October Book Giveaway Winner!

Random.org says the winner of It's Raining Cupcakes by Lisa Schroeder is: MaDonna Maurer!

You have 30 days to claim your prize, MaDonna. No later than November 18, email me at marcia at marciahoehne dot com, giving me your postal address, and I'll acknowledge receipt and get that right out to you!

Cool Writing Quotes

Enter to win It's Raining Cupcakes by Lisa Schroeder through October 17! Scroll down one post.

There are lots of cool quotes, but writing quotes are ultra-cool because they're written by, well, writers! Here are some I like:

• How many normal people do you know who would work 80 to 100 hours a week, 7 days a week, with no benefits, for 2 paychecks a year, and not know the amount of the checks until the publisher decides to send a statement?----Joe Moore
• Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.----Apostle John
• I hated childhood, and spent it sitting behind a book waiting for adulthood to arrive.----Anne Tyler
• When you write, you lay out a line of words. The line of words is a miner's pick, a woodcarver's gouge, a surgeon's probe. You wield it, and it digs a path you follow....Is it a dead end, or have you located the real subject? You will know tomorrow, or this time next year.----Annie Dillard
• My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses for the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.----Sons of Korah
• One sign of the born writer is his gift for finding or (sometimes) inventing authentically interesting language....He's interested in discovering the secrets words carry--for instance, how "discover" means "to take the cover off of."----John Gardner
• There is something in us, as storytellers and as listeners to stories, that demands the redemptive act, that demands that what falls at least be offered the chance to be restored.----Flannery O'Connor
• Of making many books there is no end.----King Solomon
• Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery.----Jane Austen
• A writer is a person for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.----Thomas Mann
• If any man wish to write in a clear style, let him be first clear in his thoughts; and if any would write in a noble style, let him first possess a noble soul.----Goethe
• Why do writers write? Because it isn't there.----Thomas Berger

I'm not a collector, but I could almost become a quote collector. What are your favorites?

October Book Giveaway

Everybody today travels -- even kids, right? Well, twelve-year-old Isabel, star of It's Raining Cupcakes by Lisa Schroeder, feels like a misfit in this department. She's never left the state of Oregon, and she spends a lot of time in the library, reading and dreaming about eating at restaurants in Athens or visiting the Swiss Alps. So what do her parents do? Buy an old laundromat, move the family into the upstairs apartment, and begin renovating the downstairs into Mom's new bakeshop venture, It's Raining Cupcakes. How can anyone expect to go on a real vacation when they're tied to a cupcake shop?

However, Isabel does like baking; it's the only thing she and her mom enjoy together. Mom has anxiety and pessimism issues -- a possible underlying reason why in this day and age Isabel has never been anywhere. When a baking contest comes up that will send the winner to New York City, Isabel is ecstatic to enter. The trouble is, her best friend Sophie is entering too, and lovable though Sophie is, she's a natural winner at everything. Plus, Mom expects Isabel to enter a cupcake recipe to promote the shop, and she'd rather bake chocolate jam tarts.

The writing flows effortlessly, the cover is hugely attractive to girls, the story capitalizes on the current popularity of cupcakes, and there are recipes in the back. A fun book! 

To be entered in the drawing:

• Comment on this post anytime from now through Sunday, October 17.
  
• For an additional entry, become a follower of this blog and mention that in the comment. Ditto if you already are a follower.
• For additional entries, post links to this contest and give the URLs.

Winner will be announced Monday, October 18.

So, come one, come all--and meanwhile have a great day in the world of books.