99 DAYS, and a giveaway

99Days_CV_web

I was at a writing retreat recently and I heard a woman say that before she actually sat down to do it, she had been very smug about writing her second book. “I was like, I just wrote one,” she said, shaking her head a bit in disbelief. “How hard could writing another one possibly be?”

Spoiler alert: it was very hard.

I mean, not hard-hard. Not hard like working on an oilrig or being in the army or cleaning bathrooms. Not hard like being a surgeon, like saving lives, and yes of course books save lives but sometimes I feel like I don’t even write those kinds of books, the really important lifesaving kind, not that my books aren’t important and not that I don’t feel proud but why does this feel so difficult and and on and on and on.

Do you hear me? I trust you to hear me.

The point is: HOW TO LOVE I wrote for the fun of it, because at the time I was playing around and didn’t really know any better. My third book, the shiny neon tragedy I’m writing now–that one I’m writing for love.

99 DAYS? 99 DAYS was work.

And it was so, so worth it.

I love this book, you guys. I am so excited to share it with you. It’s about a girl and two brothers and love and families and friendships and secrets and candy and water and ghost hearts and how sometimes you can’t even pinpoint the moment when a mistake starts to happen—you just look behind you at the end of it and there it is stretching back to the horizon line, as far as your eyes can see.

Also there is like, a ton of kissing in it, if that’s your bag. It is certainly mine.

99 DAYS isn’t out ‘til next April (although hello yes it is available for preorder), but I’ve got a stack of ARCs sitting on my desk and I would love love love to send one of them your way, along with a host of other goodies. A 99 DAYS Prize Pack, even. How about that.

There are four ways to enter, and you can enter up to four times:

  1. Subscribe to this blog (if you don’t already) and leave a comment here telling me you’ve done so.
  2. Follow me on twitter (if you don’t already!) and leave a comment here telling me you’ve done so.
  3. Follow me on tumblr (if you don’t already) and leave a comment here telling me you’ve done so
  4. Follow me on instagram (if, wait for it, you don’t already) and leave a comment here telling me you’ve done so.

The contest will run until this Sunday, November 16th, and is unfortunately only open to residents of the continental US. I’ll post the winner on Monday. So go play!

UPDATE: this giveaway is now closed. Stick around for more chances to win!