Drumroll, please! Chrismukkah poetry competition winners!

Feliciations, mes petites anges

Finally, I can announce the winners of my Crimbo poetry competition who will all be receiving a shiny, new copy of Nobody's Girl, plus a poster and bookmark, as well as having their winning poems posted right here, right now.

I had a lot of entries (especially after that time I had a leetle bit of a hissy fit, you remember?) and instead of having only five winners, I ended up with seven. Or maybe it was eight.

And keep checking back here, because I have lots of things to post in the next week or so as I have a little book coming out. Nobody's Girl from all good bookshops in the UK from February 4th.

Anyway, here are the winning odes, but, hey, you're all winners in my eyes!

Sarra x

From Kathryn

Her Royal Highness
Miss Princess Mopsyhead to
give her full title

Get a fortune on
E-bay for her but Molly
would not be impressed

Her Royal Highness
Miss Princess Mopsyhead the
real star of the book


From Stacey


Molly was simple,
Molly was pure,
Music was her outlet,
It was her cure,
For angst, for sadness,
For the cry of ever-waning attention,
To pass the time whilst she sat in detention,
But fame took all that, and left her broken,
She regretted the first words ever spoken,
To that demon, that angel, that beautiful boy,
That used her words and her heart like a toy,
Now she sits with Jane and Isabel and Smith,
Remembers that boy and his stolen kiss,
Thinks of how easily he was here and was gone,
And remembers his memory with the notes of a song.


From Ali

"Carter"
Messing with my head
Evil boy with a dumb name
Arrogant dickweed

"Paris, Je T'Aime"
Your silky black frame
Cascading, transforming me
Lovely magic dress

"Pretty Things"
Brand new kitten heels
Flowy, sheer, summery tops
Fluffy boylashes

“Magic Dress”
You caught my
Eye from the
Distance. The
Moment I saw
You, I knew
You were
The one
For me.


From Katy

For Charlie:

Charlie-boy, Charlie-boy
Your eyelashes are a joy
No need for mascara
No need for a curl
(It's such a shame you're not a girl...)

Love Brie xoxo

***

For Brie:

Brianna-girl, Briana-girl,
Next time you call me Charlie-boy
You will DIE!

Love Charlie x

***

To Charlie:

That doesn't even RHYME!

Love Brie xoxo



From Laura

sunday sun
shine on me
warm our skin
colour it toffee

enlighten the sheets
like smoke and cigarettes
chalk bright sunday
with us, there are no bets

they're off, the bets
like clothes thrown aside
and off like the rest
of the thoughts and the doubts in our minds

and sunday sun
shine on us
dazzle our eyes
close them and leave it to trust

your lips
the tips of your fingers
your kiss
the feel of it lingers on me

but sunday sun
dont leave us behind
keep us warm
keep us bright
and keep us intertwined



From Dearbhaile

Lost and Found (an ode to 'Let's Get Lost')

Sitting on a window ledge and waiting for something to happen.
Badges pinned on a t-shirt.
A broken arm.
When it feels like the walls are falling in,
There you are.
You are there.


From Brianna

A look, a glance, that's all it took.
To catch me like a fish on a hook.
I followed Edie through her crush.
I felt each touch, each kiss, each rush.
We packed for Paris, & got up late.
If we only knew what was to await.
I laughed when Mia's bag was tossed onto the street.
I smiled when Dylan did something sweet.
And when in the end they were together.
I thought that it would last forever.

But eventually, things didn't work out.
And I was there with Edie to cry and to pout.
During those long miserable weeks.
I violently loathed Veronique.
And when Carter finally came along.
I knew that things had gone all wrong.
Then Grace saved Edie from a terrible fate.
Of bumping uglies with a human ape.
And when Dylan got busy with polish and a brush.
It was enough to turn my heart to mush.

Soon after that we hopped on a plane.
And the first day in America was like a cold, hard rain.
But things got better as the trip went on.
Until suddenly one day, Dylan was gone.
After scary thoughts of all things bad.
Dylan introduced us to his dad.
I saw a side of him I thought I'd never see.
When he cried in bed beside Edie.
But eventually they had to go.
And I watched them on that fateful road.

But no matter the miles or distance apart.
Their story will always have a special place in my heart.


From Katie

Soft clouds billow in,
Or maybe something less poetic...
My mind blurs, patterns and words like paintings and postcards...or fashion ads.
Then there's you. Only you.
Your eyes, your hair,
your hands, your skin.
Your lips on my'n.
Soft and slow,
My heads all fuzzy.
Bang.
I'm all tingly as your lips move down my neck.
Bang.
Your eyes pour into my'n in a prelude to another kiss.
Bang!
Okay, what the fuck is with the banging?
Bang. Bang. Bang!
Dream gone.
You woke me up with your fucking bongos!

Yes! Finally it's the Annual Chrismukkah/Festivus/Holidays competition.

Happy Holidays, dear sweet readers

I hope whatever your religious affiliations (even if it's to the Great God of eating so many mince pies that you hurl) you have a wondrous time over the break and that 2010 will be your best year ever. (By the way I'm calling the new decade The Terrible Teens, please join me!)

Anyways, onto more important stuff. I have a great competition lined up for you. There will be five (count 'em, five!) winners who will all receive a copy of my new teen novel, Nobody's Girl (which is out in February 2010, plus a Nobody's Girl poster and bookmark. I think that's pretty darn cool.

Obviously I want to make you work for it:

it's simple. I want you to write a poem about one of my books. It can be about the characters, the story, a dress, a kiss, anything. And the poem can take any form: limerick, haiku, sonnet, rhyming couplet, ode, er, that's about all the different types of poem I can think of off the top of my head. And yes, they can rhyme, but they can also not rhyme. It's up to you.

Leave the poem AND YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS in a comment. I will award points for originality, so I don't want fifty different versions of The Ballad Of Edie And Dylan, though if it was really off the wall and/or funny enough to make me snort hot tea out of my nostrils, then a poem about Edie And Dylan would be AOK.

Closing date is 5th January 2010. And open to all nationalities, creeds and genders.

Now, get to it! Of course, you can always pre-order Nobody's Girl on Amazon (especially as it's only coming out in the UK and available on import in OZ and NZ so far.) And you can follow me on Twitter, should you so desire.

Live on

Sarra x

Strictly filler post...

Just wanted you to know that a) I'm still alive and b) I will be posting news of my usual Chrismukkah competition very soon. You will collectively pee your pants when you find out what the prizes are. (Or at least I hope you will, but I'm talking about metaphorical pee, if you will.)

The reason for the delay is boring and technical. I use this comment aggregator thingy but now it's been bought by someone else and I need to find out how to uninstall it before I run the comp so I don't lose your comments.

You still awake at the back?

So, keep checking back here for details of the competition, OK?

Live on

Sarra x

Competition winners and reader-generated content!

May I introduce you to the two winners of my Chrismukkah quiz? All hail Ella McBride from Blighty and Kathryn Piekkala in Australia, which is going to cost me a small fortune in postage!

Ella and Kathryn won because they had the most right answers, I liked their tie-breaker answers and they also went above and beyond in getting round blogger's maximum wordage in comments rules.

Ella's tie-breaker answer:

QUESTION If you could be any character in any one of Sarra's books, who would you be and why?

I found this a really tough question because you have created so many amazing characters in your books, and I see elements of who I'd like to be in lots of them. I think the character I identify the most with is probably Edie, because I think she's the girl I really want to be. I just love her entire style, the way she thinks, the way she can be shallow and deep, how she wears her heart on her sleeve despite having it broken, and always throws herself back into the world, each time a little stronger. Plus she has awesome hair ! I would choose Edie from the second book, Kiss And Make Up, because I feel this was her darkest hour, and she still came through. I really empathised with her all the way through the book and I really loved the festival, especially Veronique in a pit of poo =]. Ooh! And those hotel scenes ! They really made me smile, my favourite bit was "When Artboys Attack" :)

Kathryn's tie-breaker answer:

If you could be any character in any one of Sarra's books, who would you be and why?

I think that of all the characters in your books I was most envious of Edie and Brie. I love the way you create your characters with such depth and I felt that Edie (more specifically toward the end of the diary of a crush trilogy) and Brie both had the lighthearted personality I don’t share. I relate more to Isabel in the way that she reserves her trust for a select few and keeps her emotions bottled up inside until it’s impossible not to explode. I would much prefer their characteristics over my own however having said that...you always want what you don’t have and if I was like that I would probably want it back the other way. I love the unintentional humor of Edie and just Brie in general.

Apart from that......I have always wanted to live in London and work in a cafe and be in a band and go on a roadtrip and definitely have a Dylan. =D


I may be a bit sparse with the updates at the moment - I have some personal stuff that's all consuming and I'm beavering away of my next teen opus, due out in the UK in September. Except I don't have a title and I'm this close to putting my iTunes on shuffle and choosing the fifth song that comes up as the name of my book. Seriously!


Live on

Sarra x


EDITED TO ADD: Kind and attentive regular, Koko has just left me a comment, which has inspired me. Readers, friends of mine, people, run to your iTunes, stick it on shuffle and tell me what the fifth song is. It might well be the title of my next book! Me? I'm off to rummage through Serge Gainsbourg's back catalogue and see if anything there will do at a pinch.

Competition winners!

Hey there, my little buttercups

I had a ginormous plate of spaghetti bolognaise for dinner tonight at my favourite Italian restaurant, then walked three and a half miles home and now I'm feeling rather peckish again. Dang! I hate when that happens.

Life is a huge whirlygig of whirl at the moment. I'm still working on my second and final draft of a new book, plus have two big freelance assignments to finish up this week, before I can start worrying about Christmas presents that I have yet to buy and the free-range turkey I've yet to order. And more importantly, what the hell am I doing for New Year's Eve?

So I'm handing over this post to you. Or rather to the two winners of my little mix-CD competition. To be fair, I screwed up slightly. I do that a lot! I asked for a Christmas message from one of my characters, then I asked for a Christmas message to one of my characters. Quite frankly, I don't know where my head is these days.

There were lots of entries for either option and I was blown away by the thought and humour and creativity that had gone into them. But there could only be two winners and there are Gidget with a message from the lovely Brie and Special K who wrote a sort-of sequel to Guitar Girl - because you're certainly not getting one from me! Below are their winning messages of Yuletide cheer, and Ladies, you'll be getting an email from me asking for your snailmail addy. Well bloody done! Aaargh, that's something else I need to do this week – Crimbo cards and mix CDs!

Love Sarra x

Gidget

Dearest Sarra,

Jingle bells
Walker smells
Charlie is still GAY
Daisy is a superbitch
And - oh, nevermind.

I'm just writing to wish you an amazing Christmas. 'Cause it's totally gonna be one. Next week, Charlie and Daisy and Walker and I are all going to go see The Shrew performed "professionally," together. Like as though we're the best of friends. Which, hello! Not likely.

Anyway, so what if they're professionals? I already know nothing can compare to our performance, even if the last night was . . . well, unprofessional.

On Christmas day, Charlie's coming over to do presents with me. I love getting presents, but the best part of Christmas is . . . well, the bits before it, I guess. Like, Christmas lasts all month, not just for one day. It has to do with the preparation and stuff, I think. Like, shopping for presents and listening to Christmas-y music and decorating the tree. Well, if you can get an ornament in before Henry, the wee bastard.

Everyone puts up pretty little lights and all the shops play "The Christmas Song." And it's that way the whole month! Yup. Like as though the whole world was celebrating the whole month.

Plus, everything goes all orangey and soft-focus and you feel all gooey inside like when you see that dress in the store window that's just made for you and you have exactly enough money left for it. It's the one time of year I've always felt like there were people all around me who really cared and even Henry can't ruin it when he doesn't get the present he wants or I put up the ornament that he wanted to.

So, here's wishing you happy holidays and many gooey feelings,
Kisses,
Brie

Oh and P.S., I'd really like that new Juicy Couture perfume or some more Anna Sui Sweet Dreams or possibly just that cute little top at Topshop I was going on about.


Special K

So it’s Christmas!
Once again the time for tinsel, trees and presents.
Oh and really crappy TV! Those rubbish films you only watch cos they’re Christmas premiers so you feel you have to…and reruns of Only fools and horses!
Unfortunately there’s also some bad things at this time of year that I just can’t escape.
Turning on the radio and hearing HIM. Turning on the TV and seeing HIM. Picking up a magazine and seeing HIM on the cover.
The success of ‘The Hormones’ seems to double over the holiday period. I sometimes wonder if whatever force is up there in the sky that controls this world just decided they hated me from day one.
So ye, I try to keep my friends around me constantly at Christmas because if I don’t my mind starts wandering to places I’d rather it didn’t and…well you hear about these people who’ve had mental breakdowns and done all kinds of crazy suicidal stuff cos of the holiday time blues. I so don’t wanna go down that path.
I know what you’re thinking. Get over it girl it was years ago!
Well I am over it….i just haven’t felt that way since. I mean I’ve had relationships but I’ve not found anyone that really makes me feel….like me. If that makes sense.
Maybe I’m just hanging on to a person I used to be, I don’t think I can be her anymore. Maybe I’m just hanging on to the idea of him realising he needs me.
Which…yeah right.
It doesn’t matter because I don’t need him and I’m just being sentimental because it’s holidays. I’m over it now. Smiles and mulled wine all around!
I’ll just spend Christmas hiding out in my flat with Smith. It’s all good.
Love Molly.





So it’s Christmas.
I hate Christmas. Simple as that. I have to stand in cold studios smiling at a camera, watching Sandrine embarrass herself by wearing clothes so thin and skimpy you can blatantly see her nipples through them! It’s ridiculous!
I know where I’d rather be…but it’s been too long. I wasn’t man enough to get her back then and I’m certainly not going to now. She’d laugh in my face. She’ll be having a fun Christmas with her boyfriend I’m sure of it. I don’t want to mess that up for her.
I miss her more than…I can’t even think of a metaphor for how much I miss her.
Maybe I could just send her a Christmas card.
Maybe if I did at least we could be friends again, right?

Yeah I know. I’m living in a dream world.
I’ll just spend Christmas hiding out in my room from Sandrine and her Christmas lingerie. How fun.
Love Dean.


(Cross-posted to http://blog.myspace.com/sarramanning)