Sunday, March 16, 2014

Surf's up Thursday!

As I write to you, here on this Sunday night in mid-March, it's snowing outside. Again. This is approximately the 273rd time it has snowed here in the mid-Atlantic this winter, and I am pretty much sick and tired of it.

But there's a ray of hope that warmer days are coming. Just yesterday, I ran errands without a jacket. Today, before the snow began, I saw a robin! And this Thursday, March 20th, is promising for two reasons: it's the spring equinox, which is the traditional first day of spring in the U.S.; and it's the day Undertow will be released.*

The events in this book occur over Labor Day weekend (for non-U.S. folks, that's the weekend preceding the first Monday in September) in 2023. It's the last big summer weekend, and a lot of people spend it at the beach. So to celebrate both the release of the book (which, coincidentally, is set in Norfolk and Virginia Beach, VA) and the end to this freakishly long winter, I'm throwing a virtual beach party on Facebook next Saturday, March 22nd, from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern time.

I have lots of stuff planned. I've pulled together a playlist of beach music, and a number of my fellow indie authors have generously donated copies of their books as prizes for the games we'll be playing. I've got some other fun prizes, too. And we're getting things cranked up already. The caterer is  setting out the food, and we're recruiting lifeguards and nominating cabana boys and girls, and talking about who should play Tess, Sue and Darrell.

Of course, we'll have door prizes, too. But because Facebook gets cranky when you try to post a contest there, I'm putting the Rafflecopter for the door prizes here on the blog. I'm going to be giving away a $25 Amazon gift card and two $5 Amazon gift cards. All you have to do to enter is let me know you're planning to come to the party. Simple enough, right?

The usual and customary hearth/myth giveaway rules apply, to wit:

1. Friends and family may definitely enter.
2. Winners of previous contests may win again.
3. There will be winners. I am getting this stuff out of my house, one way or the other.
4. As always, the judge's decisions are arbitrary, capricious, and final.

Hope to see you Saturday! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

*By the way, you can pre-order Undertow right now at both B&N and iTunes for 99 cents. On Thursday, the price goes up everywhere to $2.99. (Editing to indicate that the 99-cent deal is not available at Smashwords. Sorry for the confusion -- it was totally my fault.)

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These moments of bloggy springtime certainty have been brought to you, as a public service, by Lynne Cantwell.

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