Erica O'Rourke

It is the first day of spring break and I can't think of a clever title. Also, ARCs!

So...I received a package a couple of weeks ago. I wanted to tell you all about it, because good news like this is hard to contain, but for once in my life, I demonstrated restraint. It was AWFUL, I tell you, and I am very glad it is behind me. Look!

 (for some reason, the computer won't let me rotate the picture. Grrr. Argh.)

ARCs! Advance Review Copies, or Advance Reader Copies, or Bound Galleys, or Uncorrected Proofs...people have eight million different names for them, but what it comes down to is that there are copies of Torn, ready to go out into the world. Real books. I have been spending so much time hunched over a computer, or working on various edits, red pen in hand, that I'd kind of overlooked the fact an actual tangible, written-by-me book was the result.

I wanted to tell you the very minute they arrived! But! My mom had not read Torn yet. She kept asking for a copy, and I kept saying, "Well, let's wait until I have ARCs, because otherwise all you're getting is a giant stack of printer paper." She was Very Patient. She only brought it up once, maybe twice in each of our conversations. Definitely not more than twice. And then the ARCs came, ten days before her birthday, and my fate was sealed. No mentioning the ARCs in public until Poor Sainted Mother's got her copy.

(She did get her copy, by the way, and she was very excited. Then she asked me to sign it, which feels...strange. I am not sure how I feel about autographing books. I get a little woozly at the notion.)

Suddenly, this whole author thing seems much more real than it did even a month ago. I wrote a story. Somebody bought it. They made it into a book. In three months -- THREE MONTHS FROM TODAY -- it will be released. It doesn't seem possible, really, but the evidence is piling up.

(Also: Yes, there will be giveaways. Other than the three copies I'm holding back for my girls, we will be doing giveaways and contests and all manner of swag-producing stuff. I don't have details yet, but as soon as I do, you will be the first to know.)

March Contest Winners

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Very quickly, because it is late and I have lots of work to do, here are the winners of the March Contest, chosen via my homegrown random number generators. ( The big girls each picked a number while the baby held the hat. Then the baby threw all the numbers around the kitchen like confetti. She is OUT as contest coordinator, let me assure you.)

And the winners are:

Jami Gold! "Hmm, I rather like our local St. Paddy's Day celebration. :) The tallest fountain in the country (I believe...) is here in the Arizona desert and they dye the fountain green in celebration. Maybe I'll have to post a picture on my blog next week. :) But if I have to choose, I'd say Ireland, just because I'd love to travel there no matter the reason."

AND

Cathy T! "I'd rather celebrate Mardi Gras in New Orleans because its always so festive when they celebrate! Well from what I've seen and heard at least. LOL."

It appeals very much to my sense of symmetry that we had one winner for each holiday. I am kind of a dork like that.

Thanks to everyone for playing -- I'll be having more contests as Torn's release date approaches, so check back in. I hope you all have a great St. Patrick's Day, whether you're a fan of green beer or not.

Green River

Several people have asked if it's true the Chicago River is dyed green for St. Patrick's Day.

Yep.

The river is usually muddy green, actually, for reasons it is probably best not to think about. But on the Saturday before St. Pat's, there's a ceremonial "dying of the river" and a big parade downtown. It's not the same as the South Side Irish Parade, which was shut down a couple of years ago, but it's still good fun.

(Don't forget, by the way, to enter the March Contest if you haven't already done so. Thus far, Ireland is comfortably ahead.)

March Contest!

As pretty much everyone has figured out by now, I am a little obsessed with New Orleans. The city and its people play a big part in the series I’m working on, starting with Torn and increasing as the story continues in Tangled and Bound. Also, I just like the place and spend a lot of time actively plotting how to go back. And as you probably know, today is Mardis Gras, the last day of feasting and celebration before Lent begins. For many people, Mardi Gras and New Orleans are synonymous – I’ve lost track of the number of movies and TV shows that are set during Carnival, where the climactic chase comes during a night parade and everyone is wearing masks. And while I am generally not a person given to excess, it seemed fitting that I host a giveaway to in honor of the season.

Of course, Mo is an Irish-Catholic girl from the South Side of Chicago. Her family would be celebrating Shrove Tuesday, not Mardi Gras, likely with a nice pancake breakfast at church and then an early bedtime, because nothing prepares you for a season of repentance like all-you-can-eat bacon. What would she be celebrating (other than Easter, obviously, which is one of those pesky holidays that moves around each year)? St. Patrick’s Day. Chicago is a city that takes its Irish heritage both Very Seriously and Not At All Seriously – we dye the freaking river green, after all. There was no way I could do a contest in March and NOT include St. Patrick’s Day if I ever wanted to face my father-in-law again.

The result is a hybrid contest – a little bit New Orleans, a little bit Irish, and full of things I love. So, here’s how it works:

1. You comment below, answering what you’d rather celebrate – Mardi Gras in New Orleans or St Patrick’s Day in Ireland? If you’d rather celebrate in St. Pat’s in Chicago, that’s a valid option, too. I’d love to know why, of course, but my days of demanding that people explain their reasoning are happily behind me, so that’s utterly at your discretion.

2. The contest starts today, Fat Tuesday, March 8^th. It ends at 3 pm on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17^th. When my little random number generators get home from school that day, they’ll pull two winners, which I’ll announce that night. (Sadly, I can only send prizes to US addresses.)

3.  I will brace myself for the breathtakingly bad service at our post office and send the winners their prizes. The packages will contain:

• The Liar Society, by Lisa and Laura Roecker, because they are awesome.
• A cover flat of Torn, because it really does look cooler in person.
• A sweet olive scented candle. Sweet olive is a shrub planted all over New Orleans and the smell is indescribably beautiful. When I’m writing, I light one of these candles and I’m instantly back in the French Quarter (which, let’s face it, is a lot more inspiring than my laundry room, where I write).
• Irish Treats – Tea and something tasty to nibble on, because everyone needs a nice cuppa and a sit-down on those gray days in March when it should feel like spring and it doesn’t.
• A little something extra. In New Orleans, this is called a lagniappe. In Chicago, it’s called a surprise, which would be spoiled if I told you.

4. While I’d be tremendously grateful if you spread the word via Facebook/Twitter/Tumblr/Whatever, it’s not necessary to win the contest.

Laissez les bon temps roulez!