Giveaway Winners and Pretty Pictures

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Congratulations to the four winners of my 400 Awesome People Giveaway! *throws confetti*

1. Christine Rains
2. Julie Dorris
3. Tiana Smith
4. Emma Lauren

I'll be contacting all of you shortly via email so you can choose your prizes! As soon as that's taken care of, I'll mail your books and Harry Potter keychains to an address of your choice! (Trust me, you will love the souvenirs. I could spend a whole day at Filch's Emporium picking them out - so many good ones to choose from!)

Anyway, January has been a great month so far.

Writing-wise, I found a new name for my land in PPP. It was originally called the Seven Kingdoms. I always suspected that this would just be a temporary name, but I still got attached. It was sad when I found out it had been used before - by no less an author than Mr. George R. R. Martin! - but I'm liking the new name quite a lot.

So, without further ado... welcome to the land of Finale! Where it's all about happily ever after - no matter what it takes to get there.

My main character, Noelle, comes from a rural kingdom to the South. It's the breadbasket of Finale, with lots of rolling countryside, farmland, and green pastures.

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Near the beginning of the story, she gets to visit the capital kingdom, which is in the very center of Finale. It's as close to a metropolis as you can get - except there are carriages instead of taxis, cobblestone streets instead of concrete pavement, and a castle on the horizon instead of skyscrapers.

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Meanwhile, her best friend Geoff is off at knight school in a mountainous kingdom to the North. The peaks are treacherous, and they're filled with hidden goblin lairs and dragon's nests, but... where better to train?

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Then there's the prosperous sea kingdom to the West, where the richest folks in Finale - including Noelle's archenemy, who's a real estate heiress - spend their summers.

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And to the East, there's nothing but forest that goes on for days and days. It's easy to get lost in there if you don't have your bearings, and you really don't want to end up in some witch's bramble trap.

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Despite the often-challenging revision process, this story's been a real joy to imagine and write. I laughed a lot while working on it, especially whenever Noelle's ornery sidekicks - a sarcastic frog named Alfonso and a yogurt-addicted cat named Muffet - came onto the scene.

I hope that somewhere out there, someone will love it and laugh at it as much as I do! Only one way to find out, right? :)

What about you? Does your story take place in an imaginary world? Any photos that represent your vision of it? Feel free to share!