I’ve been putting off writing this post, mostly because it is related to a friend who is suffering, and sometimes I can be like a child. If I don’t admit the suffering, it isn’t happening. But it is happening. As she has recently written about, the lovely and talented L.K. Madigan was diagnosed with stage IV pancreatic cancer. And while I may want to run screaming “La la la la la la I can’t hear you!” into the wind, she is handling it with courage and grace.

Lisa and I met through the 2009 Debutantes, a group of writers who had their first YA or MG book coming out in 2009. For me, it was a support group. We are all family, and Lisa is one of our many hearts. When we heard about her diagnosis, we wanted to do something, and Cindy Pon came up with the idea of spreading the love.

Basically, we want to get the word out about Lisa and her books, Morris winner Flash Burnout and her new release The Mermaid’s Mirror. If you help to spread the love about her books, you will be entered to win one of forty sets of her books from the Debs.

So, blog, tweet, review, etc. and then go to this post and explain what you did and you will be entered.

And, as if that weren’t enough, her publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, is stepping up to the plate with a giveaway just for libraries. Budgets are tight, library friends: an email can win you two free books!

It’s your last chance to win cool prizes from the Debs:

What are you waiting for? Go enter!

It’s Debsness time again! This is your penultimate chance to win silly goodies from all of the Debs.

If you are a librarian, don’t forget to enter our contest to win 46 brand new books!

I’ve never done a Friday Five before, and I might not do one again. I just happen to have multiple things to mention today.

1. I am guest blogging at Hope’s Bookshelf today. In honor of her birthday, I actually share something from the journal I kept in high school.

2. Hope is also hosting a giveaway of Secrets of Truth & Beauty. Go on over and enter to win your free copy!

3. I don’t often post links to my reviews in the blog, but this one really touched me. I think we write to reach others and to be understood, and this review makes me feel like I succeeded.

4. I got my contributor copy for the Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Marketplace, and man that is one useful book, no matter where you are in your writing career. Sara Zarr’s essay on revision was particularly eloquent, and I’m looking forward to Ellen Wittlinger’s piece on including GLBT characters.

5. Laurie Halse Anderson is encouraging people to write every day in August. I admit I haven’t managed to do it (writing under the influence of the post-wisdom teeth extraction painkillers seemed a bad idea), but I’m finding her prompts quite inspiring.

That was fun and linky. Maybe I will do it again.

I ran the entries through ye olde random number generator, and we have a winner of the Find Secrets of Truth & Beauty in the Mall Contest!

Alexa

Congrats, Alexa!

Every summer I meet up with my best friends from high school, and that happened this past weekend. Basically, I went away and missed the end of my own contest.

So . . .I am offering one frenzy of a last minute extension of entry time!

If you are already entered, and want more entries, get more people to fan my facebook page! For every person you recruit, you get a new entry. When they become a fan, just have them leave a comment here telling me you referred them. Or you can leave the comment. I trust you.

If you have not yet entered, what are you waiting for?

Sweetening the deal – Hyperion sent me copies of the poster, so the winner will also get one copy of the poster to hang in their room, library, bookstore, wherever! This is in addition to the signed copy of Secrets of Truth & Beauty and one of the following books:

• Don’t Judge a Girl by Her Cover by Ally Carter
• Revelations by Melissa de la Cruz
• Kiss of Life by Daniel Waters
• Deadly Little Secret by Lauri Faria Stolarz
• The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks by E. Lockhart

You have until midnight tonight, so enter, enter, enter!

I am on vacation for a few days more, but wanted to pop in to remind people to enter the Find Secrets of Truth & Beauty in the Mall contest. I’ve had many facebook entries, but so far no one has found the poster in the mall. Sadness. To help you out, here are some cities where I know the poster is in at least some of the malls in the greater metro area. It isin other places, too, but these are the biggest cities:

• Atlanta
• Baltimore
• Chicago
• Dallas
• Denver
• Los Angeles
• Minneapolis/St. Paul
• Nashville
• New York
• Philadelphia
• Phoenix
• St. Louis
• Tampa
• Washington, DC

You know where it’s not? Maine! So I am counting on you to find it for me. For all the details, and to enter, click here.

My little contest got a mention in Publisher’s Weekly — as if you needed more of an incentive to enter. I hope this article inspires some really fun and creative photographs. So head out to your mall and find that poster!

Here’s your chance to win a copy of Secrets of Truth & Beauty and another great YA book!

Hyperion Teens is running an ad campaign in malls promoting several of their books, including Secrets of Truth & Beauty. So, I decided to hold a little contest. It’s pretty simple: find the poster, take your picture with it, and post it on your blog.

Here’s the nitty gritty:
How to Enter:

Go to your local mall and look at the posters on the directories. If you see something that looks roughly like this:

Take a picture of yourself with it (you can cover your face if you like to be all incognito.)

Then post that picture to your blog, myspace page, facebook page, etc., and email me (megan @ meganfrazer.com) or post a comment here letting me know that you have a picture posted.

But wait . . .

What if you don’t live near a mall, or have a supreme aversion to them, or your mall isn’t one with one of these posters in it? Well you can also enter by going to my facebook page and becoming a fan. (If you’re already a fan, just let me know you want to be entered).

If you post a picture AND become a facebook fan, well, that’s two entries.

The deadline: The promotion ends August 16th, so this contest will end then, too.

Who can enter? Anyone with a US Mailing address.

The Prize: I promised two books, so what’s the other one? Pick one of the other books featured in the ad, and it’s yours! You can choose from:

• Don’t Judge a Girl by Her Cover by Ally Carter
• Revelations by Melissa de la Cruz
• Kiss of Life by Daniel Waters
• Deadly Little Secret by Lauri Faria Stolarz
• The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks by E. Lockhart

If you win, you get to pick. So that’s two books for something as simple as becoming a fan on facebook, or as fun as taking a goofy picture of yourself at the mall. And really, the goofier the better. I may just throw in a subjective prize for my favorite picture.

Good luck and have fun at the mall. Have an Auntie Annie’s pretzel for me!

Launch Party!

I’m having a party and you’re all invited!

What: Launch Party for Secrets of Truth & Beauty

When: Wednesday July 8th at 7:00 pm.

Where: RiverRun Bookstore in Portsmouth, NH

What’s in it for you: yummy goat cheese treats, door prizes, and happiness.

If you are a facebook person, you can RSVP here (I think).

Also . . . a contest!

The first person to see my book in the wild and send me a picture will win a copy of Secrets of Truth & Beauty! Just send your picture to megan @ meganfrazer.com (Librarians and booksellers are eligible, you just need to see the book at a library or bookstore other than your own).