On the road again!

So, I am feeling better! That was not pretty. I was getting to the point where the sound of my own cough was annoying the crud out of me.

I've finally unpacked from my Seattle trip...so I can pack again to head to Holland, MI for a reading at Treehouse Books on Friday night. The big suitcase we took to Seattle never made it past the kitchen. Right under the toaster. We're good like that.

Do you travel a lot? Do you have travel tips? If so, I would like to hear them. I feel like I pack too much, but not the right things, and the second I open my suitcase there's a huge explosion of clothes everywhere. I long to be one of those super organized travelers who has everything they need and nothing more, folded neatly in perfect little compartments. I do suspect that super organized and me are not congruent terms, but I'd settle for less messy.

In Mrs. X can suck it news, The Miami Herald included STAY in their list of beach reads and said some really nice things!

And here are more amazing links:

Inside the Writer's Cafe - Radio interview with Cheryl Nason

The Burlington Times News

Examiner.com

Between the Covers

Coffee Time Romance

Bright Yellow World

Mandy Hubbard

Simply Me

M.I.S.S.

LA Youth

Trish's Dishes

The Dreaded Lurgy

There were kids coughing in the waiting area for the plane to Seattle, and clearly remember thinking, Please don't make me share a big flying germ box with them. Please let them be on another flight. And then I heard coughing when we boarded the plane.

By the end of the trip, I had a nasty sore throat, but I convinced myself it was allergies. Then it got worse, and the cough started. On Monday, I went to the doctor because I couldn't stop coughing, and she sent me home with a fist full of prescriptions. I am not a graceful sick person. I have no patience for it and it makes me crabby.

One of my dear British blog friends, taught me the term "dreaded lurgy" to describe this kind of ick, and it fits so well with my need to be overdramatic when I don't feel good. "I have an upper respiratory infection" doesn't sound half as good as "I've caught the dreaded lurgy."

Luckily, I have a little bit of downtime before I hit the road again, and I'm on the mend.

If you haven't checked in on the events page, we've added a few dates, including Chicago! (Chicago! That toddlin' town! - Thank you to my 3rd grade chorus teacher for the fact that I can't even think Chicago without starting to sing the lyrics in my head), and an outdoor reading in Glens Falls, NY where dogs are welcome to attend too! Next stop - Holland, MI!

Anyway, despite my acquisition of the dreaded lurgy, the rest of our Seattle trip was fantastic.

We spent two nights out at Snoqualmie Falls, at a certain familiar hotel.

We had breakfast with a high school friend who moved to Seattle after college. I love the way it's possible to feel comfort with old friends even when you haven't seen them in fourteen years. And meeting her husband and little boy - just amazing.

I happened to be in town for Allison Winn Scotch's Seattle reading and signing (She's so great - go see her if you have the chance!) and met Sarah Jio and Theo Nestor, too!

Getting to spend lots and lots of time with both J and Lady was absolutely wonderful - two of the best parts of my life together at the same time. It was so hard to leave.

And then, literally, it was so hard to leave. Our flight got cancelled due to the storms in Chicago, so we ended up at an airport hotel by SEATAC for the night, even though our checked suitcase left us for Rochester. We got switched to another airline, that insisted on checking our carry-on, and flew to JFK, only to have our connecting flight to Rochester cancelled until the next day.

At this point, we had no overnight stuff left, and couldn't get our carry on back. So, we rented a car with a fellow Rochesterian who was also stranded (and turned out to be darn good company), drove back, and got home safely - only 25 hours later than scheduled. Then, of course, we had to go about getting our luggage back from two different airlines. Travel is just so glamorous, isn't it? But it was an adventure, and it's not like I wanted to be stuck in a big giant germ box flying through tornados or anything.

Links!

First up - if you're in a book club, you'll want to check out this amazing contest - Four Book Clubs will win a years worth of books! STAY is in the mix of prizes, and the line up of authors involved is staggering!

STAY is the Crazy Sexy Life newsletter pick of the month!

Ashley at Our Little Apartment (is so adorably pregnant) and would totally throw gum drops out the window too.

Liz from Mabel's House and wrote about STAY, too (be warned, one can spend hours looking at Liz's pictures - so gorgeous!)

Kate from New Life ignored the laundry for awhile while she read STAY.

S. Krishna's Books, Chick Lit Club, & Bookviews review STAY.

If you missed any of my Penguin Blog series - including a video of Argo & Stella - you can catch it here.

And, if you missed any of STAY week at The Greenists, you can catch up here.

STAY on vacation!

You guys are wonderful! I've been getting lots of pictures of STAY on the shelves in your local stores, with your pets, with your friends, and out and about in your home towns. So, we decided it would be fun to do a giveaway with your photos as the entries, and we're giving away a $50 iTunes gift card to one lucky STAY reader!

Here's the deal:

Take STAY with you when you travel this summer, and snap a picture (like the ones my fabulous editor sent me)!

Tweet the photos of STAY on Twitter with the location and the tag #STAYnovel in the text.

Or add your photos to the "Fan Photos" section of the Allie Larkin Writes page. Include the location of the photo in the caption.

If you're not traveling this summer, feel free to do the same with photos of STAY in your hometown.

We're hoping to get at least one photo from all 50 states, and if we do, we'll add a surprise bonus prize.

If you've already sent me a photo, please feel free to tweet it or add it to the Facebook page following giveaway rules. Please only post each photo once, either on Twitter OR Facebook. We're only going to count each photo once, even if there are duplicates.

We'll be collecting photos all summer, and will announce a winner in September.

Good luck & safe travels!

#8!!!!!!!

Guess what?

STAY hit #8 on the Wall Street Journal romance bestseller list!!!!!!

Cameras need batteries

So, I left my camera battery in the charger at home, which means you'll get more cell phone pictures and like it. :)

I am so amazed by Seattle. There's so much to do right in out directly outside of the city. Lady is an amazing tour guide. We went out to the shore to look for tiny sea creatures under rocks (one of my all time favorite activities. It's been grey and rainy, but still absolutely gorgeous.

I got to have brunch with a high school friend who relocated to Seattle. I hadn't seen her since 1994. And I got to meet her amazing husband and adorable little boy (seriously, seriously adorable). I am completely in love with the way it's possible to sit down with old friends and pick up where you left off like it hasn't been 16 years.

In other news, my agent, Rebecca Strauss drew a name in the query contest. Congratulations to Vicki Lane! I will send you an e-mail with instructions on how to submit your query letter and sample pages to Rebecca. And thanks to Corinne and Wendy for being a part of the contest!!!

I have a guest post up at The Lipstick Chronicles. Please stop over and say hi!
The lovely Nancy Pearl Wannabe put up a post about STAY that made me cry (in a good way).
Life with Dogs is giving away a copy of STAY.
Debbie's Book Bag posted a review of STAY.

Flurrious is reading dog books!
And Trish Ryan (who's new book A MAZE OF GRACE hits stores tomorrow!!!) posted about STAY too!

What's new with you?

Third Place Books!

Third Place Books is a truly amazing place. I had a wonderful time at the reading last night! When we got there, they were hosting Reading with Rover, a program where kids can spend some quality quiet time reading to specially trained dogs. It's such an amazing program!

I got to speak in front of a shelves full of signed first edition books to a great group of people. And, I got to meet blog & Twitter friends Rob, Ana, Lacey, and Mindi, in person!

Lady made me pose with the display of STAY books.

And I got pictures with Mindi (who will be reading at Third Place this fall),

And Rob, who is a fellow green blogger, and an all round crafty guy.

Rob is giving away a signed copy of STAY at his blog, Rob's World!

After the reading we got to hang out in the food court at Third Place, and chat for a bit. It was such a great night, and I am so thankful to everyone who made it out to the reading!

Today, we went hiking at Rattlesnake Ledge. The weather was amazing, and the views were spectacular!

And then we finished up the day with an absolutely incredible dinner at Agua Verde. Seattle is such a wonderful city!

Allison Winn Scotch (who just announced the winners of the amazing book giveaway) is reading at the Pacific Place Barnes & Noble in Seattle on Tuesday. I'm so excited that I will still be in Seattle and I can attend!

Links time!!! And, again, if I left out your link, feel free to give me a nudge. I am so far away from my normal office routine, and it's made me a tad bit flaky. I can't tell you how much I appreciate these posts. It's amazing to hear your thoughts on STAY and how you related to the story. I love it! Thank you! And keep an eye out for a really cool contest coming up very soon!

Howling Hill

Deb's Book Bag
Just a Titch

Rob's World

Drunk Writer Talk

Charlotte's Web of Books

The Jump
Tiny Choices

Book Reporter

New Books

So much amazing stuff going on!

Well, the query contest will close tomorrow and I'll announce the winner on Monday. If you haven't entered, you can go to this post to learn more about it!

And there's another amazing contest going on! Allison Winn Scotch has organized "the mother of all giveaways." TWENTY-EIGHT women who write are giving away books (including me). Twenty-eight lucky readers will get one book, and one winner will get a complete set of books! Learn more about how to enter, and find links to follow these lovely ladies on Twitter here.

I'm heading out to Third Place Books in a little bit for my second STAY event!!!

I'm staying with Lady, who I get to see maybe once a year if I'm really really lucky. We've been talking a mile a minute and laughing like crazy, which hasn't been conducive to sitting down and putting the links together (but has been very fun). But I will put up another massive links post tomorrow, I promise. And I so much love seeing all your STAY pictures and reading your e-mails and tweets and comments about how your dogs changed your life. It's wonderful! Thank you so very much!!!