Countdown to THE DARK DIVINE contest and purple toes too!

So its that time of the month again! Wait...I don't mean that... well I do...but that's not what I wanted to talk about. Wow. TMI. Um.... yeah.

So what I mean is "Yay, its the 22nd of August and that means only 4 months until the release of THE DARK DIVINE!!!!" And to celebrate? You guessed it-- CONTEST TIME!

But before we get into the contest, I have to tell you about something really cool. Hubby and I thought it would be really neat if we found some nail polish to match the girl on my cover's pedicure. Then we took the idea one step farther and said, well what if we actually found a manufacturer who could make THE DARK DIVINE nail polish? It seemed like a long shot, but we presented the idea to my publisher (who loved it by the way) and long story short, I give you THE DARK DIVINE nail polish!
Okay how cool is that? And I totally know that you want to know how you can get one for your very own. I mean, they are awesomely cute, don't you think?

Well, that's where the contest comes into play. And since the girl on my cover has beautiful feet (though oddly squarish toes), the grand prize this month includes a THE DARK DIVINE pedicure kit! (A foot file, a tub of peppermint smoothing pumice scrub, a bottle of peppermint cooling foot lotion, and a bottle of the nail polish.)

So here's how this month's contest will work:

Qualified participants will be entered into a drawing to win one of three prizes:

1. A pedicure kit complete with my new THE DARK DIVINE nail polish! + An autographed ARC of THE DARK DIVINE + $15 gift card to Barnes & Noble.
2. Signed copy of MY BIG NOSE AND OTHER NATURAL DISASTERS by Sydney Salter + Signed copy of LIFE IN THE PIT by Kristen Landon
3. A $30 gift card to Barnes & Noble

What's a qualified participant you ask? Well, you must be a follower of the blog or twitter to qualify, so if you are not already a follower....you know...become one :D. You must also earn a minimum of 5 points from the list below to qualify.

1. Already a blog follower= 4pts
2. Already a twitter follower= 2pts
3. Become a new blog follower= 3pts
4. Become a new Twitter follower= 1pt
5. Post a twitter update about contest= 1pt
6. Blog about the contest= 5pts (must be in a post)
7. Post a comment responding to the questions posed below= 2pts

To enter, and make sure I don't miss anything, please post a comment to this post with the URLs of your blog/twitter posts and totaling your points (While you're there, you might as well comment on the questions posed and earn a couple extra points too).

For every point you earn in addition to the 5 points needed to qualify, you get an additional name entry in the drawing. For example, if you are already a follower, blog about the contest, and also post a twitter update (10 points), you would get 6 entries in the drawing (1 for the 5pts to qualify and 5 more for the additional 5pts earned). Contest ends midnight Aug. 29th. I'll post winners the following day.

Now, as mentioned, you can respond to a couple questions to earn points toward the contest. So, I'm wondering loyal followers:

1. What was the last book you read that gave you a new perspective?
2. Who's your favorite fictional bad boy?
3. What's your favorite paranormal creature and why?

Now, go forth and blog and tweet and comment, and may the best readers win! (Oh, and as a side note, the "Favorites from SCBWI" commenting contest for Sherman Alexie's ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY OF A PART TIME INDIAN and other books I picked up from the conference is still going on. I'll finish my stories sometime early next week. . . and then pick a winner for that contest shortly thereafter.)