It's the "I've Got Books" Giveaway!

Happy day after Thanksgiving, people. Here in America, some call this day Black Friday, since all the stores have sales that are supposed to finally put them in the black.

But at my house, I'm more inclined to call it Purple (and a Little Pink) Friday, because the lovely UPS man brought these to me this afternoon.

No, the UPS man did not bring me the cat--she was already here. But as you can tell, she is seriously excited about teh Box O Books. (She just hides it well.) Okay, I'M seriously excited about finally getting my author copies of WICKEDLY WONDERFUL , book two in the Baba Yaga series. (You all read book one, Wickedly Dangerous, right?) I can't believe that Wickedly Wonderful is out on December 2nd--that's FOUR DAYS from now! *squeeeee*

If you've been hanging around this blog for more than a month or two, you know what happens when I get a box of books and I get all excited...

GIVEAWAY!!!!!!

I'm going to keep this simple--just leave a comment. I don't care what you say: you loved the first book, you can't wait for the second one to come out, you like cats, snow is cold. Just a comment, any comment. Monday morning, I'll pick THREE random winners and send them copies of Wickedly Wonderful.

Well....what are you waiting for? Comment! 

(And, of course, I hope you'll order the book. But no pressure.)  

Jewelry, Jewelry, Jewelry

When a potter friend and I used to sit together with our wares at the local farmer's market, she invariably used to sell more than I did, so to make it up to me, she would sing a little jewelry sales chant under her breath: jewelry, jewelry, jewelry. (Set to whatever music suits your fancy.)

Later, we went on to found The Artisans' Guild shop together, which is where most of my jewelry ends up these days. I used to make it all the time (and do lots of craft shows, and had pieces in shops around the area), but most of my time and energy is now taken up by writing. Which basically means that about a month before Black Friday, I sat up and said, "OH NO, I need to make jewelry!"

Luckily, that happened to coincide with a rare lull in the writing push, so I've been madly stringing beads almost every day, singing the jewelry chant under my breath. Folks have asked me to post some pictures here, and not just on Facebook, so here's another bunch of finished pieces. [Any day now, in theory, I'm going to get a few of these up on Etsy, but in case I don't, just yell if there is something that catches your eye.]

Amethyst and hematite

malachite

aventurine and Venetian glass

aventurine stars

picture jasper stars

Long, large turquoise and black stone necklace

One of my favorites--black onyx and silver collar

black onyx and silver with a very cool face

black onyx and garnet with a dragon!

the dragon reminds me of Chudo-Yudo :-)

black onyx and snowflake obsidian, with a very cool agate slice that has a crystal in the middle

So tell me--which is your favorite?

Feline Friday--Introducing Cat-Crazy Book Lovers!

No, that's not actually Magic the Cat. It's her look-alike, Zoie, who belongs to author Karen Rose Smith

(And here is Karen's "Invitation to Cat-Crazy Book Lovers" stolen from her blog, since I was going to write exactly the same thing anyway. Thanks, Karen!)

Most of my friends love cats! I guess cat people just gravitate toward each other. In the writing world, the same is true. With a common interest in cats and their welfare, we just seem to find each other. Four of us have banded together to create something special--

a CAT-CRAZY BOOK LOVER page on Facebook!  (Click on the link!)

Along with Karen Rose Smith, Susan Meier and Melissa McClone, I will be posting photos and chatting with readers on this Facebook page. (I post lots of cat photos on my personal profile and author page now, but this just means I have an excuse to shoot more pictures.)

We're planning themed days when readers can post photos of their cats too. Visit us on Monday for MONDAY MAYHEM. Do your cats get into trouble? Ours do. We can compare notes.

Wednesday is for WEDNESDAY WISDOM. We can share strategies for caring for our cats, solutions to problems, a place to give and get feedback,

Friday is always FELINE FRIDAY. Every cat is beautiful, and on Friday you can let yours be a star by posting his or her photo.

We'll also have a giveaway every week--books and cat-related prizes. (We're trying Monday's for this, so be sure to check in. I'm up next Monday, and I have some fun cat prized to give away!)

So if you love cats, like to chat with others who do too, can't get enough of cat photos and generally just want a friendly place to discuss your fur babies, the CAT-CRAZY BOOK LOVERS page is the place for you.  Just LIKE the page and join the fun! (Don't forget to check GET NOTIFICATIONS on Facebook so you don't miss a thing.) And don't forget to follow these other great authors. They're cat-crazy too!

CAT-CRAZY BOOK LOVERS

Jewelry SALE Part One

First things first:
Big congrats to the winners of the recent giveaway. If you won, you should have gotten an email from me, so check your inbox. (The winners are also listed at the bottom of the giveaway gizmo on the previous blog post.) I'm going to TRY to get your goodies out this week, so be sure to email me with your address if you won. ( Porsha W, I still need to hear from you.)

I should be getting my author copies of Wickedly Wonderful within a week or so, and I'm fairly certain that another giveaway will ensue, so stay tuned. Can you believe that the book is out in less than two weeks? Eeeeeeiiiiiiii! Have you ordered your copy yet? (Please say yes. Please say yes. Please say yes.)

And now for something completely different, as Monty Python would say. I've taken a short break from writing to madly get jewelry made to sell at The Artisans' Guild during the holiday season. I've been posting some pictures of my shiny new things over at Facebook, and lots of people have asked me where they can buy them, if they don't live close enough to come into the shop in person. Technically, I do have an Etsy shop...but at the moment, I haven't had time to get over there and list anything, and it is a crapshoot as to whether or not I'm going to manage it, what with the promo for Wickedly Wonderful (TWO WEEKS! Did I mention TWO WEEKS!!?)

So I thought, why not put a few pictures up here? And then I thought (what with the crazy and all), why not give my blog followers a special opportunity to get my jewelry ON SALE as a thanks for being so wonderful and supportive?

So here's the deal. For the next week or so, I'm going to post some pictures and descriptions of some of the jewelry I've made. And here only, I will let people have 15% OFF until the Saturday after Thanksgiving. If you want a piece, just say so in the comments--first person to call "DIBS" on a piece will get it. If you have questions, ask those in the comments too. [Once you've yelled dibs, email me at magicmysticminerva at yahoo and we will work on the specifics. Paypal is usually the easiest way, but I'm flexible.] Shipping will be $5 for USA folks, and whatever the actual cost is for anyone out of the country.

Most of the pictures are necklaces, but I can make matching earrings if you want (in some cases there are already earrings in the pictures, but they don't come with the necklaces unless you pay for them too). Any questions? 

Here's the first batch:

This is all the Snowflake obsidian together, so you can see the bracelet and earrings too. Bracelet is $32 and earrings are $30--so $27.20 and $25.50 on sale. And yes, Snowflake obsidian comes from volcanoes!

Snowflake obsidian necklace #1 $72 -- on sale for $61

Snowflake Obsidian necklace #2 18" long, regularly $59, now $50

My favorite! Snowflake Obsidian cat-- 19" plus 1" cat. $72 on sale for $61

close-up of the cat

Ryolite, also known as Rainforest Jasper. Necklace #1 has lovely faceted beads, as does the  matching bracelet. 18" long and normally $69, on sale for $58.65 -- bracelet is $32/$27.20

Ryolite #2, a nice long 24" necklace for $85/$72.25

Another long ryolite #3 also $85/$72.25 (the earrings are $32/$27.20)

 
 That's it for today's goodies. Up next, Smoky Quartz, Labradorite, and a few misc. cool stones...

CONTEST! Wickedly Wonderful Prerelease Party & Giveaway

HOLY UPCOMING RELEASE DATE, BATMAN!

Did you realize that Wickedly Wonderful is coming out in less that three weeks? (Did you realize that December 2nd is less than three weeks away? Yikes!)

Obviously, that calls for a celebration. And, you know, a mad flurry of begging people to spread the word, preorder the book, and generally make me look good to my publisher Berkley, so they'll want to give me a contract for Book 3 in the series. But mostly, it calls for a HUGE giveaway!

So here it is.

So many great prizes!

As usual, it is *just* possible that I may have gotten a little carried away. Snort. There is a great big tote bag with the Wickedly Wonderful cover on one side and the Wickedly Dangerous cover on the other. A Wickedly Wonderful mug, notebook, and mousepad, and a swag pack with the winner's choice of temporary tattoo packs (dragons or mermaids), plus bookmarks, postcards, and magnets. There is also a signed copy of Wickedly Dangerous, since I don't have my author copies of Wickedly Wonderful yet. If the person who wins the book already has the first one, he or she has the choice to wait for the 2nd one to show up on my doorstep.

Six great prizes, lots of chances to win. It's pretty simple (thank you, Rafflecopter!). You get one point for doing the basics--tweeting about the contest, liking me on Facebook, or following me on Twitter. A couple more points if you follow the blog here on the left or sign up to have the blog delivered to your inbox. Leaving a comment is worth three points and so is signing up to get my newsletter. You can post a NEW review for another 5, but it has to be one you haven't posted previously (although you can copy and paste an earlier review into another place, like Amazon, B&N, Goodreads, your own blog, Facebook, etc. You can even Tweet a short review of the book). Of course, you don't have to buy anything, but if you do buy a copy of Wickedly Dangerous or preorder a copy of Wickedly Wonderful, that's a big ten points. BUT, it has to be a new purchase, not one you made earlier. Hey, you can always get one for a friend for the holidays, right? Or buy one of my other books, that counts too. Even the ebook version of Circle, Coven & Grove which is still only $2.99. [But hey, if you convince a friend to buy a copy, that can count too...]

Here are some handy links, in case you need them:
WICKEDLY WONDERFUL
AMAZON
BARNES AND NOBLE
BOOKS A MILLION
INDIEBOUND

WICKEDLY DANGEROUS
AMAZON
BARNES AND NOBLE
BERKLEY (where you can get links to all the other places)

You can also use the Amazon and B&N links to leave reviews, or use this link to GOODREADS (where, frankly, I could use some nicer reviews to offset a few not very nice ones).

Mostly, you should just have fun! So tell me, have you read Wickedly Dangerous? Are you excited about Wickedly Wonderful coming out in THREE WEEKS?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I'm a Cover Model! (For Witches & Pagans Magazine)

Whoo hoo! I can finally share some great news I've been sitting on for a while. (It's a little squished, but still fun.) I'm going to be a cover model!

No, not on the cover of one of my books (although there are folks who think that the picture of Barbara Yager, my first Baba Yaga, looks a bit like me on the cover of Wickedly Dangerous -- yes, my abs look *just* like that...snort). And not on the cover of Time Magazine as Witch of the Year, although really, I'm not sure why not.

This is what I'm talking about:

Witches & Pagans Magazine's Next Cover Girl. Look familiar?

Yes, that's me (and Magic the Cat, of course) on the cover of the upcoming issue of Witches & Pagans Magazine. Color me seriously excited. Possibly bordering on the ecstatic :-)

As some of you know, I write a regular column (Everyday Witchcraft) for the magazine, and I have been a dedicated reader for many years. So it is pretty thrilling to be featured on the cover and in the wonderful interview inside written by my Pagan author pal Ceallaigh MacCath (you may remember that I wrote the introduction to her fabulous collection of Pagan tales and poems, The Ruin of Beltany Ring and that we were both included in The Pagan Anthology of Short Fiction).

I'm very grateful to publisher/editor Anne Niven Newkirk for putting me on the cover, and for my friend Bobbie Hodges for taking thousands of pictures in order to get a couple of ones that were good enough for us to use without making me want to hide under the bed. (She also gave me the broom I'm holding in the picture.)

I hope that some of you will reward Anne's faith in me by making this the Most Popular Issue Evah. If you don't already have a subscription (what?!), you can get one, or preorder this particular issue by clicking on this link:
The Deborah Blake Cover Girl Issue!
Of course, the preorder price of $6.45 is a deal, so you know you want to get a copy. (Mom, I'm looking at you.)The magazine will be out in December.

And just for fun, here are a few of the shots we didn't use either for the cover or inside. Which one do you like best?

So tell me, are you going to be getting a copy of the magazine? (You don't have to, of course. I'll probably forgive you. Now Magic, on the other hand... Nah, just give her treats--she'll be fine.)