Dowser 4 – giveaway #3 – three chocolate bars and an eARC

GIVEAWAY CLOSED. WINNER: Loredena from Georgia, USA!

Welcome to the third of five days of giveaways leading up to the release of Shadows, Maps, and Other Ancient Magic (Dowser 4).

Giveaway #3 – three chocolate bars and an eARC of Dowser 4

Three of my … err, Jade’s favourite chocolate bars of all time! Single-Origin. Madagascar. 70% and 75% cocoa.

ENTRY QUESTION: Where do Jade, Kandy, and Drake buy way too much chocolate in London? (At what chocolatier?)

Comment on this blog post to be entered to win. Contest closes Feb 24, 2015 7 a.m PST

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General Notes: OPEN INTERNATIONALLY. Each giveaway will be open for 24 hours. The winner will be selected by skill-testing question and random number generator. I will announce the correct answer and the winner after 8 a.m. PST.

To enter: comment on the giveaway post with the answer to the question. IMPORTANT: make sure to put your email address in the email section of the comment form.

Each comment will be assigned a number according to time of entry and the correct answer to the question. Hints will be provided if necessary. Each giveaway consists of a prize and an eARC of Dowser 4. The prize will be mailed to the winners, and a coupon code will be provided for the eARC. One entry per person. One prize per person.

A read-a-long with the author: Cupcakes (Etc)

I’m about to send The Oracle #1 off to the editor – yay – and dig back into writing Dowser #4. Yes, I have titles for both of those books and I will release them soon as well.

During the next couple of weeks as I write Dowser #4 I’m going to be doing some fun things that I thought you might like to know about and/or participate in.

Starting Wednesday, I’m reading through the first three Dowser books. I’ll download them on my iPad, sit down, and actually read them as if I was … well, a reader. I’ll share my favourite quotes and thoughts about certain sections as I read. Perhaps you will have questions yourself? Or favourite quotes to share?

I’ll start a new post here on the blog and a new thread on my Facebook page for each book as I read.

I’m expecting to start Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic on Wednesday. The ebook is perma-free everywhere if you haven’t grabbed it yet (links on the book page). I’m a fast reader, so I expect to have it done in a day, barring any other work that needs my attention. Then I’ll read Trinkets (Etc) and then Treasures (Etc).

The second thing I’m going to be doing is testing some new cupcakes – specifically with some wild blackberries I picked the other day. It has been suggested that my readers may want to participate in this process and perhaps even come up with a name or two, so we will do that as well 🙂

Third, and most importantly because Jade needs new chocolate for Dowser 4, I will be test tasting these:

I know I’m such a martyr for my craft. Yes – if you didn’t already know it from my Facebook post – I went a little crazy and dented my credit card pretty hard at Xocolat right before we moved. Did I mention we just picked up and moved to Salt Spring Island? No? Well, we did. It’s an adventure (more on that later).

I will select a chocolate bar a day … or two or three a day if I run into something I don’t like enough to eat plain (I bake with any chocolate I don’t love enough to just eat). I’ll share the bar and my tasting notes on Facebook and do a digest version here.

Fun, yes?

Okay, so it all begins Wednesday with reading Cupcakes (Etc).

I hope you join me!

March 14, 2011 – Thought of the day…

LOCATION: home office, Vancouver, BC, Canada

WEATHER: Rain – currently pouring – though seconds ago the sun attempted a break through.

TODAY’S TO DO LIST: flesh out new idea for AFTER THE VIRUS prequel **Note: can it be called a prequel if the storylines eventually overlap? Will need to check into that, eventually, if the story makes it beyond brainstorming.

PROGRESS: Null – have been answering phone calls and emails instead.

MUSIC: Fidelity (youtube video) by Regina Spektor – will mostly likely be on repeat while I brainstorm, which was very helpful last writing session.

EATING: Raisin & Hazelnut Milk Chocolate Bar (Green & Black’s Organic to be specific). Gone now, was only ½ a bar.

READING: nothing currently, but have the ASTONISHING X-MEN vol. 6, FELL & IGNITION CITY on my desk. The fact that Astonishing is also written by Ellis is coincidental, though he, as a writer, was recommended to me the other day – hence the other two titles.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: I’m wondering about the house across the street, which, today, seems to be under going a (minor) renovation. A few months ago, the homeowner carried drywall and some lumber into the house, and then, a couple of days later the house, which looks to be of fairly new construction, was listed for sale. It sold. The owners moved out. No one moved in. The house was re-listed. It sold, again. New owners moved in. The house is now empty (again) (I seemed to have missed the moving in/out part). More construction is now taking place, more woodcutting, tradesman vehicles, and perhaps an appliance of some sort was just delivered. I am waiting to see if the sale sign returns after today.

I am really, really hoping the house is haunted or perhaps it’s an alternate universe anchor point, but it is probably just water/leak/mold issues.

Too bad.

Also, not as interesting, so it really shouldn’t be holding so much of my attention today.

Oh, look the sun is making another attempt…