Category Archives: Giveaway!

And the winner is…

BY bonnie

Wow. Sorry I fell off the face of the planet for a few days. It’s just that last week we drove up to LA and that night Sunset Boulevard tried to pick a fight with my bumper (but my bumper was all nah, man, I’m a lover, not a fighter and we left with only a metaphorical black eye) and then I didn’t sleep that night (because that is how my brain rolls these days) and then the next day we headed home from Sonja’s house but first stopped at a local mechanic who we found on the Car Talk website who fixed my bumper with no wait and for free because they are awesome, and then we had to find a gas station and then we drove home but halfway home my tire pressure light came on so we stopped at ANOTHER mechanic who fixed or maybe “fixed” the issue but then the light kept coming on the whole way home and I read in my car’s manual but it just said to go to a Toyota dealership (way to be helpful, Toyota) and no one could really tell me if I was safe or if we were all going to die a fiery death because my tires all exploded at once or something so we basically just hobbled home taking a break every half hour or so and it took SIX HOURS to drive what normally takes two. So we had damn potatoes for dinner. BUT THE WEEK DIDN’T END THERE. BECAUSE COMIC CON. But I’ve already traumatized you with that massive run-on sentence so I’ll save my second Comic Con post for later. (Not that my Comic Con post will traumatize you. It won’t. I’m pretty sure.) Just know that I’m only now beginning to become human again and I apologize for the delay.

So. The winner is…

Elliott was all, “Why does she have to sign it if she MADE it?”

Ais, I’m gonna shoot you an email RIGHT NOW and ask for your mailing address so that I can send you the book.

Thank you to everyone who participated! I am going to look up all your suggestions for female characters and compile them into a post here to share with everyone. Just. You know. In a few days.

Giveaway!, Just Life, Places We Go and Things We Do

LA Things & Meeting Rainbow

BY bonnie

When Rainbow first announced she was going to be in Los Angeles I decided the kids and I would make a day of it and do LA Things before the book signing. We’ve seen the tar pits and the observatory and Hollywood Things before and we will again someday, but this time we decided to go check out Angels Flight, a historic train that carries you uphill for only fifty cents. I’d never even heard of it before seeing this video a couple of months ago, and neither had Annika despite being in that general area on a regular basis. So we met up with her and a couple other friends and a whole mess of kids and we rode the train. And the kids were all GOAL ACCOMPLISHED LET’S RIDE AGAIN. And I was kinda like, HELL YEAH LET’S, but I was mostly like I’M UNPREPARED FOR LIFE IN GENERAL BUT ALSO FOR THIS THING AND I HAVE ZERO CASH SO MY ABILITY TO RIDE THIS IS BASED ENTIRELY ON WHETHER MY FRIENDS HAVE AN EXTRA $1.50 FOR MY FAMILY’S FARE. (I wonder if it’s weird to paypal someone $1.50 to pay them back?)

So, in between the train ride up and then back down we stopped at this big trashy sculpture and took a group shot. Like you do.

The train is mostly indoor seating, but does have one short bench at the top that is outdoors. On the ride up I rode outside there, but the seat was taken so I was standing up. It was… alarming. The ride inside felt like any train ride, but outside – perhaps because I was standing – I felt every little jerk or jostle and the part of the track where the trains pass each other was unnerving to say the least. But, you know me. That’s my kind of thrill. Riding up a totally safe commuter train is basically my version of Six Flags. That’s just how I roll.

Directly across from the bottom train stop is Grand Central Market. I assume this is similar to Pike Place Market (although I’m guessing Grand Central is smaller?) but we don’t have something like that here. Yet. We’re working on it, but so far the Public Market is just open once a week for farmer’s markets with the hopes that it will become a full time place in the future.

Once we were done with our picnic dinner, it was Coffee Time (cause did I mention I was working on 5 hours of sleep? And I had to keep everyone alive for just about that same amount of driving). Right there in the market was G&B Coffee which made me my very first fancy latte. I don’t even know a place here in town that makes foam pretty like this so I was ridiculously excited, but the best part is that it was made with almond milk. And you know what? It was freshly-made almond milk. I can’t do (cow) dairy, and I don’t like to do soy so I get overexcited when a coffee place does almond milk in general, but this was so creamy and light-tasting that I might just drive up there again just for that. I am not even kidding.

It’s out of focus, but damn she’s adorable.

And then we headed over to Book Soup for Rainbow’s book signing. It was so much fun. I’ve known Rainbow online for a couple of years now, but this was the first time I met her in person. We didn’t get much chance to hang out that night because things were very busy but during the reading and Q&A portion of the night she was so much like the Rainbow I know. You know. At a microphone in front of a crowd of people? Well. That is, actually, a little bit like what the internet is like, isn’t it? We’re all in front of our own microphones and crowds there listening to us? So maybe this was my most accurate online-friend meeting ever. She’s going to be in San Diego tomorrow (that’s Friday, right?) so if you have the chance, I highly recommend coming to see her. And don’t forget to enter my giveaway to win her book!

We all wore matching t-shirts because we are cool or dorks or something.

Giveaway!, This is a Woman

Win a signed copy of Eleanor & Park!

BY bonnie

This is my copy. Win your own.

I loved Gilmore Girls. For a ton of reasons. But one of them was that they had a character on the show – Sookie – who was overweight and it wasn’t even a thing. Imagine that. A fat person whose weight wasn’t the most important aspect of their character, and who wasn’t weird or overly awkward or stupid or gross. It’s almost like it was just a part of life to be around people of all sizes. Weird, right?

/snarkasm

My friend Rainbow is an author. Recently her second book, Eleanor & Park came out. And there are a lot of things I love about this book – the characters are complex and realistic, the music is fantastic, the storyline is painfully beautiful. You can read John Green’s own review here. I really can’t add anything to it. Except to say that Eleanor, like Sookie, is fat and normal. Her size isn’t the issue in the story. It’s just an aspect of her like her red hair or her freckles or the way she dresses or her insecurity. Rainbow recently wrote this about Eleanor’s size. And if I didn’t love Rainbow already I’d have fallen head over heels for her right that second.

So there are a lot of reasons I love this book, but the main reason that I’m telling you about it here is because we need more stories out there in the world where characters are different in some way and it’s not the main thing about them. We need more fat characters who are just friends and people and not there for their fat hilarity. Fat characters who are funny and sad and full of love and fear and hope and cynicism. Who are not necessarily nice, but who you love with all your heart and you wish you could scoop up into a big hug and a nice, safe life. Who are complex like real people.

I want as many people as possible to read this book. Including you. So I am giving away a signed copy to one reader. Rainbow’s going to be in my neck of the woods this week so I plan to go to a couple of book signings (I may or may not be a groupie) and I’ll have a copy signed for you on Friday, once I know who the winner is.

Deets:
How: Leave a comment here on this entry! I’d love to hear what other awesome female characters you love in books, movies or TV. Not necessarily fat characters, but someone who doesn’t fit the mold, who stands out as unusual, and who you find inspiring. So leave me a comment here telling me about a character you love, if you have one. If you don’t have one, then you definitely need to read this book so leave a comment either way! Make sure you include a valid email address so I can contact you.

When: Contest will end Friday at noon Pacific time, and I’ll announce the winner as soon as I can after that (bear with me as this is looking to be a very busy week).

What: One person will be chosen at random from the comments and will win a signed copy of Eleanor & Park, and probably some swag from Rainbow’s upcoming new book Fangirl (which I haven’t yet read, but I’m hoping I might get to do a giveaway for as well in the near future).

UPDATE: The giveaway is now OVER. But! Hey guess what! My friend Bethany is ALSO giving away a copy of E&P! Double your chances to win at her blog here.