Life's a Beach!

Well . . .

It's here. IT'S HERE!!!

I can't believe it. But it is. My box of books arrived on Friday and I waited until my husband got home before I tore into it and held that thing in my hot little hands.

And now begins the month-long celebration as well as me trying to get the word out, because I'm a first-time author and we desperately need help with things like this.


First, to celebrate!  If you'd like to a chance to win a copy of my book, just click over here and leave a comment on my friends Jen and Autie's blog, iCandy Handmade. They have craft and sewing projects so cute I'd hate these girls if I didn't already really, really like them. Jen is one of my test readers and she keeps me in check. "No way, Melanie! Do NOT allow her to bake him cookies! That is such a cliche!"


Go ahead, I'll wait. All you gotta do is leave a comment and we'll pick a winner on Saturday.


Second, to spread the word. I'm a little odd in that I'm not super interested in getting people to come read my blog. I'm not trying to make money off of it, I have lots of blog friends I already enjoy, and I'm always pleased to meet new blog friends, but the point of all this isn't to get blog followers. It's to get the word out about my book. We'll start with the prizes, and then I'll tell you how you can win them.


First, this is my book:

Definitely not the first time you've seen it if you know me even a little bit. I love this cover. Love it.


Now, here's the thing. I don't know where this picture was shot, but it looks an awful lot like Huntington Beach, which is where the story is set. So this week's theme for the give aways is: Life's a Beach! Everything I give away will be connected both to the book and to the beach this week. You can be enlightened even as you score swag. Dope, right? (Yes, I totally just said that. I also run around saying, "Know what I'm saying, yo?" to my husband who does not find it as funny as I do.)


First prize up for grabs: A sweatshirt. Why? Beach fashion, my friends. In HB, everyone wear flip flops. Yes, you are a freak if you don't. When you're a couple of blocks from the sand at any given moment, it just makes sense. Also, you remove your shoes to go in most people's homes around here (see: sand). Flip flops make it easier. (Also, it's totally normal to walk into the grocery store and find half the women there shopping in "Daisy Dukes with bikinis on top." And no, I'm not exaggerating. Strangely enough, Katie Perry got that right.) But sometimes, like right now, the air is a tad cool, especially for the early morning jogs and the sunset strolls when the wind blows in off the ocean and it's chilly. It's never cold enough for coats (and I have some gorgeous ones I never wear), but sweatshirts are a staple. I'd say it's a toss up whether you're going to see more Hurley shirts, or Huntington Surf and Sport shirts. I think I'd give the edge to HSS (which, by the way, appears as Beach Sport Warehouse where Ashley's cousin Dave works in The List.) Now you can win your own HSS hoodie in a color and size (large) to please girls or guys:

Also up for grabs is your choice of one of these t-shirts (both mediums). I can't find a pic with the right colors, but it's either this one except in charcoal gray with light gray graphics (the reverse of the picture):

Or this one, only in a nice, crisp white, whichever you like: 

Next, in HB you'll see the hibiscus motif. Silk hair flowers, t-shirt graphics, seat covers for Jeeps, beach cruiser decals. Oh, and awesome handmade jewelry, like this necklace made by my stunningly gifted and blindingly handsome husband, Kenny:

You'll be able to pick your color, and whether you want a dark inlay or the reverse. There are two of these up for grabs this week. (You can also turn it into a cool key fob.) Now, Kenny surfs and that influenced his original design of the next necklace you can win. It's called the Monterey:

I know. You love it. Me, too.

The last thing up for grabs is another t-shirt, only this is for an activity that's a close cousin to surfing: skateboarding. I'm putting up a t-shirt from OC Ramps, the premiere skateboard ramp company in the industry. Tyler, the owner, is the coolest. He and Kenny are in a band together. Anyway, it'll be a youth size and trust me, your kids will be all over this. It's got some Cali cool cred, big time. My son wears his ALL THE TIME. It's a little disgusting, actually. But that's boys for you.

I know, I know. Your head is spinning. So how do you win all this cool stuff? Well, like I said, for the book all you have to do is comment on the iCandy post.

For the rest of it, you'll need to do at least one of the following things and you'll get extra entries for each additional thing you do. And I'm making it super easy for you with each thing, okay? 

1. Like my Facebook author page. Click below. That's it. No further action required. You don't have to tell me you did it. 

2. Click here and go visit my author website. Sign up for the newsletter to prove you were there. You'll only get it twice a year and the first one won't come out until the fall. You don't have to tell me you did it. I'll know. (Bonus for you: while you're there, you can read the first chapter of my book.)

3. Grab a button and throw it up on your blog. It's in the sidebar. Comment and tell me you did it.

4. You can blog and link to my website (not my blog, my website, although I'll give you points for linking to my blog if you'd just rather do that), then comment and tell me you did it.


And that's it. I don't need you to Facebook or Twitter about it, because ( and I'm just being honest here) . . . I tune that stuff out when other people do that. Unless you really want your friends to win cool stuff, then knock yourself out, but I'm not really tracking those, so you can just do it because you're being nice to your friends or something. And if I figure out that you did it, then I will think you are awesome for doing so. How's that for #winning? This week's contest ends Saturday.


Anyway, I'm so excited. It's waking me up out of sleep, my kids think I'm a rock star, and people are saying nice things about my writing. 


Guys, I'm living a dream come true!