Amanda Hocking

The Valentine’s Day Giveaways (both of them) have finished, and the winners have been chosen. They are being notified by email, so keep an eye out on your email today.

The winners’ first name and the first initial of their last name are displayed on the Rafflecopter entry on the Valentine’s Day blog, so you can check there too. Please reply to the email within 72 hours, so I can get the prizes out to you next week.

Thanks to everyone who entered, and it was really great seeing all of your comments. This time, you also voted on what were your favorite songs from the Tidal soundtrack, your favorite cover for the Watersong novels, and your favorite characters in the books. You also suggested songs you’d like to see on the soundtrack, and I picked my top picks of your picks (let’s say picks a few more times, just for fun).

So here are the winners:

Favorite Cover:

1. Tidal – featuring Daniel and Penn – won by a landslide. It got three times as many votes as either of the other two books. It is also the only one that has Daniel on the cover, so that makes sense to me.
2. Wake – featuring Gemma – came in second.
3. Lullaby – featuring Harper – was a very close third, nearly tying with Wake.

Favorite Character: 

1. Daniel – but only by a tight lead above Gemma.
2. Gemma – very close second.
3. Harper – trailed slightly behind her sister.
4. Alex – finished out the top four.
5. Marcy – She only got two votes, but I still think she’s neat.

 
Favorite Songs from the Tidal Soundtrack:

1. Mumford & Sons – “White Blank Page” was the clear winner, getting twice as many votes as the third place winner, and this comes right after their big win on the Grammy’s means they are really on a roll. 
2. Civil Wars – “Poison & Wine” is a great song. 
3. Imogen Heap – “Tidal” got the third place, and as the inspiration of the title for the third novel in the Watersong series, I’m glad to see she placed. (Fun fact: Another one of her songs “The Walk” helped inspire the Trylle novels, particularly some of the end chapters in Switched).

 
My Top Picks from Your Soundtrack Suggestions:

1. Anna Ternheim – “No, I Don’t Remember.” I’d never heard the song before, or at least I don’t recall hearing it, although it was on the Alan Wake soundtrack and I played the game. It’s a really nice, though, and I think it definitely ties in with some of the things coming up in Tidal.
2. Imagine Dragons – “Demons.” I love their song “It’s Time,” but I was unfamiliar with this one. It’s a good song, and I think it fits Gemma.
3. Death Cab for Cutie – “I Will Follow You Into the Dark.” I love Death Cab. I love this song. It totally works for Harper in relation to Gemma, or Daniel in relation to Harper, or Alex in relation to Gemma. So it fits, and it’s beautiful. 

It was really awesome seeing what you guys think, and what you guys have came up with. In future giveaways, I think I’ll definitely do more stuff like this. There will be more giveaways in the future (not sure when yet), and I have a really fun month-long event planned before the release of Tidal in June. Probably one of the funnest things I’ve done yet.

But thanks again to everyone who participated!

Hey if you haven’t checked out the Valentine’s Day Giveaway, you ought to, because it ends soon, and I’m giving away ARCs of Tidal.

So I’m trying to blog more, just for funsies, and keep you updated on all the excitement that is my life.

Here’s a tidbit of the excitement that is my life:

I have to wear my glasses today, as opposed to my contacts because my eye is bugging me. Now the whole world looks slightly farther away that it normally does.

I’ve been reading The Sandman, and the volume I finished the other day was about Midsummer Night’s Dream, which makes me want to see it again. I enjoy the movie, and although it has Sam Rockwell, Christian Bale, and Kevin Kline – three of my all-time favorite actors – it’s just not the same on film as it is in person. I told Eric that I want to start a theater company, and just put that play on every weekend, so I can watch it all the time, and Eric said that would probably lose a lot of money.

This song has been playing almost nonstop over the past weekend:

The music video for Cobra Starship’s song “#1Nite” is missing from my phone and iTunes, and I can’t rebuy it, and I spent a great deal of time this weekend trying to discover what happened to it. I eventually just downloaded it from the interwebs, but it caused me great pain to do this. I feel kinda okay about, though, because I actually did already pay for the video, and it just got stolen from me somehow.

I’ve been working on a new book, which excites me greatly, but I won’t say anymore about it until I know if/when/where it will be published. But work has been fun lately, and that’s good. Some days are less fun than others, so it’s good when days are more fun.

Kiersten White’s new book Mind Games is coming out tomorrow. I’m excited to get it, and I’m going to try to hold off and read it this weekend as a treat for myself for getting my allotted amount of writing/working out done. But we’ll see if can hold out.

Oh, I also got  a movie called Frankenstein Unbound, which I’d never heard of but it has Raul Julia and Michael Hutchence in it. I’m super psyched it watch it tonight. It also has Jason Patric, and I’ll find that a bit confusing, since Jason Patric has always reminded me of Michael Hutchence. Though Michael Hutchence is much foxier and also Australian. And if I have a dream guy, it would be an Australian musician. Or an Australian anything. Or maybe a British or South African guy. Yeah. Any of those.

And I listen to far too much INXS. Well, not too much, but an awful lot.

My mom (sometimes referred to as Mama Lewie by myself and my friends) is into making things. She makes minatures and dolls and doll clothes and kids clothes. Recently she made me this owl pillow:

Roswell Owlenton the Third and my cat Sophie

 And she liked it so much, she decided to make more. She’s started a store on Etsy, and she’s selling some owls, and she’s currently working on making more things, like potholders and tablet covers. She has many patterns and many ideas, and loads of fabric. My aunt is also making things, and she will be selling them there as well. (I think my aunt so far is mainly making clothes sized for American Girl Dolls but I’m not 100% sure).

So if you like awesome things, like Roswell Owlenton the Third, then you should totes check out my mom’s store at Etsy and buy things. Click here to check out here store: MommaLewieCrafts.

This is an owl pillow currently for sale at my mom’s Etsy store.

In 1986, John Hughes came out with the classic teen flick Pretty in Pink. I usually tell people that Breakfast Club is my favorite of his films because I think it sounds better, but the fact is, I love Pretty in Pink more. (If somehow you have not seen this amazing movie in the past 27 years it’s been out, be forewarned that there will be many, many spoilers in this blog).

The first time I saw it, I had to be maybe about 12-years-old, and I was whole-heartily Team Duckie (the best friend-pseudolove interest played by Jon Cryer). He was funny and devoted and ridiculoous, and I thought Andie (Molly Ringwald) would one day realize she loved him as much as he loved her too.

I watched the film many times over throughout the years, and I noticed that somewhere around age 18-19, I switched to Team Blane. Andrew McCarthy is definitely foxier than Jon Cryer, but more than that, he was sweet and willing to defy social barriers to be with Andie. And I do think there was more chemistry between Andie and Blaine, than Andie and Duckie, who really had about as much chemistry as most siblings do.

But as of late, I’ve come to realize that I am 110% Team Steff (Blane’s jerk of a best friend played by James Spader). Part of it is for the obvious reason, in that James Spader is just ridiculously sexy in that movie. Like crazy hot. Like he’s a shirtless yuppie shark. He’s the kind of guy Patrick Bateman wished he was (but much less murder-y of course).

In the original ending of Pretty in Pink, Andie actually did choose Duckie. But it didn’t test well with audiences, and Molly Ringwald was dating Andrew McCarthy at the time, and John Hughes thought it sent a bad message about classes not mixing. So he reshot it with Andie ending up Blaine.

But there was never an option of her ending up with Steff. In fact, it’s not even hinted as possibility in the movie. And for good reason. Steff is a major jerk to Andie. He treats her like crap, and Andie – with morals and high-self esteem – rejects all of his overtones toward her, and rightfully so.

I’m not saying that Andie should end up with Steff – he was a jerk, and if he’d won her, he never were appreciated her. His journey is in losing her, and in that act, he can become someone better. She’s right not to pick him.

But realistically, neither Duckie or Blaine were great choices either. Duckie is probably gay. Or at best, he’s so obsessive that he borders on a stalker, and she’s completely disinterested in him. A long-term relationship would be her treating him like a doormat until he snaps and kills her.

And Blaine, while sweet and cute, is as dry as toast. When challenged, he’s meek and backs down. If he didn’t have those adorable eyes and nice hair, he’d blend right into the wallpaper. He and Andie will date for awhile, but break up over college. They’ll meet up years later, when she’s a semi-successful magazine editor or writer. He’ll be married with some sweet, pretty, but totally bland girl from his social standing, and he’ll do Doctors Without Borders or something equally noble. But there will be no passion. He and Andie will remain friendly for years, but that’s all.

But Steff – that’s a story. He did care about Andie, probably as much as Blane or Duckie, but he didn’t have the emotional capacity to express it. He was raised by distant nannies and absentee parents, has no idea who to be vulnerable with another person, and when he meets Andie, he hits on her in his usually cocky fashion, and she smartly shuts him down. But Steff is genuinely hurt by this, and spends the rest of the film unable to grasp how to get her affections so he lashes out at her in his confusion and hurt.

Yeah, he’s creepy. He’s a jerk. She shouldn’t date him. But at least he’s interesting. Andie’s rebuff – along with the great speech Blane gives him when he figures out that Steff’s problem with Andie isn’t that he hates her but that he’s in love with her – might actually give Steff the motivation to change. He can be a stronger, better person.

Andie and Blane are like that couple in A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickson – Lucie Manett and Charles Darnay. They were both incredibly moral and wonderful and above all the backstabbing and games of the aristocracy. They’re magical little threads of perfection, and they’re also totally dull.

But it’s Sydney Carton – the cynic who looks like Charles Darnay – that makes Two Cities interesting, and it’s Steff who is much like Sydney. Admittedly, in the book, Sydney has a chance to redeem himself, and in the end, dies a hero for saving the happiness of his true love.

Steff never does that in Pretty in Pink, but I’d like to believe that he does later. After the prom, when he realizes exactly what he lost by being a total douche, and he has a change of heart and does something really seslfless after that. Like maybe anonymously getting his family to give a huge scholaraship to Andie.

I don’t know. But the point is that Steff has the glimmer and the potential to become something better. Blane and Duckie are already at the zenith of their existence.

And that’s my argument for Steff. He’s not the best choice for Andie, but he’s definitely the hottest and most interesting character in Pretty in Pink.

I love Valentine’s Day. Hearts, flowers, candy – it’s all wonderful. People get bent all out of shape about being single or greeting card companies forcing it on us, but the truth is that another day that serves as a reminder to tell people you love them can’t be all bad. Plus, I love sending flowers and getting flowers.

Besides, book boyfriends are almost always better than a real thing, so it got me thinking about how much I’ve loved writing the Watersong series, and the boys that live in that Capri (especially Daniel, rawr).

And since I love Valentine’s Day and Watersong so much, I thought that I should combine the two and share the love with everyone by having not one but two separate giveaways.

The first giveaway is a Valentine’s Day & Watersong Beginners Package. It will include a signed hardcover of both Wake and Lullaby, along with several other Valentine’s Day goodies, like bookmarks, a card with a personalized message, candy, and a couple other surprises.

I’ll giving away THREE Valentine’s Day & Watersong Beginners Packages (maximum one prize per entrant), and you can enter below. The giveaway will run from today until February 20th at 11:59 pm. Sorry, contest open to US residents only.
 
The second giveaway is a Valentine’s Day & Tidal Package. Much like the other giveaway, this one includes a signed hardcover of both Wake and Lullaby, along with the other Valentine’s Day goodies, but this one has the added bonus of including a signed ARC of Tidal – the third book in the Watersong series that won’t be out in harcover and ebook until June 2013.

I’m also going to have a couple different ways to enter, including suggesting songs for a Watersong soundtrack and sharing the awesome trailer for the series. I’ll be giving away TWO Valentine’s Day & Tidal Packages (maximum one prize per entrant), and you can enter below. The giveaway will run from today until February 20th at 11:59 pm. Sorry, contest open to US residents only.

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