Galileo swings by the Transfer Student Blog Tour & Giveaway

Today the tour visits ANGELA CARLIE, AUTHOR OF THE LORDS OF SHIFTERS SERIES. Congrats to @AkChocoholic winner of kindle/nook TRANSFER STUDENT. To enter to win today’s ebook of TRANSFER STUDENT, just swing by Angela’s blog and comment with a link to ur tweet:

TRANSFER STUDENT by @Laurawriting RELEASE DAY 3/20! Blog Tour & Giveaway! #teenreads #scifi #romance #yahttp://wp.me/P1J9jx-bs

All comments are entered to win this week’s swag too! [ EXPEDITION TO THE STARS 3-D MODEL, an IN-N-OUT Burger T-SHIRT, signed bookmarks, Griffith Park Observatory postcards, real meteorite fragments, Space Shuttle Commemorative playing cards!]

Angela and I met online and then face-to-face at Wordstock in Portland, OR where we had a booth together with  STACEY WALLACE BENEFIEL, BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF THE ZELLIE WELLS TRILOGY. We had a great time talking to readers and writers at the festival. It’s been fun getting to know Angela.

Galileo inventor of the telescope

Wait a minute! I write for teens. What’s a picture of this old dude doing here?

Transfer Student Blog Tour & EBOOK | SWAG Giveaway goes to Australia and stops at a Drive In in California!

I thought it would be a great way to welcome my Australian friends to the tour today by stopping by an American Icon, the Drive-In. A Drive-In inspired one of the scenes in TRANSFER STUDENT. So get in the car…let’s go check out some of the real places that inspired the scene. Check out DeeScribeWriting to for the inspirations/challenges of TRANSFER STUDENT & for the EBOOK/SWAG GVAWAY!  CONGRATS TO @red_tigergirl2 today’s winner of a TRANSFER STUDENT EBOOK!

What's playing tonight

The line waiting to get in

Tickets!

Transfer Student Blog Tour | Behind The Scenes : Wish Upon A Star

Congrats to @Jwitt33 winner of today’s TRANSFER STUDENT EBOOK! Good luck to today’s tweeters To read a review and get the scoop on today’s EBOOK/SWAG Giveaways visit the next stop on the tour, the wonderful Epilogue Review!

Over the next few days I’m blogging about the inspirations/challenges of TRANSFER STUDENT.

I wrote the first draft in 2006 after my father-in-law died. It was a crazy, sad time. I was working at The Los Angeles Times on the re-opening of the Griffith Observatory [it had been closed for five years for renovations] and we were back-and-forth between LA and Fresno [a four hour drive from LA], more and more frequently as my father-in-law got worse and worse, eventually ending up on life support. His name was Ray. I named the Reathan word for “year” in his honor. After Ray passed, just hours after, it was late at night and my husband Joe, his mom and I all sat out on my mother-in-law’s patio and looked at the stars. She said she knew Ray was up there, one of the stars. And that’s all it took. I had the beginnings of a story about souls that traveled, that starjumped, through space. And I wanted to explore the idea of a parallel planet similar to Earth, a sister planet. Retha is that planet and an anagram for Earth.

Tomorrow I blog about why I decided to write the story from Two POVS, that of a teen girl Earthling and a teen boy alien from the planet Retha.

Transfer Student: The teleporting telescope

Congrats to @laurathomas61 the winner of an ebook of Transfer Student! Good luck to today’s tweeters. Giveaway rules at the end of the post!

Central to the story of TRANSFER STUDENT is Rhoe’s invention of the teleporting telescope. Here is a picture of the Zeiss Telescope at The Griffith Observatory.

In 2006, while working at The Los Angeles Times, I was helping to work on a multi-media feature covering the re-opening of The Griffith Observatory after it had been closed for a five-year renovation. This would be one of the inspirations for Transfer Student! Here is what is happening over the skies of Southern California as I type.

Today’s tour takes us to THE MIDNIGHT BOOKWORM! Go to her site and listen to the music that inspired the story and read an except then enter the EBOOK GIVEAWAY!…it’s easy

Here’s how to enter to WIN A TRANSFER STUDENT EBOOK TODAY! Just follow@Laurawriting and tweet:

Can’t wait to read Transfer Student by @Laurawriting Check out the Blog Tour & Giveaway! #teenreads #scifi #romance #ya http://wp.me/P1J9jx-bs

Leave a comment here or at THE MIDNIGHT BOOKWORM with your link. Winner announced here tomorrow!

THAT’S NOT ALL:
Every week all comments are entered to win some great swag too! THIS WEEK’S SWAG: PIG IN SPACE PIGGY BANK, Griffith Observatory travel mug, a HOLLYWOOD MAP OF THE STARS, signed bookmarks, Griffith Park Observatory pen & postcards, Space Shuttle Anniversary commemorative coin, a CHOCOLATE MOON PIE, and more! Check out the weekly swag here: http://wp.me/P1J9jx-bs

 

THIS WEEK’S GIVEAWAY OPEN UNTIL MARCH 13! 6PM PST. 1 swag winner will be picked. Open internationally!

 

Squeee  

Winners & More Swag :)

Congrats to @Nomes3329 winner of a TRANSFER STUDENT EBOOK! Good luck to today’s tweeters:) Details on the giveaway below!

Congrats to @Bookattict winner of WEEK ONE SWAG! GROOVY NASA TRAVEL MUGS, real meteorite fragments, signed bookmarks, Griffith Park Observatory pen & postcards, Apollo 40^th Anniversary commemorative coin, a CHOCOLATE MOON PIE, a space shuttle commemorative pin, a sparkly bracelet, a NASA key chain, a Griffith Observer booklet with a feature about telescopes and the military!

Today the tour visits the AMAZING Autumn Review

Visit Autumn’s site to find out this week’s awesome swag:) AND be sure to leave a comment with your TWEET to enter to win today’s TRANSFER STUDENT EBOOK. 

Today I have a special BONUS. I’ll give away 1 EBOOK to one person who DMs me @Laurawriting [follow me and I'll follow you back] to tell me what Rhoe & Ashley wished before they starjumped. The clue will be found on the blogs we’ve visited so far on the tour. Tour schedule here! GOOD LUCK! Winner announced here tomorrow. 

Here is one of my favorite lines from the novel:

“He’s everything I never wanted, and everything I can’t live without.” – Ashley, Transfer Student

Tomorrow on the tour? The first chapter written in Ashley’s POV!

Transfer Student Blog Tour & Giveaway Starts Tomorrow! Squeee!

Griffith Park Observatory, Los Angeles, CA 

Two Worlds––Two Teens––One Wish

Geek Rhoe and Surfer Ashley would never be friends.
Even if they lived on the same planet.
But, they’ll become so much more.
They’ll transfer.

This is the setting where the transfer occurs on Earth. It’s where Ashley makes her first wish upon her first star at the exact same time Rhoe makes the same wish, a universe away.

YA Indie Carnival: Tunes that inspire!

I’m really excited about Transfer Student. When I wrote the first draft of this story in 2006 many things were going on in my personal and professional life that ended up in the book. The story was also inspired by my years of living in Los Angeles. My hubby and I first moved to LA in 1986. We lived with our kids in a part of the city called Echo Park, nestled in the hills just outside of downtown LA. We had the most amazing home there with one hundred steps to our front door. Here’s a few tracks from the playlist for Transfer Student. I’ll be posting the playlist during the Blog Tour for Transfer Student which starts LEAP DAY! Hope to see you there:) Below read about the ebook ARC giveaway of Transfer Student & check out what music inspires my amazing fellow carnis!

Indie Sneak Peek: Transfer Student Exclusive Excerpt & Giveaway!

But you can’t read it here…you’ll have to go to:

Lovelylit

Everyone who comments on Lovelylit & tweets:

I just read an #excerpt of TRANSFER STUDENT by @Laurawriting and can’t wait for the Blog Tour 2/29-3/20 #teenreads #kindle #ya #romance

And also FOLLOWS @Laurawriting will get a free signed Transfer Student bookmark & will enter to win an early ebook ARC of TRANSFER STUDENT! Squeee:)

Giveaway ends Friday 2/24! HAPPY PRESIDENTS’ DAY! 

Transfer Student Cover Revealed: Two Worlds, Two Teens, One Wish

Two Worlds––Two Teens––One Wish

Rhoe and Ashley would never be friends.
Even if they lived on the same planet.
But, they’ll become much more.
They’ll transfer.

Nothing says Valentine’s Day like an alien romance! Transfer Student Cover Reveal & Giveaway!

It’s COVER REVEAL DAY! YAYYYY! But you won’t see it here, you’ll have to check out these awesome blogs to see the cover & win a signed-bookmark!

All you need to do to win a signed bookmark is FOLLOW THIS BLOG and TWEET:

Nothing says #ValentinesDay like an alien #romance! TRANSFER STUDENT by @Laurawriting Cover Reveal! #TransferStudent http://laurasmagicday.wordpress.com/

Everyone who comments on their posts will be entered to win an early ebook ARC of TRANSFER STUDENT and a signed paperback copy of 13 on HALLOWEEN & WINNEMUCCA, A SMALL-TOWN FAIRY TALE. [OPEN TO INTERNATIONAL READERS!]