Winner and Party with Kate Coombs

First, here is the winner of SELFISH ELF WISH by Heather Swain, and the CINDERELLA SOCIETY bookmark and glass slipper, c/o Kay Cassidy:

VickyVac

Please send your mailing instructions to gerb (@) lindagerber (.) com and we'll get those sent out to you!

Meanwhile...

It's time to party with Kate Coombs!

Kate has been a friend and crit partner for years. I'm constantly in awe of her wit, imagination, and clever writing. Her books include THE SECRET KEEPER, RUNAWAY PRINCESS, and her latest, THE RUNAWAY DRAGON. She also keeps a fantastic blog called Book Aunt. Her poetry makes me smile. Kate lives and writes and is generally fabulous in L.A.


Here's the blurb on The Runaway Dragon:

When Meg's dragon, Laddy, flies away from home, she knows she must go on a quest to find him. But she hasn't counted on her parents, the king and queen of Greeve, sending ten guardsmen along. Fortunately, she is also accompanied by her best friends: Dilly, a lady-in-waiting and a cool head in any crisis not involving heights; Cam, a gardener's assistant who knows the exact value of a brick shed filled with sausages; Nort, a skinny guardsman who has never given much thought to crows; and Lex, a young wizard with bad taste in horses, magic carpets, and sorceresses. Of course, Meg's quest goes topsy-turvy once she enters the enchanted forest—and her adventure is just beginning. What's more, meeting up with the dashing bandit Bain again isn't at all what she expected. Will this princess be able to rescue herself, let alone anybody else?

In The Runaway Princess, Meg and her friends defeated a pack of princes. Now they're going to need swordplay, magic, and a whole lot of courage to find Laddy and get back home!

Her numbers:

Your compound number values are twelve, twenty-six, and eleven.

Eleven is a master number. It is associated with wisdom, intellect and spirituality. Elevens are altruistic, sensitive, artistic, visionary, idealistic, have a sense of community. Eleven can also be a warning of hidden dangers, treachery from others, or a person who has a great deal to contend with.

Twelve is a higher octave of the number three*. It is considered to be the ancient number of completion and is an indicator of great understanding and creative capacity. Twelve can also foreshadow one being sacrificed for the plans or intrigues of others.

(*The number three indicates someone who is artistic, social, friendly, creative, sensitive, ambitious and intuitive.)

Twenty-six indicates wisdom, but it is also a warning number. A person who is influenced by this number should carefully plan her path to ensure continued success.

Your name number vibration is two.

The number two indicates someone who is empathetic, cooperative, considerate, but in some cases, can be co-dependent. Twos make good partners or diplomats.

And her reaction:

Wow! Well, my family and friends would probably tell you that this is a pretty good description of me--most of those adjectives apply. (Except, who's really wise?) As a writer, I wish the numbers would add "funny," at least for my Runaway books! Plot-wise, in The Runaway Princess, Nort the apprentice guardsman is "sacrificed for the plans and intrigues of others" when Meg and her friends leave him guarding her tower while they gallivant about the countryside, which puts him in the 12 realm. Then in The Runaway Dragon, an evil teen sorceress named Malison TRIES to sacrifice Meg to advance her own plans and intrigues, but it backfires. I think they're both friendly books, too, no doubt influenced by the number 3. My picture book, The Secret-Keeper, would be the wise, almost spiritual tale, definitely dominated by 11. Its main character, Kalli, is in essence the village wisewoman, though that's not an easy task. Eventually community must come to the rescue, manifesting another aspect of 11. In general, I believe I write books that lift people's spirits, which kind of fits all these cool numbers.

Today's daily giveaway is WINTERGIRLS by Laurie Halse Anderson.