ANOTHER GUEST POST AND CONTEST...and VELVEETA???

Can you believe I’m at it again…another guest post, another prize giveaway? When will the madness end???

So today I have one of my favoritest authors in the world, Lindsey Leavitt. She’s cute, she’s funny as crap, and she once stole my bed. True. Story. (Okay, not as interesting as it sounds: Lindsey needed a place to crash for the night and SJW and I offered up our hotel room. Lindsey volunteered to sleep on the floor, but since she was pregnant, Shelli and I bunked up so she could have a bed of her own. Although I was disappointed that she didn’t name her daughter after me!)

(Lindsey, CJ Omololu, Guadalupe McCall, and me, showing our Tenner love)


And now I’m sharing her with you. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Lindsey Leavitt:

Heavy on the Velveeta by LL

One of my favorite writing stages is the getting-to-know your characters part. Like many authors, I fill out loads of character charts, draw pictures, and scan magazines as I try to make this fictional person REAL (My friend Tera Lynn Childs even posts character collages on her website. I'm totally inspired to do a diorama now). It's such a carefree stage, when that serial killer/princess of yours can be from any country! Any age! Like any style of eggs!

Yeah, I said eggs. Perhaps you've seen the movie RUNAWAY BRIDE. In it, Julia Roberts is a serial fiance, ditching her men at the alter again and again. As journalist Richard Gere researches her, he finds that all the men she's dating have a different view of the woman they thought she was, right down to how she eats her eggs. She orders it just like them, showing that she is essentially taking on their identity.

Who would have thought yolk could be so revealing? These are the quirks that make characters come to life. It's not enough to say I had eggs for breakfast. Isn't it more interesting to hear that I had scrambled eggs with velveeta, that my dad left for me on the stove? How much do you learn about me just from that:

1. Processed cheese. I approve. Velveeta girls aren't overly pretentious. You don't see many slabs of the stuff at wine and cheese parties, not that we're going. We're too busy eating our very-meltable cheese with a Coke Slurpee.

2. My dad is a nice guy. And he wakes up before me.

3. I'm currently living in his house, unless I like his eggs so much I drove over just to eat them.

This isn't only a good trick in creating characters. It's a good way to find out more about the people who surround you. Do they eat white or wheat bread? What style/brand of socks do they wear? What do they do when no one is looking? What toppings do they put on their ice cream? What song do they sing in the shower?

When you look beyond the obvious, you find there's a layer of reasons/motivations/desires/dreams that people don't intentionally show, right down to their breakfast choices. So take your loved one/character out to I-HOP and see what you learn.

(Mmmm.... forget the velveeta. STUFFED FRENCH TOAST PLEASE).


And now you have the chance to win a signed copy of Lindsey’s uber-fab PRINCESS FOR HIRE, along with some other cool swag. Just leave a comment here by midnight on Thursday, August 26th.

Up for grabs:

A signed copy of PRINCESS FOR HIRE and a swag pack with bookmarks (some of them signed!) from a ton of great authors, including Lindsey herself, Amy Brecount-White, Saundra Mitchell, Christie Raedeke, Angie Frazier, Leah Cypress, and more!

C’mon, look at that book, all pink and sparkly and adorable, you know you want it!!!

Comments

Brianna Bruce said…
I have been wanting to read this book! Awesome post + contest!
Cielo Azul said…
This Guest Post is wonderful and funny!

Cheers!
Orchid said…
Mmm, Velveeta!
That's an awesome way to get to know your characters. I've been wanting to read Princess for Hire for awhile now, so count me in. ^_^
Becky said…
You can learn so much about characters from just the tiniest little sentence! ...in that way, writers are kind of like super-spies. Which is awesome. Thanks for hosting the guest post and contest! Princess for Hire looks like a really cool book. :)
Unknown said…
This book looks so good! Thanks so much for the contest :)

kaitlynkline[at]gmail[dot]com
Anonymous said…
Awesome post. That's a great way to get to know your characters better! thanks for the chance!
sRy_ said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Christinabean said…
Mmmm...Velveeta - great as long as it is still warm. Not so great if it is cold and plastic-y. ew. Love the book cover! Please enter me!

clderwee at gmail dot com
Mrs. Heise said…
This book is already on my wish list! @mrsheisefpms
~The Book Pixie said…
OMG! I LOVE Runaway Bride! Ok, I practically love all of Julia Robert's movies, but still. lol. Great guest post and awesome contest!

~Briana
thebookpixie[at]yahoo[dot]com
Erika Powell said…
love this guest post, it also tells me you have a great sense of humor! and those eggs sound really yummy
sportsDOTerikalynnAtgmailDOTcom
Julie! said…
I want to read this book! Great cover!!


julie102794@gmail.com
Kulsuma said…
This book sounds so cute and funny! I love the Runaway Bride:)

Count me in please if this is international.

k_anon[at]hotmail[dot]co[dot]uk
iffath said…
Haha, this post is awesome!

Please enter me if it's international! Thanks :)

lovereadingx@gmail.com
Amber Skye said…
What a fun post! Thanks for the contest :)

readingaddict63@aol.com
Reading Addict
Misha said…
Awesome contest! I would love to enter if this is international.
Misha
mishamary@gmail.com
Sharli said…
Completely agree! Daily habits, interests and tastes reveal much more than what we give them credit for. The hard part is taking the right guess :P
Loved the post and thank you for the giveaway! ^^
Martha Lawson said…
Loved the post! I'd love to be entered to win this one. It sounds great!!

mlawson17 at hotmail dot com
Fi-chan said…
the book is on my wishlist for quite long D: cover is so cute!

and thank you :D

oh btw the picture looks so fun!

feeyonachan at gmail dot com
Jessica said…
Love the picture and the post :) Thanks for having the giveaway.

totalbookaholic[at]hotmail[dot]com
oh! oh! oh! oh! Please pick me! Pretty pretty please with a tiara on top!?

Thanks for hosting this contest!

And thank you to LL for the fab guest post!
Beverly said…
Fantastic giveaway! Thanks so much for hosting!
Beverly said…
Forgot to add my email - Please enter me - I am an old follower -
bsharp88@gmail.com
Chloe said…
Awesome post! That's a really great look at character building... and something that I'd like to try! And I've been wanting to read Princess for Hire for a while now ;)
Unknown said…
What a fun post! :)

foltzsfantasticbooks at gmil.com
Bwyatt said…
Awesome! I LOVE VELVEETA! Ha! And the book looks good too.
Unknown said…
The book looks great can't wait to read it.
Jessy said…
Thanks for the fun post and chance to win!

findjessyhere at gmail dot com
A Canadian Girl said…
Such a true post! I really enjoyed the Runaway Bride although Pretty Woman was so much better. Thanks for holding another contest. The authors from the swag pack are great. I've read Mistwood by Leah Cypress and really enjoyed it. Not to mention, Angie Frazier's Everlasting is on my wishlist.
deltay said…
Ooh, I remember that scene with the eggs - good movie :)
Really interesting guest post too!
ReaganStar said…
nice guest post :-) and what a fabulous book to give away, been trying to get my hands on a copy for a bit now.
Sherry said…
This looks like such a cute book! Great guest post! Thanks so much for the giveaway!
Laura Pauling said…
I loved the Body Finder and can't wait to read Princess for Hire! Great contest!

laurapauling@yahoo.com
Hannah S. said…
Sunny-side up: cooked on one side only; the top part, containing the yellow, usually stays slightly liquid.

Basted: basically a sunny-side up in which oil is poured over the top rather than at the bottom of the pan.

Steam-basted: a variation of basted in which water is added to produce steam.

Over-easy: cooked on one side and then turned over for only a few seconds.

The classic scrambled.

Over-hard: cooked on one side and then turned over until both sides are evenly cooked.
(from Google search)
~ ~ ~

Er, is it bad that I've only heard of "scrambled"? :-)
Thanks for the fun posting!

Love, Hannah
CONGRATS Jessica (Confessions of a Bookaholic)...YOU WON!!!!!!!