Hey, there. I'm leaving tomorrow for BlogHer '13. If you are there, I'm speaking on Friday and Saturday on turning your blog post into publishable essays -- if you come to either session, please come up and say hi and be patient with me if I look at you all glassy-eyed because presenting takes a lot out of me but I really like to meet people. Also, I may have met you thirty-five times before but will still ask you your name or your blog because I have the recall of a tree frog.

If you're not there (or you are there and seriously have time to read blogs) and you want to enter for a chance to win a copy of THE OBVIOUS GAME, my latest Goodreads giveaway has another two-ish weeks on it.

And my daughter has pneumonia and I have to leave her, so send good vibes toward Kansas City, okay? And also me, because I went to test the thermometer by taking my own temperature and either there is something wrong with the thermometer or I have a low-grade fever, too. I bought three bottles of Purell yesterday and will not touch anyone without disinfecting them afterward.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Obvious Game

by Rita Arens

Giveaway ends August 06, 2013.

See the giveaway detailsat Goodreads.

Enter to win

Next week, the girl (who will hopefully be better) and I are headed to Iowa to hang out with my original nuclear, so posting may be light. I'll try to get some fun pictures from BlogHer for those who can't make it -- it's always a little surreal.

More soon!

It's Children's Book Week! Yay!

And to celebrate, I'm giving away a copy of THE OBVIOUS GAME and joining a bunch of other great authors and bloggers on a blog hop. (Although teens aren't really "children," YA falls in this category.)

In order to enter to win, please fill out the form below. Also! If you want to read THE OBVIOUS GAME but don't have a book budget, don't forget to ask your library to order it. Or if you just want to be nice, ask your library to order it. I'm not afraid to beg you to ask your library to order it. All you have to do is go up to the librarian (check to make sure the library doesn't already have it, of course), and ask them to order it! Aren't libraries fantastic? Don't forget high school libraries! And then, once you asked your library to order it, email me at ritajarens(at)gmail.com and I'll send you a signed book plate for your troubles.

Today my interview with my publisher is up on their website, InkSpell Publishing.

My favorite part of the interview is the reveal of THE OBVIOUS GAME playlist. The chapter titles are actually all album titles from the late eighties and early nineties for no reason other than it's my book and I wanted to and the novel is set in 1990 and nobody ever either a) figured out they were album titles or b) told me that was hokey and ridiculous and I had to take it out. I haven't actually pulled this playlist together on iTunes yet, but dammit, I should do that.

The Obvious Game Playlist

Chapter 1: Pride by White Lion (1987) – When the Children Cry

Chapter 2: Appetite for Destruction by Guns N’ Roses (1987) – Welcome to the Jungle

Chapter 3: Scarecrow by John Mellencamp (1985) – Small Town

Chapter 4: True Colors by Cyndi Lauper (1986) – True Colors

Chapter 5: Can’t Hold Back by Eddie Money (1986) – Take Me Home Tonight

Chapter 6: Hysteria by Def Leppard (1987) – Hysteria

Chapter 7: Nothing’s Shocking by Jane’s Addiction (1988) – Jane Says

Chapter 8: Just Like the First Time by Freddie Jackson (1986) – Have You Ever Loved Somebody

Chapter 9: Use Your Illusion by Guns N’Roses (1991) – November Rain

Chapter 10: Bat Out of Hell by Meatloaf (1977) – Bat Out of Hell

Chapter 11: Head Games by Foreigner (1979) – Dirty White Boy

Chapter 12: Faith by George Michael (1987) – Monkey

Chapter 13: Cuts Like a Knife by Bryan Adams (1983) – Straight From the Heart

Chapter 14: Double Vision by Foreigner (1978) – Hot Blooded

Chapter 15: Disintegration by The Cure (1989) – Fascination Street

Chapter 16: Poison by Bell Biv DeVoe (1990) – Poison

Chapter 17: Achtung Baby by U2 (1991) -- Who’s Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses?

Chapter 18: Nevermind by Nirvana (1991) – Smells Like Teen Spirit

Chapter 19: Listen Without Prejudice by George Michael (1990) – Something to Save

Chapter 20: Out of Time by R.E.M. (1991) – Losing My Religion

Chapter 21: The Way It Is by Bruce Hornsby (1986) –  Mandolin Rain

Chapter 22: Infected by The The (1986) – Out of the Blue (Into the Fire)

Chapter 23: Strange Fire by Indigo Girls (1989) – Strange Fire

Chapter 24: Little Earthquakes by Tori Amos (1992) -- China

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I put a three-book giveaway on Goodreads. If you use Goodreads, go enter! And if you don't use Goodreads, consider using Goodreads, because it's such a great way to discover new authors. And friend me there so I can see what you like. I think my username is Rita Arens.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Obvious Game

by Rita Arens

Giveaway ends February 05, 2013.

See the giveaway detailsat Goodreads.

Enter to win

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And, I've been writing a ton on BlogHer and forgetting to tell you about it. I bet you won't spot the theme!

• Marriage and Relationships During Unemployment
• Is Your House Above Average?
• I'm Doing the 52-Week Money Challenge
• Tips for Living on One Income During Unemployment

In May 2009, I released a micro-collection of poetry to Kindle. Five poems. Just pulled them off my hard drive, put them in .rtf format, paid someone $10 to design a cover and uploaded it as a collection. It was totally fun to see them in that format. Of course, I immediately bought my own. So I kept doing it with other old poems and two short stories. They're all things that were written ten or more years ago that would otherwise be languishing unseen on my hard drive.

When I gave away the color NOOK on my review blog, the publicist suggested I try out NOOK's self-publishing platform, PubIt. I hadn't done it before because I want to say you had to have a publisher initially, though I could be wrong. Over the past month, I've been stealth uploading the exact same micro-collections for the NOOK to PubIt.

So, anyway, three  years ago I wrote:

It's hard to find a platform for the short form, whether it be short stories or poetry, but sometimes, short form totally rocks. I would love to see my fellow bloggers' short stories and poetry. It's always interesting to watch someone's voice develop. Finally, I think Kindle has yet to hit its stride -- but it will. And when it does, I'll be there.

Ereaders are indeed hitting their stride, and it's so interesting to be in the middle of it. While I don't think anyone will start making play lists of Finnegan's Wake, I could see people utilizing ereaders a lot for short form fiction, poetry, individual articles, what have you. Micropayments rock -- it's a great way to sample a writer's work. And for the writer -- the barrier to entry is ridiculously low. And now that Droid and iPhone have apps for Kindle and NOOK and you can read them on your computer, you don't actually even have to have an ereader to get ebooks. BRAVE NEW WORLD.

I haven't made a mint from Kindle, but I've received a few royalty payments already. Considering how little I make from each book, it's cool. The coolest part, though, is getting words out into the world that would've otherwise just sat in darkness.

If you're interested in my micro-collections and short stories or want to get Sleep Is for the Weak that way, check my left sidebar or the Books and Kindle tab. (Which needs to be changed but I don't know how to change it, so there).

BRAVE NEW WORLD.

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Speaking of books -- I just gave away a copy of Let's Panic About Babies on Surrender, Dorothy: Reviews!