Design Your Own Book Cover Contest!

Have you ever wanted to see how your book would look like behind the window of a Barnes & Noble bookstore? I can pretend with creative Teralyn's Design Your Book Cover Contest! I am positively giddy about participating. It gives us crazy writers a chance to show off our books!


We are to post our covers August 31st--today--by joining Teralyn's linky*. There is a spot for you to "Like" under each bloghopper's name where you'll vote which covers you like--sorry, you can only "Like" three covers! Teralyn will announce the winner with the most votes September 7th.

Eros has been thrust from Mount Olympus by his mother, the goddess of love Aphrodite. The only way he can return home is to find the first girl who can resist his charm and snub true love.

It isn't until the hottest guy in school vanishes right before her eyes that Angie realizes her mistake.

Will she ever find him again after traveling hundreds of miles to Greece?

This YA urban fantasy novel in the works toward publication!

I hope you love my cover! #30 :)

 


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Win a signed copy of S. B. Niccim's Veiled!

Have you ever wondered if spirits are eternal? If they just spontaneously generate from the day we are born?


This novel is the first of its kind that I've ever laid hands on. I found Heaven a fascinating place where Angels guard their charges with fierce devotion. I lived their joy as mortals succeeded in their righteous choices and experienced their sorrow for wrong.


Meet Tess, a determined Angel that endures conflict even before she is born on Earth! The dark angels are determined to stunt her growth, but will her soul mate save her in time?


The world in which Niccum creates, starts before the beginning of time, and grows richer with every step of the way. She did a fantastic job with making her characters come to life. The world she built makes sense, and I fell in love with every one. I worried for them as they stumbled along in their choices. I cried for the joy and peril the characters endured.

This book makes me think about life in general, how angels really work around us.  I find Niccum's world fascinating to read, enchanting and enjoyable.

Visit S.B. Niccum's blog, and website!

Here's your chance to win your very own signed copy of Veiled! Every comment equals one entry, international wins an eBook!


I will announce the winner on Friday's post!

FFW: Centuars, Dragons and Mermaids

For FFW, we are discussing creatures of sorts. I've written a novel and my main character is a snowy-white centaur. In my novel, he is one of the most powerful creatures in this magical world--even above the elves. He falls in love with an elfin princess, but she's been chased away from her kingdom by a band of rogue humans. Together, they traverse the lands gathering help to fight for her kingdom.

I've written a high fantasy novel that mentions a dragon in passing, but I have yet to write about one!

I started a mermaid novel--inspired by my hubby in a hot tub at a 
bed and breakfast with bubbles clouding him in.



I've written an epic high fantasy novel of elves with goblins and dwarves. No humans.


I started writing a novel involving fairies long ago. I wonder if my muse could still inspire me?

I could go on with unicorns and Pegasus and all those fantastical creatures! I have a novel brewing for Medusa, too!

I wonder what FFW palz have said about their fave creatures? Let's check them out! Alex J. Cavanaugh, Anastasia Pergakis, J.D. Brown, Deirdre Coppel, M. Pax, and Jeffrey Beesler.

What is your favorite creature to write about, or have dreamed about writing?

Are You a Prolific Reader?

Have you ever heard of a makeup artist who doesn't wear makeup? Or a chef who doesn't cook at home? What about a writer who never reads?


I have to admit that I'm way out of the loop of the hottest reads out there. As a writer, I'm bustling about editing, writing, critiquing, endorsing, illustrating, blogging, networking, marketing, setting up appointments--not counting real life motherhood and outside activities--and reading.


What, reading?


I read. A LOT! I read self-help books and many authorly friend books for book reviews. I read my own books--ahem, does that count?


I have friends who are in the same situation as I am: they are avid readers of the books they review. Does that make me like the fashion model who slums it while she's off duty?




How do you manage to keep up with the greatest and latest of books and write and edit and critique and endorse and blog and...and...?

Star Trek As We Know It Blogfest!

The creative Ellie Garratt is holding the splendiferous Star Trek As We Know It Blogfest--woooooot! To read other entries, click here!

Before I go onto the other stuff, let me tell you that Data is my mostest, favoritest character--GO DATA!

"The Host"
Star Trek: The Next Generation episode
Dr. Crusher and her affectionate patient
Episode no.	Season 4 Episode 23
Directed by	Marvin V. Rush
Written by	Michel Horvat
Featured music	Jay Chattaway
Production code	197
Original air date	May 11, 1991

I'm such a hopeless romantic!




Oooh! Can you see why this romance author loves this episode? I was so enamored by the love here, but so CRUSHED at the end. I cried. No, I bawled my eyes out and I was only a teenager then!

I was also intrigued by the romance between Will Riker and Deanna Troi. Their little interludes had me coming back for more in hopes that one day . . .

they would end up together.


I'm so glad they married at the very end. 

Finally . . .






What are your favorite scenes?


chart image courtesy of Wikipedia

How to Create Your Own Blog Comment Signature

Have you ever felt a bit down when you clicked on a Blogger's profile picture and it takes you to a page where you there's no link to their blog? Or they have five blogs and you can't figure out which one is their main one?

I feel it's important to leave a way for people to find you on the internet when you blog. It's like giving your phone number to a great friend you don't want to lose touch with!

What I do is leave a signature with my every comment when I visit friends' blogs:




♥.•*¨Elizabeth¨*•.♥
Can Alex save Winter from the darkness that hunts her?
YA Paranormal Romance, Darkspell coming fall of 2011!




I've had several friends ask me how I did mine, so I feel it's high time that I share the love! So I'm going to show you how you create your own signature!* It's quick and painless, I promise!


1. Go to "new post" on your blog.
2. Type in what you want your signature to be:

♥.•*¨ Elizabeth ¨*•.♥

3. Open another tab on your browser and open your site there, cut and paste the URL from the navigator bar onto the highlighted words of your signature:

♥.•*¨ Elizabeth ¨*•.♥

4. Click the "edit html" tab at the upper right corner of your "compose" window of your new post. To begin your blogging adventure with your new signature feature, copy and start pasting this html code after your every comment!

5.  I would save this post as a draft with some future date so far that it will always be at the top of your "edit posts" list for easy access when you go blogging 'round. (You'll always need to open it under the "edit html" to have it appear with the live links!)

By the way, this is so silly but it was so HUGE when I discovered it for myself. You see the little hearts around my ♥.•*¨name¨*•.♥? I cut those from Facebook and pasted them to a "new post" window and they stuck! I'm so happy! Experiment with all the cute symbols you find on FB and see if they'll stick. Certain ones don't.

I would LOVE to see your cute signatures right now in my comment area below. Let's show them off!

Do you have any cool tricks you'd love to share with us?

*Some blogs don't allow html codes and will leave behind all the little symbols.

Are You Afraid?

Let's face it. It is human nature to be competitive. Ever since those diaper-clad days, we wanted everything for ourselves and refused to share. It is natural. It is a learned behavior to be selfless.

As a writer, I've come across many writerly people. As a whole, writers love to share because it's a mutualistic relationship. We learn from what we give and we learn from what we take. Where does our competitiveness come to play?

To some extent,  we want to keep all the glory to ourselves. Why should we mention our marketing strategies that worked fabulously for us? Why should we endorse another author's work if it might be the next bestseller and leave ours behind? Why should we share our little cool gadget thingies that work great for us?

Writers are of a different breed. Being a writer is a lonely kind of thing. We don't meet at a huge building, plugging our laptops in and taking a lunch break at noon in the lunch room. We don't have life insurance we can apply for at HR. We don't carpool together to work so that we can spend 8 hours of nonstop pure blissful writing... (Imagine such a place????) No, we work when we can--between the cracks of life.

I know that I've come SO far because I gave so much of myself and made so many writerly friends. I have not lost one thing by sharing my writerly secrets. There are people out there that refuse to share because it is their hard earned sweat and blood, or maybe because they are narcissistic. 

Writers are human despite of the many faces we wear as we become every MC we write about. 


So, the question is, are you afraid to share your writerly secrets? If you are, why? If not, share away! ;)


Click here for some fun writerly quotes!

Sequel Slushee

Okay, this is a post for all you sequel geniuses out there. Even if you've only written one sequel, I consider you a master, so don't go away!


I've recently sent an email plea to a bloggie friend of mine asking him on sequel-writing. Mind you, I am a 100% bonafide  true blue through and through pantser. Well, this friend of mine has never written a sequel, yet due to popular demand, he's written a sequel! He mentioned to me that parts are easier--which I can see how that happens--and that parts are more difficult, and I believe I've hit that rut!


I've had another friend say that I can pants my sequel like I did the first.


Here's the thing: The infamous 2 word stinker all writers despise has hit me: Writer's block! My muse is sending me conflicting messages. Keep writing what comes to your heart and make this book refreshingly different from the first. The second notion is daunting because I'm not sure just how different to make the book from the first.


I'm big for stand-alone novels and this is my challenge as a writer. I find this confusing because I'm not sure how to create another facet to the romance behind it.



So I have a question for the romance writers: How do you keep the romance interesting between the two MCs into the 2nd book, and 3rd? How would you handle it if the boy already "got the girl" in book one? 


and a general question:
How do you approach writing your sequels?

♥.•*¨ It ain't No Lie--I got SICK¨*•.♥

 Okay, so after one of my bestest friends encouraged me to submit Darkspell's query letter to her publisher, TreasureLine, and after much praying, I went ahead and jumped at the opportunity to go for it.

I had submitted my query thinking; the worst they can say is yes, right? And that yes means a life forever changed! I can be a chicken when it comes to change.

I know the saying goes: The worst they can say is no. So why didn't I think that? Because if they said no, my life would go on as if it never happened.


So this is what happened:

Digging into my Compost

Before I dig into my compost, I'd like to say that I'm happy to be back! Thank you, bloggie palz, for your TLC!

Now for the dirt . . .

I've decided to share the nitty gritty of my experiences* as an author from here on out. Why should I keep it under wraps? I am one to learn from others' mistakes as well as my own, and it's my nature to share what I've learned in hopes that what I've endured and am and yet to, will help someone out as well.

One thing that is blatantly clear is . . .

The worst They can Say is YES!

I haven't said much since TreasureLine picked up Darkspell. Soon after they had, I dove into MC interviews the entire month of June and held Darkspell's Pre-Book Launch July. I've been mulling my blog and into what direction I want to take it.

I'm the kind of friend who loves to share. I don't hide things. I love growing and seeing my friends grow, too. So I've decided to take my blog around a deeper corner. I want to share my every authorly experience with you. No holds barred. If you have questions, please ask away.


I must confess that when TreasureLine asked for my book, I was terrified. I knew that there was no turning back--especially since I had no doubt that this is my calling (I did tons of praying). As I submitted my query letter, this was my mantra: The worst they could say is yes. Crazy, isn't it?


I had no doubt that once someone said yes to Darkspell, my life would change forever. I am a creature of habit. Well, my dearies, once you enter the Twilight Zone, that's it--you gotta love what you do down to the last grain of dirt.


Tell me about your mantra. How does it keep you sane?

♥.•*¨Week Off¨*•.♥

Please vote for Darkspell's page color--thank you! ---->

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I had so much fun the past few months with the MC Interviews and my Pre Book Launch Tour last month. I was going insane at the same time because I was in the midst of edits and typo hunts and Darkspell illustrations (I averaged 4 hours per illustration and there are 39!) as well. 


My kids, to be honest with you, had literally ran the house for me. They cooked and cleaned, but played, too while I holed myself in my writer's cave--located where ever my laptop could go.


I am going to treat us wherever their little hearts desire this week of August 1st. We are going to the movies, the parks, swimming, picnicking, people-tipping and more! I'm going to play as hard as I worked and will take this week off from the internet world.


I will be back the 7th, until then, enjoy your summer and see you soon!

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What I plan to write about when I return:  my authorly experiences, no holds barred.

So you work hard, how do you play hard?