blog tour, which starts today, I have chosen an excerpt from the book.

"I stand in frozen shock as I listen to the door click closed behind them.

Breathing in through my nose, I approach the door with shaky steps. My arm is quivering as I reach for the door handle.

My fingers pass through the metal.

"No."

It feels weird. Like, beyond weird. Not hard like metal should be... or cold, it's just... nothing. I feel nothing.

A sharp pain shoots through my brain and I let out a cry. I clutch my head and drop to the floor, squeezing my eyes shut. The corridor begins to spin. I open my eyes as the walls rush towards me. My lungs fill with a scream of terror before everything goes black."

All you have to do to enter is type the word into the Rafflecopter below.

Please Note: Seeing as though the magnitude of this prize is HUGE, we are making it so only people dedicated enough to play along every day will have a chance to win. Only complete entries will be accepted. By complete, we mean that each day will need to be completed with the correct word from each link. Partial entries will not be accepted. I am sure authors would love a 'like' to their page for their effort while you are visiting. Good luck and thank you for playing!

a Rafflecopter giveaway