Movie Review Tuesday: I "Heart" INKHEART

Earlier this year I got to see one of my all time my favorite books that had been adapted to the silver screen. INKHEART by Cornelia Funke. It’s one of my family’s favorites as well. We listened to the book on tape on a long car trip several years ago and all fell in love with the story. I remember that special family vacation every time I think of INKHEART. The movie had some “big shoes” to fill.

For those of you not familiar with the book, click here for the Yahoo movie synopsis or (spoiler alert) here for the Wikipedia book synopsis.

For me, INKHEART is a magical tale about the power of the written word—the unique worlds where books can take you and the wonderful escape they can be. It’s everything I love about writing and reading all rolled into one.

I approached going to the movie with misgiving because, as we all know, Hollywood can sometimes monkey around with a good book. But I was pleasantly surprised. While some aspects of the story did change, for the most part they stayed very true to the central message. And they gave a satisfying ending that didn’t leave me yearning for a sequel (even though the book has two other installments.) One didn’t have to have read the book to understand the movie (big plus) and you didn’t leave wondering what in the world was going to happen to these characters you’d come to care for so much.

My question of the day you can answer one of two ways: what have been your favorite (or least favorite) movie adaptations of books?

Kay Thomas
BULLETPROOF TEXAS ~ April 14, 2009
4 stars ~ Romantic Times 4 1/2 stars Cataromance reviews
KayThomas.net

Raffles, Rifles and Contests...Oh My!

Up until a few years ago, I’d never won anything. Not even at a Tupperware party. No raffles, no cakewalks, nada. Not sure what it was, bad karma or what. But my number just never seemed to come up.

Not so my brother. He seemed to win everything. Raffles at school fundraisers, charity dinners. You name it. If he bought a ticket, you might as well not because he was going to win. He once walked into a charity dinner, bought a raffle ticket at the last minute and won the grand prize hunting rifle. (We’re from Mississippi-what can I say? Those are our kind of raffles.)

During this remarkable “run” of luck, he was also always getting called for jury duty. Like every five-six months. I was convinced somehow these events were related. You win raffles or contests, you get called for jury duty….often. Little did I know.

A few years ago my own luck changed and I started winning “things.” Nothing huge (feel free to snicker as your read) but at a kitchen accessory party my name got pulled for an orange peeler, then a recipe book. Quite a thrill when you’ve NEVER won anything. And at a writer’s convention a couple of years ago, a number was taped to the bottom of my chair to win out of hundreds of other folks. Granted, the prize was a box of Hot Tamales, the candy. But still, woo-hoo! Wild stuff for a girl who’d never landed on the right number in a cake walk. And yes, you guessed it. I started getting “the call” for jury duty. All the time.

Is there a correlation or have I just lived in one place long enough for my name to be on the city jury duty rolls? Could be, but I like to think my luck has turned.

Now, I don’t have a hunting rifle to give away (I think the laws might prohibit that nowadays.) But I do have a contest to announce this month for my new April release, BULLETPROOF TEXAS. It’s a Bulletproof Sighting Contest called "Have You Seen This Man?" For folks who see my book on store shelves and snap a picture, you could win a gift card to Barnes and Noble. I’m posting the rules below. But you can also check them out here. Feel free to forward this contest link or the rules anywhere you’d like. The more the merrier and there are three chances to win.

________________________

Bulletproof Sighting Contest Rules

“Have You Seen This Man?”

Spot my April Intrigue, BULLETPROOF TEXAS, on store shelves and be eligible to win a gift card to Barnes & Noble for $15, $10 or $5.

Here’s how it works:

1. You see my book, BULLETPROOF TEXAS, on the shelf at: Barnes & Noble, Borders, an Independent bookseller, Books A Million, Target, Wal-Mart, Kmart, the grocery — wherever Harlequin Intrigues are sold retail in the US. (Sorry, no resale allowed in this particular contest.)

2. Snap a picture with your phone or digital camera. Make sure I can tell the book is in the bookstore from your picture. Take the shot of the book on the shelf, at the checkout etc. Put yourself in the pic, too! (I’ll be posting the winners names and photos here on my website.)

3. Send the picture to: contest@kaythomas.net

If you are sending from your phone, be sure to include your email address. Don’t forget to include the store’s name and location with the picture:

Store Name
Your town, USA

4. If you are my first “in store” Bulletproof sighting, you win a $15 gift card to Barnes & Noble. I’ll randomly draw from the rest of the entries for a $10 gift card winner and a $5 gift card winner.

Can’t snap a picture? You can still enter:
Email me the store name, the store’s physical address and the store phone number.

Contest starts April 6. Official release day is April 14. (Many times books are put on the shelves several days early, so keep an eye out!) Entry into contest puts you on my newsletter mailing list. Contest ends and winners will be announced May 11. Questions? Email me at:

contest@kaythomas.net

Good luck!

__________________


Now for our question of the day...What’s the coolest thing you ever won in a contest? (I’m sure you can beat my Hot Tamales and orange peeler!)

Kay

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Kay Thomas
Bulletproof Texas 4/09
4 stars Romantic Times ~ 4 ½ stars Cataromance reviews
KayThomas.net

Southern Snow Day!

Ahh, the glorious feeling. You wake up in the morning and turn on the television to see names scrolling across the bottom of the screen. You watch in breathless anticipation…searching for your school. When you see it, it’s wonderful. That feeling of respite. No school today! You turn off your alarm and roll over to snooze for a few more minutes. And you’re not even a student….you’re a parent.

It's a snow day. Or if you live in Dallas, an ice day. We have no idea how to drive on that stuff down here. Ice just bamboozles us Texans. Fearful of our driving skills, school administrators wisely close school house doors at the drop of a hat— or in this case, a slight freezing mist. It was somewhat unexpected for me this time. I hadn't been paying much attention to the weather reports.

But I must say the expression on my son’s face was something I won’t soon forget when he woke up and wandered into my office at 7:30 am. Normally I have him up quite a bit earlier.
“Mom, why didn’t you get me up? I’m gonna be late for school.”
I got to be the bearer of very glad tidings.
“School is cancelled.”
First there was a look of disbelief, then pure joy, then a loud “Yes!” as he pumped the air with his fist, jumped up and down and even gave me a big hug and a smacking kiss on the cheek.

This is a surprise holiday. And you folks up north are laughing at me, I know. But we get snow and ice so infrequently, it’s quite an event and perfectly okay to roll your eyes at our antics! Because I’m only talking about the one-day "happenings” (two max), not the horrific weeklong storms you have to endure or the huge mess that's sweeping across the midwest as I type.

I see snow so rarely, southern "snow days" are etched in my memory— making snow ice cream, snow angels, sledding, building the one snowman I’ve made in my lifetime. Since it’s only misting ice instead of snow this time, we’ll be inside most of the day. Sitting in front of the fire, we'll watch movies and hopefully play some board games. Probably eat junk food that’s terrible for us. And I won’t get much work done. By tomorrow my kids will be back in school.

I look forward to these days almost as much as my children do.

So what about you? What’s your favorite “snow day” memory or what’s your favorite thing to do on a "snow day" when you get to stay home?


Kay


KayThomas.net
BETTER THAN BULLETPROOF ~ in stores now!
4 ½ stars Romantic Times ~ 5 stars Cataromance
BULLETPROOF TEXAS ~ April 2009

Easily Distracted By Bright Shiny Objects

New beginnings. I love the New Year and making New Year’s resolutions. Well, sort of. About two weeks into the New Year it seems I become…distracted. I fall off the wagon on my diet or exercise regime. I quit cleaning out that closet I swore I would get to this year. And I just can’t seem to follow through and finish those household chores.

I’ve tried various methodologies to stay on track. A shelf or a drawer a week, but I get…um…well. For Christmas my husband gave me a bumper sticker that pretty much describes my state of mind in regard to resolutions:

Easily Distracted By Bright Shiny Objects.

Obviously, he knows me well.

So you may ask, how in the world do I ever finish a book? Well, that’s a good question considering my sweetie offices out of the house and his voice can carry through the air vents into my office space as if he were sitting next to me cheering for his favorite pro cyclist in Le Tour de France! (We’re not huge football fans…unusual, I realize living in Texas.)

I was recently asked in an interview. “How do you shut out distractions?”

Ummm…Not real well.

When I’m working, I shut the door to my office and I sometimes turn on the A/C fan as a white noise. It’s interesting though. I can write at Starbucks and not be bothered at all by the noise around me. I think it’s the familiar that distracts me. If I overhear my family talking in the next room and start wondering what they’re doing, I’ll want to be hanging out with them instead of in my office.

I think it depends on what I’m working on. If I’m caught up in the story I’m writing, the smoke alarm can go off and I won’t hear it. If I’m stuck, I’m much more easily distracted.

Now, lest you think I’m totally scatterbrained — When I’m really into the story, I’ll become so involved in the writing and my characters, I won’t eat or sleep. My kids can knock on the office door and while I’ll hear them, I won’t be wild about answering, unless there’s the proverbial blood or smoke. However, if I’m answering email or doing some kind of non-story work, I can usually be dragged away from the computer fairly easily. Depending on the time of day, too, it can be a battle for me to stay focused and awake, especially in the afternoons. Naps always sound so appealing.

So how do you fight distractions to get your work done – be it at the computer or elsewhere? Notice, I didn’t even bring up the distraction of surfing the Internet — facebook, myspace or reading blogs. (That’s a whole other post.) But I’m always interested in new strategies for becoming more productive. Any suggestions?

Kay

Kay Thomas / www.KayThomas.net
Better Than Bulletproof ~ in stores now!
4 ½ stars ~ Romantic Times

Read any good books lately?

So it’s the end of the year and I’m taking stock of the past 12 months. Thinking about New Year’s resolutions and definitely procrastinating about those closets I didn’t clean last year. In the midst of all this preparation for January 1st I’ve been thinking over the books I’ve read the past year. And I was wondering...

1) What's the best book you've read in the past 12 months?
2) Why?
3) How has it affected your thinking (or your writing)?

This can be fiction or non-fiction.
I asked a group of friends these questions last year about this time. It was fascinating to hear their answers. I’m curious to hear your answers, too, as I’m always looking for new authors to try!

I was very surprised to find that the book I’d started the year with, I’m ending the year with as well. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. I read it last year over the Christmas break on the recommendations of both a friend and a family member. It was quite wonderful. Gothic in tone, it reminded me of my favorite book growing up—Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca. This year, I don’t believe I’ve read anything that’s topped it. This has made my "top ten best of all time."

Ms. Setterfield really knows her way around sentence structure. The way she wove the words together painted such incredible pictures in my mind. It was a pleasure. I felt I was “bathing” in the language. Sometimes, I get somewhat impatient with that, but not here.

I think more than anything, I didn't analyze the writing, I just enjoyed it. It was the first time in a great while that's happened for me.

As to how it's effected my writing...Certainly it has encouraged me to stretch myself more in describing things. In writing suspense I tended to get very sparse in the interest of tension. Looking back at what I learned from Setterfield, I rediscovered the beauty you can have in meaty language, even in the suspenseful, tension-filled scenes. The importance of wrapping a few more words around the action and painting more visceral pictures.

How about ya'll? What have been your great reads this year?

A commenter will be chosen randomly to receive a copy of my debut January release, Better Than Bulletproof. I’ll post the winner tomorrow morning along with our grand Free Rice total. (See "Vegging on the Internet?..." December 10th post) If you've been keeping track- include your Free Rice number, too. (ex. FR 3340)

Hmm, reading is so much more fun than cleaning out closets!

Merry New Year!

Kay Thomas (FR 3340)
Better Than Bulletproof ~ January 13, 2009
www.kaythomas.net

Vegging on the Internet? Add a starch...

Hi Everyone,

My name is Kay Thomas and I’m a new author with Intrigue. My debut novel is being released next month and I’m very excited to be here. I hope everyone’s December is going well and that in the crazy, frenetic pace of the season you are able to slow down and relax a bit. In the interest of giving you a little break, I thought I’d introduce you to my favorite online game. I like it because it’s one with a worthy purpose and actually donates food to others as you play. It’s called Free Rice.

You may have seen this on the news a while back. It's a vocabulary game developed by an engineer helping his son study for the SAT. The UN receives donations of rice from site sponsors to feed the hungry for every word you define correctly. (20 grains of rice for every right answer) So…grab a cup of coffee, put your feet up and come play Free Rice with me. Let’s feed the world while improving our vocabulary.

Just click here:

http://www.freerice.com/

Yes, it’s addictive. But you’re doing something positive with your down time, plus you’re improving your mind and….your heart! You can link to the Free Rice game on your website, blog, myspace or facebook page, too. Get other folks playing as well. The more people who play, the more rice that’s donated and the more people who are fed.

So come play and let’s see how much rice we can donate by the end of the month. It’s more challenging than it looks! You can set various options at the site that keep you building on the work you’ve done before. It also will pronounce the words for you. Very cool for a girl originally from Mississippi.

And for the rest of December, I thought we could have a little friendly competition. If you like, put your Free Rice total in your comments each day between now and the end of the month. (ex. FR 300) Let’s see how much rice we can donate in our…um…down time on the Internet. I’m blogging here on the 29th – so be sure to comment that day for another chance at a copy of BETTER THAN BULLETPROOF & post your final Free Rice totals.

Now for today I’m giving away the first copy of my debut release, BETTER THAN BULLETPROOF. Just tell me about your favorite guilty pleasure while you surf the Internet…Is it browsing eBay, playing on Facebook, spider solitaire? What do you do on the Internet when you need a break from work? Comeon, tell. No one else has to know…just us!

Tonight, I’ll randomly pick from the comments and post the winner.

Happy defining and Merry Christmas, y’all!

P.S. In the interest of giving you one more place to unwind from all the holiday busyness—We’re having a party! Tomorrow evening, December 11th, several Intrigue Authors are chatting live at eHarlequin.com’s Open House Holiday Chat from 9-10 pm EST. I’ve never been before, but I hear it is one wild time with door prizes and giveaways. So if you’re out and about Thursday night, drop by and say hello. We’re gonna have a blast. The address is:

http://community.eharlequin.com/forums/cafe-social/chat-room-0

posted by
Kay Thomas (FR 300)
http://www.kaythomas.net/