Get Your (cheap) Books here!

I don't know about you, but I'm tired of winter. It might have something to do with the fact that my down-filled coat decided to explode this morning, leaving me looking feathered (sans tar). Goose down does little to enhance an all-black outfit, FYI.

So, to chase away those winter blahs, I've got a little ray of good news. Three Cara Lockwood titles have just been re-released in cheaper, mass market paperback editions. I Do (But I Don't), Every Demon Has His Day and Pink Slip Party make their re-debuts (I just made up that word) this week in a book store near you. Pink Slip Has this lovely new cover (see right), and the others have their same old covers, but an even better price: $5.99. You can't beat that, folks.

So, if you've been always meaning to read "those other" Cara Lockwood books, well now is your chance to do so on the cheap. I mean $5.99? That's like half a movie ticket. And like 1/100th of a new down coat, which I will no doubt have to buy, seeing as how I live in Chicago, and it can snow here pretty much til June.

Ahem. But, my point was, go buy some books! And so I don't look completely like the shameless self-promoter, I'm going to do something generous now. I'm going to extend the contest deadline for those five lucky winners who get to pick ANY single book from my backlist (that's eight glorious choices people!). Said winners get to pick their books, I sign them and send them to you. Boom! Free signed book. Of course, I can't promise it'll even fetch $5.99 on Ebay, but you at least have a nice, personalized signed book and when was the last time Danielle Steele did that for you? Exactly.

So, if you haven't already, email me at contest@caralockwood.com, and I'll enter you in the drawing on March 1, 2010.

Happy Post Holidays!

Ah, the sound of James Brown blaring at Starbucks. It must be post-holiday time! The Christmas tunes are off, and now we're back to some odd ecclectic mix of James Brown, the Beatles and some Irish Rock Indie band I've never heard of. It's good to be back!

If you're not so happy that the Christmas music is gone or if you're still fuming about that package of coal-colored Fruit of the Loom that Santa brought you, then fear not. I've got a little post-holiday contest to lift your spirits.

Several of my books are being re-released this month in mass market paperback (I Do (But I Don't), Pink Slip Party and Every Demon Has His Day). In honor of the re-release, I'll be giving away five titles from my back list - winner's choice! You can have one of the three new re-releases, or you could pick one of the Bard Books, or you could just spin the book wheel and let me decide. In any case, you'll get an autographed copy of a Cara Lockwood masterpiece. Okay, well, if not quite a masterpiece, then a piece. Of something.

Ahem.

But, hey, it's a free book. Signed. By moi. You could get worse things. Like a pair of underwear.

So, just shot me an email at contest@caralockwood.com to enter the January Book Giveaway and I'll pick five winners on February 1.

And remember, if you don't win, you can always snag a copy of one of the re-releases. They're only $5.99! That's what I call a sweet deal.

(Actually, I secretly call it my "retire in Hawaii" deal. But with the amount of money in that account, I can't actually retire at the moment. Given the hits my 401K have taken this year, I might have to call it my "Retire to Work as Wal-Mart Greeter fund" but I digress.

Email me! Enter the contest. Win a signed book!

Let it Snow - Somewhere Else

I hate snow. Oh, sure, call me a killjoy. Call me unfestive. But today, after slogging through horizontal snow with two heavy bags of trash only to find my trash cans frozen shut, I just wasn't feeling the holiday spirit.

I'm a winter sissy, I admit it. I've spent nine winters in Chicago so far, and I'm still not used to the cold. I grew up in Texas, ya'll. My idea of winter is when you can drink a frozen margarita on the porch without it melting in five minutes.

But then I moved to the midwest, and that all changed.

I think I did this to myself. I spent every Christmas growing up in the very warm Dallas suburbs wishing for snow. Growing up, there were only two Christmases we actually did get snow, and one of those was technically an ice storm. The other one, we got half an inch of snow, and I had to gently gather it up from all corners of my yard to make a snowman the size of a lawn gnome. As far as winter wonderlands went, it was pretty lame.

The funny thing about snow in Texas is that if there was even the sighting of a single snowflake, the entire state would shut down for a week. No need to venture out if there was a couple of snowflakes on the ground.

Actually, this was pretty smart. Nobody in Texas knows how to drive on snowy roads, so it's really better for everybody concerned that they stay home. There was an ice storm once during the five years I lived in Austin. I lived on top of a hill, and I walked out of my apartment, only to see ten cars in a row skid down the icy hill and crash into the pile up of cars at the bottom intersection. Seriously - they went off, one after another, like lemmings off a cliff. You could just hear their inner thoughts "Oh, it only looks slippery, but the brakes on MY truck will work better. I'm sure it ain't that bad," then oops! and BAM!

I'd personally have liked to hear driver nine in that particular car pile-up try to explain to his insurance adjuster just why he decided he'd take on that ice hill when eight cars before him had clearly failed.

Sad. Just sad.

Almost as sad as the outdoor mall near my house. Really? Whose brainchild was this? Let's build an OUTDOOR mall in Chicago - where tomorrow it is supposed to be five degrees. That'll get 'em out and shopping!

After nine years in Chicago, I have had my share of snow, sleet and ice. My inner-ten-year-old ought to love this, but my enthusiasm is dampened by the fact that my husband rarely ever shovels. He grew up in New Hampshire, and therefore has had plenty of experience both shoveling snow and thinking up good excuses not to ("I'm late for the train!" "I pulled a muscle!" "I just took a shower!" "Right now?! But, I was just about to eat this peanut butter sandwich!").

My girls, on the other hand, love the snow. They are very excited about the prospect of playing in it (not so excited about the idea of putting on the snowsuits). Still, I am pretty sure the guy who wrote that song "Let it Snow" didn't live in Chicago with two small children. Otherwise, he'd be singing "Please let it be unseasonably warm so we can go to the park and get out of this !@#$% house/prison."

It normally takes a half hour just to get both girls to put on their socks and shoes. Add in hats, mittens, and snow suits, and I might as well start getting them ready for lunch out at six in the morning.

Speaking of - we just might need to go to the store tomorrow. Maybe I ought to try to get them in their snowsuits now...

It ain't easy being green...

Okay, so I was flipping through one of those random catalogs I get sent (how did I ever get on the Old Lady Pants/Clogs Catalog list? Really - am I THAT old? The day I wear sansabelt polyester pants is the day I officially have let myself go beyond recovery) and I saw these cool solar-powered Christmas lights you can hang around your house. I thought - hey, I need Christmas lights, so I'll buy these as a two-fer - a present for me and a present for Mother Earth. You're welcome, planet.

I waited anxiously for them to arrive, thinking all the while that Al Gore would be proud of me. (By the way, anyone see his cameo on 30 Rock? One word: Priceless).

Okay, so then the lights arrive. I should've known when five strings of them came in a package the size of a shoebox that something wasn't right. Last time I checked, I didn't live in a dollhouse. Okay, so the lights were small. REALLY small. All right, so instead of hanging them all around the front of my house, I'd just hang them on the fence. We have to make sacrifices for the planet, right? I had to think of future generations. Okay, I could do this.

So, after Thanksgiving, I opened the boxes, set up the solar panels so that they faced the best sunlight of the day, and then hung the lights around the small fence in front of my house. So, first off, the strings were like five feet long, so I didn't actually get to cover the entire fence. All right, so again - think green! Planet comes first.

Two nights ago, I turn these puppies on, ready to feel the nice glow of Christmas and the smugness of doing something great for the planet, and the lights work! They come on! Sure, they're not as bright as fossil-fueled lights, but they are lights. In the pitch-black of the middle of the night, if you aren't standing too close to the street lights, they kind of even look festive. So I'm feeling good. I even ignore my husband who says, "You know what's even greener than solar mass-produced lights from China?" Long, snarky pause. "No lights."

Well, whatever. I've done it. I've engineered a green Christmas. You can send me a thank-you card on recycled paper, anytime now, Al!

And then, fifteen minutes later, the first string of lights goes out. Like, completely out. Twenty minutes later, the second string falls, and within forty-five minutes, the entire lot of them are dark. Folks, it is just 7:45 at night. These suckers lasted exactly 45 minutes!

Then, yesterday, it rained, and last night - no lights at all. This is why our cars still run on gas. This is why my water heater is 100 percent natural-gas-fueled. If I had to wait for sunny days to shower, things would get pretty rank around here.

So, my house is dark, and very-unChristmas like. It is sad. It is Charlie-Brown-Christmas-sad (of course, I do believe Charlie Brown actually put working lights on that pathetic, litle scrap of a tree he got. So, maybe that's an insult to Charlie Brown). But, on the plus side, I think I reduced my carbon footprint by a milimeter. Or maybe two. You're welcome, planet. You're welcome.

I'm still waiting on my thank-you card, Mr. Vice President.

New Moon, New Blog

Ah, well, so sorry for the lack of blogs (blogging? Blog entries? Blogosphericals? I don't know the proper vocabulary anymore). I've been busy writing (kind of) and, I have to admit, I've been cheating on this blog with Twitter. It's a heck of a lot easier to write 163 characters than all of these - what do you call them? - Oh, yes, sentences and paragraphs. I mean, sheesh. What do you think I am? A writer or something? Please. Besides, I think I've mentioned before, that I'm a big of a slacker.

This weekend, however, I am officially coming out of hibernation. Tomorrow, I'm off to see New Moon with a girlfriend of mine (my inner teen girl is jumping for joy and my husband is breathing a sigh of relief since he won't have to pretend he doesn't mind going). I've already been listening to the new soundtrack. Killers? Death Cab For Cutie? It's like it was MADE for me.

And every other teen girl in America. One of this days, I will have to come to terms with my real age, but until then, I'm happily oblivious to the fact that I am well out of the target demographic.

This is why I happily write Young Adult novels. I have no problem pretending I'm a teenager. Speaking of, there is NO decision on Bard Academy #4. My editor is still deciding its fate. I'd tell you to keep your fingers crossed, but who knows when the decision will be made. So, just mentally keep your fingers crossed. Or, if that's too hard (not sure how you do that exactly) just tell your friends to buy some Bard books and then everything ought to work out. Hopefully.

I'll be back with more Adventures in the Life of Cara Lockwood (the short version: I had so much fun with fun-sized Snickers bars over Halloween that I'm too fat for my skinny jeans; I'm obsessed with Glee (TV), Twilight (Movie) and The Hunger Games/Catching Fire (Books); and I'm playing tennis again - if I take Andre Agassi's lead, does that mean I have to do Crystal Meth to be any good?).

I'll be back with more later...

Bring Back Bard Week!

So many of you have been asking me - is there going to be a fourth book in the Bard Academy series? For the past year, I've said I don't know. And, as it turns out, I STILL don't know, but I am closer to knowing than I've ever been before. Did I blow your mind? Oh, yeah. I'm good at that.

Anyway, for those of you keeping score, we've had Wuthering High, The Scarlet Letterman and Moby Clique. The verdict on a Book Four rests entirely on the shoulders of my very talented and irreplaceable editor (I'm not above brownnosing here, people) who is at the moment wrestling with the decision about whether or not to continue the Bard books. Bard, you see, has a very loyal, but sadly very small, following, and so sales haven't been all that they've hoped for. And Wuthering High has been option for a movie (twice) and both times said option has fallen through. That is a dual saga saved for another time. So, that's where we are.

If you would like to register your desire for a fourth book and would like to join like-minded folk, step over to Books Meet Blogs as they celebrate "Bring Back Bard" week. Leave a comment and let your voice be heard!

Cover girl!

Okay, so I'm not a cover girl. And, I don't even have any cover girl make-up to give away. But, I DO have a sneak peek at the new cover for Can't Teach An Old Demon New Tricks, which is out next March.

Check it out. Isn't that... er... baby? demon? adorable...

Yes, there is a toddler half-demon in Can't Teach an Old Demon New Tricks. And, no, I swear, it is not at all based on either one of my angelic little girls who never, ever throw tantrums at Target or say "no" or try to run into oncoming traffic.

My children are perfect. Just ask their grandmother.

This little tyke, however, has a little devil's streak, and it's up to his super mom, Rachel (you'll remember her as Constance's best friend in Every Demon Has His Day) to save his soul (and her house) from his fire-breathing ways. Luckily, she has the help of a brooding fallen angel (Sam) to help her, which in many ways is an upgrade from Frank the Talking French Bulldog. For those of you who've read Every Demon, you know what I'm talking about. For those of you who haven't - what are you waiting for? Go buy it so my darling little girls (who always eat all their vegetables and then ask for a second helping of broccoli) can go to college one day.

Speaking of my darling girls... from that shriek, I think that naptime appears to be over. Until next time...