YASH – Red Team

Welcome to YA Scavenger Hunt! This bi-annual event was first organized by author Colleen Houck as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors…and a chance to win some awesome prizes! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize–one lucky winner will receive one book from each author on the hunt in my team! But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for 72 hours!

Red Team

Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are eight contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the RED TEAM–but there is also a red team, an orange team, a gold team, a green team, a teal team, a blue team, a purple team, and a pink team for a chance to win a whole different set of books!

If you’d like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page.

SCAVENGER HUNT PUZZLE
 
Directions: Below, you’ll notice that I’ve hidden my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the blue team, and then add them up (don’t worry, you can use a calculator!).
Entry Form: Once you’ve added up all the numbers, make sure you fill out the form here to officially qualify for the grand prize. Only entries that have the correct number will qualify.
Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian’s permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by DATE, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.
SCAVENGER HUNT POST
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Today, I am hosting Eric Lindstrom on my website for the YA Scavenger Hunt!
Eric Lindstrom writes Young Adult novels but has worked in the interactive entertainment industry for years as a creative director, game designer, writer, and combinations of all three. He also raised children, which led to becoming a school volunteer, then a substitute teacher, then a part time kindergarten teacher, then getting a teaching credential, and most importantly the discovery that Young Adult books are awesome. It’s pretty much all he ever reads, and now writes, in his house near the beach on the west coast, with his wife and, yes, cats.
Find out more information by checking out the author website or find more about the author’s book here!
EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
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Parker Grant doesn’t need 20/20 vision to see through you. That’s why she created the Rules: Don’t treat her differently because she’s blind, and never take advantage. There will be no second chances. So when Scott Kilpatrick, the boy who broke her heart years before, suddenly reappears in her life, Parker shuns him hard. She has enough on her mind, like trying out for the track team, doling out tough-love advice to her painfully naive classmates, and giving herself gold stars for every day she hasn’t cried since her dad’s death. But avoiding her past soon proves impossible, and the more Parker learns what really happened—both with Scott and her dad—the more she sees that she can’t run from her heartbreak forever.
EXCLUSIVE CONTENT

*EXPIRED*

CONTINUE THE HUNT
 

What fascinating research! Now, you just need to know three things to continue the hunt.

1. You need to know that my favorite number is 9!

2. You need to know that I am running a giveaway here. I am giving away a copy of my second novel INTERFERENCE. All you have to do is comment below to win. My book is set in fall in West Texas, a perfect time for Frito Pie (see my YASH post if you’ve never had it). What Fall treat do you look forward to? Contest is open internationally.

3. The last thing you need to know – the next author is the fabulous Jessica Brody!
Happy Hunting!
Kay

Reader Quizzes

It is almost summer, and you might have some time to kill. Here are some fun quizzes for readers to show off your inner book nerd.

Harry Potter – Staff Match – Match the name to their job – http://www.sporcle.com/games/FantasticBowTies/dont-be-late-for-your-lesson

Missing from the Cover – Fill in the Missing Word on the Cover – http://www.sporcle.com/games/michaelgeorgebar/missing-word-classic-juvenile-books-slideshow

Books by their first lines – http://www.sporcle.com/games/farishta/childrens_opening

YA Novels by Cover – http://www.sporcle.com/games/Chenchilla/everyone-loves-a-dystopian-novel

TV Book Mash Ups – http://www.sporcle.com/games/fakehaikuleper/tv-book-mashups

Books by Synonyms – http://www.sporcle.com/games/AshinaFlash1986/Child_Book_synonym

Dr. Suess by Opening Line – http://www.sporcle.com/games/Stanford0008/dr-seuss-book-by-line-clickable

There are many, many more hours of fun at http://www.sporcle.com/

 

 

 

YASH Spring 2016!

Welcome to YA Scavenger Hunt! If you haven’t done the hunt before, you are in for a treat – exclusive content from each author, prizes, books. Each post also has a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize–one lucky winner will receive one book from each author on the hunt in the RED TEAM! Play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online until Sunday!

Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are nine contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! Each team is a chance to win a whole different set of books!

If you’d like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page.

Continue reading “YASH Spring 2016!” →

All in a Day’s Work

I’ve been thinking a lot about what creative work looks like. A lot of the work that goes into a creative project wouldn’t be called “work” by most. Not because it is easy or fun (although some of it is), but because it doesn’t always have an immediate, tangible result. Here’s some of the work I did Friday (in chronological order). Continue reading “All in a Day’s Work” →

Friday Fascinations

I love the word fascination. I feel like it’s on the right side of space between obsession and blasé. It promises more curiosity than knowledge, and taps into a deeper layer of concentration and focus. It’s exciting and hopeful and interesting.  These fascinations feed my thinking and writing. So, for Friday, Something fascinating – Continue reading “Friday Fascinations” →

Reading Group Discussion Questions

I’ve had several requests recently for discussion questions for THE FIRE HORSE GIRL. Below is what I came up with. If you have any you had fun discussion in a classroom or at a book club, leave a comment below. Continue reading “Reading Group Discussion Questions” →

Unlocking Authentic Characters

Creating authentic characters can be one of the best building blocks for a story. If you create the right characters with plenty of potential conflict, it can help you build events that will be meaningful to the world and the characters who live in it. Continue reading “Unlocking Authentic Characters” →

First Pages

I am starting my third book. It can be hard to go back to the beginning of the process and start a whole new mess to clean up, so I collected all the drafts of the first page of Fire Horse Girl that I saved. Here a video of all the revisions that I could find (I am sure there were more) just for the first page. It made me feel a little better. 🙂  Continue reading “First Pages” →

Seeing People, Not Differences

Nerdy Book Club

When I first started writing The Fire Horse Girl, I obsessed over getting all the details right. The book opens on Chinese New Year, and I combed through every New Year tradition I could find and jammed most of them into the first chapter (don’t worry, Cheryl Klein, editor extraordinaire, saved readers from that monstrosity). I meticulously researched clothing, mannerisms, language patterns, traditions, and other cultural nuances because people said that these differences were important.

FireHorseGirl_CV-2There’s another reason I obsessed over differences. While I was writing The Fire Horse Girl, I was also in the process of adopting our son Jack. At the time, he was a three-year old little boy who I’d only seen in six pictures his orphanage in China sent. Between filling out immigration applications, fielding questions about why adoption took so long, and daydreaming about the day we would finally bring him home, I…

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