Happy holidays!

Happy holidays, dear readers! Thank you so much for your continued enthusiasm for my historical tales, and thank you for helping me celebrate the release of The Raven's Tale this year. If you're interested in purchasing a signed copy of The Raven's Tale this holiday season, please visit Fountain Bookstore in Poe's teenage home of Richmond, VA (or visit them online).

Behind-the-scenes, I'm hard at work on two different book projects as we wrap up 2019. I don't have any news to report about them at this point, but hopefully that will change in 2020. I've also been freelancing as a fact-checker of children's nonfiction books, which has opened up my eyes to the fascinating world of picture book publishing.

If you'd like to meet me in person, I have two events lined up for the beginning of the new year:

Saturday, January 25, 2020
Teen Bookfest by the Bay
Corpus Christi, TX

March 14-15, 2020
Tucson Festival of Books
Tucson, AZ

If you're interested in booking me to speak at a school, library, festival, etc., in 2020, I do have openings in my schedule. Please head to my Author Visits page for details.

I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful holiday season. Here's to new possibilities, peace, joy, and healing in the upcoming (roaring?) 20s!

Photo courtesy of Library of Congress.

Results of My Epic 2019 Halloween Giveaway

Me, Halloween night 2019.

On October 1, I announced my Epic 2019 Halloween Giveaway, in which one winner would receive a signed, personally annotated copy of one of my books. Because the prize is so rare and will take me a while to prepare, I made readers work to enter. People entering could post an original photograph of one my books with their favorite quote included, create fan art or original poetry or lyrics for one of my novels, or cosplay one of my characters.

The entries to this giveaway BLEW ME AWAY! 

I was hoping at least a few people would enter, but I received dozens of entries, and they all exceeded my expectations! Most people chose the photo and quote option and displayed an incredible amount of creativity. I also saw some excellent cosplaying and fan art posts that made my jaw drop. One reader devoted the entire week leading up to Halloween to daily Instagram posts about my books.

Every single entry made me smile. Some moved me to tears. The hard work and originality you all put into these posts and your passion for my books have rendered me speechless. Thank you to every single one of you who entered! 

I'm selecting a random winner for this one, so the more times you entered, the better your odds were for winning. I knew the quality of the posts would make it difficult for me to choose which post was the "best," so I selected this policy for picking a winner instead. I wish I could name multiple winners, but, unfortunately, I only have time to annotate one book, and I don't have the budget for shipping multiple copies.

So, without further ado, here's the winner for my Epic 2019 Halloween Giveaway:

ANGELICA J.

Congratulations to Angelica, who will be receiving a signed, annotated copy of In the Shadow of Blackbirds! By the way, 50% of you chose this same novel as the book you'd like to receive if you won.

Below is a gallery of some of the entries so you can see a sample of the variety and creativity involved. To see more posts, head to #catwintersgiveaway on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. I also saw a touching entry for The Cure for Dreaming on a blog about hypnosis.

Mary Shelley Black from In the Shadow of Blackbirds.

La Llorona's appearance in Odd & True, by theacadianmouse.

A blackbird standing In the Shadow of Blackbirds.

Ivy Rowan from The Uninvited.

In the Shadow of Blackbirds fan art.

Odd & True fan art.

A post for The Steep and Thorny Way.

A post for Yesternight.

Thank you again to everyone who entered! I may do something similar next Halloween so definitely check back in October 2020. Thank you for reading my books!!!!!!

My Epic 2019 Halloween Giveaway!

It's here!!!!

First, I must give credit for this giveaway idea and format to Shannon Messenger. Several years ago, I met Shannon at an author dinner, and she gave the advice of running "superfan" giveaways for readers, as opposed to giveaways where anyone can enter by simply retweeting or liking a post.

Now that I have seven books out in the world, I feel the time is right to heed that advice.

THIS GIVEAWAY IS OPEN INTERNATIONALLY.

Let's start with the prize!

ONE winner will receive ONE signed, annotated copy of ONE of my novels. The winner will get to choose which novel they want to receive. By annotated I mean that I'll go through the entire book of the winner's choice and write little notes in the margins about the importance of certain lines, reasons behind character names, fun facts about the settings, and other behind-the-scenes details I don't typically share anywhere else. I have never done this for any of my books before, so this is an extremely rare, one-of-a-kind prize!

Because this giveaway item is so special and will likely take me several weeks to prepare, I will only select ONE random winner. And I will make you work a little bit to enter. If you've read at least one of my novels, entering should, hopefully, prove to be fun and easy.

How to enter!

You must complete BOTH Step One and Step Two!!!

STEP ONE. Choose one of the following options:

• On a social media site of your choice, post your own original photo of one of my novels. In either the photo or your comment for the photo, you must include your favorite quote from the book. You can post a selfie of you and the book and/or take a photo of the book in a bookstore, a library, an eerie setting, or wherever you wish, but you absolutely must include your favorite quote somewhere in your post.
• On a social media site of your choice, post your fan art for one of my novels. You may use any medium you wish to create your art. Videos are also welcome. Please include the name of the novel somewhere in your post.
• On a social media site of your choice, post a photo of you cosplaying one of my characters. Please include the name of the character and the novel that character is from somewhere in your post.
• On a social media site, post your own original poem or song inspired by one of my novels. You may post the written poem or lyrics, or you may post a video of you reading the poem or singing the lyrics. Please include the name of the novel that inspired your work somewhere in your post.

YOU MUST FILL OUT THE ENTRY FORM BELOW (STEP 2) TO HAVE YOUR ENTRY COUNTED!!!!

All entries must be posted online sometime between 12:00 am Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) October 1, 2019, and 11:59 pm PDT October 31, 2019. If you've already posted fan art, photos, etc., thank you so much, but you must create a new post or share your post on another social media site during the giveaway dates to be eligible to win.

STEP TWO. You must fill out the entry form below!

To have your entry counted, fill out the form below. You may post on more than one social media site, and you may choose to do more than one of the above-mentioned types of posts and/or create entries for more than one of my books, but please fill out the form every time you create a new post or post on another site. You'll receive an extra entry credit each time you fill out the form, which will increase your chance of winning!

You must be 13 or over to enter. If you're under 18, you must have permission from an adult to enter.

On the form you'll be asked to choose which of my books you'd like to have annotated if you're my winner. Please see the YA Books and Adult Books pages of this site for more information about each of my novels. Please make your selection carefully. Once I start working on the annotation, I cannot change which book I send you.

FILL OUT THE FOLLOWING FORM:

THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO ENTERED!

To link up with other people's posts, use the hashtag #catwintersgiveaway (optional). Feel free to also tag me (Twitter/Pinterest: @catwinters; Instagram/Facebook: @catwintersbooks), especially if you'd like me to potentially retweet or repost your entry (also optional). I cannot guarantee that I'll repost or retweet.

I will contact the winner via email by November 3, 2019. If you do not receive an email from me by that date, unfortunately, that means you did not win. Thank you in advance to everyone who enters! I appreciate you joining my online Halloween party!

I know I've included a lot of information. Feel free to ask questions in the comments section of this post here on CatWinters.com. 

Good luck! 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!!