2012 Writing Life Highlights

I've gotten in this habit of reviewing my yearly writing life each New Year's Eve and now that all four of my sick kiddos are in bed and there are still two hours until the ball drops, now is the time. :-)

In JANUARY, MY FAKE BOYFRIEND IS BETTER THAN YOURS was named a 2012 YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers, which was way way cool! My Fake Boyfriend is Better Than Yours is still in Scholastic Book Fairs (love, love, love the fairs!) and will also be released from the publisher in paperback form in 2014.

In FEBRUARY, the Indonesian version of THE ESPRESSOLOGIST came out and I got so much love from my readers there. Check out the cute cover:

In MARCH, the Korean version of THE ESPRESSOLOGIST released.

I also was a feature speaker at the 2012 IRC Conference held in Springfield, IL. Wow, that was like the best author event I've ever done-- so so amazing! I blogged about it here.

In APRIL, I announced that Michael Eisner's production company Vuguru had optioned THE ESPRESSOLOGIST for film. So cool!

In MAY, I visited a book club of 4th and 5th graders to talk about Fake Boyfriend. I love writing for this age group!

In JUNE, I went to Chicago's Printer's Row.

In JULY, I was feeling the effects of all the highs and lows of the writer's life and blogged about it over at Author2Author.

In AUGUST and SEPTEMBER I was trying hard to get back into a good writing schedule with the kids back at school. And I announced my ebook coming out in December, THE PAPARAZZI PROJECT.

In OCTOBER the Czech version of THE ESPRESSOLOGIST came out.

I also attended the Illinois Library Association Conference in Peoria, IL.

In NOVEMBER, I attended my first ever SCBWI-IL writing conference. It was actually my first time as a conference goer and not on a panel or signing or speaking. It was super informative and fun and I'm looking forward to next year's.

And this month, DECEMBER, was especially busy in that Vuguru exercised their option and purchased THE ESPRESSOLOGIST! I can't tell you how excited I am to see the characters from my book come to life. THE PAPARAZZI PROJECT also released just two weeks ago for kindle ($3.99)! One early reviewer said, "With a unique plot and a rollercoaster ride of high school 'drama' throughout, Springer creates a world where one ends up both angry and in love with the protagonist, Livvie. As with her previous novels, she delivers a page-turning story so charming and sharp-witted that you don't even realize you learned a lesson!" 

It's been a fun, full year and I'm looking forward to more adventures in writing in 2013. Happy New Year and may you have a fun-filled productive year! And keep reading! :-)

GCC Spotlight on: DEADLY LITTLE LESSONS by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Laurie Faria Stolarz’s new book, Deadly Little Lessons is out!

About the Book:

Camelia Hammond's trying junior year of high school is finally over...but her troubles aren't. After she discovers a painful truth about her family, she escapes to a summer arts program in Rhode Island. Determined to put family - and boyfriend - drama behind her, she throws herself into her artwork.

At the arts school, she gets caught up in the case of Sasha Beckerman, a local girl who is missing. Even though all signs suggest that the teen ran away, Camelia senses otherwise. Eager to help the girl, she launches her own investigation. Meanwhile, Camelia realizes how much she misses Ben, despite being committed to Adam.

But time is running out for Sasha, and Camelia will have to trust her powers if she's to save her. Will the lessons Camelia has learned in the past give her the strength to do so?Show More Show Less

Wanna sneak peek?  Go here:  http://www.lauriestolarz.com/dllessons.pdf 

About the Author:

Laurie Faria Stolarz is the author of Deadly Little Secret, Deadly Little Lies, Deadly Little Games, Deadly Little Voices, Project 17, and Bleed, as well as the bestselling Blue is for Nightmares series.  Born and raised in Salem, Massachusetts, Stolarz attended Merrimack College and received an MFA in creative writing from Emerson College in Boston. For more information, please visit her Web site at www.lauriestolarz.com.

Follow Laurie:

FaceBook:  https://www.facebook.com/#!/laurie.stolarz

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/lauriestolarz

Sign up for her e-Newsletter for updates on contest, book, and appearance info: http://www.lauriestolarz.com/newsletter.html.

Laurie’s Guilty Pleasures:

Favorite snack: Popcorn with Earth Balance butter and lemon/pepper seasoning.
Touristy Trip: Paris.
Fashion addiction (at the moment): artfully torn jeans, tall boots, pretty scarves, and Michael Stars tees.

Dessert: Dark chocolate in almost any form - the darker the better.
Fast food: French fries at least once every few months (with lots of ketchup).
Beauty Binge: Aveda haircare products, which includes indulging in high-and/or-low-lights every eight weeks. Also, Caudalie skincare, Ineke perfume (Field Notes from Paris), Revitalash mascara, and Buxom Lips from Bare Escentuals.
Late-Night TV: Real Housewives of (wherever).
Chick Flick: Never Been Kissed, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Juno, Green Card, Once, The Devil Wears Prada, Bridget Jones Diary, Thelma & Louise, Mean Girls, Moonstruck, Clueless, Under the Tuscan Sun, and anything with John Cusack.
Nightlife: Pilates in front of the TV (a regular occurrence), answering e-mail (also regular), and dinner and/or a movie out with friends (happens far too rarely).
Cheap Thrill: Window-shopping, tabloid magazines, buying a new lip gloss, a tall cup of coffee from Starbucks.
Ultimate Splurge: G2O Day Spa for a massage.

And check out her contest:

Karma Chameleon Contest

In celebration of the release of DEADLY LITTLE LESSONS, I'm so excited to announce the launch of a brand new contest.  I'm calling it Karma Chameleon - yes, after the Boy George song from the '80's (in case any of you have heard of it; if not, you can YouTube it for fun).  I'm naming it that, not because of Boy George or his song, but because the contest is all about karma - good karma that is, and the spreading of it, and because, five books later, I thought it'd be the perfect time to celebrate Camelia from the Touch series (recall that Camelia's real name is Chameleon).

The contest is all about giving and getting - hence the karma part.  As many of you know, the law of karma, in its simplest definition, is that whatever you put out to the world - energy or otherwise, good or bad - comes back to you.  And so, in the spirit of good karma, let's spread some goodness.   I want to encourage readers to do a good deed, i.e. organize a fundraiser or food drive, volunteer to tutor or teach something, visit the elderly or a children's hospital.  All good-karma submissions will be entered into a drawing to win autographed copies of some of my Touch series books. I'll be sharing the most inspiring stories on my website and Facebook, and I'll Tweet about them as well (with your permission, of course).  For more information, see the official guidelines and rules on my web site: http://www.lauriestolarz.com/news.html

THE PAPARAZZI PROJECT is out!!

Today's the day! The Paparazzi Project is available on Amazon in kindle format for $3.99! Click here to go right to the page.

And if you don't have a kindle, don't worry. You can download the free kindle app from the app store on your phone or iPad. And if you don't have either of those you can still download the app for free on your PC. Instructions here.

The Paparazzi Project was one of my very favorite books to write and I hope you enjoy it! Check out my release week contest below to win a great prize pack: A $25 Amazon gift card plus a copy of all my books plus bookmarks and stickers. Enter below and thanks for checking out The Paparazzi Project!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Espressologist News & Giveaway!

You guys remember when I announced that Vuguru had purchased the film option for The Espressologist?  This morning I got the news that they were exercising their option! Wheeee!

What does that mean? Well, books can be optioned by a production company and they hold the rights for a period of time (usually 1-3 years). During this time they figure out if they can make the project work. Like, secure funding, attach actors, producers etc. This guy explains the process pretty well. Some books get optioned again and again and nothing ever comes of it. Companies can't produce every book they option. But if they're ready to move forward with a book they'll take the next step and buy the rights.

And that just happened for Espressologist!

I'm so, so happy! This thing is really going to happen! I can't wait to see the characters from my first book come to life. Totally over the moon today!

So, I feel like doing a giveaway. :-) I'll be doing another one next week when Paparazzi Project comes out (did you mark it on Goodreads yet?) so please don't think I'm a nag for the next two weeks telling you to enter and win stuff. :-) Enter below to win a coffee date with The Espressologist (a signed copy of The Espressologist plus $5 Starcbucks giftcard). And hey, for this contest, there will be FIVE WINNERS!


a Rafflecopter giveaway