Contest #1

Is it 10 AM already? Is it Pacific Standard Time? Then I guess it's time for our first game and prize!

See that pretty blonde lady on the cover of my new book over there? Her name is Siri and she's an illuminator of medieval manuscripts. And no illuminator can begin their illuminations without a pen (or brush) and some paint. So my first prize is admittedly aimed a bit at the medieval history buff, or perhaps at any artists or calligraphers out there. This prize consists of three elements: An 8 page chapbook called "How To Cut a Quill for Writing: Excerpt from Writing & Illuminating & Lettering", by Edward Johnston; a feather quill with a steel tip (sorry, that’s all this 21^st Century author was able to find in time for our contest); and a bottle of Calligraphy Ink in Pearl Blue.

Now then, the color of this ink was not chosen by chance. My heroine, Siri, used a very valuable blue paint called lapis lazuli for one of her manuscripts in Illuminations of the Heart. If you’d like to enter to win this prize, go to

http://www.emporia.edu/earthsci/amber/go340/students/haltom/pigment.htm

and send me the answer to this question:

What country did lapis lazuli come from? Send me the answer with your NAME AND MAILING ADDRESS to jdipastena@yahoo.com by 10:55 AM PST. Please type: Contest #1 in the subject line. I'll draw a winner and announce the name when I announce our 11 AM contest and prize!

Good luck! (And please excuse my inexpert pictures. I’m a writer, not a photographer! And yes, if you look closely, you'll see my MacBook in the corner of one of those photos. ;-) )