Category Archives: Blog Tour

November 26: Stars aligned, NaNoWriMo complete.

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It’s official. I finished NaNoWriMo a few days ago. Then I edited the novel, added chapters, formatted it…and sent it to my editor. I’ve NEVER done anything like this before. I’m one of those write-it-let-it-sit-and-then-eventually-edit-it people. I’ve got a couple of novels sitting on my hard drive that I wrote more than a year ago. I think Stephen King calls them “trunk novels”. One of these days I’ll pull them out and figure out what to do with them.

So what’s different about this one? For one thing I wrote it faster than I’ve EVER written a novel. I’ve finished National Novel Writing Month twice before, but I’ve never finished it this much ahead of the deadline. And when I finished it, I wasn’t tired of it, so re-reading and editing wasn’t a chore. Plus, I’m actually energized and excited about the ideas this novel has inspired in me. It’s the first of what I hope is a series. I’m already working on the next one. Of course, by “working on the next one”, I mean the idea is simmering in my head. I have a vague idea of who the characters are and haven’t really decided about the plot. But the ingredients are simmering and congealing and eventually will come together in a delicious stew. (Now I’m getting hungry!)

NaNoWriMo was a fast ride this year, but it was a smooth one. I guess the stars aligned just right. Now I can afford a brief breathing moment before the next novel-writing frenzy overtakes me!

Last stop of the book tour: Check out My Devotional Thoughts for an interesting, if complimentary review of Where the Heart Lies and my own description of my writing schedule. Since this is my last stop of the tour, it’s also your last chance to enter to win my great prizes! (10% off coupons to Carina Press and a copy of Bartlett’s Poems for Occasions) Also, I would like to thank Goddess Fish for organizing the book tour, all the gracious hosts who shared their blogs with me and everyone who stopped by! It’s been a blast!

Weekly NaNo update and blog tour stops; Plus, YES!

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National Novel Writing Month this year has been awesome. My word count right now stands at 47,588 and the story is pretty much done. It’s a very simple romance this time, but my hero and heroine fall in love much faster than usual, like over the span of about two days. Of course, then you have a monkey wrench thrown into the works, because they both have trust issues, but, and I don’t think I’m spoiling anything by telling you this…there’s a happy ending.

So on from NaNo to my blog tour. We have two stops today! First off, over at Stitch Read Cook, you can read my take on Life in a Small Town. Later on this morning, there’ll be a post on Guilty Indulgence about, ahem, my particular guilty indulgence.

Finally, look to your left at the YES! (Year End Splash) party promo pic (I know, not too hard to look at that, huh?). Over at the Romance Reviews, there’s a huge end-of-year party going on and you’ll find my book featured there tomorrow through Saturday. Check out the YES! party page for some great games and giveaways and find out a little about some great romance books and authors.

A Brief Announcement and Redirection…

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Yes, I realize I haven’t posted anything real in over a week. (Last Tuesday’s Get Out and Vote Post doesn’t count.) Sorry about that, but I’ve been very busy with normal everyday life as well as anything-but-normal NANOWRIMO life. I’m happy to say I’ve had great success with NaNo this year, though. And here’s the big announcement: I’m up to 31,000+ words! I’m having so much fun with this one. I’ll tell you more about it later, but here’s a little hint: It’s about magic and the odd places you go to find it. It is a romance and it’s still untitled, so if anyone wants to leave me a suggestion for a title, I’d welcome it.

But if you want to read a real post from me today, I’m going to redirect you to Jersey Girl Book Reviews. As part of my blog tour, they’ve put up a very nice post featuring a little info about me and WHERE THE HEART LIES, a guest post titled “Capturing Magic: Lightning Bugs in a Mason Jar” and even a very nice, well-written, four-star review! Here’s a little tidbit from the review:

Where The Heart Lies is a poignant story of loss, grief, secrets, love, redemption and second chances.–Jersey Girl Book Review

Can you guess how much I enjoyed that review? So pop over and let JGBR know how much you appreciate their kindness to your favorite author–no, not Nicholas Sparks or J.K.Rowling. ME, silly. 🙂

Why you should make your bed during NaNo, plus today’s blog tour stop

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It’s day five of NaNoWriMo and I’m exhausted. The late nights, the weekend’s time change, and the chilly weather are combining to make me think longingly of my bed. It’s right upstairs, unmade and calling. Oh crap. If only I’d made it as soon as I got out of it!

To make it worse, I actually want to write. I’m loving my NaNo story this year. Writing 2,000+ words hasn’t been too much of a challenge. In fact, the first day I wrote 5,000+ words. NaNo should not be able to defeat me this year.

And yet.

First of all, who decided to put the time change on the first weekend of National Novel Writing Month? Okay, I realize to the rest of the world, this is November, but still. The time change always throws me off, and yesterday, when I could have slept an extra hour, I decided to get up and write an extra hour instead. Of course, if I hadn’t done that, I probably wouldn’t have made my goal before midnight, but still.

Second, I lay awake last night thinking of plot points and possible twists and the character I’ve just thrown in and how she’s going to betray the heroine…and I couldn’t get to sleep until nearly one o’clock. Then I had to get up and get my kids off to school so I could write this blog to complain about how tired I am.

Third, I did NOT make my bed this morning. Understand that most household chores go by the wayside during NaNo (or a routine writing spurt), but making the bed should never be one of them. It just makes it too easy to climb back into it!

Ah well, if you’d like to hear more from me after all this nonsense, visit me at The Brunette Librarian this morning for a very nice review of WHERE THE HEART LIES and my take on where all those people I write about come from before they spring out of my head and onto the page.

Sandy prayers and a blog tour update, plus a plug for NANOWRIMO

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First off, let me say I’m praying for the people in the Northeast who are going to deal with Sandy’s full wrath in a few hours. I’ve been in a hurricane. I thought Irene was bad. That was the night and day where I could do nothing but pace the floor and listen to trees falling outside my house, praying none hit our roof. North Carolina just got swiped by Sandy this year, for which I’m thankful, but I’m watching and listening to reports of it bearing down on the New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia coasts. I have friends and family in all those states.

But the show—or at least the blog tour—must go on. I’ve got a Q&A up at It’s Raining Books today. Stop by and leave a comment for your chance at the fabulous prizes I’m giving away. And don’t forget to leave me a comment here for a chance to win a print copy of Foreign Affairs. I’ll be giving that away on Wednesday, but you’ve still got time!

Finally, I signed up for NANOWRIMO (NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth) this weekend. I’ve already got a rough outline of my book, have named the main characters and started to work on character outlines. So I’m ready to come out guns blazing on Thursday morning. I have every intention of finishing a novel this month, and I challenge everyone out there to join me. If you’re a writer at all, NANO is a great way to see if you’ve got a novel in you. It teaches you discipline and the joy of writing every single day. And if you don’t find those things by the end of the month (regardless of whether you finish the 50,000 words or not), well, you probably aren’t a novel writer. At any rate, it’s a great way to find out.

I will be blogging this month about my struggles with NANO. I am warning you ahead of time that I may use this blog to complain and vent my frustrations. I will also use it to remind myself to breathe. November is a busy month anyway, but when you’re forcing yourself to crank out nearly 2,000 words a day, it can be downright active! I look forward to finding out what it holds in store for me…

Magicians and magic: I saw David Copperfield! (and a couple of updates)

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That’s right. I’m fresh back from Las Vegas (well, actually, not so fresh, but then, who comes back from Las Vegas refreshed?) and I got the opportunity to mark something off my bucket list. I saw David Copperfield live on stage. To understand this, you have to understand that I’ve been fascinated by magicians and magic most of my life. When I was five years old, a magician chose me to go on stage to be on a flying carpet. He told me to keep my eyes closed the whole time, much to my disappointment, and I didn’t get to actually see myself “flying”. Of course, if I’d opened my eyes, I might never have believed in magic again, so I’m glad I wasn’t a rebel back then.

I had a brief fling with Criss Angel and David Blaine, but I started to see something kind of ugly in their magic, but I’ve always loved David Copperfield. I’ve seen almost every one of his television shows, and when my husband told me to pick out a couple of shows in Vegas, I chose (with his help) The Blue Man Group and David Copperfield. The Blue Man Group was cool, of course, but we’d seen it before and our seats weren’t that great. I splurged a little on David, though. We were right up front, so close that an usher questioned us to make sure we weren’t journalists. Technically, I guess I kind of am, since I blog and write and have a degree in it and all, but on Saturday night, I was that same five-year-old girl who kept her eyes firmly shut so I couldn’t see the trick behind the magic. And it paid off. The show was spectacular, and David Copperfield was as charismatic and entertaining as he’s ever been on any television screen.

So I’ll continue my quest for magic, whether it be in what I write, read, see in the movies or on television. But I may have been as close to the real thing as I’ll ever get on Saturday.

BLOG TOUR: Visit me today at Bunny’s Review for an interview and a review (4 carrots!) of WHERE THE HEART LIES.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS GIVEAWAY: Leave a comment for your chance at a (signed) print copy of the romance anthology FOREIGN AFFAIRS with my story “Agapi Mou”. If you’d like to suggest reasons ALL my books should be in print, I’m sure my publishers will take them under advisement…

A quick post: Join me at Ramblings from this Chick for more…

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Hey! You! Yes, you! Read an interview and some more great stuff about Where the Heart Lies over at Ramblings from this Chick today! Go check it out! And leave me a comment to say hey!

Today’s blog tour stops and a reminder about my Foreign Affairs giveaway.

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Goddess Fish Promotions has taken me all over the net, it seems, and today we make two stops, both of which I’m enjoying very much. Over at Once Upon a Time I was asked a very simple but very intriguing question. Describe a trip that changed you. Think about that for a minute. I had a hard time settling on one trip at first, but finally I figured it out. After you read the post over at Once Upon a time, check out this flash piece that was inspired by that same trip: China.

The second stop today is actually a review! My Reading Addiction gives Where the Heart Lies four stars and highly recommends it!

This is a story of loss, redemption, second chances, and a little bit of skeletons in the closet to throw a wrench in it. Great story line and smooth transitions with multi-dimensional characters. I highly recommend it. —My Reading Addiction

Finally, don’t forget about my Foreign Affairs print giveaway! Leave me a comment between now and October 31 for your chance to win a copy of Foreign Affairs in print. In the comment, tell me why you think ALL my books should be in print. What would you use them for? To prop up that uneven table leg? Firewood? Paper the birdcage? Give me a compelling and creative reason and enter to win your copy of the first print book with my name on the front cover. Check it out:

Isn’t it beautiful? Wouldn’t you love to own a copy? Well, here’s a buy link in case you just can’t wait for the giveaway to end: Turquoise Morning Press Bookstore. And now I’m off to do some real work!

Ahh…Print. Finally!

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Had to share the good news…I’m finally available in print! Yay! Foreign Affairs, the anthology with my short story “Agapi Mou”, is now available in print, so if you’re one of those who loves to hold a book in your hands…well, you can finally hold one with MY name on the front cover in your hands. Here’s what the cover looks like:

To celebrate being in print, I’m going to give away a signed copy of Foreign Affairs to the commenter between now and October 31 who gives me the most creative and convincing reason why my books should ALL be in print.

In other news, be sure to tune in early tomorrow for my TWO guest spots on My Reading Addiction and Once Upon a Time. Find out what I’ve been up to when I haven’t been updating my blog.

Nothing new to report here, but check out my interview on Megan Johns Invites!

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Check out today’s guest post here: Megan Johns Invites. Beautiful blog, lovely romance writer (Megan Johns) and an interview with yours truly…what more could you ask for?

Okay, something new on BREATHE would be nice, and in a perfect world, you’d get it. But I’m incredibly busy right now, currently writing two romances because I can’t make up my mind which I want to finish first and helping sort out my kids’ school’s library. I’m having loads of fun stretching the old librarian muscles, but it’s time-consuming and energy-absorbing.

Plus, I’ve still got five more guest posts to write for my blog tour stops in November! So, after this quick note and breathing moment, I’m off to work…