Countdown for Hallowed

Yesterday is my author birthday, when I officially became a published author. It's been one crazy/surreal year!

And now Hallowed go-time is less than two weeks away. I am so excited to be going back to Idaho for the launch, and I've got 2 signings going on there.

The first will be on Saturday, January 21 at 1pm at the Idaho Falls Barnes and Noble. I had my Unearthly launch at this Barnes and Noble last year and it was such great fun. I grew up in Idaho Falls, and so many of my old friends/neighbors/classmates/teachers came to the signing (I expect to see you all there this time too, guys, love you!), along with my very first teen readers that I got to meet in person. It was a magical day, and I'm so excited to get to go home again for the launch of Hallowed. Thanks so much to Kaaren at Barnes and Noble and my awesome publicist, Marisa, for making it all happen.

The second signing will be on the following Saturday, January 28 at 1pm at the Hyde Park bookstore in Boise, Idaho. I lived in Boise for 3 years while I was getting my MFA from Boise State, and in the general Boise area for 7 years when you count my 4 years in Caldwell when I attended College of Idaho, so it's a place close to my heart. (Plus my best friend lives there. Linds! I need bestie time.) I love Boise. Seriously, if I were suddenly to make a million dollars, I would probably pack up my family and move there. It is a great town.

I am also doing a mess of school visits, so you might see me at your school if you live in either of these areas.

In the meantime, I have to hunker down and finish Book 3, and, quite frankly, it's been kicking my butt. So many threads to tie up. I am going a little crazy here, but Clara is still making me laugh, which is the important thing. I am also doing two separate blog tours, which is keeping me plenty busy. See my shiny new UK blog tour graphic over there on the sidebar? Which means 2 things: I am going to be busy writing for other people's blogs for a while, so I probably won't be writing much on my own, but I have some really great blog posts planned for my tour (on the UK one, I'm doing separate posts about my thoughts on Christian and my thoughts on Tucker, sharing my Hallowed playlist, giving you a run-down on my dream film cast for Unearthly, and so on, and on the US one I am planning a couple of vlogs shot in Jackson and the Tetons. . . ) so please check it out.

It also means that I am mostly saying no to any interview requests I'm getting outside of these tours. I am getting 1-3 requests for interviews a day right now, which pains me, because ultimately I have to say no. I would love to do interviews, but I am out of time, folks. Book 3 has to get written if you want to read it next year.

If you super want me to do an interview, please ask to schedule it for after March 1, and make it 5 questions or less, and follow up with me about it. Things will calm down a bit in March.

Here is the awesome UK trailer for Hallowed. Post this trailer on your website, or share on twitter and facebook, and I will enter you in my final Hallowed ARC contest. Just comment below on what you did, 1 entry for each thing. I will give away 2 signed copies, winner to be announced January 12, so I can have it in the mail by the 13th before I head off to Idaho. (and if I miraculously get my advanced REAL copies of Hallowed before then, I will send those instead. Because they are SHINY.)


I also saw the US trailer for Hallowed today, and it was awesome!!! Watch for it to go live any day now. I will give you double points for sharing this trailer.

And now back to scribbling away on Book 3. Peace out.

The launch (5 days away!) and my new master plan

So, according to my fabulous new countdown widget, I can see that right at this moment I have 5 days, 13 hours, and 7 minutes until Unearthly hits the shelves. I am already starting to get that breathless feeling. This is actually going to happen. Wow.

Monday I am flying to Idaho Falls to have a launch party at my hometown Barnes and Noble, which is actually mentioned on page 218 of Unearthly. The party/signing/hugfest will be Thursday, January 6, at 7pm. I am so excited to get to see everybody, and to share in this amazing, life-changing time with them, and even more than that, I am super excited to see teens and actual readers from my community, so please, if you live nearby, drop by and see me and get a book signed!

I will be having other signings and doing other events over the next couple of months, so please see my website News page for the schedule. Yes, I have a brand spanking new website (you may have noticed I also have a brand spanking new matching blog design), and I love it!

I am also concocting a new master plan of how to connect with readers who won't be able to make it to any of my events. Here's how it goes, all through the month of January:

1) Go to your local bookstore and take 2 pictures, one of Unearthly on the shelf in all its booky glory (make sure we can see the other books around it, too, as part of the fun for me is seeing what company I'm keeping), and one of you holding the book.

2) Email me the photos, along with your name, address, and the name/location of the bookstore where you took the photos. My email address: writercynthiahand@gmail.com

THEN, I will:
3) add your photos to my Unearthly on the Shelf! compilation, which I will post to my blog in stages, with a big final post sometime in early February.

4) mail you a bookplate, (I had these printed special and they are all purply beautiful) which I will sign so you can put it in your copy of Unearthly and therefore have a signed copy even if you can't make it to a formal signing!

5) choose three (3) of these entries at random and mail them a signed and doodled upon (meaning, my little comments and pics in the margins every now and then) copy of Unearthly in hard cover.

Sound good?