Creepy Cake N Bake: My Heart Bleeds for You (plus winners!)

First of all, I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone who participated in my Betting on Yourself Contest. Each and every one of you are so brave, and you all have given me such strength and inspiration! This is a pretty courageous lot! That's why I've chosen two winners for the signed hardcover HEREAFTER and signed ARC of ARISE (when it's available this winter).

Poploli and Sara M, you both are incredibly brave - please send me your mailing addresses, via tara@tarahudson.com.

To celebrate you guys and this spooky season, I'm participating in something really awesome: the YA Authors Creepy Cake N' Bake-A-Thon! Be sure to check out the previous authors' posts, as well as the ones following mine, and comment on your favorite entry, below. You can comment on EVERY Cake N' Bake post, one entry per post, for a chance to win a $20 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble or an official Creepy Cake N' Bake doll! Please include your email in order to be entered to win.

Trophies will be awarded on Halloween for the top creeptastic creations. Winners will be chosen by our special celebrity judge, Adam Rex, author of such deliciously creepy creations as FAT VAMPIRE, FRANKENSTEIN TAKES THE CAKE, FRAKENSTEIN MAKES A SANDWICH and PSSST!

For the bake-a-thon, I decided to create a favorite of the guests as my annual Halloween party: the My Heart Bleeds for You Cake. But I also decided to make a few heart-babies to go along with the big momma heart. :)

You can find my inspiration (and the recipe) for the cake here, at Epicurious.com. Word to the wise: definitely use the cake recipe they provide, as cake mix is just too sticky/soft. I use their recipe for the overall pink frosting, but I like to cheat and buy tubes of grocery-store red and blue frosting for the veins. And just FYI, squeezable jelly makes the best blood! Here are my ghastly creations, pre- and post-surgery.

Check the list of the other contestants and their post dates so you don't miss any of the fun:

Mon Oct 3 Saundra Mitchell

Wed Oct 5 Stacey Jay

Fri Oct 7 Erin Dionne

Sat Oct 8 Sydney Salter

Mon Oct 10 Brenda Yovanoff

Wed Oct 12 Tara Hudson (me!)

Fri Oct 14 Karen Healey

Sat Oct 15 Robin Bridges

Mon Oct 17 Michelle Zink

Wed Oct 19 Julia Karr

Fri Oct 21 Victoria Schwab

Sat Oct 22 C. Lee McKenzie

Sun Oct 23 Emily Kristin Morse

Mon Oct 24 Natalie Zaman

Wed Oct 26 Stephanie Burgis

Fri Oct 28 Dawn Metcalf

I Feel a Contest Coming On...

Today I took a major step in my life, a step that explains my long absence from blogging. Mostly because I spent so much time hemming and hawing over whether or not I was making the right decision for myself and my family. Ultimately, I answered: yes, I was.

Today, I finished my last day of full-time employment at a corporation. Today, I became a full-time writer.

Today is a big day.

Of course, I've been a writer for a long time. And I've been a published writer since the day HEREAFTER was released. But before today, I hadn't yet decided to dedicate my career to writing. I hadn't taken the risk.

Writing, as we all know, is scary. It is hard, mentally exhausting, creatively challenging work. The publication process, too, is a roller-coaster of praise and punishment, as is the life of a published author. These are things I know and have experienced on a very personal level.

But to build my entire career on writing - something I love and respect and fear and crave so much? Well, that's a whole other ball of wax. It took a lot to get here.

So I'm challenging you to tell me the riskiest thing you've done for yourself - the moment you bet biggest on yourself. I'll choose the most daring, and that person will win a signed copy of HEREAFTER and a signed ARC of ARISE (when ARC's become available)!

NEWS! Lots of it!

Hey ya’ll! It’s been so long, and I have so much news, that I’m going to have to hold off until this weekend on posting about my adventures on my debut day, on my amazing Dark Days tour, and on my first signing in my home state of Oklahoma. (But if you’re pining for that info, Amy Plum of DIE FOR ME fame has a great series of posts about our tour, here.)

Instead, I’m going to give a smorgasbord of exciting news about HEREAFTER and the Hereafter trilogy. Awesome, right? So here we go:

1. I have a bajillion new signings in Oklahoma and Texas coming up, which means I get to meet more of you! I’ll be signing tomorrow night, July 14th, at 7 pm at the Barnes & Noble on 63rd & May in OKC. I’ll also be giving a Book Chat and mini-signing at the Latimer County Public Library in Wilburton, OK (yes, THAT Wilburton!) at 1 pm on July 30th. Then, on August 6th, I’ll be popping by Blue Willow Books in Houston, TX at 2 pm to signing some stock and say “hey” to anyone who comes by. Finally, I’ll have an all-out-signing at 4 pm on August 27th in Frisco, TX at the Stonebriar Mall Barnes & Noble, to coincide with their Back to School Event. Whew, right?

2. HEREAFTER is now out in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, which is just sort of incredibly awe-inspiring. Next up on the international list? Publication in Germany, as Wenn Du Mich Siehst (“If You See Me”) on August 29th. (Check out some more foreign sales in the column to the right, too, to see if HEREAFTER is coming to your country!)

3. I’m freaking pumped to be giving a radio interview to a certain, very cool Northeastern radio show next week…more details when I get the date that they’ll air the interview!

4. I’m lucky enough to moderate a first-ever LiveChat Bookclub on Inkpop.com, at 5 pm EST on July 28th. Our first book? BEFORE I FALL, by Lauren Oliver. Swoon!

5. I'm participating in this incredibly cool Website Scavenger Hunt with a gaggle of great YA authors like Colleen Houck, Andrea Cremer, Amy Plum, Lisa and Laura Roecker, and more. The official Scavenger Day will be one day only - August 1, 2011 - and each of our websites will have a piece of new material - new trailers, short stories, deleted scenes, new book excerpts. But here's the catch: each of websites will have another author's new stuff, and each will you lead on the trail to find more! A sneak peek of BLOODROSE, maybe, or a deleted scene from THE LIAR SOCIETY? Yes, please! Be sure to check out my website on August 1 to play the game!

6. Finally, I wanted to make a Hereafter Trilogy announcement: I have a preliminary cover of ARISE. And it's awesome. Like, really awesome. Even better than HEREAFTER's cover, if that's possible. And the artists are still working on it. And...I'm not sharing...yet. :)

It's here

Today is the day

Today is the day

Today is the day

Today is the day

Three Days Away...

I'm freaking out - are you freaking out? More on my pre-publication jitters later. Right now, you want to know who won the giveaway, don't you? :)

I wish I had enough money to send everyone who commented a shiny hardcover of HEREAFTER, delivered on June 7th. Unfortunately I don't, but I hope I CAN make 4 people have a better day, right now!

1. 2-day preorder hardcover of HEREAFTER: Wulfluva

2. Standard preorder hardcover of HEREAFTER: Chey

3. HEREAFTER ARC plus goodies: Jade

4. Goodies plus a surprise: Paradise

Congrats to the winners, and thank you everyone for telling me why you want to read HEREAFTER! Even though you didn't win, Amazon has HEREAFTER here, for ridiculously low-priced preorder in case you just can't wait to find it at your local bookstore on June 7th.

The "Two Weeks Till Hereafter" Final Giveaway

I can't believe it's really almost here. I've had to suppress more than one urge to do a happy-dance (and that's just today). I think I need company in my happy-dancing, and what makes people happier than free stuff? As in, a HEREAFTER giveaway?!?

Since this is my final, pre-publication giveaway, I'm going to make it a big one. There will be FOUR (yes, four!) winners, who will receive very cool stuff, as follows:

1st prize: HEREAFTER hardcover pre-order, with 2-day shipping so you have it June 7th!
2nd prize: HEREAFTER hardcover pre-order, with standard shipping
3rd prize: HEREAFTER ARC and fun, book-related swag
4th prize: Fun, book-related swag (which you can show off to your non-winning friends, ha!)

So, all you have to do is tweet, FB comment, or blog comment the reason you deserve to win. Then I decide who gets to read Amelia's story early!

Movie Day, Times Two

In which I discuss HEREAFTER, ARISE, and my weird writing proclivities