Happy Thursday Folks, Well, Easter's coming fast (are Lent and Holy Week already almost over.? Wow, time flies). I probably won't post a blog for Friday since it's Good Friday and I observe the day. But, don't worry, I plan to be back. Now onto this week's updates: Fellow blogger, author and friend, Marsha , gave me a new award--the Blogger Buddie Award. Very nice and thank you very much, Marsha! :-) (You can see this new award in the margin on your right). I'm still working on this new story idea. Right now trying to formulate the beginning. It's slow going, but I'm sure eventually everything will "click" into place. Oh and we have a huge amounts of contests happening: Fellow blogger and author, J.J. has reported on some contests happening . Fellow blogger and author, Shannon O'Donnell also is reporting on a contest (arrow down to her March 29, 2010 post). Fellow blogger and author, Bane reported on this contest happening (looks like a pre...

Happy Wednesday Everybody, Hope all is well with you. I'm doing okay. I just finished today a mystery that I was reading. As mentioned in a previous post , I read Laura Childs ' The Teaberry Strangler, number 11 in her Tea Shop Mysteries series . So as not to spoil the fun for those who follow (or might follow her books), I won't give out too much information, but I will say Theodosia Browning, owner of the Indigo Tea Shop, amateur investigator extraordinaire strikes again! Not only does she see a murder in progress this time, but come to find out the house she wants to buy undergoes an archaeological dig, thus setting her back on the progress of buying said house. We are whisked back to the historical parts of Charleston with Theodosia's friends and employees, Haley (amazing chef), Drayton (expert tea blender) and the usual suspects of people that have neighboring shops to her, in particular, Delaine Dish (of the Cotton Duck--clothing store). Amid the aroma of t...

Happy Tuesday One And All, The other day an idea for a story was "tickling" and "itching" at my brain. I kept thinking about different things to do with the idea, but nothing was "fleshing out". Finally, at night, I sat down in front of the keyboard and thought, "That's it, I have to flesh this idea out or else it's gonna make me crazy." I built up character names and some background information and began work on plot line ideas. I left enough holes for "wiggle room" and began writing. I'll probably chuck what I wrote (2 pages). I might even change one of the names, but at least I got started. What is it about inspiration and when it hits that you feel like you're twisted up in knots until the whole thing comes together? And if you don't get it down on paper, sometimes you lose that spark of inspiration, or an idea. So...flesh out the ideas, make yourself work it out. The rest of the details will come later, but wit...

Happy Monday Folks, Over the weekend (and maybe slightly before the weekend) I reminded myself as to why I like Lynn Kurland's de Piaget and MacLeod families. I read When I Fall In Love (by Lynn Kurland) and it was really good. I wish I had read it when it first came out, but I didn't. I should've because this book really did turn out great. The book centers around Nicholas de Piaget (1229) and Jennifer MacLeod McKinnon (present day). Yes, it's a time travel one (which hers are awesome). Nicholas is trying to fix the roof of one of his castles (he's very wealthy) and happens upon a woman who found a time gate (that would be Jennifer). I won't say much else because it's part of a series of books (and I don't want to ruin the story for anyone who might decide to dive into her series--which I definitely recommend). Like I said, I reminded myself why I love the books she writes of those 2 families. You can get the reading order here for Lynn Kurland...

Howdy All, It's Friday! Yay :-) My husband isn't working this weekend, so I'm happy :-) So anyway...what are you reading currently? I've got 2 books I'm reading: 1. Laura Childs' The Teaberry Strangler : Number 11 in the Tea Shop Mysteries series and 2. Lynn Kurland's When I Fall In Love : One of her De Piaget/MacLeod family novels (I think this one might have time travel in it...cool!) What about you? What are you reading? Have A Fantastic Friday!

Hey Everyone, Well...here's what's going on around me... I'm still working on the first pass of edits on Surreal . Normally I do a chapter per day, but I decided to break up one of the chapters, so it'll take me 2 days for that one. I'm having to add some action and up some of the tension, which isn't a bad thing (plus it's more true to the villain anyway). I'm reading Laura Childs new Tea Shop Mystery novel, The Teaberry Strangler . It's pretty good so far. I'll give more of a report when I'm done. (It's number 11 in the series). I got my DVD copy of Twilight Saga: New Moon . I really like the 6 part featurette on it about how the filming came together. It was very interesting. Parts of the commentary were funny, but I really liked the Featurette best. No, I don't have Blu -Ray, so I didn't get that, nor did I get the 3 disc set, I got the 2 disc one from Barnes And Noble online . For those interested in Atlantis and parano...

Happy Wednesday Folks, So...okay..like I said, I have a goofy sense of humor, and I thought a fun post just for the sake of laughter. I'm asking your opinion this time on some "just for fun" questions: What happens when a writer has too much coffee? Do their characters end up dancing some weird Twister / Funky Chicken / Hokey Pokey dance because the author's so hyper they can't make sense? Is there such a thing as too much chocolate? (I think so...I've eaten things where I just felt it was too much...but this is your chance to voice your opinion). Would sleep deprivation be called a requirement for a writer? Are weird ideas just weird ideas or jumping off points for a good story? What do you think? Have A Wondering Wednesday!

Hi Everybody, The other day I finished reading Kerrelyn Sparks' new book to her Love At Stakes series , The Vampire And The Virgin . Once again, another good one. For those unfamiliar with her series, the first one is How To Marry A Millionaire Vampire . She sprinkles her books with suspense, romance, humor, witty characters and dialogue. I happen to like her character, Gregori --he makes me laugh. (Although, I noticed Gregori doesn't really make an appearance in The Vampire And The Virgin , but that's okay, it was still good!) I don't want to give too much away, especially for those who have not read the series, but if you like Greek things, there's some Greek things in this book :-) The nice thing is, her books have action and humor, too, so there's a whole round of "What's going to happen next?" intertwined with the romance and the heat. Plus, there's some dialogue that just makes me laugh out loud and if a book can make me laugh out loud...

Happy Monday and Welcome To A New Week... So you know it's occurred to me. Writing is one of the few places both men and women get to experience pregnancy , labor and delivery (not to mention being a parent). Here's how I figure this: Pregnancy : You get this great idea...I mean truly fabulous. You're all excited and nervous too. Maybe a little "morning sickness" as you review that first draft, but seriously, it's all beginning to start to come together. Little by little the pages pile up...and you begin to "show" through the progress you've made. (Maybe even to others). Labor: This happens as you go through draft after draft, fight writers' block, get new ideas, cross out old ones, and begin "polishing" up your manuscript (also known as editing). It can be rewarding and painful at the same time. The process might even take awhile. (You might even do a little screaming if things aren't quite working out, however, I recommend ...

Happy Friday Folks, I figured since we've had some rough things happening around lately (my uncle's death, Bane's grandfather's death--for which, Bane, I'm truly sorry about the loss of your Grandfather. People being sick, that kind of thing) that we all needed a laugh. So, I thought today would be a day to post some jokes. This one my junior year of high school History teacher told us: "A mushroom walks into a bar and the bartender says 'We don't serve your kind here.' The mushroom says, 'Why not? I'm a fungi.'" "Knock Knock" "Who's there?" "Boo!" "Boo who?" "Don't cry!" My Dad told me this one: "Jesus, Moses, and Peter were out golfing one day. Moses went up first and hit his into the water trap. He goes out, parts the water, gets his ball back and redoes the shot. Peter's up next. He hits the ball, it lands in the water trap, he pulls out his net and brings it bac...

Howdy On A Thursday, Just got my copy of Laura Childs book, The Teaberry Strangler . I haven't gotten very far into it, yet, but don't worry, I will. I own and have read all the others in the Tea Shop Mysteries and Laura knows I'm a loyal fan of hers :-) I'd like to have more interviews for y'all to get an "inside" look into the talented heads of those out there, but for now, the only other interview planned isn't until May. So...I've got a couple of ideas of a couple of authors to email to ask if they'd be willing to take pity on me and appear for an impromptu interview on my blog. You will get to see the progress on the "Manne-Vamp" story Ryan and I are working on together. Ryan's got some more details I'm sure he'll share sometime in the near future and in return I'll share them with you. I worked on some edits for Surreal on Wednesday afternoon and plan to do some more. For all you "Twilighters" the nex...

Happy Wednesday (St. Patrick's Day) Folks, Hope y'all are wearing green today! Well...I am on a parody trend again. I took the idea I had for manne -vamps and approached fellow author (and follower of this blog), Ryan, with the idea of us writing a parody featuring manne -vamps together. Ryan graciously agreed, and since then we've had some brain storming sessions. In an effort to involve my awesome readers, we decided we'd share our ideas as the story evolves with you. So here's part 1 of the road to the manne -vamp parody being written: The story will focus on 2 vampires (one male one female) who had the misfortune to be cursed by a warlock and transformed into mannequins that come alive every Tuesday. Here are the characters' backgrounds: Cristoph St. Louis (pronounced the French way, "Lou- ee "): Male vampire. Tall, dark, semi-handsome, and a complete klutz. He looks to be in his thirties, although he's over a hundred years old (exact age un...

Happy Tuesday Folks, Thank you to everyone who expressed condolences and sympathy regarding my uncle's death. I truly appreciate all the kind words and support. Thank you everyone for the fabulous comments regarding the interview with Elizabeth Pina . It was great the way everyone supported her. I was hoping I was asking good questions to help folks and glad to know that through her answers both myself and Elizabeth were able to do you all a helpful service :-) In visiting with my brother and his fiancee recently we got to talking about writing and their own kind of writing. They're music composers (and musicians ). She's working on her Doctorate and my brother is finishing up his Masters before he starts his Doctorate. My brother was explaining his Thesis music composition to me and half the terms went over my head. That's got me thinking about how in the writing world we have our own terms that others might not understand (I had someone outside the writing business as...

Happy Monday Everybody, Before I get to the interview with Elizabeth Pina , I ask your further thoughts and prayers. My uncle died over the weekend. Thank you. Now, onto the interview... Introducing Elizabeth Pina , author of Learning To Let Go and an awesome person to boot. I met her at the Todd Stone Conference, and she's a member of the local RWA chapter I'm a member of and we have a lot of fun talking and laughing and hanging out at the meetings. Anyway, so I emailed her some questions about her book and the craft and she was kind enough to write back with her answers and you all get to see what I asked and she said: Elizabeth: Hi Bethany and thanks so much for inviting me to stop by. 1. What triggered you writing Learning To Let Go? Was it a personal situation or just one of those flashes of inspiration? Elizabeth: It must have been a flash! I’d had the idea of someone with problems being inspired by music coming from a church for a long time, b...

Happy Friday Folks, In my writers' group we always stand up, introduce ourselves and talk about the things we're working on. This past meeting I sat there thinking about how this sounds like some sort of addicts meeting. So, of course, being me, I stood up and said "Wow, this sure feels like some sort of AA meeting or something." That got a laugh. Some of the people actually did stand up say their name and say "And I'm a writer." So it makes me wonder...for those outside of the book publishing industry and those who aren't writers or agents or any of that, what do we all look like? A bunch of addicts? Maybe people who had a few too many cups of coffee? Regardless, I don't think, even if I could quit writing that I would. I'm happily addicted to my craft and I plan to stay that way. In fact, I'd venture to bet the majority of us feel the same...either that or our characters refuse to leave us alone. (Others would it's our voices in ou...

Hey Everyone, All right...first off...correction to yesterday's post (entitled "Shorts") Kerrelyn Sparks' new book, The Vampire And The Virgin has already been released. Also, Laura Childs' mystery novel, The Teaberry Strangler has also already been released. Both books are available at a variety of locations online (and probably at local stores near you) including Barnes & Noble, Target, online at Amazon and probably available at Borders, as well. Both very good authors. For all you Twilight fans out there...there's discounts available at several places (including Borders, Barnes & Noble and Amazon) for pre-ordering the DVD/Blu-Ray of The Twilight Saga: New Moon which is set to be released on March 20, 2010. Okay, now for today's topic. I believe somewhere writers are fashion conscience, but since I happen to not have the money nor particularly follow fashion very closely, I'd say that for myself (and probably for some other authors out ...

Happy Wednesday Folks, Today is a series of "shorts" meaning short updates about different things. I've emailed Elizabeth Pina the interview questions and when she replies with her answers I'll pick a day to put them up here. I just finished reading Robin Palmer's YA novel, Geek Charming . It was a cute and fun retelling of The Frog Prince . She has some other novels out...her first one in this set being Cindy Ella . She also has a mid-grade book coming out. REMINDER : The NWHRWA is having its annual Lone Star Contest. Be sure to click here to get details and information on the rules of entering. There's a price cut for early entries which ends in May. If anyone hears about any other contests be sure to let me know so I can put them up on my blog. Drum roll please... Two authors I really like have new novels coming out: Mystery writer, Laura Childs has another one of her Tea Shop Mysteries coming out this month. The book is called The Teaberry Strangler ,...

Happy Tuesday Everyone, Well, yesterday I finished Elizabeth Pina's Learning To Let Go. Genre: Inspirational (Christian Romance) Number of Pages: About 216. Publisher: White Rose Publishing Elizabeth has a very nice balance with Christianity and the character's every day life. The characters are those I could see myself coming across (even see a bit of myself in the female main character, Emma). There is a kind of conversion story in there, but it's a gentle sliding into deeper faith. The story is not any specific Christian Denomination and doesn't get into too much doctrine, so, there's a sense that any denomination could read it and see something of their own faith in there. I ended up really liking the main characters, Keith and Emma and believing in their personalities and story. The romance was sweet and made this hopeless romantic go "Oh, that's sweet!" (well, at least in my head). There was also a couple of funny lines in the dialogue (which, f...

Hello Everybody, Well, it's another Monday, and I have plenty to report: Elizabeth Pina's book, Learning To Let Go is now in print (not just in E-book, but actual print) for your reading pleasure. It's an Inspirational (Christian) Romance. So far it's very nice. I'm in the middle of chapter 3. It's a little over 200 pages. You can look it up here on Amazon . She's in the chapter of the RWA I'm a member of. She's a real sweetheart and a lot of fun to talk to. Elizabeth said yes to doing a blog interview with me, so hopefully that will be able to get going soon. I want to finish reading her book first. (Don't worry, I'm a pretty fast reader). You can find Elizabeth on her website and on this blog site. In other really cool news, I'm hoping to get with fellow author, Christie Craig to have her either do an interview or a guest blog post on here at some point. I have to email her and work out the details. She's written such things as...

Happy Friday Everybody, Not everyone is married, but a lot of us do have significant others (mine happens to be my husband). Sometimes these people in our lives (spouses, children, other people otherwise connected to us) don't always understand this world we call being an author. Occasionally, people don't understand the time, energy, and everything else that goes into writing. Somehow, in the age of technology we have not bypassed writer's block, or editing. At the same time, technology that would take out writer's block or editing might even take away some of the creative process that also helps hone our ability to establish the worlds in our stories in the first place. How do we explain that it's our other vocation and sometimes unpredictable or go beyond usual work hours? It's like breathing air. We do it sometimes without thinking. For instance...you might wander around the mall with the thought, "Okay, now I need to get socks and oh shoot, my jeans a...

Happy Thursday Everybody, Let's face it, when you're an author you need patience. For example: Patience with yourself. Your inspiration. And, patience with the process. Sometimes patience means not calling up an agent (or editor/publisher) to find out if they did, in fact, get your query instead of just letting them answer you in the time that they will. Sometimes it means not ripping yourself apart when the ideas aren't flowing as well as they would at other times. Sometimes it means going through the writing, the editing, the querying process without jumping ahead of yourself. Some people decide to self publish or print on demand. For a select few this works out. However, everything I've read about publishing, generally recommends doing things the conventional way. Ultimately, though, it's up to the writer to decide what direction he or she will go: self publishing or the usual way. Have A Terrific Thursday!

Happy Wednesday All, Side note here...my uncle is gravely ill...if you pray, please pray for him. Thank you. So, what's everyone working on these days? I have ideas bouncing around in my head, but nothing "solidifying" so far. I'm still working on edits (that's on-going). I'm reading a book called Real Vampires Have Curves by Gerry Bartlett. Parts of it are very funny. I'm getting blood work done this Friday (nothing real serious, just checking up on some things). Then I'm picking up my son's God-sister from my high school alma mater, and later that evening my husband and I are going out while my son's God-sister baby-sits (her mom, my son's Godmother is gonna come baby sit, too). So, what's new with you? Have A Wonderful Wednesday!

Happy Tuesday Folks, Those of us who have been through the wedding planning process know how weird things can get. The dreams, the anxiety. Do these things ever make into novels? I suppose even Paranormal has it's paranormal limits. I mean I had a dream that the sleeve of my wedding dress was torn a few months before my wedding. That was a bit creepy. And why I was wearing my wedding dress just to walk around the house in my dream still escapes my comprehension. Not to mention the fact that a friend of mine had a dream that her dress was like pink with purple polka dots or vice versa . She was not happy...but she was relieved that it was just a dream and not real. Although, I suggested maybe that would've been funny...she wasn't amused. Go figure...I found out later when I was a bride (11 months later) why those kinds of things are not amusing to brides. So...I wonder...has anyone put those wedding dreams into a story? Because so far, in all the books I've read I'v...

Howdy Everyone, Well, it's March. Kinda feels like it took awhile, but it also feels like it came fast. We're already 3 months into the new year, can you believe it? Anyway, I hope everyone has a nice March :-) Have A Marvelous Monday!