The song that is LAST RITE and ARC giveaway! (Plus, win John Green!)

There is a song. I play it all the time. It is not unusual to find me sitting in my car in the garage blasting it and screaming the lyrics at the top of my lungs. (Ask my kids.) I could hear it one hundred times in a row and the last 2 minutes will give me goose bumps every time. It is the musical embodiment of LAST RITE and I only wish I'd found it earlier because it would be in the acknowledgments.

This song is EPIC and I hope you'll think LAST RITE is too when you get a chance to read it. It's the culmination of Frannie, Luc and Gabe's struggle, and all Heaven's wrath rains down as all Hell breaks loose. The lyrics of this song totally tell Frannie, Luc and Gabe's story. (I swear the band must have hacked into my email or something!)

The song is War by Poets of the Fall, and here it is.


*note: Some of the lyrics near the end of this vid aren't quite right, but...

If you have not heard of this band, you must check them out. I love this song sooo much I'm giving a buttload of extra entries into this contest if you download this song from any legal music site.

So, the contest...

If you'd like a chance at your very own signed ARC of Last Rite, here's your chance to win one. Because I love you, I'll also throw in a signed copy of the amazing John Green's The Fault in Our Stars--which, btw, is still sitting on top of the NYT bestseller list. (You thought you were going to be able to win the real John Green, didn't you? Admit it ;p) A runner up will receive a signed copy of Original Sin.

To enter, all you have to do is comment below and tell me any lyric (one full line) from the Poets of the Fall video embedded above. If you have a favorite, pick that =) You must be 13 or older to enter. Extra entries can be accumulated as follows:
Forward email receipt (or other proof) for purchase of Poets of the Fall War to lisadwrites(at)yahoo(dot)com: +10

Follow this blog: +1
Follow me on Twitter (@LisaDez): +1
Tweet or Facebook a link to this contest: +1
"Like" the Personal Demons Books Facebook page +1

Add up your points in your comment, please, because my math sucks. Also, leave me a way to contact you if you WIN! Contest closes Friday March 23rd at 12 noon, PST. Winners will be chosen by the randomizer and posted here that afternoon. There will be a new contest for signed copies of Last Rite and other signed books (think Holly Black, Marie Lu, Beth Revis) every Monday between now and May 7th, so don't forget to check back every Monday to enter!

Winners!!!!

Ah! It's time for more winners!

Thanks to all of you who checked out the first chapter of Last Rite and entered for your very own ARC =) If you aren't the luck winner this week, don't despair! There will be another contest up on Monday and, in addition to a signed ARC of LAST RITE, I'll be giving away a signed book by someone who's been dominating the NYT list for the last few months! (Think: John Green :p)

But, for today's winners, we go to the randomizer.

Our first winner for a signed copy of ORIGINAL SIN is...

.Ambur!!

And, our grand prize winner, for a signed LAST RITE ARC and a signed copy of Juliet Immortal is...

Crystal!!! (@cfulcher)





Congrats to both our winners! *throws virtual confetti* (because I don't want to clean the real stuff up)

I'll email you soon!

Last Rite sneak peek and ARC giveaway!

Hey, y'all! You want a sneak peek at the first chapter of Last Rite?? Well, Tor Teen's Facebook page has an exclusive preview here. Warning: there are spoilers for Original Sin, so read at your own risk ;p

If you'd like a shot at winning a signed Last Rite ARC of your very own, here's your next opportunity. And, because I love you, I'll throw in a signed copy of Juliet Immortal by the fabulous miss Stacy Jay. A runner up will receive a signed copy of Original Sin. =)

To enter, all you have to do is comment below and tell me which you'd choose, a gorgeous glowing guardian angel who would do ANYTHING to protect you, or a hot (in all conceivable ways) demon who is changed by love. You must be 13 or older to enter. Extra entries can be accumulated as follows:
Follow this blog: +1
Follow me on Twitter (@LisaDez): +1
Tweet or Facebook a link to this contest: +1
"Like" the Personal Demons Books Facebook page +1

Entries from last weeks contest DO NOT carry over, so be sure to enter here. Add up your points in your comment, please, because my math sucks. Also, leave me a way to contact you if you WIN! Contest closes Friday March 16th at 12 noon, PST. Winners will be chosen by the randomizer and posted here that afternoon. There will be a new contest for signed copies of Last Rite and other signed books (think Holly Black, John Green, Beth Revis) every Monday between now and May 7th, so don't forget to check back every Monday to enter!

And, YES! We have our first LAST RITE WINNER!

Thanks to all of you who stopped by to enter for a signed ARC of Last Rite! If you didn't win the ARC, remember that you'll have a brand new chance on Monday, and there will be a fabulous bonus book signed by the author. Come find out what it is =) And there will also be a sneak peek at the first chapter of LAST RITE! So don't forget to check back Monday!

Okay, here we go. Putting y'all into the randomizer...

And the winner of the signed Penguin Breathless Reads poster is...

Amanda Sarinana

And, the winner of a signed LAST RITE ARC is...

Emilie

Congrats to all the winners! I will contact you soon! =)

Last Rite giveaways because I love you and I love Spring!

I LOVE this time of year. Everything's coming back to life. Here's my apricot tree:

Here's the almond orchard near my house:

Here's my daughter, who's graduating this spring:

And you know what else is coming alive this spring? Yep! Last Rite! The end of the Personal Demons trilogy is here. This makes me both very happy and a little sad. It's been over a year since I wrote this book and I miss Frannie, Luc and Gabe every day. I've written and fallen in love with many characters since writing them, but they'll always have a special place in my heart.

So, to celebrate Spring and the birth of my book baby, Last Rite, I'll be holding weekly contest in which you can win a signed copy (ARC or finished) between now and Last Rite's release on May 8th. Here's your first chance to win, and because I love you sooo much, I'm throwing in a prize for a runner up. The runner up will receive this poster, signed by all four authors (one of which happens to be my fab critique partner :p).

To enter, all you have to do is comment below and tell me what your favorite season is and why. You must be 13 or older to enter. Extra entries can be accumulated as follows:
Follow this blog: +1
Follow me on Twitter (@LisaDez): +1
Tweet or Facebook a link to this contest: +1
"Like" the Personal Demons Books Facebook page +1

Add up your points in your comment, please, because my math sucks. Also, leave me a way to contact you if you WIN! Contest closes Friday March 9th at 12 noon, PST. Winners will be chosen by the randomizer and posted here that afternoon. There will be a new contest for signed copies of Last Rite and other signed books (think Holly Black, Andrea Cremer, Beth Revis) every Monday between now and May 7th, so don't forget to check back every Monday to enter!

You gotta have this book. Really.

Since I started writing, I've definitely gotten more critical in my reading. Unfortunately, it's hard to be a causal reader when writing is your profession. There aren't a lot of books that knock me over anymore. A lot of what I read just feels like "the same old thing." But I read a book last week. I'm telling you this because I'm still thinking about it.

The criteria I now judge a book by is this: If I think to myself, "Damn, I wish I wrote that," I know it's a great read. If I think to myself, "Gee, I could have written that," not so much. Because, honestly, if I could have written it, how good can it really be? I definitely wish I wrote this book:

If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend picking it up. Nuff said.

What's in a word count? (aka: My beast has taken on a life of its own!)

I've always found the revision process interesting. It's when you get other people's feedback that you find out you didn't write the book you thought you did. This is where you pick up on where characters need to be more fleshed out or plot points need to be clarified so it turns into the masterpiece you were sure it was.

I have some amazing readers, the most thorough of which is my truly fabulous agent. I'm on my second round of revisions for her on my Too Hot For YA WIP. But the thing is, the first time I sent it to her, it was 76K words. Based on her notes, I revised and it grew to 90K. In this second round, I just passed 97K and it feels like the manuscript (not the story) is starting to take on a life of its own. (The story has always had a life of its own.) At this point, I'm pretty sure I'll hit 100K before I'm done.

Manuscript length is a hotly debated topic, but the truth is there's no "right" word count. But the thing is, whether your manuscript is 50K or 150K, each word has to count. Padding word counts is something I hear people talk about, but I don't understand it. If anything, I'd think as an author, we'd want to cut word counts. If I can tell the same story in less words while preserving the nuances of setting, emotion and turmoil, why would I want to tell it in more?

So, my last pass before I send this back to my truly fabulous agent and my amazing critique partner will be to cull out anything that's not essential to character development or plot progression.

I'm curious. Have there been books you read where you thought they were either too short or too long? Without naming names (unless you want to) why were you left with that impression?