Forget the New Year’s resolutions for a minute. Yep, I know. Now that we’ve survived the non-apocalypse, there’s a whole new year rushing toward us at the speed of light.

Let’s ignore that for a minute.

It seems to me that we get so hung up on what we should do differently, what we want to change, what should be better, that we very seldom pause to actually give ourselves credit for what we have accomplished.

So I say, screw the resolutions. Let’s take a few minutes to reflect on what we actually did in 2012. Tell me at least one thing that you are proud of accomplishing. In exchange, I’ll enter you to win a galley of BETWEEN and a fun little dragon-in-a-bottle.

Since it’s my idea, I suppose it’s only fair if I go first.

It was a very big year for me. The two most important things are sort of bookends for each other: signing my first publishing contract, and surviving breast cancer. There was a lot of stuff in between, but it’s sort of hard to top those two!

Now it’s your turn. Tell me one thing (or more) that you feel good about, or proud of, that you did in 2012.

(You have until midnight on January 1st, PST, to post a comment for a chance to win. Also, people who know these things tell me you should be 18. But if you’re under 18, you could have a parental unit accept the book on your behalf. International readers are welcome.)

Hey everybody -

I could use a little help.

What I’m asking you to do is zip on over to Amazon – it’s easy, just click HERE – and click the LIKE button for BETWEEN. Likes on Amazon help to make the book more visible when people are browsing, so you’d really be doing me a favor.

Then, if you come back here and leave me a quick comment to let me know you’ve completed your mission, I’ll enter your name in a drawing for a galley of BETWEEN plus a cute little glow-in-the-dark dragon in a bottle, made by Dreaming Dragons. Comments for this mission will end at midnight on Dec 12, Pacific time.

All set?

Go!

Update: I’m extending the giveaway until midnight on July 4th. So if you haven’t tweeted and commented yet, you’ve still got time!

YA author Emily Murdoch and I have been on what she calls “query road” together for years, sharing our writing dreams, hopes, and disappointments. She was one of the very first writers I met when I first ventured online. And, as serendipity would have it, we got our first book deals within about a week of each other.

So it is an extra special pleasure for me to be a part of her cover reveal. I am thrilled to introduce to you the cover of the contemporary young adult novel If You Find Me.

Isn’t it gorgeous? Don’t you want to read it already, just from the cover? Here’s more:

 

A broken-down camper at the Obed Scenic and Wild River National Park – dubbed the Hundred Acre Wood – is the only home fifteen-year-old Carey has ever known.

Sure, coping with a bipolar mother on meth is no picnic, but beneath the sun-dazzled canopies of Hickory and Walnut, Carey’s violin transports her from their bare-bones existence in the same way her little sister, Jenessa, finds comfort in her stash of second-hand Pooh books.

Life is dependable that way, until Mama goes into town for supplies and vanishes off the face of Tennessee, sending social services in her wake with a one-way ticket back to their father – a stranger in an even stranger world.

If You Find Me (formerly The Patron Saint of Beans) will be released on April 2nd, 2013, by St. Martin’s Griffin.

And, because Emily is who she is, a portion of all proceeds will be donated to benefit Taylor Hendrix’s Christmas Project. Seventeen-year-old Taylor, battling osteosarcoma, gathers gifts in backpacks to brighten the spirits of cancer teens in hospital during the Christmas holidays.

So – who wants a free, signed arc of this fabulous book?Entering is really simple. All you need to do to be entered in a drawing is the following:

1) Tweet a link back to this post

2) Tell me in the comments that you have done so.

3) If you’re not on Twitter, just drop on over to Emily’s blog and leave her a comment, and then leave a comment here to let me know you’ve done that.

That’s it! It can’t get any easier, right? The contest closes at midnight on July 4th. All names will go in a hat and my Viking will randomly choose one.

Emily tells me that if you drop over to her blog, Lefty in my Write Mind, there will be a little something extra, so zip on over and have a look. You can also follow her on Twitter.