Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Wordy Wednesday The Marvelous Margaret Ethridge

The last guest blog of the month comes from the 1st author to ever do a give away with me! Margaret Ethridge! Enjoy!


Who inspires me to write? These ladies:




Meet some of the super-coolest friends an author could hope to have. These ladies have been my cheerleaders, counselors, confidantes and consigliores throughout this adventure. The prologue from the first novel I ever wrote (Contentment) was written as a birthday present for Michelle. Julie has been my critique partner (in crime) from the get-go. Laurie, Kathrin, Kirsteen, and Michele have all been beta readers for me. At one time or another, each and every one of them has acted as my pimp. I wouldn’t have had the courage to try if it weren’t for them. I couldn’t weather the ups and downs of this crazy roller coaster ride without them by my side.
 


Though we call Germany, Australia, Canada and the U.S. home, once a year we all gather together in one little corner of the world for a weekend of love and laughter. My friendship with these ladies has been my best, most enduring long distance love affair.

Shh. Don’t tell my husband.

How about you? Do you have a long distance love (platonic or otherwise)? Want to read about one? Check out my latest release: Long Distance Love




Sometimes the distance between two hearts can be measured in frequent flier miles.

A Christmas Eve snowstorm leaves newly-single Ellie Nichols trapped in an airport terminal with only hunky FBI Agent Jack Rudolph for company.

Lucky Ellie.

For Jack, the passing of a long winter’s night turns into a New Year filled with possibility. State lines and hundreds of miles separate them, but the spark that flares each time they meet cannot be denied.

Can two ambitious, career-driven people find a way to make a long distance relationship work when matters of the heart bring them up-close and personal?

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Wordy Wednesday: The Extraordinary Robyn Bachar

A Personal Note:
This Blog is very well timed Especially since NaNoWriMo kicks off November 1st, but Robyn is going to talk more about that in her post and I will post more about it in a couple weeks! :)

Now, on to the blog!!!

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Thanks for having me here today!


As an author I’ve been fortunate to have the encouragement of my family, my BFF Diana, and my local RWA chapter. I’m extremely grateful for their support, and the support of my readers. I have many stories of how they’ve all influenced my writing, but because November is approaching, today I’d like to talk about how I’ve been inspired by National Novel Writing Month.



I discovered NaNoWriMo in 2006, and that NaNo novel evolved into my first Bad Witch book, Blood, Smoke and Mirrors. Since then I’ve published two more NaNos, Bewitched, Blooded and Bewildered and Poison in the Blood. I’m hoping that this year’s project will become my fourth published NaNo. Fingers crossed! ;)



The rules of NaNoWriMo are simple: you have 30 days to write 50,000 words. NaNoWriMo trained me to write every day in search of hitting a daily word count, and how to suppress my inner editor until the first draft is complete. It’s very easy to give into the demands of my inner editor—she can spend hours obsessing over commas, or despairing over choosing just the right verb to express the action. But if I give her those hours, I’ll never finish the book, and I certainly won’t earn myself an awesome NaNoWriMo “winner!” T-shirt.



There’s something inspiring about going to a write-in and meeting other NaNoers feverishly chasing that 50k word goal. Writing is usually a solitary thing—just you and your keyboard (and possibly a cat or two who wants to sit on your keyboard). During NaNoWriMo, you’re not alone, because there are thousands of other writers struggling to get their words on the page.



So if you’ve got a story you’ve been wanting to write, you’re welcome to join us this November. :)

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Wordy Wednesday: 12 Years

This post is hard for me to write. Every year I wonder how another year has passed and I don't understand why he still isn't here. That's because death is still forever and suicide is permanent.

I still remember when I was seven and I was sitting at my father's house reading his copy of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare and he asked me if I knew what Romeo & Juliet was about and I told him "Daddy, it's about love."

I also remember the first time I gave him something I wrote to read and I started crying when he began to edit it.

So many of my memories of my father revolve around books, reading, and writing. I still have that copy of The Complete Works, and it made me smile when on closer inspection, it said "Property of ____ Library." I guess if you are going to heist a book, this would be the one to be ballsy with.

I'm not a published author like my guest bloggers, I'm just a girl that likes books, and hears voices in her head when she tries to spell "a lot".

"You are in 5th grade!!!! How do you not know this is two words?"

The man that could quote The Raven from memory is probably one of my largest inspirations for my love of books and reading. I am going to be honest though, I would have loved to see his reaction to Twilight. He would have ripped it apart.

I am just rambling now, but I wanted to make sure on this day, even if he still isn't here, I want to make sure people know how much I love him and make sure as many people as possible are exposed to the magic that was Daniel Paul Lute.

I miss you dad and maybe year, it won't be as hard.

 
Daniel P. Lute
May 16 1956-October 16, 2001

Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Wordy Wednesday: The Great Catherine Peace

For this month, 3 of my favorite authors and I are going to talk about who inspired us to write.

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Catherine Peace is one of my best friends, and she has her first book out! You can read my post about it here: Monday Mentionables: This Time Next Year

And now, you can buy it at any of these places:
 
Decadent Publishing
 
Onto the blog:
 
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I’ve been writing for a long time. Over half my life, actually. *I’m 28 and have been writing since I was 8, so there you go.* And I have to say that in all those twenty years, no one has quite touched my life like my high school English teacher.

I know that this post is supposed to be about the people who inspired you to write, but #1, I don’t think the state of Kentucky deserves that much credit (thanks 4th grade portfolio), and #2, Ms. Carroll is probably the reason I’m as good a writer as I am today, which means she’s almost directly responsible for me getting published.

Never in my life had I had a teacher as challenging as she was. Granted, it was my mistake to take her for AP English, after the hell that was freshman English with her, but man, those AP credits look fantastic on transcripts. Our small class of maybe 10 was at her mercy for the semester.

In addition to the mass amounts of reading we had to do, we also got to do tons of essay writing. Any time she assigned one, she’d give us a period of time (usually two days at the most) to come up with our thesis. And every time I presented my thesis to her, she’d suck on her front teeth (and make that tch sound), look at me with a somewhat bored expression on her face, and say, “You can do better than this.”

Keep in mind, I’d spent HOURS wracking my brain to come up with said newly-rejected thesis idea. HOURS. Given the outrageous amount of homework I already had, devoting hours to pounding my brain for one freaking thesis idea was the equivalent of a week of pure thought. And for it to be rejected? To be told I could do better after I’d already done the best I could? There were times I returned to my seat in tears, wondering how on earth I could possibly do better than that.

And then I would.

Again and again, Ms. Carroll and I would perform this cruel dance. I’d put all my thought and effort into a thesis only for it to be rejected. But then one day something magical happened—I started thinking like Ms. Carroll, telling myself I can do better before she had the chance. And the first time I handed over my thesis, with my tail tucked between my legs, and she grinned and nodded and sent me back to my seat? I may as well have won a gold medal.

In all honesty, she gave me the single greatest gift I could ever have gotten—the ability to go deeper, to pull from the depths of my brain, heart, and soul, and put that on paper. She helped me learn to kill my darlings. And in-so-doing, she helped me achieve my dreams.

 
Catherine Peace has been telling stories for as long as she could remember. She often blames two things for her forays into speculative fiction—Syfy (when it was SciFi) channel Sundays with her dad and The Island of Dr. Moreau by HG Wells. She graduated in 2008 from Northern Kentucky University with a degree in English and is still chasing the dream of being super rich and famous, mostly so she can sit around in her PJs all day and write stories. When not being a slave to the people in her head, she’s a slave to two adorable dogs. Facebook
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Blog: Going from Nobody to Somebody
Blog: The Pen Punks
Reviewer for Indie Books R Us

Monday, October 7, 2013

Makeup Monday: Fake Awake Kit by Pixi!

Hey everyone! I am sure you are wondering where I have been. Life just got in the way :-(.

But never fear! I am back with my horrible camera and lighting and I am bringing you Makeup on Monday, Wordy Wednesday, and Get Fit Friday (Don't even ask how that is going!)

I hope you are here for the ride and like what I have to offer. Enjoy this week's Video!

Details:

Pixi Beauty's Fake Awake Kit $28 at Target