The Winners are UP!

Yes, you read that correctly, WINNERS. As in, plural. Spencer is giving away TWO prizes on her blog to the winners of her birthday contest. Check it out.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVE!

Hello my most friendliest of people:

If you'll allow me a moment of self-indulgence, I just wanted to post a brief notice that TODAY IS MY BABY BROTHER'S 30 BIRTHDAY!
It's true. David K. Ostow is old as the hills, yo.
Some of you who know my work know that Dave is my collaborator and illustrator on the forthcoming hybrid graphic novel project, So Punk Rock (and Other Ways to Disappoint Your Mother), which will be out in July. See above: us at last year's Comic Con NYC being all professional and conference-like.

In terms of his relationship to the Bradford-verse, suffice it to say that one Jeremy Brown's musical tastes have been heavily influenced by Brother Dave.

Dave blogs about book and non-book stuff over on livejournal; stop by, friend him, and wish him a happy day if you have a mo'.

Here's a shot of us from his official birthday celebration this past Saturday night--what on earth do we think I was talking about?!



Maybe we're still arguing about that acoustic Nirvana CD that went missing sometime in the mid-nineties. We'll never know.

Regardless, I hope you have a fabbidy day, David!

Spencer's contest

Quick update to let you know Spencer's blog comments form was temporarily broken, BUT HAS NOW BEEN FIXED!! So please enter to win a signed copy of THE SEASON!

Sorry about that!

The kitchen sink

(Also known as, this blog post.)
For serious people, I have many many things to share with you! So exciting!

For starters, in Bradford news, yesterday was the Biggest Teen Author Signing Ever at Books of Wonder in NYC. Not only did I get to sign copies of GoldenGirl, but I also got to meet Bradford friendlies Sharon Anne and Khyrinthia! I am pleased to report that both are every bit as awesome in person as online.
You may recall that Sharon Anne was our grand prize winner from the Bradford Blog Bash! Here's a pic of her humbly accepting her prize package (above).
(Please to disregard my slouching! I can hear my mother in my ear with the: "stand up straight!" And she would be correct. But oh, well.)

Other things Bradford: Spencer's birthday contest continues! Today, she announced on her blog that she'll be giving away as her present to YOU a signed copy of The Season by authoress extraordinaire Sarah MacLean. Rumor has it that Sarah will even be doing a short Q&A with Spencer on Wednesday in honor of the close of the contest. Swing by Spencer's blog between now and midnight Wednesday and post your own six word memoir, and you'll be entered for a chance to win the book.
(And believe you me, it's a good book. Worth the pain of the creative process.)



You might think that that is more than enough news from my corner of the world. But I have MORE THINGS TO TELL YOU!
Namely, that I can be found this week in two places: firstly, at author KC Dyer's Darby Speaks blog, chatting about--what else?--the Bradfordlies.
ALSO, an excerpt for the Ellen Hopkins anthology from SmartPop, Flirtin' With the Monster, (coming in May) can be found here. I was so flattered to be asked to contribute an essay, and let me tell you, it was nice to put those VCFA critical writing skills to use!

As you can see, it's been all kinds of bizzy here in Ostow-ville. But I wouldn't have it any other way!

Spencer's Spectacular Birthday Party!

TODAY is Spencer Grace Kelly's birthday! And to celebrate the anniversary of everyone's fav GoldenGirl, she's hosting a special contest for all her friendlies over at her blog, All That Glitters, this week.

Craft your own six-word memoir and post it in the comments section to her post by midnight EDT on Wed, 3/25. She and her BFFs will choose their favorite and award the winner a prezzie.

Good luck!

NYC Teen Author Festival--THIS WEEK!

Hey all:

Just a quick reminder that today kicks off the first-ever TEEN AUTHOR FEST here in New York City! Throughout the week, you'll be able to attend readings, signings, and panel discussions featuring tons of amazing young adult authors.

I'll be reading in Staten Island on Thursday, and signing with about 40 other authors at Books of Wonder on Sunday.
You can find a link to all of the Teen Author Fest events here!

Hope to see you!

The Head of the Class

Hello, Bradford friendlies!

I've just read the RAVE review of GoldenGirl at the Vita Dei blog. She rated it an A++++ and said "It was awesome! I loved it and I say that about books very rarely." Thank you, Jessica!

There's also a really great review of Micol Ostow's previous book, Popular Vote, over at Juiciliciousss Reviews, so check that one out as well.

My bookshelf, my self...

Happened to blog on my author blog (that is, the non-Brad-specific blog over at livejournal) about the ways in which we judge and are judged by what we read and what books we display. The topic was spurred by a post at Jezebel asking, when is a bookshelf a dating dealbreaker?

Would love to hear your thoughts, if you've got 'em. Come visit me here.

Happy Monday, people! We survived Daylight Savings!

Prize-alicious and Swag-tastic! Blog Bash winners REVEALED!

For those of you pretties who thought this day would never come, the wait is over--lo, we have tallied the various prizewinners from our month-long Bradford Blog Bash, and giveaways will be going out STAT!

(Though we may wait a week until the gorj new Bradford bookmarks and magnets come in so we can add them to some of the prizes. That's worth the wait, right?)

But first, I did want to thank you very very muchly for all of your supportive friendliness during our mucho-exciting new series launch. I had a great time meeting new people out there in the blogosphere (and spending time with old friends!), and my Bradford girlies had a great time getting to know you all, too! If you haven't already, be sure to check them out on Twitter, Myspace, Facebook, and on their own private blogs (links can be found on the sidebar to your left) to catch updates, additional plot reveals, and even some online-only story arcs to help you get your Bradford fix between now and June, when FASHIONISTA releases.

But I believe we were speaking of swag.
I'm sure that Spencer would agree that pressies are always most very.

AND THE WINNERS ARE:

*Widget download giveaways:
Katie Johnson
Meredith Foster

Mondays With Micol winners:
Allie Jones
Faith
Marjolein

Guest Blogger winners:
Lynn Weingarten ("Wherever Nina Lies"): Shalonda
Cynthia Leitich Smith ("Tantalize"): Paradox

(Quite Extremely) Grand Prize:
Reader Rabbit

and...

THE MOST, ULTRA, EXTRA, VERY Grand Prize:
Sharonanne!

Woo hoo!

If you've won a prize, and for any reason I don't have your information, I shall be contacting you shortly.

THANKS FOR PLAYING ALONG (and for partying with us)!

Besos,

Micol

The Dog Ate My Blog Post

I know, I know, that's so TOTES not an excuse! I am filled to the veriness with apologies for the fact that the BLOG BASH WINNERS have still not been posted! I could babble on about how completely and unexpectedly insane these last two months have been--which would be utterly and completely true*--or I could just swear on Chanel and Zac Posen to have the names up for you tomorrow, just in time for the weekend!

And just to raise the stakes--if I'm lyin', and the info doesn't go up by 11:59pm EST tomorrow, I will give away one whole entire extra surprise prize package at random.

For realsies.

*(said craziness did indeed include not one but TWO marathon plotting sessions for new books in the Bradford series--d'you forgive me now?)

TGI (almost) F, my most prettiest friendlies!

Across the Blogoverse

Micol's been all over the blogoverse this week. Check out these interviews at In Bed With Books and Innovative to get to know her a bit better.