Book Bomb!

I have been blessed to meet many wonderful people through my writing career. Rob Wells is one of those people. He founded the Whitney Awards, has written amazing books, championed so many people in their own careers, and he's made incredible sacrifices for his education and family. Beyond that, I've had an exclusive seat to a few backstage battles he's taken on where he stood up and made unpopular statements without apology because they were the right thing to do. I'm grateful to have been able to see just how dedicated he is to important things and it's been a blessing to me in my current position within The Whitney Award organization because I've had to do hard things and he set the stage for it.

He's currently facing a personal battle involving Severe Panic Disorder that has changed his life and recently led to him losing his job. It might be easy to say "He's a national author, he got an advance, he's fine," but it doesn't work that way. In this Appendix Podcast he explains how the money works--very eye opening.

All that goes back to the fact that, in his own way, Rob has changed the world, and some of the people who think he's amazing are out to change HIS world a little bit.

There are several bloggers hosting contests for this Book Bomb, where we'll buy his books, up his online ranking, increase his sales, and just show him that we not only wish him well, but we'll do our part to prove it. And instead of doing my own blog contest about it, I would like to refer you to my friend Luisa Perkin's blog. She not only explains the campaign wonderfully, but she's hosting a contest to help encourage it. I couldn't do better than that, so I'm going to support her efforts instead (And I'm hoping to win a copy of her cookbook Comfortably Yum). Please head over to Novembrance and read up on how she's contributing to this cause.

AND, if you haven't read Variant (Rob's book) it is AWESOME and Publisher's Weekly agrees with me. Click HERE to learn why.

I'll be following Luisa's example and buying copies for my kid's school libraries as well as some Christmas gifts. Would love for you to join in!

Help me Name Book 8!

I have encountered serious writer's block in regard to naming Book 8. The story is coming together (sort of) but the title has eluded me. Shadow Mountain came up with a solution--ask readers to help. I thought that was a brilliant idea, so consider this your official invitation to go through your recipes and see if you have just the right dish. Here are the things to keep in mind:

• The recipe must be a dessert
• The book is set in New Mexico, specifically Santa Fe and Albuquerque.
• The recipe should reflect the Southwest
• The submission must include the recipe so we can try it out.

If your submitted recipe is chosen you'll get a copy of the book when it comes out in Fall 2012, you will also become a character in the book, and you get a 12 cup Cuisinart Food Processor!

For full details and to submit your Southwestern dessert recipe, go HERE  Do NOT submit to me--Shadow Mountain is heading this one up and all submissions must go through them.

Thanks so much for the great support!

Entries due by November 27!

Josi