Where I Am

Hi. I'm over here at Simon & Schuster Blogfest 2009. Blogging with 39 other YA authors. Check us out!

I'm also over here, doing an interview at Shady Glade.

And I'm always on Twitter. Kind of obsessed with Twitter these days. The other night, I dreamed I was tweeting, and I tweeted the most witty tweet ever tweeted. Naturally, I forgot it by the time I woke up.

Arctic Word of the Day: "Sastrugi" are wind-eroded snow ripples. Not to be confused with "strigoi," which are Romanian vampires.

12 days until ICE!!!

Counting Down

Counting down to pub date!!! Check out this snazzy countdown timer! I can't stop staring at it. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock...


Find out more about ICE!

If you'd like to count down with me and get a copy of this timer for your blog or site, please click here for the code to copy-and-paste.

I'm told that when the countdown reaches zero on your site, the ceiling above you will open up and release balloons and confetti, fireworks will boom and flash outside your window, a miniature brass band will pop up on your desk, and a parade of pink elephants and dancing hippos will march through your house/office.

Okay, perhaps that's not entirely true.

Hippos can't dance.

But when the countdown reaches zero, you could, if you want to, do the Snoopy Dance of Joy and know that at that same exact second, I'm doing the Snoopy Dance of Joy too. So we'd be Snoopy-ing together, and that's kind of cool, right?

In related news, there's a lovely review of ICE up on Reading Rocks. Totally made my day. :)

And in unrelated news... the winner of the HUSH, HUSH giveaway is: Becky. Congratulations! Please email me your mailing address, and I'll send you the ARC. Thanks to everyone who entered!

Excerpt from ICE

21 days until ICE!!!

In honor of that occasion, and to give you a better taste of the book, I just posted the prologue and first two chapters on my website. Enjoy!!!

Once upon a time, in a land far to the north, there lived a lovely maiden...

Cassie killed the snowmobile engine.

Total silence, her favorite sound. Ice crystals spun in the Arctic air. Sparkling in the predawn light, they looked like diamond dust. Beneath her ice-encrusted face mask, she smiled. She loved this: just her, the ice, and the bear.

Click here to read more.

I'll wait.....

So... did ya like it? Did ya? Did ya?! Did ya?!?!

The same excerpt is also now available as part of Simon & Schuster's YA sampler, Lit Up. Click here to open the sampler, which includes excerpts from nine new YA books coming out this fall. ICE begins on page 19.

Upcoming Fun plus a Giveaway

One month until ICE!!!

Okay, a little less than a month for the US edition (Oct 6) and a little more than a month for the UK edition (Oct 29). And the UK version now has a cover! The following appeared on Amazon.co.uk just last week:


Different tagline. Same gorgeous art. Same happy Sarah. :)

Did I mention how ridiculously excited I am? Ridiculously excited.

I have a bunch of stuff planned for the release, including participating in the Simon & Schuster Blogfest with 39 other fantastic S&S authors. The Blogfest kicks off on 9/21. Look! A snazzy countdown thingie:



And also a snazzy banner:


In October, I'll be doing a blog tour, yammering about all sorts of things on all sorts of (dare I say "snazzy" again? no? how about "fabulous"?) fabulous blogs. More info coming soon. Stay tuned!

Also stay tuned for giveaways!

There is a giveaway going on right now for a prize pack that includes an ARC of ICE on Katie's Bookshelf. Click here to enter. Contest ends 9/12.

The prize pack on Katie's Bookshelf was donated by the super-nice and super-fabulous Becca Fitzpatrick. So I thought I'd do a giveaway here for an ARC of Becca's fantastic book HUSH, HUSH.


HUSH, HUSH is a thrilling and romantic tale about fallen angels and falling in love. I devoured it in a single sitting (without even pausing to fetch a snack, which is highly unusual for me!) and can't wait for the next one.

If you'd like to be entered to win an ARC of HUSH, HUSH, please leave a comment to this post. Ooh, and I should mention that the ARC I'm giving away is no ordinary ARC. It's one of the rather rare pre-ARCs that were printed up for BEA this year, before there was even cover art. More like a bound manuscript. And it's signed by Becca! A winner will be selected at random (or by my cat). Contest ends 9/16.

Let Them Eat Cake

Confession: I didn't always like cakes.

I'm fond of cute little desserts. Cream puffs. Eclairs. Little custard cups with glazed fruit. Cream brulee. You know, the miniature poodles of the dessert world. The kind of desserts you can tame in a single sitting. You don't tame a cake; a cake tames you.

But lately, cakes have been growing on me.

Not literally. I do shower. Really.

I have come to the realization that I love cakes.

Reason #1: Carvel ice cream cakes. Even at the depth of my disinterest in cake, I always made an exception for the Carvel ice cream cake. Vanilla on top, chocolate on the bottom, crumbly cookie-ish stuff in the middle. It epitomizes birthday to me. In fact, my husband once promised to always make sure that I had a Carvel ice cream cake for my birthday. He always delivers. One of the many reasons he is awesome.

Reason #2: Book cakes. Here's the photo that was the inspiration for this blog post:


How could I not love cakes where there exist happy-making cakes like this? The librarians at the North Shore Public Library in Shoreham, NY, surprised me with this beauty when I came to do a book event this summer. Fantastic event. And not just because of the cake. I adored the audience too (though I failed to take a picture of them).

Reason #3: Cake wrecks. I discovered the Cake Wrecks blog via someone on twitter. I know, I know, it is inappropriate for me to laugh at others' baking efforts when I have been known to fail to hard-boil an egg. (Don't ask.) But you've really got to check out this site. Here's a sample:



So that's this week's momentous epiphany: I like cake. How about you guys? Any life-altering revelations lately?