Choose Your Own Giveaway, The Joys of Erasers, and Cleveland!

Here's a New Giveaway Just For You

Starting this month, I'm doing a new kind of giveaway just for you, the kind and brave-hearted readers of this newsletter. Here's how it works:

You pick the prize you want, from the assortment of extra books I have sitting around in my office. This assortment will change over time, but here's what I've got right now.

THEN--you ask me a question! Any kind of question. It can be about writing, art, what I eat for lunch, or my March Madness picks. (Don't ask me that, I barely even know what March Madness is.)

Each month, I'll choose a question, send the winner their book, and answer the question in the next newsletter. Fun, right?

Go here to enter. I want to hear from you!

Hey, are you in Cleveland?

If you're in Cleveland--let's hang out!

I'm doing a special Drunken Botanist event at the Cleveland Humanities Festival on April 3. But--I added on another event at the Cleveland Library South Branch just for readers of the Kopp Sisters novels. On Friday, April 5 at 5:30, I'll be getting together with local book clubs and--I hope!--YOU, the Cleveland-based readers of this newsletter, to talk about the Kopp novels, writing, and--well, anything you like. I hope to also have some books and swag to give away. Join me!

How I Start a New Book

I just sent my editor a very early version of Book 6. While she's reading it and making her notes, I thought I'd start to mull over Book 7. 

This is just one of many methods I might use to start a novel. I didn't invent it--I believe this is actually a screenwriting technique.

Want to know how it works? I wrote about it on my website.

So BookBub Recommendations Are a Thing Now

Are you a BookBub subscriber? BookBub is a free service that notifies you about new releases from authors you follow, and lets you know about discounted ebooks you might like. You can also review and recommend books you love, and you'll see authors on BookBub doing the same.

I say this a lot these days, but reader reviews and recommendations are so important to authors these days. When you read a book you love, please consider giving it a thumbs-up on BookBub, Goodreads, Litsy, Amazon, social media, etc. etc. 

Embrace Your Eraser! 

I was drawing a picture the other day and I thought about how artists sometimes fall into the trap of thinking that pencils are for beginners, and that real artists just dive right in with ink or paint.

Not true! Pencils are tools. Erasers are tools. They let you work out ideas. Imagine writing a book in which every word you type goes directly to the printer to be typeset and published. Horrors!

I had a bit more to say about that here, and you can check out not one but three versions of this sketch on Instagram.

I'm Hitting the Road Next Week!

I'm firming up a lot of dates for 2019, so stay tuned! And if you're part of a literary series, a library event, or some other bookish gathering, please feel free to reach out to publicity@amystewart.com to see about setting up an event.

Cleveland, OH: April 3 Cleveland Humanities Festival
Muncie, IN April 4: Minnetrista Wicked Plants exhibit
Cleveland, OH April 5: A special Kopp Sisters book club night!
Rocky River, OH May 14: Lakewood Garden Club, Drunken Botanist
Wallingford CT: May 15: One Book, One Wallingford
Seattle, WA May 23: Author Salon, Drunken Botanist

Some of these are ticketed events. More tour dates are on my website. Please confirm details with the venue.

  Quick: Enter to Win!
Are you on Goodreads? Then please head over there by March 31 and enter to win a copy of Girl Waits with Gun. If you already have one, enter anyway and give it to a friend!

What Are You Reading?

I joined British novelist Elly Griffiths on book tour last August. She told me about her new gothic mystery, and I've been dying to read it since.

Wait no more! The Stranger Diaries is in stores now and it's so creepy and good! I know spring is already here, but this is the perfect curl-up-in-front-of-the-fire-on-a-dark-and-stormy-night kind of book.

What are you reading? Tell me about it on Goodreads or Litsy.