The making of a scene from Don't Let Me Go

Some of you may have heard a slight leak of information (probably on Facebook and probably direct from Yours Truly) regarding a short film based on a scene from this book, filmed in live action.

But... why am I telling you what it's going to be when this "making of" video (below) can say it all for me?

The video of the scene itself is not far behind, so "watch this space" for more news as it becomes available.

And don't forget the Kindle ebook edition of Don't Let Me Go is being offered at a special price right now. Only $0.99 today, tomorrow, and Thursday. Pass it on! And please pass this video along, too, to anyone you think might enjoy the book. Thanks, faithful readers!

The Bet: We Still Crazy

California ChromeNo, that was not a typo in the title of this post. I'm practicing my trash-talk voice.

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept of The Bet, it goes a little something like this. Well, actually, it goes a lot like this. Author Brian Farrey read an article somewhere about Steven King making a bet that involved, rather than money, the writing of a short story. The "winner" got to dictate the title to the "loser." (Now I ask you, how can you be a winner if you don't get to write a story and a loser if you do?) He proposed the idea on Twitter to see if any authors were crazy enough to take him up on it. Fortunately for Brian, authors are nothing if not a crazy bunch.

The call was answered by authors Andrew Smith, Kimberly Pauley, and yours truly. But I'm pleased to say that this year, year four(!), we are being joined by the wonderful author David Lubar.

Here's how it works: We each pick a horse in the Kentucky Derby. For the purposes of The Bet, they are--or might as well be--the only horses running. In other words, they don't need to win. They just need to beat each other. The person whose horse comes in first dictates a title to the author whose horse comes in second, and so on. The "winner" doesn't get to write a story, and the last place "loser" doesn't get to dictate a title.

My horse this year is the very winning California Chrome. I'd tell you their horses, but two have already been scratched and the bettors will have to choose again.

Stay tuned on derby day. And if you want something to read in the meantime, here are some links to my stories from previous years: The Art of Being Stuck Here, Uncle Mo Hold a Grudge, and Even Pidgeons Can Sing. Wish me luck. I haven't won yet. Then again, I like to write stories. So I'm not complaining. 

Update on 2014-04-23 20:11 by Catherine

Here's a little update to The Bet 2014. As mentioned, I have California Chrome. Kimberley has We Miss Artie. Andrew Smith, whose new book The Grasshopper Jungle is eating up the world, takes Hoppertunity. That fits. Brian has Dance with Fate and David has Wicked Strong. And so it begins. 

Update on 2014-05-03 23:42 by Catherine

And here are the results. I WON! Not only did my horse win the inner "The Bet" race, he won... well, the race. First time in four years. I give a title to The Bet newcomer David Lubar. David gives a title to Brian Farrey who gives one to Kimberly Pauly who gives one to Andrew Smith.

The title I'm giving David, in honor of California Chrome's intrepid owners, is "The Dumbass Partners." Go David. 

The Bet 2013: Even Pigeons Can Sing

Itsmyluckyday, the bum.For those of you who follow this blog, you probably know all about The Bet. Three crazy authors, Brian Farrey, Kimberly Pauley and Andrew Smith have a yearly bet with equally crazy me. We each choose a horse in the Kentucky Derby. The person whose horse comes in first (only compared to the other three--it makes no difference who actually wins the race) assigns a story title to the second-place finisher, who has to write a short story to go with that title. And who also assigns a title to the third place finisher, etc. The person who comes in dead last doesn't get to stick anybody with a title.

Lucky me. I was dead last.

Brian came in first, so will not be writing a story. He will, however, be acting kingly and sitting in judgment, along with a fair amount of trash talking. His story title for Andrew, who came in second, is "Journey, Crimson, Nightmare, Name." Andrew gave third-place finisher Kimberly the title "The Druggist and the Apostrophe." Kimberly gave me the title "Even Pigeons Can Sing." She was rather specific about the fact that the Uncle Mo meme could finally end this year.

I set out to write a story with all new characters. But the title and theme led me right back to Tim and Brian. And as soon as I got there, I realized that, after last year's story, we just had to know what was hiding up in Uncle Mo's closet.

In case you want to read these interconnected stories in order, here is the full set of links:

2011: The Art of Being Stuck Here

2012: Uncle Mo Holds a Grudge

2013: Even Pigeons Can Sing

As soon as Kimberly and Andrew have posted their stories, I'll add links to them in a follow-up.

Happy reading!

Update on 2013-06-03 14:57 by Catherine

Andrew Smith's "Journey, Crimson, Nightmare, Name" is HERE.

Kimberly Pauley's "The Druggist and the Apostrophe" is HERE.

Fun Games for Book Birthdays

Today is a double book birthday for me. Other than the day we brought out my four backlist titles as ebooks, I've never had more than one book released on a single day. Today my newest novel Walk Me Home goes on sale from Amazon Publishing, and When I Found You re-releases in an Amazon Encore edition.

And I'm trying to think of a way to celebrate that's new and different. So here goes. 

Did you know that authors just love hearing your favorite lines and quotes from the books? Well, I can't speak for all authors, but this author does. A lot of you haven't read Walk Me Home yet. Then again, I've been giving away lots of copies, so some of you have. Or will. Very soon. And I know a huge number of you have read When I Found You.

So if you'll take a minute to tell me your favorite line or lines in the comments below, I'll choose the ones that match with my own favorites, and give some more books away. If I choose you, just name a book of mine that you haven't read, but would like to. And that's what you'll win.

Don't forget to enter your email address in the comment form, so I can contact you if you win. I will not contact you for any other reason. And remember the "author" field in the form is for the author of the comment (you) not the author of the books (me).

Easy, right? I try to make it easy. I still have tons of books in my garage from the days when I traveled and spoke. Books don't belong in my garage. They belong in your hands.

Have at it!

Update on 2013-05-11 14:31 by Catherine

I've chosen four winners for this giveaway: Mary, Belinda McMahon, Amy Mills and Laura Ruthemeyer.

More Kitty: Jordan

Remember the More Kitty and More Puppy memes, in which I spotlighted my own pets (one current, some former) and those of my readers? I guess I'm briefly bringing that back.

If you follow me on social networks, you undoubtedly know there's someone new in the house. His name is Jordan, and much to the chagrin of my dog Ella, he is a cat.

I'm not going to go into great detail about their introduction, because I'm guessing most of you follow me on Facebook, or could easily enough (if I'm wrong about this, let me know in the comment section below). And I have gone into quite a bit of detail each day. I've left reports almost every day to chronicle the process of the cat and dog getting to know each other with no bloodshed, and with a minimum of chasing, clawing, hiding and hurt feelings. My Twitter friends also probably noticed shorter updates. (Hey, it's Twitter. Short is built in.)

I'd have thought people would quickly grow sick to death of hearing about the minor ups and downs of a dog and a cat learning to get along. I would have been wrong. If anybody is not enjoying it, they've kept it to themselves. And I can't tell you how many people have told me they enjoy "watching" the progress. I guess it's more encouraging than watching the process of peace in the Middle East, the gun debate, or Congress. 

As you can see, it's going well. (Jordan and Ella, not peace in the Middle East, the gun debate, or Congress.) 

 

So far as I know, I haven't said much, if anything, on social media regarding why I adopted a cat. So I'll do that here. I'll start with why I didn't get a cat a long time ago:

1) I love cats. I grew up with a beautiful Siamese named Ming. I had other cats in (young) adulthood. Then I adopted a parrot named Ziggy. I got help finger-training him from a young man who clipped his wing feathers for the purpose of training. They never grew back in properly. So he never flew dependably well. So I didn't get a cat while he was alive. He lived to be 27.

2) My goal just before I adopted Ella was to adopt a dog and a cat more or less together. That way, I figured, they'd be more likely to accept each other. But on the same week I got Ella from the Humane Society, I began seeing someone who was allergic to cats. So I just adopted the dog. A couple of years later, Ella seemed quite jumpy and chase-y (sure, that's a word) when we saw a cat on the street. So I figured it was too late, I had missed my moment.

Why I changed my mind now:

Ella's friend Tony1) Ella has a new doggy friend. His name is Tony. He comes over sometimes when his people go away for a long day. And Ella is welcome over there any time. But they have a cat, Edward. And I wasn't sure how that would work out. But Ella met Edward, and she was FINE.

2) Most of you know my mom passed away in March of 2012. It's been a little too quiet around here. For both Ella and me. Part of me worried Ella would be sorry I adopted the cat, jealous, or maybe constantly on guard. Another part of me felt it's almost always better to step outside one's comfort zone. I'd rather have a life that's richer and broader than one that's comfortably unchallenged. And I decided I wanted the same for my dog. Our "pack" had shrunk from three to two, and that felt too small. Less like a family and more like a person and a dog. 

3) I kept seeing these Facebook ads during the holidays asking if my home and my heart weren't big enough to take in one more homeless pet. (Hint: turns out they were.)

So I'm formally introducing my blog readers to Jordan, who is from H.A.R.T. (Homeless Animal Rescue Team) in Cambria.

I'm still open to feature other people's pets, if you want to send photos and stories. And if you want to go back and see the ones I've featured in the past, you can click on the blog index category Pets, Mine & My Readers.

I have a new blog meme coming up this year to help newer authors by spotlighting their newly-released books with in-depth discussions. And I have no fewer than four new book releases of my own for 2013, possibly more. So, as always, please do stay tuned.

Join Me For a Live Event

Next Friday, June 29th, I'm going to be presenting Don't Let Me Go to my US readers. It's available for purchase now, either in ebook or paperback format. But the actual launch is Friday the 29th.

I'm marking this event in a couple of ways. They dovetail nicely, I think.

First, I'm having a special live event, a sort of get-together in cyberspace, for my readers. It's hosted by Shindig, and open to all. You can turn on your webcam and really be right there in the virtual library with us. Or just your voice can show up. Or you can hover unseen, and ask a question by the old-fashioned typing method if you prefer. The good news is, wherever you are, so long as you can get online, that's where the event is being held.

It's absolutely free. And here's the second way I'm marking this event: The ebook of Don't Let Me Go will be on free promotion that day, and the following day. So rather than a free event where I try to get you to show up and buy my book, the event is free, and so is the book we'll be talking about.

It starts at 3:00 p.m. Pacific time, 6:00 p.m. Eastern. Here's all you need to do. Click this link to go to my Catherine Ryan Hyde Presents: Don't Let Me Go page. Pick up your free cyberticket. The reason you're signing up in advance is so you'll get a reminder email with instructions for joining the chat event.

It's that simple! Hope to see you there. Literally!

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The Bet: Uncle Mo Holds a Grudge

Andrew's winning horse: I'll Have AnotherA second year of The Bet is under the belts of four crazy authors. It's time to unveil the stories.

For those of you unfamiliar with The Bet, Andrew Smith, Kimberly Pauley, Brian Farrey and Yours Truly seem to lose our minds each year around Kentucky Derby day. That's when we bet on the Derby with each other, but with the writing of original short stories rather than money.

You can read about the first year's bet here, and learn more about this year's bet here. 

This year Andrew won, and so did not write a story. He gave Kimberly, who came in second, the title The Flat-Tire Man. Kimberly gave me the title Uncle Mo Holds a Grudge, which will make a lot of sense if you follow the crazy bet history. I came in third and gave Brian the title All of Nature Abhors a Vacuum. 

So here, without further ado, is Uncle Mo Holds a Grudge. You'll note it brings back the characters I introduced in last year's bet story, The Art of Being Stuck Here (Title assigned to me by Andrew Smith). So if you haven't read that one, you might enjoy the two stories back to back. The Art of Being Stuck Here can be read at this link. 

You should be able to read the other two stories on Kimberly's and Brian's blog.

A thought: Three or four more years of The Bet, and then we put out an ebook of Bet stories. Are you game, fellow crazy authors?

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Update on 2012-06-01 15:35 by Catherine

As a follow-up, direct links, now that I have them. Kimberly's story The Flat-Tire Man is HERE, and Brian's All of Nature Abhors a Vacuum (cool title, huh?) is HERE. Happy reading!