What's New with You?

Happy Friday! It's been FOREVER since I've posted!

How are you? What's new?

For me, summer is over. *sniff* The boys are back in school, and while I'm sooooooo sad to say goodbye to summer, I'm super stoked about what's coming up!

First, a little summer wrap. Ready?:)

JUNE.

June was all about the Southeast Summer Book Bash with Lindsay Cummings, Paula Stokes, Jaye Robin Brown, Robin Constantine, and Anne Blankman. THESE WOMEN ARE LOVELY, and their books will rock your socks. Getting to spend time with them was a treat for me.:)

Here's proof of all of the above:

Look how happy we are! This stop was AMAZING! But WHERE IS PAULA???

Happy authors in the house!

Found her! And she's rocking her skull kitty top. <3

Super sweet banner!:) Thank you Booksellers at Laurelwood!

Road tripping into Asheville at twilight...so pretty!

Lindsay rode shotgun with me and I love her just a little bit. She was my roomie too and is pretty much awesome. :)



















A sweet set up in Asheville at the lovely Malaprops! Jaye Robin Brown was out moderator, and she did an incredible job!

Charleston was both deeply moving and incredibly sad. It was out last tour stop, and we wrestled with whether it was the right thing to do--to go talk about our books, when the city was suffering. But the lovely staff at Blue Bicycle Books assured us that to not come would be a loss all its own, because the city was banding together so tightly that it was inspiring. So we went. We arrived days after the terrible fatal shooting, and to our surprise, our hotel happened to be just across the street. We could see it from our window--the church, the support, the ministers gathering everyone together in prayer, the flowers and moments, and later, the protestors. I took this picture because this particular note spoke to me...this church was where MLK preached and worshipped. MLK was so wise; hopefully we will not only remember his legacy and his words, but start living them too.

*pauses*



Last day of the #SSBB tour....






A panel and signing at Blue Bicycle Books! SO. MUCH. FUN.:)

A great crowd, a great city.:)




A few #SSBB tour thanks: Thanks to all the booksellers who hosted us and made us feel so welcome! And thanks to all the moderators who helped us (Cliff Redwine! Nicole Castroman! JRo! We love y'all!) and thank to the READERS for coming out to support us!


After the #SSBB, I went to Orlando for the Orlando LibCon and IT WAS AWESOME.

Lori and Christy--amazing authors & super sweet to boot!:)

Then after ALL THE TOURING (Fierce Reads! WOOHOO! #SSBB! YIPPEE!) it was time to chill.

Which meant...

JULY IN THE BAHAMAS.

How gorgeous is this?!

So much inspiration here...I refilled my writer well. :) Lots of ideas to flesh out the end of NIL ON FIRE...

and lots of just chillaxin.

Me & my sweetheart...in the Abacos on Tahiti Beach

The rest of the summer? With my boys and my sweetheart and puppy Charley on the beach...
like this:

Charley...stalking fish on Crescent Beach:)
Charley ). Fish, one million. lol

So what's next?

I'll be doing school visits in September, going on tour with the YA Chicks in October...we're heading to Gainesville, Jax, Savannah, Atlanta & Nashville! Details to come, but you can definitely find us at the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville!

To wrap up today?


A quick Friday Five!

5. Last book I read: A re-read of THE THRONE OF GLASS
4. Top of My TBR List: The WRATH AND THE DAWN
3. Favorite Pizza right now: Hawaiian from Mellow Mushroom
2. Movie I'm dying to see: Antman
1. What I'm doing today: writing.:)

So what's new with you?:) What's topping your TBR?

xo
Lynne

Friday Five

omgit'sjunewheredidmaygohowdidthishappensummerisherewhattttt????!!!!

*breathes*

Happy June!

I can't believe it's JUNE. Seriously. WHERE DID MAY GO?

For me, it was the Fierce Reads tour, and the release of NIL UNLOCKED, and the last month of school for my four boys, and drafting NIL ON FIRE, and planning the #SSBB.

So. How about a quick Friday Five about May?:)

#5. FIERCE READS!!!!!

This tour was AMAZING. Meeting readers, chatting with bloggers, and hanging out with three of the most wonderful (and sweet! and talented!) authors I've ever met: Lindsay Smith, Marie Rutkowski, and Katie Finn (aka Morgan Matson. YES THERE WERE TWO MATSONS ON THE FR TOUR!!! How cool is that?! Answer: seriously cool.) Marie, Lindsay & Morgan were wonderful to tour with--all were so, so sweet, and the last night at dinner the three of us laughed so hard I cried. (I do that when I laugh really, really hard.:D) And that, my friends, is a sign of a GREAT TOUR.:) <3 these ladies!

Evidence of the Fierce Reads awesomeness:

We went to so many amazing bookshops...and met SO many wonderful people who love books as much as we do!:) I got to meet Jen Mathieu and Becky Wallace, authors I adore (plus Becky is one of my crit partners and I lurveeeee her).:) And I got to hang out IRL with bloggers I love--and members of the #NILtribe that I tweet with constantly!:) Like Mary & Stacee & Nikki & Skye & more!:) So much love for y'all!

And.... buttons! Cupcakes! THE GOODNESS WAS ENDLESS.:) Thank you to all who came to see us, and all the readers & booksellers & librarians who made us feel so welcome!!!!

One more pic of happiness: here's a great shot of us with Molly, one of the awesome Macmillan publicists who did so much to make this tour so full of amazing:

The amazing Molly grinning in a Matson sandwich:)

The second leg of the Fierce Reads tour is happenening right now, so go see those authors if you can!

#4. NIL UNLOCKED hit the wild!!!!!

#NILtribe readers sent these to me!:) THESE MAKE ME SO HAPPY!

And we had a NIL UNLOCKED launch party!!!!

These are my peeps AND I LOVE THEM.:)

#3. The end of school.

I have 4 boys. 2 in elementary school...1 in middle school...and 1 in high school. I can't even put into words the crazy factor of May for our family. Thank the good Lord its summer. FOR REAL.:)

#2. NIL ON FIRE!!!!!

Or as I like to say... NIL ON FIYAH.;)

Drafting. Furious drafting. Revising. Deleting. Pulling it all together. WHY DID NO ONE TELL ME HOW HARD IT IS TO END A TRILOGY???

I am still working on NIL 3 (which is now NIL ON FIRE) as we speak. Hence the lack of May blogging..see numbers 5. 4. & 3. above.:)

#1. Planning the Southeast Summer Book Bash.

In two weeks, I hit the road again with the lovely Lindsay Cummings. We're heading to Ga, AL, TN, NC & Sc. For all teh deets, go to the #SSBB website!


JUNE 17-23-- IT'S GOING TO BE GREAT!!!!!! I'd love to meet you--so come see me! So that was my May.:)

A few quick notes:
Last book I read: ACOTAR by Sarah J. Maas. 5 STARS FROM ME.
Song I'm addicted to: Four Walls by The Broods
Favorite summer drink: Lemonade
Next on my TBR list: You tell me!:)

xoxoxo
Lynne

NIL 3 has a title!!!!!!!

Book three in the Nil trilogy has a title!!! And it's PERFECT.

Ready?

*drum roll*

The title of the third and final book in the Nil series is . . .

NIL ON FIRE

So what do you think?:)

xo
Lynne

NIL UNLOCKED IS IN THE WILD!!!!!

It's been an amazing week!

NIL UNLOCKED hit the wild one week ago today!:) 

Thank you to all the #NILtribe who have supported the Nil world in the weeks -- and months!-- leading up to release.

And for those who have just now discovered the Nil world, welcome!:) The #NILtribe is glad to have you!*

What else is new? Tomorrow is a #WinNIL Wednesday...and in the meantime? The NIL UNLOCKED blog tour is in full swing, with lots of amazing posts, Nil secrets, and a wonderful giveaway sponsored by MacTeenBooks.

You can start the blog tour here!

Thank you to all the book bloggers for hosting NIL UNLOCKED's tour!

And speaking of tours, I JUST HAD THE MOST AMAZING WEEK TOURING WITH FIERCE READS!!!!

A full-recap tomorrow!:)

xoxo
Lynne

*If you've read NIL UNLOCKED, I will forever love you if you take the time to tell a friend or leave a review on Amazon, B& N, Goodreads and/or your favorite book-buying site.:) Word of mouth is huge! THANK YOU!!!

Pre-order Contest for NIL UNLOCKED +PICS!!!

7 days.

One week.

And this will be IN YOUR HANDS:

NIL UNLOCKED COMES OUT IN ONE WEEK!!!!

*breathes*

Ok y'all, I promised pics today of the prizes for the NIL UNLOCKED pre-order contest. 

So here you go!!!:) Mission accomplished!

The prize pack contains:

NIL + NIL UNLOCKED bookmarks

"No Regrets" Buttons

A #NILtribe t-shirt

A super cool necklace that reminds me of what Rives feels for Skye

Sweet, right?:)

You totally need to see an up-close-and-personal look at the necklace:

I LOVE this E.E. Cummings quote!

To enter: pre-order NIL UNLOCKED from one of the sites below. Take a screen shot of the confirmation of your order, and email it to me at:

lynnesmatson@bellsouth.net.

That's in! Winner picked at random on May 12.

Good luck!!!!

May the odds be ever in your favor!;) 

xo

Lynne

Pre-Order Your Copy of NIL UNLOCKED from these lovely booksellers:

      

Pre-order Contest!!!!

Hi y'all!

Only 11 days until NIL UNLOCKED hits the wild! WOOHOO!

On that day, I'll be at Kepler's Books in San Fransisco to celebrate the big day as part of the #FierceReads Spring Fling tour! So much fun ahead!! FInd out more about that Tour stop on the Kepler's website.

In the meantime, I'm running a contest for all of y'all who pre-order NIL UNLOCKED!

The prize? A MASSIVE NIL UNLOCKED SWAG PACK, including: NIL & NIL UNLOCKED bookmarks, "No Regrets" buttons, A #NILtribe t-shirt and a super cool necklace that captures how Rives feels about Skye.

(Full pics of all prizes on Monday.:D)

To enter: pre-order NIL UNLOCKED from one of the sites below. Take a screen shot of the confirmation of your order, and email it to me at:
lynnesmatson@bellsouth.net.

That's in! Winner picked at random on May 12.

Good luck!!!!

xo
Lynne

Pre-Order Your Copy of NIL UNLOCKED!!!

      

2 WEEKS!!!!!!

2 weeks until NIL UNLOCKED hits the wild!!!!!

I feel like this every day.:)

And you what makes the two week mark even cooler?

The day of NIL UNLOCKED's release, I go on tour with the awesomes team at Fierce Reads. First stop, Menlo Park!!! Ahhhhh!


2 WEEKS!!!!!!! 

JUST 2 WEEKS AND NIL UNLOCKED IS IN YOUR HANDS AND THE #NILTRIBE HITS THE ROAD!!!!

So get ready.

The clock is ticking:)

xo
Lynne