Madeleine L'Engle Archives

Mad about Madeleine Month: A Wrinkle in Time Giveaway!

February is drawing to a close, and that means spring is almost here, but more importantly, so is the release of the new A Wrinkle in Time movie! The movie opens nation wide on March 9th, 2018!

Not excited yet? Check out the trailer and you will be!

Director Ava DuVernay’s portrayal of L’Engle’s classic story has many people, including me, pretty hyped up. The cast includes Oprah, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling and Chris Pine, plus Storm Reid as Meg Murry. The movie looks to be an amazing blend of L’Engle’s original story with the creativity and diversity of DuVernay’s long held vision to bring this movie to life.

To celebrate the movie’s release, I’m having a GIVEAWAY. Whoo-hoo. Enter to win one of two prizes. (Yes, two winners!)

Prize 1 – A Wrinkle in Time book – movie edition. The original book with the updated 2018 movie cover. You can read it before you see the movie, or see the movie and then enjoy the story. Either way, you’ll want to hang on to your copy!

Prize 2 – A $15 Fandango movie gift card you can use to purchase your ticket to see the movie! Plus, Fandango is running a sweet deal to nab a free Be A Warrior movie poster when you buy your ticket. So your entry could lead to two cool prizes!

*The Rules*

You must be a resident of the U.S. and 18 or older to enter. Winners will be chosen randomly at the end of the giveaway.

The Mad about Madeleine Wrinkle in Time Giveaway begins March 1, 2018 and ends March 8, 2018. Winners will be notified through information collected by Rafflecopter. I will also post the two winners on my blog on March 8th.

Good luck and please enter below! Thanks for celebrating Mad about Madeleine Month with me!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

It’s Mad About Madeleine Month: Mad Space Facts & Giveaway 2!

Happy Mad about Madeleine Month! (And you thought I was going to say Happy Valentine’s Day. Well, that too!)

First off, thanks to all the entrants in the Becoming Madeleine book giveaway and congrats to Kelly W. on winning the book!

If you’re sad you didn’t win, I’ve got great news. Giveaway 2 in the Mad about Madeleine Month begins today. This week’s giveaway is on Instagram! Head on over and follow KSMitch17 to enter to win this week’s awesome prize?

What is it? Glad you asked. I really wish I could keep this prize to myself, but I’m going to give you a shot at winning!

Madeleine L’Engle was an avid fan of physics, stars and all things space related. It’s one of my favorite things about her books. She always took the opportunity to weave space and science into her work, and she didn’t see a divide between science and religion. Instead, she encouraged her readers to explore the deep connection between these two tough topics.

Today’s giveaway honors a love of space, both mine and Madeleine’s. Head over to Instagram to check it out and enter.

Read on for some fun facts on space! Did you know…?

There are more stars in the universe than there are grains of sand on all the beaches of Earth. Astounded? That’s more than a billion trillion stars.
Most stars are between 1 billion and 10 billion years old.
Astronomers believe there may be at least 1 planet orbiting every star. Take that number in.
Scientists estimate that the number of potentially habitable planets in our galaxy (the Milky Way) is around 2 billion.
It’s highly likely that we (well, or our descendants) will find life on other planets. Will that life be in a form we recognize and one that can communicate with us? That’s the great mystery!

Now go enter the giveaway and see you next week!

“They are very young. And on their earth, as they call it, they never communicate with other planets. They revolve about all alone in space.”
“Oh,” the thin beast said. “Aren’t they lonely?”
― Madeleine L’Engle, A Wrinkle in Time

Giveaway Time: It’s Mad about Madeleine Month!

You GUYS! If you follow me at all, you know I’m a huge admirer of Madeleine L’Engle, both as an author and a person. She’s become a bit of a spiritual guide for me as I pursue my own writing journey. I count 30 books by her on my bookshelf. That’s not obsessive, right…?

I digress. Let’s get to the GIVEAWAYS! Yes, that’s plural. I’m doing a giveaway every week this month in celebration of my love for L’Engle’s writing.

Tomorrow, February 6th, Becoming Madeleine, drops. I’m really looking forward to this biography on Madeleine written by two of her granddaughters, Charlotte Jones Voiklis and Léna Roy. It’s written for a middle grade audience, so right up my alley as a writer of middle grade fiction, but I think it will be a great read for any age.

My copy will be arriving soon, but what about yours? Time for a giveaway! Enter below to win your own copy of Becoming Madeleine.

Tell me what your favorite Madeleine L’Engle book is and why!

The giveaway starts today and will end Sunday, February 11th.

And, stay tuned for more Madeleine themed giveaways this month. Follow me on social media to find out more next week!

Good luck!

**Please note: all entrants must live in the continental U.S. to receive a hard copy or be willing to accept an ebook (Kindle) edition in place of a hard copy if at an international address.**

a Rafflecopter giveaway

GIVEAWAY TIME and Newsletter News!

2016 was a good year here. I know, I know. Political craziness, Standing Rock, continued racial tension and climate change (yes, I said it. 2016 was the warmest year on record, y’all!). Most people weren’t sad to see 2016 go, but for me personally, it was a great year.
I signed a book contract in June with Glass House Press for my young adult series, Dreamers.

My daughter was born in August. We had a wonderful fall celebrating her first season of holidays, topping it off with Christmas with both families.

My husband and I started a new Christmas tradition. Each year, we’ll both pick out a book we’d like her to have, separately, with no restrictions. If I want to give my six month old Tina Fey’s Bossy Pants, that’s my choice. If my husband wants to give her Marshall’s Best Games of Chess, he’s free to do so.

We didn’t, though. Here’s our Christmas choices for her first Christmas. I think we did well. Plus, it was fun to open those books Christmas morning and see what we’d chosen for our girl, since we kept our choices secret.

Finally, early in 2017, I signed a second contract with Glass House Press for my middle grade series, Traders of Incense. This series means so much to me. I can’t wait to tell you more about it.

How do I find when these books will be available? That brings me back to the giveaway!
I’m starting a quarterly newsletter to keep you all informed. Don’t worry. It won’t be more than a friendly seasonal greeting with updates on publishing news, with a few other interesting tidbits thrown in. Plus, if you sign up, you’ll be entered into the giveaway!

I’m giving away a book from an all-time favorite author. If you know me, you’ve already guessed it’s by Madeleine L’Engle. I’ve got a brand new copy of A Swiftly Tilting Planet just waiting for someone to read it. This is L’Engle’s companion to her Newbery winning A Wrinkle in Time and it’s a classic.

But there’s more. I have another brand new copy of Margaret Peterson Haddix’s Under Their Skin. It’s the first in her newest series for middle grade readers. If you’ve never read anything by Haddix, finish this blog, sign up for the giveaway, then go find her work. She has several amazing series that delve into science fiction, mysterious futures and time travel.

Finally (there’s more? Yup!). How about a $5 gift card from Amazon to top it off? Here’s the deal. I’ll pick two winners by February 14th. Each winner gets a book AND a $5 Amazon gift card.

All for signing up for a 4 time/year (plus maybe one or two extra extra read all about it) newsletters.

Are you in? Good! Just complete the form below and you’re set. I’ll post winners on the blog by February 15th. To win the books, you’ll need to be a U.S. resident.

Thanks in advance for keeping up with me on this publishing journey! I wish ALL of us a wonderful 2017.

Fill out the form below to subscribe to my author news and enter the contest!

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Thankfulness – Madeleine L’Engle

It’s become popular in the last few years to do thirty days of thankfulness in November as we look forward to celebrating Thanksgiving. I’d like to expand on that idea this month and write about the books and authors I’m thankful for.

I can’t write about the authors I’m thankful for without beginning with Madeleine L’Engle. Madeleine (I feel we’d call each other by our first names if I’d had the chance to know her) has had a deep impact on my desire to write and the types of stories I choose.

Most people are familiar with A Wrinkle in Time, her Newbery award winning book. L’Engle persevered through 26 rejections before finding a publisher for her book. Anyone who writes knows the sting of rejection and how hard it is to continue when those ‘noes’ begin to pile up. Yet Madeleine didn’t give up on her science fiction story when others told her it was too adult, too strange and too overtly Christian. Lucky for us.

Of course, A Wrinkle in Time is just one of five books in the series, and if you haven’t read the others, you should do so right after you finish reading this blog. All of the books are equally wonderful in their eccentric plots and settings, from traveling inside the body to traveling to other worlds, to traveling into the past to a Biblical story. Madeleine centered her stories around the big questions. Why are we here? Why does evil exist? How do we live in the midst of evil? Is God real? Does He love us? These are the same questions many kids are asking themselves as they grow into adults, and questions adults continue to ask.

L’Engle’s other books range from autobiographical to the Austin Family Chronicles to her thoughts on spirituality. All of them encourage me in some way or another to push the boundaries of my known world. Her deep interest in science and the way the universe works spurs on my own interest in these topics. Her unwavering faith and eloquent interpretation of what it means to be a Christian help me understand my own faith.

Without a doubt I’m thankful for the written legacy Madeleine left for me and for many others for generations to come.

Here’s a few of my favorite Madeleine L’Engle books.

Many Waters

Glimpses of Grace

A Ring of Endless Light

A Circle of Quiet

Night Time with Stars in Sky Image courtesy of moggara12, Autumn Maple Leaves Image courtesy of Aduldej, and Planet and Star Background Image courtesy of Photokanok, all at FreeDigitalPhotos.net