Contest Winners To Be Announced Tomo :)

So I'm quite kicked by the number of you who so kindly participated in this little contest. 

About 50 entries. Whooaaa! And some really, really funny ones ! I just spent the last couple of hours going over them to pick the winners.

Shall announce tomorrow - stay tuned, peoples.

The good news is - can now invite up to 15 people for the Lunch - which will be at the all-new Mamagoto on the 8th of September.

Please to stay the tuned.

In the meantime - since there are still some hours to go before midnight of 31st August :) ....Go ahead, participate!

Entries for the JMPE Contest - Updated Aug 31

*Contest Closes TONIGHT*

* Go Here for your chance to have lunch at the spanking new Mamagoto restaurant in Gurgaon - with me and my Chief Editor :) - 10 Delhi-based bloggers get to join us, and 20 people win copies of the book.

* Read some hilarious stories by some very cool people below

Dipta
Parul
Amrita
Aishri
Sidd
Manav
Chandni
TheMadMomma
~nm
Anirban
Swati
Vrilijesh
Itswhereiscribble
R
Lifebegins
Paramaghosh
LivinginGurgaon
Dipali
Sundar
Itchy
Roli
Soul Speaks
R (another R!)
Paulami
Nibedita
Priya
Varsha
Quirky Quill
Aneela
Momofrs
Shagun
Surabhi
Pepper
R's Mom
Nisha
2A's Mom
Horizon
Chandrayee
Meera
Ashwathy
Numerounity
Harjeet
Suma
Bird's Eye View
Vini
Rashmi
OrangeJammies
Sonia
Priya Sreeram
Spiritual_Flame
AshreyaMom
SJ

*Just a few hours left... Put up your entries quickly!

The ''Just Married, Please Excuse'' Contest

*Update: The contest is now Closed*

If you're one of those people who know that married life can have its hilarious moments, please pay attention to this one:

It's really very, very simple - 

1. You write a post on your blog, describing an incident about something funny that has happened to you as a part of married life, preferably when you were 'Just Married'. (By 31st August 2012)

2. HarperCollins and I select the 20 best entries and they will be sent copies of my book; and 10 Delhi-based bloggers get to join me and VK Karthika, (Chief Editor of HarperCollins and all round super-cool person) for a leisurely Saturday lunch at the new Mamagoto outlet in Gurgaon for some really great food ( I'm told the Khan Market outlet is never less than packed, and for good reason). Oh, and there'll be some good conversation too :).

Some things to keep in mind to be eligible for this contest: ( I've just picked these up from Parul's earlier contests)

1. The Title of your post should be The 'Just Married, Please Excuse' Contest 

2. Please include in your post a link back to this post, so that your blog readers know what the heck is going on, and more people can participate.

3. Please leave a link to your entry in the comments section to this post.

4. In case you don't have a blog of your own, do leave your entry in the comments section to this post and we will consider that story, too. In case you face issues while commenting, email me your story at yashodhara dot lal at gmail dot com (But only up to two such comment/email entries can win, so you better make it funny)
5.Note -If you're not married, but still want to participate, you can do it - just tell us about a funny Just Married story about someone you know! 

Finally - if you can promote your entry on Facebook and Twitter, it will help spread the word. It may not help you win this contest, but it will certainly help you win my love and affection. I'm guessing the free book and the free lunch may carry higher appeal for you, but then, it is a rather materialistic world, isn't it? *Melodramatic Sigh*

Right, let's get going then, shall we? Please participate in the contest. If you're not participating, at least spread the word about this contest on your blog, FB, Twitter.

And oh - thanks, guys :)

Quickie

And that means a quick post, nothing else. Go rinse out that MIND of yours.

Achha, here goes:

1. Something excessively exciting coming up on 15th August - am working with Indiblogger and HarperCollins on this. Doesn't it look cool? Plan to participate and Spread the word!

2. Only a slightly embarrassing interview of me on Surabhi's website, Womanatics. She has been too kind in her description. Bit of a giveaway happening there till 15th Aug, in case you'd like to give it a shot.

3. Also, Dipali reviews JMPE:

Just Married, Please Excuse is one of those books that can be read several times over, for the narration, the deceptive simplicity of the language, the amazingly funny imagery (a bridegroom looking like a tube of Colgate toothpaste immediately comes to mind), and the endearing quirkiness of the characters. Yashodhara does not spare herself at all, either, whether it be her predisposition to 'tamper tentrums' or her much verbalised yearning to be herself at all times.Full review here.

4. Finally, the Giveaway I announced here has led to my getting a lot of useful information from you guys - a big thank you.

I've already sent the book to three winners - Hitesh, IndianThoughts and Shankari. Will announce the other two on the 15th August (that does seem to be a date getting mentioned a lot in this post, doesn't it!).

In the meantime, the information is proving so useful that I've decided to extend the giveaway, and will be selecting 5 people who write in, randomly, at the end of the month to send them the book. So remember, it's very simple - if you go to your friendly neighbourhood store and don't find Just Married, Please Excuse there, just write to me at yashodhara dot lal at gmail dot com with the store name and location. If you do find it, take a picture with your cool mobile phone and mail it to me. Like Hitesh did below. :-)

So basically, there's a bunch of interesting things going on, and hopefully more coming up later in the month.'

In the meantime, if you've read the book, do let me know what you thought! 

Sabbatical Round Up

I'm now well into two months on the sabbatical, and quickly losing track! But the last month has been busy, with quite a few firsts:

* The book launch of my first book :-) - it was a really fun event, more than anything else. I'll always remember it. I better, given that we forgot the videographer. My husband's iPhone to the rescue again.

* The first big birthday bash that I've ever thrown for my three kids - that deserves another post altogether. It was close on the heels of the book launch and since I'd never done anything like this before, it gave me more tension than the launch did. But it turned out great, great fun and the kids had a great time, especially Peanut. She is now five and the twins are two. Sigh.

* More time spent with my grandmother, which is always nice. Her spirits are up, despite the cancer and the ninety years. Could learn a helluva lot about the right attitude from this wonderful lady.

* A very, very nice Rakhi indeed - with both of my siblings in town, for a change! It just so happened that my brother was in town for that week, and we had a very nice time together - the importance of the family is really being driven home to me now while I'm all older and wiser in my thirties.The highlight of the day was that Pickle and Papad were accosted by all their cousins who tried to tie rakhis on them, which they couldn't understand the purpose of and therefore staunchly resisted with all their might - and it was complete madness. My brother's daughter Nikki is  probably the cutest kid I've ever seen, and trust me, this is a lot coming from a mother with three of her own. I wish she didn't live in England. It's hard not being able to watch her grown up. Oh well. My kids are almost as cute and there are rather a lot of them, so it makes up for it.

* Accomplishing of weight loss goals ha ha ha:  I finally weighed myself, and it's ...ta da...fifty six kilos! Yayyyy! This is a loss of about six kgs in the last two months. The Zumba goes strong, although classes have not been as regular as I'd like them to be of late. The dieting is pretty much off. There's only so much of the GM wonder soup that you can take for a lifetime. In Zumba class, my teacher remarked how he was once 78 kgs and is now 68 kgs thanks to the regular exercise. He looked around the room, saying 'We all know how difficult it is, right?' and then his gaze rested on me and he said 'Except for those of us who'll never know what it's like to have a weight problem.' I took great pleasure in telling him I was 84 kgs when nearing full term with the twins. You don't care about this, do you? Double -Sigh.

* I'm almost done with the first draft of my second book :) . This may sound like a superhuman feat, but most of it was written last year and I'm just recrafting it. About four more chapters to go and then I start the second draft to get it into a shape where I'm not ashamed to send it to someone to read. My wonderful sister has been instrumental in shaping this book, being the only soul alive I trusted enough to send the raw material to.

* Things picking up pretty nicely with Just Married, Please Excuse in the meantime. I'm hoping that a bunch of you read and review it on your blogs and on Flipkart. Go on, every little bit helps.

* I'm enjoying the extra time with the kids, although as you may have guessed, with everything else that's going on, it's not really all that much extra time. However, I've been dropping the twins to playschool every day for the last month and they're finally settling in now, so fingers crossed. My children are all now school-going. Excuse me while I sigh for the last time in this post.

So that's about it, or at least all that I can remember. Some exciting activities coming up next week. Will keep you guys posted. In the meantime, don't forget about participating in this giveaway - two winners already going to receive their copies of the book, there's still a chance for you to win! 

Itchy Reviews JMPE

Itchingtowrite reviews JMPE on the Reading Corner, and says:

A very sweet account of married life, this story left me wistful and sentimental and longing for more. 

The best aspect is that it could have been anyone's story. Yours, mine, Yashodhara's. I was head nodding all the way and feeling happy that there are others whose life looks like mine full of crazy and baseless quarrels and funny incidents like the discovery of the exorbitant price of the land they wanted to buy which prompted them to beat a hasty retreat. Sounds very familiar! 

You can read the full review here

And also, there's a bunch of new reviews on Flipkart. 

Finally, don't forget I've got the giveaway going on. Already sent out the first book to 'Indian Thoughts' of Hyderabad ( Thank you for your email) ... Come on, the rest of you, you know you go to bookstores all the time, right? :)

Little Appeal and Little Giveaway

Blog-readers,

You've been a great support since the year 2006. You came, you read, you delurked, many of you didn't...Most importantly, you've encouraged the writing. And that's why I managed to sit down and write the book. Hence, this little appeal.

There's a bit of a challenge I'm facing- my publisher team has been working pretty hard to get the book out in key stores. But these are still early days and there are plenty of instances of where the book is not yet available, for various reasons. I've been prowling the stores in Gurgaon, springing out unexpectedly at hapless book store owners every now and then. But since I'm not very much the traveller, it's proving tough for me to spring out at store-owners in say, Bangalore. In all probability, they don't even know such a crazed and determined new author exists in the crowd of people making their debut at this time.

That's where you come in.

Therefore, the next time you're in your favourite ol' book store that stocks fiction books ( and I'm hoping the love of browsing at physical stores still very much exists), I would really appreciate if you could let me know if 'Just Married, Please Excuse' is NOT in stock. I will then call my friends at the publishing house ( I have them on speed dial, and I think they're trying to figure out a way to block my calls without hurting my feelings )- and tell them to check on this.

It's simple, really:

If you don't see the book on display, please do check with the store management about it - the first five people who let me know (just send me store name and location), I'm going to be sending you copies of the book for being so helpful in giving me this information.* Please also see the 'edited to add' section at end of post*
If you do see the book, and can send me a photo of it with the store name and location, I'll also be happy to send the first five people copies of the book for being so generally cool.  ( If you happen to be enthu enough to also buy the book from the store, use the one I send you to gift to your best friend. Happy Franship Day, by the way).

Here's how you can get in touch with me:

* Email me at yashodhara dot lal at gmail dot com ( Valid for both options above)
* Leave a comment on this post with the information and your email ID ( About the book not being in store)

Do sing out. I'd love to hear from you.

Oh.

And thanks, Guys.

Edited to add: 

* I've already got a winner! Someone wrote to me about Crosswords, Inorbit  Mall, Hyderabad almost as soon as I posted.
* It reminds me to tell you that I already know about the larger chains like Crosswords and Landmark being an issue for another few days, so please do try and tell me about other large stores, if you can! Thanks.
* This giveaway ends on August 15th. Hopefully some other exciting stuff coming up later in the month !