Wendy S. Marcus - Planning Contests

The last time I was here, back on June 7, 2011, my post focused on planning a blog tour. (Presently this is stop #15 on my 30 stop blog tour to promote my debut Harlequin Medical Romance, WHEN ONE NIGHT ISN’T ENOUGH.) This month I decided to follow up with a post on planning contests – specifically my experiences and not the legalities involved.

I see them all the time. Join my mailing list. LIKE me on Facebook. Follow me on Twitter. When I reach 500 friends/followers/subscribers I’ll give away an Amazon gift card. And I thought, heck, if it’s that easy to boost my friends/ followers/ subscribers sign me up. An Amazon gift card giveaway it is! But, in a desperate attempt to jack up my numbers quickly, I decided to take it one step further. How about separate contests for the months of May, June, and July with the prize of a $25.00 (U.S. currency) Amazon Gift card each month. All people had to do was LIKE me on Facebook and/or follow me on Twitter AND join my mailing list. And hey, since I wanted people to follow me on my blog tour across the continents, I also offered a $50.00 (U.S. currency) Amazon gift card to the person who visited me at the most stops as well as a book giveaway to one lucky commenter at each blog I visited.

Here’s what happened:

May $25.00 (U.S. currency) Amazon gift card contest:

Problem #1: After I promoted my contests, Facebook put out some new rules about people running contests where you need to LIKE a Facebook page to enter. The new rules were, in my opinion, confusing and made me nervous about running a contest that in any way involved Facebook.

Problem #2: People didn’t follow the contest rules. I got some new LIKES on Facebook, some new followers on Twitter, and a few people joined my mailing list. But very few people did more than one out of the three. The result: For the entire month of May, only 5 people met the criteria to officially enter my gift card giveaway contest. And one of them was already a Facebook friend who joined my mailing list. Another was already a subscriber to my mailing list who LIKED my Facebook page.

Problem #3: It was hard to reconcile if the RandyRedhead who followed me on Twitter was the Mary Margaret who subscribed to my mailing list on the same day. And because of the Facebook fan page vs. personal page issues, it was hard to distinguish between familiar author names that followed me on Twitter and the names that LIKED me on Facebook or subscribed to my newsletter.

Book give away at each blog stop contest:

Problem #1: I was told contests should steer people to your website. Make people work for that free book. And after seeing an author do this, entering, and actually winning a copy of her book, I tried: To enter into the contest to win a free book, all you have to do is go to my website, read an excerpt from WHEN ONE NIGHT ISN’T ENOUGH, and answer this question….. Maybe I got 20 comments on my post, most of them saying how much they hoped to win my book. But only two people actually followed the rules, read the excerpt, and e-mailed me the correct answer.

Problem #2: Now this problem may be unique to me, but since medical romance has an international audience and my blog tour consists of stops across the continents, I had no limitation on who could win a free book. Did you know it costs over $7.00 to mail a book that costs $4.75 to South Africa? This is something to think about folks. Postage can really add up. Then there’s the time it takes to mail international packages. Each requires a separate form to be filled out. After the first few packages I wised up and requested a handful of the forms so I can fill them out ahead of time.

$50.00 (U.S. currency) Amazon gift card to person who visits me at the most blog stops contest

Problem #1: Recordkeeping. Do you have any idea how time consuming it is to track all the people who comment on the blogs you visit so you can keep a record of how many times each particular person visits? Trust me when I tell you…it takes more time than you think. Luckily I have the help of the wonderful Nas Dean http://nas-dean.blogspot.com/ who is at this very moment compiling a list of everyone who has commented my blog tour thus far.

Problem #2: Originally my blog tour was supposed to run from June through July so in my initial rules for the contest I’d put the winner would be chosen at the end of July. Well, then I added dates in August. Dilemma. Do I change the contest rules or stop the contest encouraging people to visit me on my blog tour in July, as planned, and make it seem like my stops in August are less important than my previous stops?

Problem #3: As people found out about the contest, they went back to comment on old blog posts where I’d been and gone and hadn’t returned. Nas found this when she went back to compile a list of all my commenters. Prior to her help, I’d simply printed out the list of commenters three days after each post and had planned to go through them at a later time.

What ultimately happened?

After much angst, I picked the winner for the May $25.00 (U.S. currency) Amazon gift card and canceled the contests planned for June and July due to lack of interest. I am continuing with the book giveaway contest at each blog stop and have written off the cost of postage as a cost of doing business. I have tweaked the rules of my $50.00 (U.S. currency) Amazon gift card contest to specify that it now runs through August and each entrant has to visit me within three days of the post. No going back after the fact. I also cancelled the requirement that entrants also LIKE me on Facebook and/or follow me on Twitter AND join my mailing list.

Going forward I will think long and hard before I run any more contests. Oh, I’m sure I’ll run them here and there, but only with help. And I will put much more time into planning out requirements that are easy to track – so I don’t have to make changes to my website that confuse people. How embarrassing!

Go ahead and file all this under don’t let this happen to you!

So, are you an author who’s run a contest? Anything you’d like to share? If you’re a reader, what’s been your experience with contests?

One lucky commenter will win a copy of the 2in1 UK edition of my debut Harlequin Medical Romance, WHEN ONE NIGHT ISN’T ENOUGH – the winner to be plucked from my trusty margarine bowl of names by my beautiful daughter. (And I’ll mail it anywhere!)

To read an excerpt from WHEN ONE NIGHT ISN’T ENOUGH or to see where you can purchase it, visit my website: http://WendySMarcus.com/books/
Visit me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Wendy-S-Marcus-Author-Page/184507031577429
Visit me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/WendySMarcus
Visit me on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4823224.Wendy_S_Marcus

What's Your RITA IQ? -- Susanna Carr

On July 1, the Romance Writers of America announced the 2011 RITA winners. The RITA awards celebrate the best of romance fiction.

And, once again, I haven't read many of the books. In fact, the only one I've read is Simply Irresistible by Jill Shalvis. (And you should read it, too!)

I swear, I should have read more than that. And my RITA IQ isn't so stellar when I look at the list of finalists. How did I miss so many great books?

Needless to say, I'm adding a few of these books to my TBR pile.

How many RITA books have you read? Here's the list:


Winner for Best First Book: Pieces of Sky by Kaki Warner

Winner for Romance Novella: "Shifting Sea" by Virginia Kantra in Burning Up

Winner for Young Adult Romance: The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

Winner for Paranormal Romance: Unchained: The Dark Forgotten by Sharon Ashwood

Winner for Novel with Strong Romantic Elements: Welcome to Harmony by Jodi Thomas

Winner for Contemporary Single Title: Simply Irresistible by Jill Shalvis

Winner for Romantic Suspense: Silent Scream by Karen Rose

Winner for Contemporary Series Romance: Suspense/Adventure: The Moon That Night by Helen Brenna

Winner for Contemporary Series Romance: Welcome Home, Cowboy by Karen Templeton

Winner for Inspirational Romance: In Harm's Way by Irene Hannon

Winner for Historical Romance: His at Night by Sherry Thomas

Winner for Regency Historical Romance: The Mischief of the Mistletoe by Lauren Willig

Happy July - With Kate Walker

It's the first Sunday in July - it hast to be as  I write all my blogs for Tote Bags 'N' Blogs on the first Sunday of the month! But the  first Sunday of july marks a month that's always rather special for me.Rather special and rather busy!

I've just done the revisons on my latest book - fingers crossed that my editor like them  - and now I can look forward to the rest of July as I do every year.  What's so special about July? Well, apart from the fatc that  we do usually - well, sometimes, finally get the summer weather we've all been looking forward to, there are some event s coming up this month that I look forward to.

For a start, tomorrow is the Men's Final day at Wimbledon.  For years my Sunday afternoon treat has been to watch the men's final, together with a bowl of strawberries and ice cream as I do some heavy duy research by watchig the strong, fit men wearing white shorts and tee shirts and pounding up and down the green of the tennis court. Some years I've been really enthusiastic, strongly supporting one player or another but this year I don't really mind who wins -  I'll just enjoy the event. (It's probably just as well I'm not supportign anyone as when I do, I tend to get over-enthusiastic, yelling  'Oh yes Rafa or Roger or  whoever - more! More! This can get slightly embraarrassing when I realise that the windows are wide open and the neighbours can hear every word - but then they know I'm a romance writer so they expect me to be a bit crazy!)

In a normal July, the first event I usually get to is one I'm going to have to miss this year - the Romantic Novelists' Association has its annual conference  from July 8th - 10th. This year I'm not going to make it.   I wish I could be there to catch up with everyone and meet friends I don't usually see except at this one event.   Maybe next year.

But July 14th is one date I'm not going to miss. On that day The Babe Magnet and I will have been married for years and years and years  - I was a  child bride, honest!  I remember we just picked the date out at random - three weeks after we left university.  It's a very special date obviously and one well worth celebrating.

Then at the end of the month  the Babe Magnet and I will head for one of our favourite places in all the world -  Caerleon in Wales. This is where we take part in the fabulous Writers' Holiday help in part of the University campus there. We've been going for - I think it's ten years now, and we've only missed it once. Our year just didn't feel the same that time.  We both have a very special place in our heart for Wales because it was while we were both at university there that we met for the first time and so in many ways it fels a little bit like going home.

We are both teaching a course this year - I'll be teaching Writing Romance based on my 12 Point Guide To Writing Romance. And the Magnet is teaching Writing Poetry. We'll also have several clear days when we can read and relax - there is always someone interestign and fun to talk to at Caerleon - and there  are some wonderful speakers, a poetry reading . . . the Welsh Male Voice choir. I can't wait!

And we always add on a day at the beginning and the end of the visit to Writers' Holidays - staying en route at the lovely town of Great Malvern - we've done this every time we've been to Wales and we love Malvern with it's steep hill, lots of interesting craft and jewellery shops  and - most importantly for my husband, a fabulous second hand bookshop where he can spend hours just investigatig the shelves and always fnds something that's just fascinating -  and that he claims will help him with his research into his own writing!

Oh now that I've told you all about my July I'm gertting even more excited at the prospect - I just can't wait to  pack the cases and head off for Wales.

So what about you?  Are you doing anything special in July? I know that so many of my American friends and readers will of course be celebrating on Monday - so can I take this choance to wish you all the very happiest Fourth of July  - I hope you have a wonderful day!

My latest novel- The Proud Wife (Presents Extra)  is still available  on Amazon or eHarlequin.com and   my 2000 title Constantine's Revenge has just been reissued as an ebook. Coming up next will be The Return of the Stranger which is out in September (UK) and October in Presents Extra in USA.

You can find out the most up to date information and all about these boks over on myweb site  or on my blog

Oh and over on My Tote Bag - there's a contest to win a couple of  my  backlist books - this month its The Antonakos Marriage and  Bedded by The Greek Billionaire.  Good luck!

Tracy Kelleher: Summertime

I know it’s truly summertime when Fourth of July rolls around.

This morning I went to my local farmers market to pick up ingredients for the barbecue that I will hold at my house. There’s nothing like fresh Jersey vegetables—tomatoes, green beans and especially corn. The informal bouquets of flowers were too tempting to pass up, as well. At the butcher’s I stocked up on hamburger and sausages. Even the dog will celebrate the holiday with a smoked bone. And did I mention the zucchini breads and oatmeal cookies that called out to me as I strolled by the bakery?

Holidays are wonderful, not just because they’re a chance to eat and drink with family and friends, but also because they provide a precious excuse to stop our daily routines and take time to enjoy the pleasures of life. It’s okay not to make one more delivery, answer yet another memo, mow the lawn, do the laundry, or in my case, write another chapter to the current book. These moments of shared respite allow us to unwind and just be.

And not just holidays provide psychological and social comfort. Local adult education programs enliven the mind in a noncompetitive environment that all members of the community can enjoy. I know my little town offers as rich supply of classes, including foreign languages, photography, cooking, chair caning and cartooning. In keeping with this spirit, the third book in my “Adult Education” series for Superromance, INVITATION TO ITALIAN, comes out this month. I hope you’ll enjoy it.

Carrying on this theme of community and tradition, in 2012 I will have three books out for Superromance centered on characters returning to their college reunions—oh, the possibilities for drama and comedy! I’m looking forward to seeing them on the shelves, as I hope you are, too.

Until then, I always love to hear from my readers. Have a great summer!

Tracy Kelleher
http://www.tracykelleher.com/

If Money Were No Object by Paula Roe

There’s many things I love about being a writer – working from home, writing for a living, meeting wonderful readers and fellow writers. And one of the techiques that kick start me into a new story is asking ‘what if’. Some would call it day dreaming :-) but one of the frequent ‘what ifs’ when I was growing up (besides “what if I got a pony for Christmas?”) was “what would you buy if you won the lottery?”

Okay, so I’ve moved on from “building a chocolate volcano”, “new rollerskates” and “paying Nick Rhodes from Duran Duran to marry me” (although the chocolate volcano thing still holds great appeal...) But this question recently came up during a conversation I had with my 10 year old son. Of course, his answers were along the lines of “buy every single Lego set made”, “adopt a bunch of cats and rabbits” and “take a trip to Hawaii”. Mine? After I ruled out the obvious charity donations, I came up with these:

• holidaying in style. It’d be business class all the way, absorbing the wonders of Europe without worrying if the communal toilet would still be working when I returned to the cruddy, broken-down hotel that looked way better in the brochure.

• a nice car. Nothing over the top, just something cute and sporty, with a soft top. And a hybrid, of course!

• sparkles. I love jewelry, so I’d buy me a gorgeous pink diamond ring to mark the momentous occasion

• a personal trainer. Because given the chance, I like to laze around in bed, or relax in front of the TV or sit in front of the computer. Writers’ lives can be so sedentary and some cute muscley guy helping me work up a sweat would be a great motivator :-)

• a summer house. Somewhere along the Gold Coast of Australia, or maybe on one of the Whitsunday Islands. Or, heck, maybe I’ll just do a Richard Branson and buy the whole island instead and rent it out to the rich and famous when I’m not in residence!

So, what would your lottery win bring you? A Caribbean cruise? A house on Sydney Harbor? Share your fantasy – money no object! - and you could win a book from one of my backlist.

Paula’s next book, Bed of Lies (Harlequin Desire) is a February 2012 release. You can visit her at her website http://www.paularoe.com, Twitter www.twitter.com/paulawrites or Facebook http://www.facebook.com/paularoefanpage

Kathleen O'Reilly: Checking in from RWA, NYC

Hello, all!

Kathleen O'Reilly, on the scene at the RWA National Conference. We're at the very purple and glass Mariott Marquis hotel, the site of this year's conference. There's a lot of energy (possibly because of the Times Square environment), and sightings have included Justin Beiber, Shia La Bouf, and also some pole-climbing dude who stopped traffic for two hour because the cops thought he was a terrorist. Sheesh.

Still, it's all in a typical New York City day. I have no great gossip to report, no new trends. I could make stuff up, because you know, I *do* write fiction, but I'll stick to what I feel is correct. There's a lot of writers who will be self-publishing their own back list. It's the California E-Gold Rush, with lots of prospectors, lots of old timers talking about their high-falootin earnings, and lots of dreams of success, striking the hearts of even the most ordinary mid-list writers. What's different from the typical writing dreams of before, is that the balance of power is shifting (oddly enough) to the writers. Publishers are giving *sales speeches* to authors, agents are talking about the dangers that lurk in them there hills. There's no sheriff, and the are side businesses popping up like gophers. Editors, packagers, cover art designers. Everybody is in there to follow the dreams.

New York Times best-selling author Julia London says there's been a lot of talk about the explosion of ebooks, but for me, this conference has been like many others before it. I started eating at 9am on Tuesday, and I haven't stopped.

Sherri Browning Erwin, author of the upcoming Grave Expectations, has this to say: I came in with grave expectations, and my expectations have been met.

Author Dee Davis, suprisingly enough, had nothing to say, but then promptly recanted.

Author Jacquie D'Alessandro was not available for comment, but made enough of a fashion statement that words were not necessary.

All in all, the conference is full of caffeinated energy, and there's a lot of excitement and good news!

Jessica Barksdale Inclan: Adapating to the Job

To be honest--and I'm not actually sure I want to be too honest, as it still seems scary to contemplate--the past say three years of my writing life have been a bit troubling.

The problem with writing as a career is that there are no sick days, pensions, vacation plans, benefits, or colleagues in the next cubicle to bitch and moan with when the boss sends an evil email about production. In fact, unless you find your own colleagues--workshops, writing groups, online list serves, etc--you can be alone in a room a lot, staring out at the blankness of your own imagination. Or, when your imagination has been on overdrive, there's no one to turn to and brag.

"Look!" you say, pointing at your screen. "Three thousand words."

The empty room reverberates with more silence.

Thus you find writers on Facebook reporting their word counts, hoping for someone to respond or comment or "like." Yes, our comments say to the writer. Well done you.

The good news for me is that I'm also an English professor, and I teach with a number of writer/teachers, and I have folks in the next office. Of course, mostly we are complaining about students, but I can run ideas past them--and my writing group is made up of these writer/teachers. I belong to groups online and on land, and I do find ways to bond with other writers. But the bottom line is that here I am, writing in my room alone. I can bug my husband and read some of this blog aloud to him, but, really, he needs to do his online banking.

Starting about three years ago, trauma ensued in my writing life with not only my agent firing me via email but my editor succumbing to a terrible illness. Imagine the stunned horror and grief at both of these occurrences, and then imagine the silence of my career as I had no "boss" any more, of any kind.

Agent hunt, agent found, new novel now on the edge of going out into the world for potential new "bosses" to buy. It seems so simple as I write it here, but from about the fall of 2009 to now, my job as a writer has been fraught. If it were a job in a company, imagine I was working without pay or temping or interning. Not only that, but the boss at this temping job communicates little or not at all, I don't know what dress to wear, and there is no lunch hour.

Late last year as I waited for my agent to chime in on my manuscript, I did some very deep soul searching about my writing career. I remembered what I first started writing--poems and short stories. I enrolled in a couple of online writing classes, and I started to go back to my roots, the type of writing I used to do in the wee hours when my little children were asleep.

I wrote poems--my writing group and I created a poetry boot camp: a poem a day--and I wrote stories. I dug in my files for stories I wrote years ago. I revised them. I worked on them some more. I submitted my work to my classmates and teacher and let them dig in. My readers read them. And then I revised and revised.

I started to send my stories and poems out to small literary journals, the kind I used to get published in before Her Daughter's Eyes came out. These journals pay in absolutely nothing, and these days as so many are online, there's not even a hard copy to put in the shelf. But it felt good to see myself there.

Yesterday, I found out that the collection I put together is a semi-finalist in a contest that includes cash and publication, the hard copy kind, the kind you can actually put on the shelf. But before you think happy thoughts for me, I'm sure this manuscript won't be accepted or win. It's not quite ready yet, and I've worked on the stories in the three months since sending it to this competition. But what validation! How good this feels. It's like working on a plan and having the boss say, "Not bad. Fix this, and maybe it's a go."

Here's a couple of links to places where my stories and poems have been published online in recent months. This work is very different than my novels, especially the romances, but I think of it this way: in a job, I'd be a journeyman. I could work in a few departments. Maybe, I'd have job security.

Heart of July

Spinning
Scroll down for this one

Tuna for the Apocalypse

Best,

Jessica Barksdale Inclan or Jessica Inclan or Jessica Barksdale (jack of all trades)

Sharon Ashwood: Unleash the Hound

Imagine a world where the vampires, werewolves, and everything else that goes bump in the night comes out of the closet on a network TV talk show. This is the universe of the Dark Forgotten, of sentient houses that threaten to eat their visitors, of vampires whose venom gives an orgasmic high, of guardsmen whose souls have been ripped away by long-dead monsters, and of the lost who will not renounce their dreams of love.

Imagine meeting someone who was young, handsome, protective, and handy when it came to fixing a leaky tap or taking out the villains. He’s the go-to guy in the community for problem solving andleadership. Everybody likes him. He oozes competence and has a great sense of humour.

This is Lore, the Alpha hellhound hero of FROSTBOUND. He’s been left in charge of keeping the peace among the supernatural population. A snowstorm has lockeddown the city, and someone has murdered Lore’s human neighbour. A beautiful vampire, Talia Rostova, is the victim’s cousin and the prime suspect.

Lore does the only logical thing (for a hellhound) and takes her prisoner. He's not freeing Talia until he's sure that she's the prey and not the hunter. Of course, it’s a slippery slope once one has a beautiful woman, handcuffs and, well, soon Lore is falling for the wrong kind of girl with far too many secrets.

You'd think a beautiful woman in his bedroom would be a good thing, but trouble-prone Talia has run afoul of someone more sinister than your average lunatic killer. An ancient Undead is wreaking vengeance on the city—and on her—and Lore will have to go far beyond a stake to put him back in his grave.

Frostbound is an action/adventure story, but it’s also a romance about forbidden love. Who are your favorite star-crossed lovers?

Read an excerpt: http://www.sharonashwood.com/frostbound-excerpt.php

Watch the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjEmIDCwEcc

Melanie Milburne: Acting Your Way Into Feeling

Have you ever had to pretend to be nice to someone you couldn’t stand?  Or pretend to be interested when you’re bored? Or smile when you really wanted to cry?

I don’t think there are many of us who haven’t had to do one or all of the above at some point.  But one thing I’ve learned about such situations is the concept of acting your way into feeling.

I think I first heard the term about twenty-five years ago in a relationships handbook.  I read so many back then I have no idea which book it was from or who wrote it. But the deal is this: You might really hate your husband/partner for not putting out the trash or... (I’ll let you fill in the details!), but if you act loving towards him, guess what? Your feelings magically turn back into love.  

Or what about this scenario: You might just hate being seated next to Great Aunt Gladys at a family wedding because she talks non-stop about herself, but if you act interested, guess what?  You suddenly realize she is a rather lonely old person who has a lot of memories she wants to share before she dies.

We all have to pretend at times and this concept is at the heart of the second book in my Sabbatini Brothers Trilogy- One Last Night.

Maya is in the process of divorcing her rich and powerful husband Giorgio Sabbatini. She feels a terrible failure because she hasn’t been able to provide him with an heir. A one night encounter with Giorgio brings about an unexpected surprise but because she has never been successful in bringing a pregnancy to term she decides not to tell him.

This would be all well and good if it hadn’t been for the fact that Giorgio needs her to pretend to be reconciled with him for a few weeks as his beloved grandfather is terminally ill.

Not that Maya really had to pretend too hard or anything. She hadn’t fallen out of love with Giorgio in the first place. Giorgio on the other hand was definitely going to learn all about my relationships concept of acting your way into feeling!

What situation have you been in where you had to act the opposite of what you were feeling? I’ll send an autographed copy of One Last Night to a comment poster at random.

Warmest wishes,

Melanie Milburne

***Melanie picked Laurie G. as the winner!  Laurie, please email totebag@authorsoundrelations.com with your full name and mailing address and we'll get a copy of One Last Night in the mail to you!***

Barbara Bretton: Grandma and the Prince - Part 30

WINNER: Congratulations to Lolarific, winner of my May contest. Lolarific, send me an email at barbarabretton AT gmail DOT com with your mailing info and I'll ship out your prizes ASAP!

I remember when the idea for Midnight Lover hit me. I was reading Nevada Magazine in the lobby of the Princeton Medical Center. My then ninety-year old grandfather had broken his hip the day before (and, trust me, that is a story in itself) and my husband and I had driven down from Long Island to see him before his surgery. Grandpa was a man of the old school. Not even a broken hip and assorted painkillers could dull his mind. We talked as we waited for him to be taken into surgery and he told me some stories I hadn’t heard before.

He was a child of the American prairie. Born in Kansas, one of four children, before the turn-of-the-last century. He remembered riding in a prairie schooner as his family made their way from one part of the state to another. Proud of his country, he was also proud of his native American heritage, of the Chippewa blood flowing through his veins and mine. One of my prized possessions is a tintype of my great-grandmother crouching down in her calico dress and staring into the camera, as if daring it to steal her soul.

That morning before surgery, his stories were endless. The cruelty of the land. The beauty of it. His father’s savagely broken heart when my great-grandmother died young. The children were scattered to surrounding farm families. The girls were no trouble to place. Grandpa’s older brother was big enough and strong enough to work the land; a farmer took him in immediately. Grandpa, however, was skinny and young. Too old to be a cute little boy yet too young to be a productive farm worker.

“I was turned out to grass,” said my grandfather that April morning, “with a note pinned to my undershirt and a coin in my pocket.” He was twelve years old and alone. He rode the rails across the country, working wherever he could to keep body and soul together. He grew up fast and tough and made his way by rail to the Grand Tetons where he worked at a logging camp until the outbreak of World War I.

I knew I was looking at a hero being born. (And didn’t my five-times-married grandpa just love that!) Just that morning I’d read a delightful article in Nevada Magazine about the old mining town of Pioche where, back in its heyday, women had swarmed its streets, marrying the hapless male citizens before they knew what hit them. In a switch on Lysistrata, the men banded together to form a secret society whose sworn duty was to steer clear of matrimony for one full year. That would teach those husband-hungry spinsters a thing or two . . . and maybe make the streets safe for decent men again!

Why not take Jesse Reardon, a hero sprung from my grandfather’s stories, and place him in Silver Spur? Why not make him the richest, toughest man in town? Why not have him embody everything Silver Spur is – or claims to be?

Why not bring Caroline Bennett, formerly of Boston, to town? Make her beautiful, bright, and while I’m at it, why not make her the only woman for miles around who isn’t interested in marriage.

I had a wonderful time writing Midnight Lover and it was a thrill to hand Grandpa his own copy when it was published. He’s gone now but his stories remain, both the ones he lived and the ones he inspired.

Thanks to the internet and the explosion of e-book readers, two of my historical romances from the late 1980s have a new lease on life. Both Fire's Lady and Midnight Lover are available at most of the ebook sites. Click MIDNIGHT LOVER and you'll be taken to Amazon where you can read a sample or buy a copy of your own. (And they're only $2.99!)

NOTE: Fire's Lady will be available in a few days. Sorry I don't have a hot link to give you right now.

He was begotten in the galley and born under a gun. Every hair was a rope yarn, every finger a fish-hook, every tooth a marline-spike, and his blood right good Stockholm tar.
--Naval Epitaph


PS: I'm Barbara Bretton and you can find me here and here. Leave a comment behind and you'll be automatically entered in a drawing. The winner will receive signed copies of CASTING SPELLS, LACED WITH MAGIC, and SPUN BY SORCERY and a little sweet surprise.

Are you on Facebook? Stop by and friend me when you have a moment.

Incurring the Wrath of the Mummy!!! - with Natalie Anderson

So as I mentioned last month, we’ve moved back to the city that literally rocks - Christchurch. We’ve left what books we did bring in boxes, no point in putting them out on bookcases when a decent aftershock will only make them fall out! Thanks so much for your book culling comments too – the winner from that is Scarlet Wilson! Scarlet, please email me at natalie(at)natalie-anderson(dot)com and I can get the book into the post for you!

So we’re settling in, the move has brought some little challenges but it’s really pretty ok. My biggest effort has gone into settling the children – especially the elder two into school. Here in New Zealand the norm is to take a cut lunch from home. My daughter takes a ‘no-wrap’ container with mini containers inside. The son uses a stainless steel tiffin that is the cutest contraption ever (he loves how it all stacks together and has a cool closing device).

He likes sandwiches. She hates them. I do what I can to accommodate preferences. But I noticed that in the first week or so of the new school, neither of them were eating much.

Cue the mummy-alarm-bells!!!


Not eating lunch must been some kind of anxiety, or lack of time, or some kind of problem... The dreaded New School Nerves?


What’s a mother to do?


Well I went to the shop and bought a number of treaty things, anything to tempt them. Worked pretty well for the daughter, but the boy was still coming home with untouched sandwiches.


And then I thought hard about that child. One of his current interests is ancient Egypt and mummification. He likes the whole promise of the apocalypse if you open the hidden burial chambers and all that fun, ghoulish stuff. So, relating that back to the uneaten lunch? I decided to threaten him. I wrapped the sandwiches in the white paper and scrawled across the top in permanent marker:

Eat these or face the curse of the Mummy!


Pretty simple. I drew a bat in the corner (I have no idea if there are bats in Egyptian chambers, but I figured it gave it a suitably spooky look). And guess what?

The sandwiches got eaten.

Now any nice parenting blog will tell you that kids like messages in their lunchboxes – you can even buy premade lunchbox messages which is pretty cute. But to my mind, store bought kind of takes the fun out of it!  Surely no child wants the same message. My kids are different – with different senses of humour, different needs – the eldest is the more anxious one, the worrier, nervous about who she’s going to hang with for that never-ending lunch hour. So she gets the sweet messages, the ones where I write something to boost her mood – just that I love her, or am proud of her. The boy is more laid back, has a wacky sense of humour and a fantasy-rich mind. So he gets the curses.

I did make one mistake though – when I labelled the pack as ‘Baboon Snot Sandwiches: Eat Them or Else’.

He didn’t eat them. Because they sounded ‘gross’.

And here was me thinking that was the point! Clearly I was wrong. However the one where if he 'didn’t eat it his toes would fall off’ - that got eaten. So we seem to be working out the right kind of threats and curses. I’ve had to stretch out from plagues of locusts and armies of undead... And of course, now coming up with a Mummy Curse every day is becoming a bit of a challenge – usually I write fun and flirty books for grown-ups, not middle grade ghosty stories!!! 


But as it happens, I do have one book about to come out where I had the chance to write some truly wicked messages... Dating and Other Dangers is all about a guy who gets named and shamed by several anonymous wenches on a dating reputation website, he hunts down the web-mistress, takes one look at her and challenges her to three dates with him to prove it was all libel...

So the book is based around those three dates and their respective blog wars about it – and yes, there are some mean messages and curses hurled on those blogs!

This book was such a fun one to write – I think the most fun for me ever.... I guess I have a love of the evil curses as much as my son!

So I’ve a challenge for you now – in the comments, leave a Mummy Curse that I can put in the boy’s lunch box and I’ll put you in the draw to win a copy of DATING AND OTHER DANGERS!

(Winner will be drawn 24 June and I’ll edit this post so you know!)

Edited to add: The winner is Pat Cochran! Pat, please email me at natalie(at)natalie-anderson(dot)com and I'll get your copy into the post for you. Thanks so much everyone!


Natalie Anderson adores a happy ending, which is why she always reads the back of a book first. Just to be sure. Along with happy endings, she loves peppermint filled dark chocolate, pineapple juice and extremely long showers. Not to mention  spending hours teasing her imaginary friends with dating dilemmas. She tends to torment them before eventually relenting and offering – you guessed it, a happy ending. She lives in Christchurch, New Zealand with her gorgeous husband and four fabulous children.
If, like her, you love a happy ending, be sure to come and say hi on www.facebook/authornataliea and on Twitter @authornataliea, or her website/blog: www.natalie-anderson.com.

This is My Kind of Roughing It...by Jenny Gardiner

Summer's here and the camping is easy… Yeah, right.

You might have gleaned from previous pieces I've written that I'm no fan of camping. In fact if given the choice to camp or take a Calculus exam, I'd be hard-pressed to come up with a satisfactory decision. (You may have also gleaned from previous columns that my math skills came to a grinding halt in Mrs. Harcharik's fourth grade math class. Thank goodness she mercifully allowed me to write an essay about Albert Einstein in order to make up for my lackluster year-end grade. Didn't help me to ever learn to balance a checkbook, however. Nevertheless picking between the two would practically be a Sophie's Choice for me.)
Back when my husband and I were dating, he decided he wanted to make a believer out of me in the camping department. I'd grown up as a beach baby, vacationing with sun, surf and sand when I went on holiday. The idea of roughing it in a tent in the woods during vacation never arose in my childhood. Well, there was that time my Girl Scout troop was supposed to camp for a weekend, only to be thwarted by flooding from Hurricane Agnes. Instead we did a day-trip and were forbidden from using the latrines because poisonous snakes were floating around in them. Yep, camping didn't present much in the way of charms with that red flag.

But my husband came up with a snake-free plan that entailed us camping amidst the rugged coastal beauty of Acadia National Park in Maine--how could we go wrong? Well, we erroneously arrived a day early for our reservation. On Independence Day weekend. Nary a campsite to be found (a day earlier in Freeport we were told the only place to stay in all of coastal Maine due to holiday crowds would be a display tent at the LL Bean store. Seriously.).
Luckily the park ranger was able to come up with a lone campsite that had been abandoned by some early-departers. After setting up the borrowed ancient tent (I was warned not to touch the canvas as any place you'd touch would leak if it rained--good luck there), we cooked steaks over the grill, made s'mores, and basked in our happy camper experience, just a little smug we were able to nab a campsite so late despite our scheduling error. After once more admiring the breathtaking canvas of stars in the clear night sky, we zipped the tent closed for the night. I set my book down next to my pillow as I was falling asleep, then several hours later woke to it floating away from me. Turns out a storm had come in, and the aged tent leaked in approximately, oh, two million places. And our campsite was at the bottom of a flood plain.

We spent the night in our Honda Civic, and cleaned the muck out of our mildewing tent at dawn the next day. Memorable? Yes. Fun? Not so much.
A few other camping experiences (one after the release of the Blair Witch Project had me sleepless for fear of looming murderers) left me with a generally tepid reception toward the practice of camping. I did, however, love camping one time: when we were in Africa, some 25 years ago. Much of our trip involved roughing it--including a few nights in a spartan tent in which we came face-to-hairy-face with a hirsute spider the size of my hand skittering across my bed (which resulted in my enveloping myself from head to toe in a circa WWII army-issue stiflingly hot wool blanket/spider guard each night). But then we spent two glorious nights in a luxury tented safari in the Masai Mara with a mahogany four-poster bed, marble sink, the works. I was in heaven.
Now Africa was about the only place in which austere camping even remotely appealed to me. Cloaked beneath the barely-there canvas of a tent with the possibility of a pride of lions or a herd of elephants loping by seemed so cool. But snoozing away in dense Virginia woods with ticks and spiders and snakes of no real mystique threatening me? No thank you. I'll take my own cozy bed any day over that.

But then I heard about about glamping. A friend filled me in on the beauty of glamour camping, the pampered persons alternative to getting down and dirty to enjoy the great outdoors. It involves king-sized beds and maybe 600-thread count sheets and fluffy down comforters and someone else doing all the dirty work. And me not having to trudge in the dark amidst the things that are going bump in the night just to find a public toilet (one that always fails to have a seat, is usually prison-issue stainless steel and comes equipped with cobwebs). Glamping is my kinda camping: the country club variety. Not that I'm elitist, but when it comes to camping, I need the comforts of home. And then some.

I usually suck it up and camp once a year with my family, me in full martyr mode. Usually the general family consensus at the end of the weekend is that Mom should've stayed home. But this glamping thing, it seems like a happy medium, a meeting of the minds. Except for the price, which can't compare with the pack-it-all-from-home way, darn it. If only someone would come up with discount glamping, all the comforts, none of the expense, I'd be golden. And maybe even try to pretend I'm enjoying myself just a bit.
Until then, I think I'll aim for microwaving s'mores and kicking back with the TV remote, maybe even attempting to balance my checkbook. And just be very, very grateful I'll get to sleep in my own bed with a roof over my head.

Jenny Gardiner is the author of the award-winning novel Sleeping with Ward Cleaver (coming back in ebook form this week!), as well as the novels Slim to None and Over the Falls and the humorous memoir Winging It: A Memoir of Caring for a Vengeful Parrot Who's Determined to Kill Me. She also has a story in Wade Rouse's upcoming humorous dog anthology I'm Not the Biggest Bitch in This Relationship (NAL/Sept '11), a fundraiser for the Humane Society of the US and selected animal charities.

Feel free to visit me at my website
You can also find me on Facebook
And my Facebook fan page
And don't forget Twitter

Elizabeth Essex: My Heart Is All My Own

One of the most important aspects of any author’s writing is his or her ‘voice,’ the style, attitude and point of view that makes the telling of a story unique. Early on in my writing career, my critique partner defined voice for me with a marvelous quote by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: “All the knowledge I possess anyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own.”

I use this quote to inspire me not only to strengthen my individual voice as an author, but to assist me in creating strong, unique characters readers will love. One of the hallmarks of my stories is deep characterization. My stories spring from an idea of a character, and hinge upon making sure I let that character’s individual voice ring true.

In A SENSE OF SIN, my second Georgian romance from Kensington Brava set in Dartmouth, England, Rupert Delacorte, Retired Colonel of His Majesty’s Marine Forces, and now Viscount Darling, meets his match in a quiet local beauty, the Ravishing Miss Celia Burke.

Right from the start, Del has it in for Celia. He has come to Dartmouth in search of her, thinking she is responsible for the death of his beloved younger sister Emily, and vowing to have his revenge.

Both of these characters can be seen as archetypes. Del is an archetypical Avenger, while Celia can be seen as an archetypical mousy Librarian/Scientist. But such cardboard cut-out characters only work when they are personalized and made unique enough so the reader can see and hear them as individuals.

To make a character unique, I do two basic things: I ask myself how the character sees the world, and examine how the world sees the character. The answers to those questions involve the two things Goethe wrote about, knowledge and heart.

Del’s knowledge has been acquired in his upbringing as the son of a Duke, and in his profession serving in His Majesty’s Marine Forces aboard Royal Navy ships. All the things that are familiar to him come from that world. To describe Celia, Del would not compare her to a summer’s day. He would describe her as being “like a trim, nimble sloop.” When he thinks about exacting revenge, he would want it to be like his profession, “straightforward, violent and bloody.”

Celia Burke is a quiet country girl who is also a botanist devoted to the study of freshwater plants. She spends her time reading about scientific discoveries in ‘The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society,’ and she sees the world through her experience as a dedicated and detailed observer of the universe’s scientific fact. In her encounters with Del, Celia would never describe herself as having been ‘swept off her feet.’ She would think “the earth had ceased to exert it’s pull on her and ceded all it’s gravity to Viscount Darling.”

The events of the story, the seeking of revenge, the thwarting of blackmail attempts and the falling in love, provoke strong emotional reactions from our characters, and those emotions are filtered through the prism of their experience. And it is those strong, unique emotions give the characters their individual heart.

What character of romance fiction stands out in your mind for their strong unique heart?

Zana Bell: Fantasy Jobs

“So what do you do?”


It’s one of the first questions we ask when meeting someone new. Why? Do our jobs define us? Certainly, we choose (or should choose) jobs that suit our personalities but after a while does the job also leave its patina upon us?

Choosing the right careers for heroes and heroines is vital. It’s also enormous fun. I indulge my fantasies and the research is pure pleasure. In my first book, Tempting the Negotiator, Sass is a New York lawyer come to negotiate a holiday resort in the exquisite Aroha Bay. Jake, a big-wave surfer, is out to stop all development as Aroha Bay is also the nesting area for the nearly extinct Fairy Tern.

Why a big wave surfer? I love surfers and their single-minded dedication to the joy of riding waves. Big-wave surfers are at the crazy, maverick end. It takes passion, commitment and yes, more than a dash of madness to throw heart and then body over waves as high as skyscrapers. Jake is therefore more than willing to wade fearlessly into battle against a huge multi-corporate. Failure is just not in his vocabulary.

Sass is his perfect foil. Her lawyer’s mind cuts through emotive arguments. She must see the big picture, not just the cause. But can she resist the surfer grin, the sheer joie de vivre of a man fresh from fantastic waves?

In my latest book, A Risk Worth Taking, Adam is a biker - a Texan cowboy on a steel steed. But he’s ready to leave his bad boy, stunt rider image behind and become a surgeon. Not such a reach as you might think. While these daredevils are adrenalin junkies, they are also coolheaded professionals. Their job entails calculation, precision, complete focus and commitment. Which are, of course, just some of the attributes of a surgeon.

Adam’s plan is right on track until he meets and falls for Cressa, who specialises in temporary jobs and short-term relationships, and who makes it very clear that bad and dangerous is exactly what she wants….

Tell me about your fantasy job and be in to win a copy of A Risk Worth Taking.

Zana Bell
http://zanabell.com/

***Zana picked CrystalGB as the winner!  Congratulations, Crystal!  Please contact Zana at zanabell@xtra.co.nz with your full name and address so she can get the prize in the mail to you!***

Lisa Dale: Two Weeks Until The Big Day

Hi all!

Life's a bit frantic for me just now because my wedding is in just two weeks! If you wanted to see more pictures from my bridal shower, click here (and leave a comment to enter my love to readers prize!).

I have to admit; I'd thought that getting married would give me time to ponder my relationship with my fiance, time for reflection and thought...but instead, I'm running about--late for everything--and Matt and I barely say a word to each other that doesn't involve the wedding!

The good news is, if there was anyone I'd want to plan a wedding with, it would be him. We've been working side by side--Matt generously picking up the slack when I get surprised by unexpected deadlines or other emergencies.

Being this close to marrying the guy I love is a crazy time, but it's a blessing too. There's lots to do, and that's just how I like it.

And in other news: RWA is coming to New York! If you want to meet, I'll be at the Berkley book signing on Friday morning. Hope to see you then!

I'll post wedding pix once I'm back from the honeymoon!

Wishing you all good things,

Lisa Dale

www.LisaDaleBooks.com

Mom Camp : : Anne McAllister

It's that time of year again!

I get to go to camp!

As a kid I went to day camp one year and it was fun, but not especially memorable. As an adult, I can hardly wait.

Every year since my oldest granddaughter was old enough to attend the local sports camp at the college in our town, she has come from Texas with her mom (my daughter) to do so. She and her cousin(s) -- whoever is the right age -- go off to camp, and my daughter and I have "mom camp."

It's wonderful. It's a time to spend with each other -- and, as it happens, with other friends and family we don't get to see often enough -- and reconnect.

We talk, we laugh, we read books, we go shopping, we laugh, we bake. We go for walks, we laugh, we try new recipes, we go through old photos and put the names of people in them on the back. We have tea. We bathe dogs. We try out crafts. We watch movies. We laugh.

Mostly, it seems, we laugh.

It's a refreshing, wonderful week. This is our fifth year at it and every year it seems to get better. The first year we were joined by my cousin's daughter, then age 14. If she seems like an odd addition to "mom camp" let me assure you, she fit right in. She's funny and she has great ideas and she laughs a lot. She's an honorary mom camper and she has been here every year but one (when she was off doing something at Annapolis, as I recall).

Then we added Nancy the cat slayer (no, she doesn't. Not really. It's her nickname). And last year we added my aunt (the cousin's grandmother) who flew in from Arizona for the event, and who had such a good time that she was the first one to want to be on board this year -- and is bringing a "craft" for us to do. Something to do with vegetables and tote bags. How appropriate is that?

She also thinks we need elegant hats this year -- and to have a tea party. We're not sure about the elegants hats bit (we're more baseball cap girls), but the tea party is right up our alley.

And we're having 'day campers' this year. Well, besides Nancy. My 87 year old neighbor is coming. She is bringing her chocolate raspberry torte recipe. I can see good things happening on that day! There's a lot of rhubarb awaiting our attention, too.

Another cousin's daughters out on the west coast were hoping to make it this year, but couldn't quite swing it with parenting obligations.

I invited Anne Gracie who will be in the US for RWA the following week. Sadly she's got a deadline and can't make it before the conference. But we're hoping to do an 'addendum' for a few days afterward. She makes great jewelry and we thought that would be a fun thing to try.

We still might. But we'll miss Anne.

We'll be having a good time, though, rest assured. Wish you could join us.

But you can start a mom camp of your own. It's an idea whose time has definitely come!

Michelle Styles: Good Intentions Gone Wrong

My great grandmother used to say if the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, then I am the contractor in chief.  It is a  sentiment which really resonates with me.  I do have very good intentions but sometimes things go wrong and there are unintended consequences. These can prove problematic  like the time I ordered rock (a type of peppermint candy found at the British seaside) with the school’s name emblazoned on it for the school fair only for it to arrive six hours late. In the end, it turned out fine  as it did get sold and we had enough left over to give to the school leavers as a present. Or when I sent my apologies for my high school reunion and asked to hear about what other people were doing.  I was very interested and helped to get a loop started.  One or two took it the wrong way and I did have to suffer flack for admitting to writing historical romances. What is it about some people and the romance genre?  But my actions encouraged one man to attend the reunion where he re-encountered a fellow classmate. He was a successful businessman and she a single mother. Nine months later, the couple married and are very happy. They recently had their own child. You see romance isn't just confined to the pages of a novel.

 When I came to write my latest release To Marry A Matchmaker, at first my heroine gave me problems. I just could not get her right. Something was missing. Then I happened to see an email that perhaps I shouldn’t have done but someone mentioned me being a bit of a busybody and I knew that I had my heroine.  That was what she was a bit of busybody but with a lot of heart. The phrase  about good intentions and a phrase off a mug that we bought  my daughter – I’m not bossy, I just have better ideas seemed encapsulate my heroine Henri.  Henri ended up being very close to my heart – someone who sees a problem and takes action rather than sitting back. She is someone who is one of life’s givers rather than takers. Some people might see her as a meddling busybody but she does what she does from the heart and ultimately she does make life a better and richer place. In her case, she firmly believes in love and romance (as long as it is for other people). However, a local landowner sees her passion for matchmaking as interference and bets her that she can’t stop for a month.  Henri believes she is more than equal to the challenge. After all, she can stop any time she wants...or can she?

Does anyone else have trouble with good intentions gone wrong? Please don't let me be the only one!

Contest:

Update:

The winner of the Contest is Tia Knox. She has been contacted. Many thanks to everyone else who entered.

RWA Nationals:
If anyone is going or going to the literacy signing, I hope to see you there. I have the intention of having an edible treat for anyone who stops by at the literacy signing to say hello.

Darlene Gardner: After the lovin'

 

Because my June release from Harlequin Superromance is about a woman who stumbles across boy and girl twins she thinks might be hers due to their distinctive red hair, TWICE THE CHANCE is filled with drama.


My favorite scene in the book, however, is after Jazz Lenox and the twins’ Uncle Matt make love. Up to that point, Jazz has been desperately trying to keep Matt at arm’s length. He’s very close to his family, and Jazz thinks the twins are better off without her in their lives. While Jazz and Matt are still in bed together, however, he pulls out all the stops to persuade her to go on a date with him.

Right about now I should confess that the pages after the hero and heroine first make love are always my favorite part of a romance novel. In my opinion, it’s a terrible mistake if an author ignores the all-important lovemaking aftermath and skips ahead in time.

In one of my early books, a romantic comedy for the now-defunct Harlequin Duets line, my heroine had a one-night stand after her fiancé broke their engagement. I was able to create all sorts of delicious tension by having the ex-fiancé telephone her the following morning because someone had seen her the night before with another man. A man who was still lying next to her in bed and was in no hurry to leave.

The interplay between the characters is so much more interesting after sex than during it. Does the intimacy ease the conflict between them or escalate it? Is the mood serious or playful? And the biggie: Do either the hero or heroine regret making love?

In case you’re not familiar with the old Englelbert Humperdinck song from which I stole the title of this blog, the last couplet is, “After the lovin’, I’m still in love with you.” Now that’s what I’m talking about!

I’m curious if readers agree with me that the post-coital moments constitute the best part of a romance novel? If not, what is your favorite story element? I’ll give away a copy of a book from my backlist to a poster chosen at random.