Well, That was Fun!

Published October 7, 2015 by Ashley Townsend

Thanks to everyone who made the Chasing Shadows 1-Year Celebration my most successful day EVER! Huzzah!

We hit an all-time high for total views, you guys were blowing up social media with #TeamHood & #ChasingShadowsBook, and I could not believe how many entries we hit for the Rafflecopter (enter here every day through Oct 16!). You guys are amazing!

Yeah, Kates, this one is for you!

Also, the party and celebration spurred some of you to start creating fan art for the trilogy, and let me tell you, I am loving the gorgeous images that have been pouring in on Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook. I pinned everything to my Rising Shadows Trilogy board for you to check out, which is slowly being re-created with the help of fans. It still pains me that Pinterest deleted years of work and inspiration from the original board at random *barf face, then quickly recovers*, but your support has been awesome! #HugglesForMyHooders!!!

Okay, so because my Hooders are just plain ol’ spectacular, I’ve decided to make Fridays #FanArtFriday. If you follow my Facebook page, you can find an entire album that I created for the fan art that started pouring in during the celebration (click here to see the album!), but a new piece—or two or three—will be released here every Friday during October in celebration of Chasing Shadows’ birth month. And who knows? Maybe there will be some fan art for Defying Shadows soon and another sneak-peak during the month.

Word to the wise: Creating your own fan art for any of the books in the series is worth 2x the points toward the social media prizes, which will increase your odds of winning. Yippee! The images you create or alter can include direct quotes from Rising Shadows, Chasing Shadows, or the excerpt you saw from Defying Shadows, famous quotes that you feel are appropriate for the series, or just images that you splice and create inspired by the trilogy. Just tag me on Twitter or Pinterest @TownsendTales and use #TeamHood, and if you want, add #ChasingShadowsBook #CSBook. You can even include a link to the Rafflecopter to help people enter the Grand Prize! http://bit.ly/1Lizfzt

So be sure to keep visiting each day, sharing, and #TeamHood -ing it up on social media! And I’m sure I’ll see you back here this week for #FanArtFriday. While you’re here, you might as well just enter again to win some free stuff. Sound good? I thought so!

Only 9 days left to enter to win the Rafflectoper (click here to enter!). You can earn entries into the Grand Prize and social media prizes every day until Friday, October 16th. I’ll announce the winners here and on social media that weekend, so be sure to check back to see if you’ve won. Good luck, Hooders! And keep #TeamHood -ing it up! ^_^

Are You Ready to Rumblllleeee?

Published October 4, 2015 by Ashley Townsend

The Chasing Shadows 1-Year Celebration giveaway and party will begin in just a few minutes!

Dean O'Gorman in The Almighty Johnsons | His face is like, "Food you say?" Lolololololo! That's my face half the time. literally. Lolololol!

I know, it’s pretty exciting. Gift cards and free books and questions and excerpts and fan art and just–BAH! So grab a coffee, strap yourself in, and get your fingers ready for some serious giveaway/reading/not so spoily spoiler fun!

I’m guessing I’ll see you back here in a few minutes.

to make me feel better when i'm having a bad day. Eye of the Tiger, baby! haha! #BestGIFEver

Goodreads Event Created

Published October 1, 2015 by Ashley Townsend

I just created the Chasing Shadows 1-Year celebration on Goodreads for people to join! (I have no idea why I haven’t thought to add it for previous events) I sent out invites to all my Goodreads friends, but anyone can join by following the link below, and I think you should be able to invite your friends, as well, or at least share the link with them (if you share via a blog post, give me a pingback or email me the link at ashleytownsend.author@yahoo.com). The celebration has been getting tons of attention on social media, especially Twitter and Pinterest. I think I have a feeling who the Most Social Hooder Grand Prize is going to be, but keep using #TeamHood and tagging @TownsendTales on social media to gain entries toward both prizes (re-blogging this post counts! Just leave the link and your name in the comments below). And stop by here on October 4th for the grand celebration kick-off and to enter the Rafflectoper, which you can enter every day until October 16th.

Until next time, Team Hood!

https://www.goodreads.com/event/show/973714-chasing-shadows-1-year-celebration-giveaway

Double Decker Books Contests and Giveaways

Published September 20, 2014 by Ashley Townsend

Hey all!

So, going on RIGHT NOW–literally, as we speak–is Double Decker Books’ 1,000 Followers Facebook party. It’s an event that benefits readers, fangirls, and authors by giving away prizes like free copies of books, services from their website, and so much more! “Chasing Shadows” is one of the giveaway prizes, and I am totally jazzed about this fact. Be sure to win your own copy of it and TONS of other awesome reads.

The party is going on now until 6pm today (Saturday, September 20th), so there are plenty of chances to win.

Follow the link to join, and don’t forget to invite your friends!

https://www.facebook.com/events/586855581436970/

The Indispensable Author’s Arsenal

Published September 9, 2014 by Ashley Townsend

I’ve been writing like the dickens lately—school and fun related—so I apologize for my negligence, Sweet Readers! Good news for you loyal fans, though: I literally just received the final edited copy of “Chasing Shadows”!!!!!! Huzzah! I have until Friday to look over the final edits and give the okay for the book to be printed, so it’s a bit of a race against the clock right now. . . . Hmm, much like Sarah in “Chasing Shadows.” Although, if I fail, a medieval kingdom won’t fall into the hands of a bloodthirsty ruler or unravel the very fabric of time and history, so I think I got the better end of the deal. 😉

Because of this, I’m in crack-down mode again and have basically spent until 1am the past two nights poring over the manuscript and making sure everything is copacetic It’s a little scary to know that this will be the last time I get to make corrections to and improve the sequel, but I’m giving this one up to God, guys (don’t worry; I haven’t forgotten my post about letting God take control from a while back). It has also been incredibly exciting to be inspired to write or add things to Book III in the Shadow Trilogy because of something I read in “Chasing Shadows.”

You guessed it! I’m in “Author Mode” (adj: an intensely concentrative state where all things not directly pertaining to writing/reading/editing are ignored to make room for writing/reading/editing functions of the brain. Also includes functions necessary for coffee consumption). Over the past few weeks, I’ve devised a few key concepts that have become my mantra while writing, and also a few tricks of the trade necessary for those long hours spend with pen in hand. I call it:

The Indispensable Author’s Arsenal

(Say that five times fast!) I did a variation of this Arsenal a long time ago and have kept at it since, adding my own improvements. Feel free to use this code of awesomeness for yourself while you read and write, and don’t forget to add “Chasing Shadows” on Goodreads before it comes out in the next two months, become a fan on Goodreads, and keep coming back for the release date of “Chasing Shadows.” ^_^ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22545313-chasing-shadows?from_search=true

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