A quick note to remind you to leave a comment to let me know which e-reader you’d like to win. So far it’s between the Nook and the Kindle. I’ll draw a name from the hat on December 22, so enter before then.
Also, a reminder that author Lori Green will join me tomorrow for the continuation of A Rose is a Rose?…
Not taking many breathing moments these days, although I did take one the other day to watch the full moon reflecting on the creek. Lovely.
Well, my giveaway continues, and it’s become a contest between the Nook and Kindle. Sorry Kobo! Nobody’s interested. Remember to leave a comment on my blog telling me which you prefer if you want to enter for your chance to win, but be sure to do it before December 22. The winter solstice is at 12:30 a.m. on December 22, so I plan to choose the winner from those who leave their entries before that time. Winner will be announced right here on December 22, so be sure to check it out.
My thanks to Autumn Piper for joining me yesterday for the return of my A Rose is a Rose? interview series. Be sure to check back tomorrow for fellow Lyrical Press author L.K. Below’s take on character monikers.
And in the meantime, don’t forget to visit Lyrical Press’s Christmas Bash. My own WINTER SOLSTICE is one of the featured books.
Does it ever seem like you blink and you’re halfway through the month? I know we’re not halfway through December, but we might as well be. I just now got myself organized for this month’s blog entries, and I’m really excited about it. In December, Lyrical Press is running a special promotion for some great romances. They’re calling it the Christmas Bash, and WINTER SOLSTICE is one of the featured books. You can find all the featured books here: Lyrical Press’s Christmas Bash. The bash features fourteen different authors and titles spanning all aspects of romance from contemporary to erotica.
I’m really excited to announce that I’ll be bringing back my A Rose is a Rose? interview series featuring some of my fellow Lyrical Press Christmas Bash authors starting December 10th. I hope you’ll join me as I interview Autumn Piper, L.K. Below, Lori Green, Stephanie Beck, Diane Escalera, Cristal Ryder and Rebecca Rose about the all important Character Name.
And please don’t forget about my Winter Solstice E-Reader Giveaway! I’ve gotten several entries already, and I’m hoping for more. Remember, all you have to do is drop me a comment and tell me what your favorite e-reader ($100 or less) is. If you win, I’ll order the e-reader and send it to you. You might even get it in time for Christmas!
First off, a reminder that if you’d like to register for my e-reader giveaway, all you have to do is leave me a comment telling me what type ($100 or less) you like best. I’ll throw your name in the hat and when I draw the winner, I’ll order it and have it sent directly to you. There truly is no catch on this! I write e-books, I love reading e-books and I want to share that love with others. The more people with e-readers in the world, the more chance I have of selling a book, right?
Now, on to the news. I’m not sure I would even call it bad news. Well, maybe a little. I got up to 46,000+ words done on my NaNo novel and realized it was crap. For one very simple reason. I had a character alive in it who should have been dead from the start. I couldn’t even kill her off partway through the novel. It just didn’t make sense. So I started over.
It’s quite an experience throwing away almost 46,000 words. I can’t actually say I mourned them. I knew they were crap and becoming crappier with each word written. I also knew I was going against the entire NaNo philosophy: Write until you hit 50,000 even if it is crap, then fix it later. I just couldn’t do it. I knew how to fix it and I was eager to get started. So I went back to the beginning, axed the troublemaking character and am now working my way back through the novel, salvaging what I can. I’m up to 7,000 words. Some of them are even good words. Here’s a teeny-tiny sneak peak:
“You can’t sell this place to a developer. Your grandmother would never have wanted that.”
“What do you want from me? I can’t keep the place. It’s not like it’s a real productive farm like it used to be. It’s a few acres and some horses. My life is in Raleigh, Colin, and I plan to get back to it.” Silence fell and she raised her eyebrows. “If you love this place so much, why don’t you buy it?”
“I’d love to, but I’m not the rich developer type, in spite of my appearance.” His mouth twisted with sarcasm as he indicated his worn work shirt and jeans.
Yep. I killed off the grandmother. And I introduced another character (the developer) earlier in the story. Everybody seems to have a much clearer idea of how they’re supposed to act. So I’m not sorry I didn’t finish NaNo this year. I think it still worked for me.
Now I have to go wade through some more of my ultimate revision. Congrats to the NaNo’ers who finished and those who attempted it!
Black Friday is done and now we have cyber Monday coming up. Tis the season. By the way, if you actually went out into the maelstrom of Black Friday, let me know. I’d love to hear about it. It occurred to me that many of you, however, might not have any good ideas for that special someone in your life. It’s tough being romantic, isn’t it? Jewelry, flowers, etc. get tiresome. Anyway, here are a few gifts I’ve either given to or received from my wonderful husband over the years that at first sight might not seem romantic but really are:
5. K-cup Coffeemaker. Yep. This one may have saved our marriage. Seriously. He likes lighter tasting coffee. I like really bold, dark coffee that leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. The joy of compromise with a plug!
4. Personal Grocery Shopping! This may actually be one of my favorite “gifts” ever. For a fee, I go online, place my order for groceries from my favorite grocery store and my personal shopper does all the work. Then I swing by with my carload of kids and pick them up. In some cases, you can prepay the fee for your significant other so she/he won’t feel weird about using the service.
3. Piano/Dance/Horseback riding lessons. What has your partner always dreamed of doing but never had the chance? The important thing here is not to just give him or her the certificate for lessons. Make sure you give them the time to do it, too! And if it’s piano or something else that makes noise, prepare yourself for some hours of not so great musical entertainment.
2. Gift certificates. What? Did I just say that? You’d be surprised how romantic this one can be, though. You see, I love almost everything in the Sundance Catalog that I get every month. Jewelry, clothes, boots, etc. If I were skinny enough to be one of their models, I would be a happy woman. My husband knows how I feel about Sundance, and he could easily just pick something from the catalog. However, he also knows that often something in particular will catch my eye and since (as he has often told me), he is not a mind reader, a gift certificate for my favorite non-essential catalog is often a better choice.
1. E-Reader. Yup. You got it. You knew this one was coming. But did you know THIS was?
ANNOUNCING! MY SECOND ANNUAL E-READER GIVEAWAY!
In honor of the gift-giving season and my recent good news about Carina Press and the release of my second book WINTER SOLSTICE, I’m giving away an e-reader. How do you enter the giveaway? Leave me a comment telling me what kind of e-reader you’d like me to give away. I wish I could tell you I would give away a Kindle Fire or an iPad, but for the purposes of this giveaway, I’m limiting it to e-readers that cost $100 or less. You can get some pretty good e-readers for $100. The Nook and the Kobo start at $99, the Kindle at $79.
You have until December 21 at midnight to throw your name into the hat. I’ll make the announcement on December 22. In case any of you don’t know the significance of the date, it’s the winter solstice!
BREATHE: Michelle Garren-Flye 