Fourteen Names I Should Have Tattooed to My Body

About a week ago, I gave a talk about writing in a community for the Writers and Illustrators for Young Readers kickoff party. It was a delight. During the Q&A session, I had the names of fourteen people who were instrumental in my being published tattooed to my body. That was also a delight . . . for everyone but me, at least.

Some of you were wondering what that looked like.

So here's the video (tattooing/Q&A begins at 24:15):

A quick thanks to Brooke Kelly for "artfully injuring" me so well. And apologies to Korey Hunt. In the video, I joke about not having his name tattooed to my arm because it wasn't on the stencil for some reason. HOWEVER, I talk about him in the speech and added his name, as you can see in the final product below.

Finally, a huge, gushing thank you to Breana Reichert, who shot the video and gave a beautiful introduction that set my nervous heart to rest. If there's one true thing in my book, it's on the jacket cover. She is the love of my life.

Aaaaaaaand here's a picture of the final!

MANIC PIXEL SCAVENGER HUNT WINNERS (AND FER REALS COVER REVEAL)!

Welcome back, scavengers! Glad you survived that crazy, pixelated city.

It would be exhaustive to list everything discovered on the CURE cover, so I’ll just name the top ten things I didn’t even know were on there (and a few that made me chuckle):

1.     “Six barber-pole swords”

2.     “A man reading a love letter written with invisible ink”

3.     “A lucha libre parade float falling in the street” alternately “Just the sweetest, fattest, blue-haired little baby chubbo that better end up on a t-shirt or I'm going to scream and cry at the same time. Scry? Cream? Hmmmm.”

4.     “A camouflage helicopter blasting David Bowie music (obviously)” alternately “the Quad City DJs copter blasting tunes to the neighborhood”

5.     “1/10 of a robo-squid”

6.     “The bottom of someone's leg, wearing a purple-striped sock. This person must be a giant.”

7.     “Two happy green tripods talking about the upcoming presidential election (they're both rooting for Trump).” alternately “A couple of gleeps having a sweet convo”

8.     “A rather muscular wrestler standing under a purple umbrella with his favorite child (everyone has a favorite).”

9.     “A potted succulent on a balcony.”

10.  “That yellow dog head is totally licking its own eyeball.” alternately “A dog-head sculpture. Maybe it's a vehicle... If people ride in these, do they stick their heads out the window?”

And, of course, they can all by seen now, by you, in full, on the no-longer-pixelated CURE FOR THE COMMON UNIVERSE cover:

Add on Goodreads [LINK: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23656453-cure-for-the-common-universe].

Preorder on Amazon this weekend.

This eye candy of a book was pitched by John Cusick, bought by Simon & Schuster Teen, edited by Christian Trimmer, and designed by Greg Stadnyk with art by eboy. I feel obscenely lucky to work with such talented people and to have such a jaw-dropping luscious cover. I only hope the words inside live up to it.

As my friend Korey Hunt, who actually came up with the idea for a story about a video game rehab in the first place . . . MISCHIEF SCAVENGED.

But that’s not why you’re here.

You’re here to see if you won one of our five elite prizes, which, to remind you, look like this:

Ooh, look! The cover isn’t blacked out anymore!

Our five Manic Pixel Scavenger Hunt winners are . . .

1.     Krys McCintyre

2.     Yamille Mendez

3.     Annette Weed

4.     Alicia Van Noy Call

5.     Tim Campbell

The Cotton Floozy will get stitching and Simon & Schuster will get printing and we’ll hopefully have your stuff out to you by December.

Thank you for hunting. I hope you enjoy the inside of the book as much as I enjoy the outside.

See you in June,

Christian McKay Heidicker

P.S! Thanks to all of the bloggers who participated: Christian Trimmer, John Cusick, Elana Johnson, Jennifer Bardsley, Valynne Maetani (friend and agent-getter), Brooke Lark (who designed my website and shot the prizes!), Carol Lynch Williams (who taught me a thing or eight about writing), and finally, Marie Davis Brian, The Cotton Floozy, who made the embroidery-posing-as-cross-stitch that elicited just as much drool as the cover, and whose company I misspelled several times throughout the blog because I’m not accustomed to using the word floozy.

Editor’s note: Both spellings (floozy and floosy) are acceptable, but there’s only one acceptable place to order top quality embroideries: www.cottonfloozy.com

WELCOME TO THE MANIC PIXEL SCAVENGER HUNT!

LET’S GET SCAVENGING!

This is it, folks. This is your chance to easily win the CURE prize package:

An ARC of Cure for the Common Universe and an embroidery of ‘Nobody Puts Princess in a Castle’ from The Cotton Floozy!

Oo. Aah.

Just participate in the Manic Pixel Scavenger Hunt for a chance to win.

Oh look! There's a pixel now!

Write down your findings from the pixel here and the others found at the blogs listed below and email them to me at cmheidicker@gmail.com or message them to C.M. Heidicker on Facebook.

For every three things you send, I’ll put your name in the hat (or my jeans pocket) again and again and again, and then I’ll draw five names out of the hat (pocket) and send prize packages to those people.

Go! Get started! Win it! Win it all!

Valynne Maetani

Carol Lynch Williams

Elana Johnson

Christian Trimmer

John Cusick

Brooke Lark

The Cotton Floosy

#cureforthecommonuniverse #manicpixel

(I hope you’ll take some time to explore the amazing blogs.)

(I also hope this means that more than just my mom will participate.)

Tune in tomorrow to find out if you’ve won!

Happy Scavenging!

Go check out the book on Goodreads!

Prepare to be cured June 2016.

CURE FOR THE COMMON UNIVERSE COVER REVEAL! (KIND OF!)

WELCOME TO THE CURE FOR THE COMMON UNIVERSE COVER REVEAL AND SCAVENGER HUNT!

Whew. That’s a mouthful. Let’s try . . .

MANIC PIXEL SCAVENGER HUNT!

There. Better.

You may be asking yourself, where’s the cover? I came here to see a cover.

Okay, first, have I told you how nice your hair is looking today?

And second, the cover isn’t here.

CURE’s cover art is a little intense to take in all at once, so for everyone’s safety, I’ve divided it into nine pieces (er, pixels) and spread them across the internet.

WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO US?

To make a scavenger hunt, of course. What’s the use of a book about a kid going to video game rehab if there isn’t some gaming first?!

Also, this will be your chance to take in all of the juicy (potentially scandalous) details of the cover before it’s fully revealed.

The art is reminiscent of books like I Spy or Where’s Waldo, so this scavenger hunt will work just like that . . . except instead of finding a cats eye marble or some seemingly friendless chump in a red and white striped sweater, you’ll receive ACTUAL PRIZES.

ACTUAL PRIZES!

Five lucky winners will receive a signed ARC (advanced reading copy) of CURE FOR THE COMMON UNIVERSE (cover obscured for obvious reasons) AND an embroidery of one of the phrases from the book, hand stitched by the extremely talented Cotton Floozy.

GAH! I WANT THAT. HOW DO I WIN?

For every three things you discover hidden in the nine pixels and email to cmheidicker@gmail.com or message to C.M. Heidicker on Facebook, I’ll enter your name again . . . and again . . . and again. (There’s a lotta stuff on that cover.)

EXAMPLE:

Subject: Manic Pixel Scavenger Hunt

Dearest Christian,

I found:

1.     A puppy made of garlic cloves

2.     A bottomless bowl of undercooked breadsticks

3.     A Christmas tree wearing lipstick

4.     Amelia Earheart’s monocle

5.     A bottomless bowl of overcooked breadsticks

6.     A Who*

*(Objects not actually on cover, but no less interesting than what’s really on there.)

THAT’S IT!

So, no, the cover is not here. But fear not! Tomorrow, I’ll be posting their whereabouts. (You can also follow them with #cureforthecommonuniverse and #manicpixel.)

Tomorrow, the Manic Pixel Scavenger Hunt begins!

In the meantime, go check out the book on Goodreads!

Again, the cover is exquisitely complex, and in my personal opinion, AMAZING. It was designed by Greg Stadnyk with art by eboy (that of Miley Cyrus fame).

Prepare to be cured, June 2016.