Weekend Fun: a new contest on my website!

Bored this weekend? You can start entering my new contest, which begins today and ends in a month on June 9^th. It’s round two of my “Plaster the Web” contest and you can get all the details on the contest page of my website. We had lots of fun during the last round. This time the grand prize is a signed copy of I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone and you’ll receive it about three weeks before it is in stores! All the winners in the contest also get these:

That’s a cover flat for the book. It’s on cover stock and of course I will personally sign it. Maybe I’m a dork, but if I could get these for all my fave books, I would wallpaper a room with ‘em. So I thought they would make a fun prize.

What sort of weekend fun do I have in store for myself? Well it kinda started yesterday. My friend Irvine and his wife are in town from Scotland and we went to watch the Sox kick the Minnesota Twins’ butts yesterday and then gorged on great food in Chinatown, a train stop away from the stadium, mmm, MaPo Tofu …( and *ahem* Sox park’s proximity to Chinatown, yet another reason the Sox are superior to the Cubs). Did drink a bit too much and I’m not used to drinking early in the day or on a weekday anymore, so I’m a bit tired today, but I’m still looking forward to hanging out with my friend Kathy and her dog Max this evening and seeing some Columbia people.

Tomorrow I will be at Columbia at the Young Authors event, doing a writer’s panel. I’ve never been on the panel before, but I co-coordinated the event for a few years while at Columbia and I love meeting all the teens, so I’m really psyched about that. Then tomorrow night my buddy Rob is reading at the Tamale Hut Café and an open mic follows that I will probably read at if I get home from Young Authors early enough to figure out what. (Tamale Hut is at 8300 W. Cermak in North Riverside and the event starts at 7 if you wanna come hang out, it’s fun and delicious!)

Sunday, of course, is Mother’s Day. Mom is not a blog reader (she is not a fan of computers), so I can share what I got her: a copy of Wicked Lovely, which I had Melissa Marr sign when she was in town, and some fancy tea. Tea and a good book, I must have inherited these loves from her, also my love of gardening. Mom wanted to garden on Mother’s Day, but that depends on the weather, otherwise lunch or something. I’m glad she’s so laid back about it and she understands that I have my Forest Park Review columns to write that day as well.

What are your weekend plans and what did you get your mother? Happy Friday, happy contest-entering, and happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there!

PS. I almost forgot Time Out Chicago listed IWBYJR in it's summer reads this week, if you are in Chicago, pick up a copy or if not, check it out here! I'm in good company :)