Okay! Phew -- sorry i'm a few minutes late, guys. I started tallying the entries at 8 and didn't expect it to take so long. I put everyone's entries in a document, numbered for each entry (not each person), and when I had them all totaled up, I used a random number generator to pick the prizes in order.

First, some stats.

You guys linked SHIVER's video 297 times, resulting in 1,307 views of it since June 29th. I also drank 9 liters of sweet tea since June 29th. That stat was not entirely necessary, but was entirely true. Anyway, you guys are awesome and I'm incredibly grateful for your support!

And here, without further ado . . . the winners! Winners, please email me with the address you'd like your goodies sent to.

1. CD of music for LAMENT/ SHIVER: anai415
2. CD of music for LAMENT/ SHIVER: veschwab
3. 15 minute live chat with me: inkbabies
4. Finished copy of SHIVER: Mya at Dissecting Perfection
5. Finished copy of SHIVER: alessandra_lee
6. ARC of SHIVER: lin17
7. ARC of SHIVER: MyNameIsEleni


Congrats, winners, and thank you so much to everyone else for entering and passing the word along!

Okay, as I count down to the final moments of my giant SHIVER ARC contest (still time to enter), I figured I would post some behind the scenes photos from the making of my trailer, for anyone who is interested.

Here's the trailer:

And here, in dazzling pictoral goodness (click for larger), are some of the nitty gritties.

Okay, I'm planning on doing a behind-the-scenes post on the paper cut trailer later today, but I just had to fursplode becauase quietselkie forwarded a SHIVER-filled email from Borders. And there was SHIVER, all over the place -- including a link to the exclusive SHIVER music that I wrote for Borders. I can finally share it!

It's here.

I don't think I can possibly describe how weird it is to see a piece of music that I composed on the homely keyboard sitting behind me and recorded in a studio in Fredericsksburg sitting there on the Borders' website. I mean, I know they asked me to write it . . . but I didn't think they'd actually use it.

It's THIS weird, seeing it.

Anyway, that track's called "One Happy Day," and there's a scene in SHIVER where Sam uses that phrase -- that's the scene this song was written for.

First, I must include a random photo of the most distressing cake I have ever made. Thing 1's birthday party was yesterday and she requested a princess cake on short notice, with low provisions. So I was forced to create the Fugly Cake with princesses baked inside. I am displaying it here for everyone who as ever asked me "Maggie, what can't you do?"

That, my friends, is my answer.

Anyway, onto my anecdote. The other day I was driving down from a fairly disastrous trip to an Elizabeth Scott book signing (disastrous because there was no Elizabeth Scott there). In tow I had my sister and Thing 1 & Thing 2.

Anyway, on the way back, to make up for sitting in traffic on the Devil's Vortex of Doom, High Blood Pressure, and Wankers in Porsches*, my sister asked if we could stop at this antiques place that always had cool furniture sitting out front. Since I'd just subjected her to five hours of driving, I acquiesced.

*otherwise known as I-95

I am not normally an antiques person. I did not even realize that 'antique' could be a verb until a few years ago. So I was largely disinterested. I did, however, find myself highly attracted to this mug/ stein thing. As you can see at the right, it depicts people dancing in pairs, holding fiddles, and . . . vomiting. I mean, what is that guy doing there on the left? Do you see him? The one with the string of something coming from his mouth?

I am pretty sure that is an excess of Heineken, right there.

Anyway, so if you guys ever wanted to know what kind of things would spur me to act out of character and spending money, now you know. Salt-glazed German guys playing music and vomiting artistically.

You have a better explanation for what that gentleman is doing?

I realized that I should probably put this down somewhere. I promise tomorrow I will do more interesting posts than contests, music recommendation requests, and schedules, but for today, I finished my copyedits on BALLAD and I feel that posting this schedule is a very impressive achievement all by itself.

So:

I will be at

July:
11-13. Chicago. ALA Annual Conference. I will be signing ARCs of BALLAD at the Flux book on the 11th at Booth #2658 from 1-2. I'll be at the Morris Award Dinner that night. The morning of the 12th, I'll be at the YALSA Coffee Klatch, then I'll be at the Scholastic Literary Brunch (with Avi. AVI. This is unreal). I'll be signing SHIVERs at the Scholastic brunch with AVI from 1:00-2:30 pm — Booth #1520. I'll be dressed in a little black dress for the Newbery Caldecott dinner that night. The 13th I'll be doing pre-pub stuff at Anderson's, and then the 14th, I'll be in Detroit doing more of the same. I will be spending the entirety of the 15th asleep.

August:
7th. Williamsburg, VA. THE SHIVER LAUNCH! 5-7 p.m., all invited, RSVP here.
19th. Fredericksburg, VA. Teen Book Program (I typed that 'Pogrom', which would be an entirely different sort of event) at the Central Regional Rapphannock Library. Exact time to be announced; it'll be late afternoon.

September:
4-7th. Atlanta. DragonCon and Decatur Book Festival. At the same time. A literary threesome.
24-27th. St. Paul. Or. . . Minneapolis. No, I think St. Paul. Midwest Booksellers Association Conference.

October:
9-10th. Richmond, VA. James River Writers Conference.
13th. THE BALLAD LAUNCH PARTY! WHOO!
15th-21st. UK Publicity & Scotland.

November:
5-8th. Charlotte, NC. AASL Conference.
19-22. Philadelphia. NCTE Conference.

December
5th. Charlottesville, VA. Signing, 1-3, at Barnes & Noble. Reserve copies at the store to be sure you get one.

And woof. That's it for now.

And I'm spent.

Yes, it's that time again -- rough drafting time -- and again I'm sorely in need of mood music. I have gotten incredible suggestions before, so I'm reaching out again.

I need haunting string music along the lines of the soundtrack to The Village. Any suggestions?

If I don't find some, I may never write again.

I mean, I might be slightly melodramatic here. But it's a possibility.

I just found out that at ALA next week I get to have brunch with both my now-editor David (Levithan) and my first editor Andrew (Karre) at the same time.

I die of happiness. Will the world explode when editor Mixtape and editor Yoda sit at the same table with me?

If the planet explodes the weekend of the 11th, I'm sorry. That was me.

And now for the contest! First of all, the lovely prizes.

1) Two ARCs of SHIVER, mailed out as soon as the contest is finished.
2) Two finished copies of SHIVER, mailed out as soon as I get my author's copies.
3) Two CDs of the music I wrote for SHIVER and LAMENT.
4) 15 minute live-chat with the author (that would be me) to talk about my books, your books, your dog, or whatever!

And the rules:

1) Watch the trailer I made for SHIVER below (it took me dozens of hours to make the hundreds of paper cut outs and then photograph the multiple frames per second)(Yes I am crazy).
2) Post a link to the trailer or embed the trailer online. Every unique place you post it counts as an entry. Sooo that means you can embed it on your LJ, post a link on twitter, post a link on your Facebook, and embed it on Myspace, and it would count as 4 entries.
3) Comment back here telling me where you linked it, numbered like so: 1. LJ, 2. Twitter, 3. Facebook, 4. Blogger, etc., with linkies, so I can spend my time writing more books instead of counting and verifying entries.

ETA: If you tweet it, kindly use the hash tag #shiver!

I will hold a Giant Drawing on Tuesday, July 7th, at 9 p.m., and post the winners here and on my Blogger blog.

Sound good?

Here's the trailer!

Okay! I have waited far too long to announce my launch party for SHIVER, but I'm going to make up for it by posting one million details today, including the final cover image! Also, right after this, I'm going to post a SHIVER contest, with a chance to win ARCs and finished copies and music and fun things.

First of all, here's the link to the e-vite. If you do think you might be able to make it, it would make me exceptionally happy (and you do like me exceptionally happy, right?) if you'd RSVP there. And now here is what the e-vite says:

Location:
College of William & Mary Bookstore, Colonial Williamsburg
345 Duke of Gloucester Street
Williamsburg, VA 23185 US

When: Friday, August 7, 5:00PM to 7:00PM
Phone: (757)253-4900

I'll be signing books and reading from SHIVER (which may or may not involve me standing on a chair and/or reenacting scenes from the book with a guitar, depending on my caffeine consumption). There will also be drawings for two giveaways: one is a candy gift basket from Wythe Candy Shop, the candy shop that inspired one of the best-loved scenes from SHIVER*, and the other is a giveaway for librarians and teachers: win a free author visit for your library or classroom.

*one early review from a book blogger says "there's a scene in a candy shop that will leave you absolutely salivating. I dare you to read that one just once." It was also mentioned specifically in the offer letter from my editor. Said candy shop is a five minute walk from the bookstore where the launch is held. Coincidence? I. Think. Not. Don't miss it!

Refreshments will be in attendance. A play-doh and face painting station will keep kiddies occupied so don't feel shy about bringing them. (I have someone else lined up to paint faces, but, again, depending on my caffeine consumption, this may devolve into Maggie painting wolves on people's cheeks).

Please RSVP; the bookstore also recommends calling to reserve your copy of SHIVER (especially if you're planning on buying more than one) to ensure they don't run out.

You know you want to come. See you there?

1. My Friday fiction is up at Merry Sisters of Fate. Our common prompt this week was an image of a giant, and I have to confess, it is very hard to be inspired by a giant when your chosen genre is Angst. Brenna and Tess had managed theirs on Monday and Wednesday, however, so I wrote mine about a giant and a Jaguar.

2. I have dates for both my SHIVER and BALLAD release parties. How early do you guys think I should announce these things? I'm torn between giving people time to plan and making it close enough to the event that it's relevant/ they don't forget.

3. I am rereading The Golden Bough (which for you muggles is about folklore and mythology) and there's a bit where they talk about kings and taboos and there's a bunch of beliefs about kings where you can't reuse the dishware that they eat out of, so they break it after he eats out of it. Have these guys never heard of reduce, reuse, recycle? All I can think is that "Corelle must do crap sales there."

4. I have been contemplating buying another set of bagpipes lately. It's sort of become my obsession since the weather got warm. I played them competitively in college and they were my life, basically, until I was hit by a drunk driver that messed up my teeth and made the pipes physically painful to play. In a fit of angst that I normally reserve for my characters, I sold my pipes a few years ago, so I wouldn't have to look at them knowing I couldn't play. Now, though . . . my teeth are obligingly dying at the roots (because of said trauma) and I'm thinking, maybe it won't hurt as much. I can play my practice chanter without too much twitching. I'm thinking, I want a set of pipes. I'm not really me without them. Hmmm . ..

5. Song obsession for the week: Living Things' "Oxygen".

I'm listening to the Q & A and the excerpt that I recorded for Scholastic back in April, and it's not nearly as crawly of an experience as I expected. Those studios guys were GOOD.

In other news,everflame is writing a novel that I want to marry. I've never been this excited for a novel that isn't finished yet. I mean, that isn't mine.

O ants. Six-legged bearers of formic acid
You, everpresent, omniscient,
you watch me while I sleep.
Or so says Terminex.

O ants. Tiny men of nature marching under
a pennant of work ethic.
Driven from my walls,
you moved into my car.

O ants. Slight misunderstood metaphors
Bitty mandibles, fearsome warriors.
You bite like Dennis Leary.
Ouch.

O ants. Your eggs, countless possibilities
for brothers and sisters,
Laid in the door linings
of my Passat.

And my Camaro.

O ants. You fragile creatures, overly fond
Of these worldly things.
I see your death
in a Bottle of Chlorox.

So, I'm supposed to be working on revisions for my deadline tomorrow, but my mom couldn't babysit until 2. So, I decided to break out the play-doh with the kids.

And may have gotten carried away.

So. Let’s talk angst.

My last post was all about confidence and making yourself into the person you want to be and being confident and basically telling the universe “sit, stay” and making it your pet.*

*pet being used here in the place of a much more appropriate word that would increase the PG rating of this post.

But there were some replies (I would link, but they’re now f-locked) talking about how such happy-happy-joy-joy posts felt dishonest and fake (not specifically mine, but the entire Happy-Happy-Joy-Joy genre of posts). That by not talking about the negative aspects of writing, I wasn’t showing the whole story, and was instead portraying a Disney-esque Pollyanna Dancing Through Fields of Sunflowers Tossing Rose Petals and Baby Puppies over Shoulders Image of Writing.*

*I paraphrase.

Okay. Gloves off. Let’s talk about angst. Let’s talk about self-doubt. Let’s talk about everything in writing professionally that is not daisy chains and pillow-top mattresses and glossy dust-jackets. No, it’s not all smiling at my ARCs and petting my final drafts and planning my formal tea parties with Maureen Johnson.

Here’s what it also is.

( My Angst . . .  )

I know I blog a lot about self-confidence (or at least it feels like I blog a lot about self-confidence), but I’ve been thinking about it a lot since I got back from the Gothic Girls retreat. I've actually been thinking about it so much that the word 'confidence' no longer looks like it's spelled right. For a lot of reasons. For starters, the Gothic Girls were a very self-confident bunch. Also, we talked a lot about ambition and what we would need to accomplish to feel we’ve “arrived” and what we saw ourselves doing in five years. (Me: "Taking my long-awaited position as Queen of America, reinstating That 70s Show, delivering all state of the union speeches in 30 minute claymation television specials involving hedgehogs, and continue making a living writing") All of this while revising LINGER, the sequel to SHIVER (which, as you might guess from my last SHIVER post, inspires NO pressure whatsoever), and generally standing next to incredibly talented and accomplished women.

And so my musings came round to three big points. Which I've made into a list because man oh man I love me my lists.

1) Self-confidence has absolutely nothing to do with your accomplishments. People in the writing world seem to think this more than other people. Part of it, I think, is trying to apply an objective value (getting an agent, landing a book deal, getting a tour, getting a manservant to oil your back and throw cheetos into your mouth) to a subjective pursuit -- writing, which is creative and subjective and difficult to quantify. We all work so hard to validate our time spent writing that we start to think that these milestones make us better people, better writers, whatever.

It’s not true. And it leads to huge let downs if you have poor self-confidence, because guess what? On the other side of that book deal, you’ll still have poor self-confidence. Because there’s always the next thing. The bigger deal, the more popular blog, the private waffle breakfasts with J. K. Rowling. You'll never get to that magical honeypot that makes you feel like a Real Person.

And the Gothic Girls (oh yeah I’m going to tie everything back to this retreat) were a perfect example of this, I thought. I mean, we were all a different spot in our careers -- from having just sold a debut, to having just signed with an agent, to having their debut just come out, to having 25 books under their belt. If self-confidence = what you’ve accomplished, this retreat would have been a certified mess. (Which I would’ve had an absolutely fabulous time photographing and blogging about. Just sayin’.) But every one of these girls had confidence in themselves, some sense of self-worth that existed quite apart from their writing. They were confident as people, and that meant that Tessa and Carrie or me and Dawn or Jackie and Jackson could have endless discussions on important things such as plotting and which bits of interior decorating we could use to play zombies without so much as a single raised hackle or wound licked.

And that’s important.

2. Self-confidence is not the same thing as ego. This is not to say that the two don’t (frequently) dance hand in hand down the street, pushing over old ladies in crosswalks and kicking baby kittens. But they are definitely not the same entity. Ego is thinking you have all the answers. Self-confidence is knowing you don’t have the answers, but being pretty sure that you will be able to find them. Ego is often related to accomplishments: I have a big book deal, look at my peacock feathers, I can barely fit my head through the door stuff. (again, I would have great joy photographing and blogging about this). Self-confidence is unrelated to accomplishments: I don’t have a book deal yet, but it’s a goal and I’m sure I can find the tools to get there in the end. Or: I do have a book deal, but you know, I’m not any different from the person I was before I got that book deal. Ego is also very transitory. It has to be pet and propped up and requires other people to bask in it. (I’m thinking like the king of the lemurs in Madagascar). There were no warring egos at the retreat, something for which I was eternally grateful. Because there was alcohol and small sleeping quarters involved. And I would not like to see Jackson and Carrie go to bat on a sleeper sofa using Spanish moss and Macbooks as weapons.

Okay, I lie. I would totally like to see that. But I didn’t.

3. Self-confidence is a very . . . internal thing. I was not a self-confident girl in college, despite being a successful competitive bagpiper, having a 3.8 GPA, leading a band that toured all over three states, winning writing and art contests, having exceptionally shiny hair, being Future Princess of America, blah blah blah. These were all things I did, but the only thing they really ever bolstered was my ego, which was temporary. While I was thinking about this, I was trying to decide how I made the leap to being a confident person and the weirdest thing is . . . I think I just decided I was going to be one. I’m a big believer in goals and the idea that if you say things out loud, you make them true. And so even though it sounds silly, I think that if you make the decision to be confident, it really makes it happen. Especially if you surround yourself with the trappings of confidence. That room that is just for you and your writing, because you are going to make it your living. The people you surround yourself with: confident, make-it-happen people, because you will always rise to the meet the expectations of the people around you, and you don’t want to be the one-eyed king of the blind.

Okay. So Maggie's Nebulous Thoughts About Confidence, paraphrased.
1. Don’t be bitter about other people getting on Oprah. Success in the book world is not like cheese dip, where one person will get the last dip and then it’s gone. It’s more like pinkeye. The more people who get it, the more there is for everyone else.
2. Don’t be a prick. Nobody likes pricks.
3. Make it happen. Surround yourself with cool people. Live your life as the person you’d like to be, and you’ll become that person.

Now . . . I think . . . I'm done. Anyone have any other thoughts?

Just FYI, Karin the Librarian is giving away an ARC of SHIVER.

Okay. So. Gothic Girls. Five days of absolute win (and hilarity, and some alcohol, as you can tell from our Twitter feed). For those of you just joining our broadcast, the Gothic Girls retreat was nine YA authors (Carrie Ryan, Jackie Dolamore, Heidi Kling, Linda Joy Singleton, Jackson Pearce, Dawn Metcalf, Brenna Yovanoff, & Tessa Gratton. And me) getting literarilly refreshed in Savannah, Georgia, a location chosen for its Spanish Moss (ooh pretty) and because I was dying to see if there was someplace more humid than Virginia (there is). I would assault you with photographs, only I brought my camera sans a memory card, which makes it . . . not work. So I got nuthin. Nada. The prettiful picture you saw yesterday was taken by a tourist holding Linda's camera.

Anyway, the retreat was hugely productive. Not so much in the area of word count (though I think Tessa managed to post fiction over at merry_fates), but in these other areas, we ruled:

1) Meeting the other Merry Sisters of Fate in person. The world did not explode when I met Tessa, who is my literary clone. There was not even a tiny rip in the time-space continuum. I'm not sure if I was pleased or disappointed.

2) Plot brainstorming ("Maggie," observes Carrie, "You are doing that book all wrong.")(she was right)

3) Staying awake 20 hours at a time. ("Maggie," observes Tessa, "It is 3 a.m. We should sleep.")(we did not)

4) Talking about the business. And other writers. (Yes, we talked about you.)(Were your ears burning?)

5) Walking on dead people. ("Savannah is a necropolis," announces the tour guide, "Because there are people buried under the streets.")(Tessa: "Cool.")

6) Laying out our 5 year goals ("All I want is a Printz," Heidi announces.)

7) Talking about what milestones we need to reach to feel that we've 'arrived.' ("All I want is a Printz," Heidi announces.)

8) Graveyard walking. At one point, graveyard squirrels and Brenna were having some kind of stare-down fest. (Brenna *hushed*: "The tree is full of squirrels.")

9) Getting honked at while soaked to the skin -- note to self, you can always get wetter. (Does a honk mean "where's your umbrella?" or "you're hot when your clothing is pasted to your skin with rain" or "need a ride?" or just "stay in the crosswalk"?)

10) Making of awesome videos:

It has been four days since I got back from the Gothic Girls retreat in Savannah, and I have finally, I think, caught up on lost sleep. While I was gone, weird and wonderful things happened, like one million positive reviews of SHIVER before it's even been released. Also Scholastic has put the first chapter up to read as well as to listen to (that would be me reading).

So I was going to do a long run-down of our trip to Savannah and everything that happened, but first, I'm going to post all the SHIVER stuff. Because there's, um, a lot.

First of all, I got to see the cover of the UK edition of SHIVER (October) and Scholastic sent me their trailer for SHIVER (I did one too, but that one's not appearing until July).

So here they are:


Also, SHIVER is now sold in 17 foreign territories (plus the UK), which is so weird. There will be a Serbian SHIVER. A Catalan SHIVER. A Finnish SHIVER. A Brazilian SHIVER. Millions of SHIVERs . . . Basically what it comes down to is that Scholastic could call me up and say, "Great news! We've sold a Lunar edition of SHIVER -- now sentient beings living on all satellites of Earth will be able to read SHIVER!" and I would believe them.

And SHIVER has been picked as Borders' Original Voices pick (*Maggie struggles to think of non-redundant way to rephrase that sentence and gives up*) for August!

I've also realized that it is less than 7 weeks away from my release date. That's soon. In two weeks, I'm going to hold another giveaway, so stay tuned.

And . . . I think that's it on the SHIVER front. I'm pretty sure. Next, onto the Gothic Girls post, involving fun videos . . .

Okay, I'm home! Well, technically I was back this morning from the awesome (and trust me, it was awesome) Gothic Girls retreat in Savannah, but due to crap weather in Atlanta and Fate's desire to play make believe with airplanes, I didn't get back to my house until 2 a.m. (it was supposed to be 4 p.m. originally, lest you think I just have really horrible taste in flight times).

Anyway, end result is that I am far too tired to be entertaining, so the full run down and further public appearances of my prose are just going to have to wait until tomorrow. Until then, I will leave you with a photo of us in one of Savannah's many gorgeous squares. Until later, peeps!

Left to right (standing): Maggie Stiefvater (LAMENT), Brenna Yovanoff (FE), Heidi Kling (SEA), Jackson Pearce (AS YOU WISH), Jackie Dolamore (MAGIC UNDER GLASS), Dawn Metcalf (SKIN & BONES), Carrie Ryan (FOREST OF HANDS AND TEETH). (sitting) Tessa Gratton (AWESOMESAUCE*), Linda Joy Singleton (DEAD GIRL WALKING).


*where awesomesauce = just signed with agent.