My Favorite Room (And news about Espressologist the web series and a book sale at the bottom!)

Hey Author2Author readers!

I've been MIA for quite awhile. It seems I can't to do too many things at once. We moved in mid-April and the process of getting all of the stuff for 6 people packed and moved was enormous for me! I barely got any writing done. Ok, I didn't write at all during that process. But we're all moved in and I'm getting back to work now. I've been working on the first book in a middle grade series, making notes on a new middle grade book that I'm super excited about, and starting edits on a young adult book. And of course enjoying summer with the kids.

I wanted to share my favorite room in our new house: the library. I've always wanted a library! And this one comes with a coffee bar so I'm hooked (ok, they used it as a library/wine room, but you know me: coffee, coffee, coffee!). Anyway, it's a little room right off of the family room and the kids (and me) love to go in here to read. Here are some pics.

 (looking in)

 (the coffee bar)

(cute window to sit by)

(kids fave place to read)

(up close of the books. Still a work in progress as I keep finding boxes of books in the house)

In other updates, in May Alloy Digital announced the web series, Espressologist, at Digital Content Newsfronts, which was SO cool!. You can read about that here. They included some new details about the script:

"Based on the popular book by Kristina Springer, The Espressologist mixes one part Central Perk from Friends with a splash of Jane Austin’s Emma to create a series brimming with humor and heart.

Working at her neighborhood coffee shop as a barista, twenty-something Chelsea has a front-row seat to people and their crazy, entertaining lives. Always an astute observer of human nature, Chelsea stumbles upon a methodology that makes a love connection between her customers’ personalities and their drink orders. This comedic series follows Chelsea as the stakes are raised and her bizarre dating formula leads to more people (namely friends and co-workers) looking for Chelsea to replicate her success. But will she ever make a match for herself?"

So excited to see the book come to life!

There is also some great sales on my books this week. On Amazon, the paperback of The Espressologist is only $3.60. Just Your Average Princess in hard cover is $6.40. And The Paparazzi Project is on sale for 99 cents at B&N and Amazon.

Thanks for reading all the way through this lengthy post. More soon from me, I promise!

Kristina, Miss Author in Action

Blog Hops

Tip of the Day: Did you catch the news about my forthcoming release? Check it out here. And then add it your book shelf on Goodreads. :-)

Under the advice of our fellow A2Agirl Megg, I recently took part in a blog hop hosted by I am a Reader, Not a Writer. I'd never even heard of a blog hop before Megg told me about them and now that I've done it I'd totally do it again. It's such a clever idea. Basically the host gathers together people with a similar sort of giveaway and using linky, links their blogs together. So, the one I did was for clean reads and I gave away a signed copy of Just Your Average Princess (which really anyone 11 and up can read). There were over 100 participating blogs and people wanting to partake in the contests just hopped from blog to blog entering the giveaways.

So why did I love this blog hop so much? Because it was the best giveaway I've had to date. And I've been doing giveaways for over three years now. Normally I get anywhere from 5-20 entries in any given giveaway. Even when the stuff I'm giving away is really good. For one of my earlier contests that I did, I gave away a signed book, bookmarks, chocolate covered espresso beans, and a $25 gift card for a bookstore. I also had second and third place prizes. Guess how many entries I had? Three. Yep, everyone was a winner. But doing this blog hop I had 373 entries! Talk about a big boost. I also gained a large number of followers both on my blog and twitter. And I saw lots of tweets about my giveaway that week too. Definitely a worthwhile way to promo your blog/books.

Kristina, Miss Author in Action

Stuff I Want to Do in 2012

Tip of the Day: Want a chance to win a signed copy of JUST YOUR AVERAGE PRINCESS? Follow me on my personal blog and comment to let me know that you're following.

I suck at making goals. I faithfully wrote New Year's resolutions in my journal up until 2011 when I said screw it. Each New Year's Eve I'd look back at the previous year's goals and see that I never completed the majority of them. It just made me mad so I decided no more.

That doesn't mean there isn't stuff I want to do. Like sell another YA book. And finish writing the middle grade I'm working on right now. And then sell that too. That's not too much in a year right? I also want to finish writing this YA that I love, love, love. It's heavily outlined and several chapters are done so I can jump back into it any time. And I started outlining this awesome YA idea. Oh my gosh, it's such a good idea, I'm sure it would make a great book. So I wouldn't mind getting that written too this year. Oh, and I wrote synopsis for the first three books in a middle grade series. So how many books does that bring me to now...6 or 7? Easy peasy! Not. See? This is how I set myself up to fail. There's so much I want to do but I don't know what I'll have the time to accomplish. But I guess it's better to have a lot of projects in queue rather than be struggling to come up with something right?

Ok, so in 2012, my plans are to get a lot of stuff written. I hope you write a lot of stuff too!

Kristina, Miss Author in Action

Competing Cousins! (or Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better*)

*with apologies to Irving Berlin

** DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE A COMMENT FOR A CHANCE TO WIN A COPY OF JUST YOUR AVERAGE PRINCESS!!!! THE MORE COMMENTS YOU LEAVE THIS WEEK, THE BETTER YOUR CHANCE OF WINNING.

Tip of the Day: Looking for a cute town with charm and a Koffee Haus that lets you write at their tables all day for a writing retreat? Try Frankenmuth, MI!

I don't remember too many family "competitions" in my teens, but I do recall being a tween and receiving bags of hand-me-downs from "cooler" older kids, like our cousins or family friends, and my sister and I, who were the same size (she's 17 months older than me) would scramble through the bags, trying to claim the "best" stuff for each of us. If Mom caught wind of the situation, she'd tell us to SHARE all the clothes, but once they were in the dresser drawer and morning came, the race to get the "best" shirt could be on! I specifically remember these two sweatshirts with pandas on them that just SCREAMED cool. :)

My sister may read this and remember it differently, but at the time, having the cool clothes from our older cousins seemed soooo important!

What did you compete for with your relatives as a tween or teen?

Comment on any and all posts this week, Monday-Thursday, for a chance to win a copy of the hilarious and perfect-for-the-pumpkin-patch-season JUST YOUR AVERAGE PRINCESS!

Deena, Miss Subbing for Pubbing

Baby Pics!!

Tip of the Day: Are you going to Anderson's 8th Annual Young Adult Literature Conference this Saturday? It's my first time (I'm on two panels) and there is a list of amazing authors attending!

Look what I got in the mail this week! It's a finished copy of Just Your Average Princess!


Sometimes I'm totally on board with ebooks and how easy they are to download onto my ipad and how I can store a ton of them on there and they're so convenient. But then I get to hold a new baby and I fall in love.

Isn't it so cute?! I love the yellow binding with the blue letters and the fun font.

I a million times over love all the vines and stuff all over the back cover and on the inside pages.

I love that they pulled part of the story and put it on the back of the book. And it's a good part too.

And I love the page where I sign. It's so so so cute!

So yeah, I'm awfully proud of my new baby and glad to have her home. Next week I'll post pictures of her first bath, first bottle, and grandma holding her. Ok, no I won't.

Look for Just Your Average Princess in stores on 10/11/11!

kRISTINA, mISS aUTHOR iN aCTION