Happy Thursday All, Tuesday I talked about spending time with your favorite heroes and heroines , in keeping with the theme of spending time with favorite novel characters, I thought we'd shake things up and go with villains. Villains come in all shapes and sizes. From not completely evil to downright scary. Some of them have short attention spans, like Idris, in Shanna Swendson's fantasy series (starts with Enchanted, Inc .). Idris is trying shady things with magic that are frowned upon. He'd be a bigger threat if his attention span wasn't so short...which means when people who concentrate longer than 5 minutes join up with him he becomes a formidable foe. I think I could handle meeting Idris...as long as he was by himself. I wouldn't want to be caught in a dark alley facing some of the monsters found in YA author, Tera Lynn Childs' Sweet Venom . Ever get the shivers over the One Ring in J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord Of The Rings ? The people who rally b...

Happy Tuesday All, Before I get into today's post...don't forget...today is Kerrelyn Sparks' release of Wanted: Undead Or Alive and her launch party (which I talked about in yesterday's post ). They're the stars of novels. They're the ones who you wonder "What will happen to them next?" Oftentimes they're the "good guys", although sometimes there's shades of gray. We're talking heroes and heroines! Everything from contemporary genre to paranormal, there are heroes and heroines in pretty much every novel. Some of my favorite heroes were super-heroes, like Spider-Man and Super-Man...yes, Batman is cool, too. Some of the ones from the contemporary genres were unlikely heroes, like Simon in Debbie Macomber's The Perfect Christmas . Prefer a little mystery in your life? Check out Theodosia in Laura Childs' Tea Shop Mysteries . As in real life, sometimes a contemporary genre hero is a lawman, like in Christie Cra...

Happy Monday All, Tomorrow Kerrelyn Sparks' newest vampire romance will hit the shelves...that's right Wanted: Undead Or Alive will finally be available. Kerrelyn is going to be at Katy Budget Books for a launch party from 6 to 8 p.m. (central time) signing books and celebrating Phineas's story's release on Tuesday, March 27, 2012. ABC's Once Upon A Time continues to unfold...this time they gave a nod to Alice In Wonderland . I thought it was a fitting tribute and the plot is definitely thickening! So did everyone have a good weekend? I went out with some friends of mine on Saturday. It was a lot of fun.  Anyway...it's a new week, hope it's a great one! Have A Marvelous Monday!

Happy Friday All, Congratulations goes to Nikki N. for winning the Kerrelyn Sparks giveaway yesterday! Kerrelyn will mail your copy of BE STILL MY VAMPIRE HEART, soon. Today I want to talk about outside-the-business-support/encouragement for writers/authors. A writer can have his or her critique group, but what about outside the business support? Some authors don't have a lot of people outside their critique/writing groups supporting/encouraging them. Some people have a misconception about what writing and publishing actually entails. Some people don't understand the emotions that surround a writer as he/she works on their craft. Writing and publishing are real jobs. It's not always lucrative financially, but it's still a career. It take time, talent, energy, and dedication. There are writers who work 12-14 hours a day writing and editing to get their work in on time to editors, agents, and publishers. There are writers who suffer health issu...

Happy Thursday All, ****GIVEAWAY PORTION OF THIS POST IS NOW CLOSED.  I AM NOT ACCEPTING ANYMORE ENTRIES FOR IT. THANK YOU TO ALL WHO PARTICIPATED AND TO KERRELYN SPARKS FOR DONATING THE PRIZE**** Well everybody, you're in for a rare treat. Not only is it an official blog book review day, but the author is also giving away one of her previously released books to ONE lucky person ( I'll put details on how to enter near the end of the post ... be sure to read them carefully !) Kerrelyn Sparks has done it again! On March 27, 2012 you will be able to own Phineas’ story, Wanted: Undead Or Alive In her usual good-humor fashion, Ms. Sparks immerses us in Phineas’ story…from the son of an abused mother, to desperate-for-cash, to Vamp and the “Love Doctor” we see all the many sides of Phineas. However, those things don’t even define this vampire. Wanting to shuck his careless “Dr. Phang” image, Phineas is in search of something real and lasting. The one-night stands are mean...

Happy Tuesday All, They're everywhere. Movies, TV, books, mythology. Some come out at night, some are around constantly. Some hate sunlight, some don't mind it. Vampires. They've been a part of stories for a long time. From Bram Stoker to Stephenie Myers (and a bunch of authors in between and after Myers). Some people are fascinated by them, some are afraid of them and some don't care either way. But what if you could sit and talk with them? What would you say? What would you ask them? What do you think they'd tell you. So my question to you today is this...if you could spend time with a vampire and ask them anything you wanted, which vampire would you want to talk to and what would you ask? Have A Terrific Tuesday!

Happy Monday All, My husband is a great guy. He's also got a sense of adventure and loves great movie lines with equally great delivery. So it's no surprise to me that he's a big fan of Harrison Ford's depictions of Indiana Jones ( Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom , The Last Crusade , Crystal Skull ) and Han Solo ( Star Wars , The Empire Strikes Back , Return Of The Jedi ). There's many similarities between Indiana Jones and Han Solo. Not just that they were both played by the same actor, but great lines with equal delivery, and sense of adventure. Either one is handy in a jam. Han's got his blaster and Indiana is ready with his whip to to lay the smack down on the bad guys. So, if were going on a dangerous adventure, which character would you want as your traveling companion, Indiana Jones or Han Solo? Have A Monumental Monday!

Happy Friday All, In honor of the fact Saturday (tomorrow) is St. Patrick's Day, I thought I'd post in green colored font. When I was a kid we had a couple of Irish ladies stay with us. It was a lot of fun. There was a few years where we got to ride in the St. Patrick's Day parade with them. It was fun. There's a lot of legends centering around St. Patrick--one of the most popular is that he drove the snakes out of Ireland. Whatever St. Patrick did or did not do, I think for the most part, people agree he was a real person. Of course, tradition has it that it's a day to wear green, and celebrate all things Irish. So, I wish you all a happy St. Patrick's Day and a safe weekend. Have A Fantastical Friday!

Happy Thursday All, Near the end of this month Kerrelyn Sparks will have a new release out and in April C.C. Hunter will, too. Both of these authors write paranormals (Kerrelyn writes Paranormal Romance and C.C. writes YA Paranormal). I got to thinking about all that and decided to get you, my dear readers, involved in a discussion: If you could choose which type of being your significant other was, would you choose werewolf or vampire? In some stories, werewolves can turn into their wolf self anytime they please and in others, only during the full moon. In almost every case they have extra powers of some nature. Sometimes it's just extra strength, sometimes it's other things. Vampires have a myriad of traits, depending on which author you read. In some books they have speed, strength, and hearing. In some stories, vampires never sleep, in other stories they sleep during the day. In some stories any kind of silver hurts vampires, and they burn up in the sun, in others ...

Happy Wednesday All, Okay, I'm late posting this, and I apologize. But, I'm here, now. There's a funny thing about ideas. Sometimes it's so hard to come up with something before hand. When you have to force an idea, it seems like it gets stubborn. You push, you pull, beg, plead, bargain...and nothing happens. Then you sit down and suddenly ideas pop out of nowhere and it's all you can do to keep up. That's the way it is with this blog a lot of the time. People ask me "How do you come up with ideas for your blog?" The truth is, sometimes I don't come up with anything until I start typing. Other times, an idea pops in and I write it down for whatever date I think it will fit. I have a notebook that I started keeping this year. In it I write the day of the week and the date. Then I write down any blogging idea for that day. Some things I already know--for example, official book reviews. I know that later this month I'll be posting one, I...

Happy Monday All, Golly! That is one mid-week through weekend I do not hope to repeat. My family came down with a stomach bug (seemed like some kind of stomach flu) and I don't wish it on anyone. We're doing much better, and I'm  working on getting back to 100 percent feeling like my well self instead of my sick self, but I'm much better than I was. I hope the rest of you have been staying well. Sunday was my weekly watching of Once Upon A Time and the theme was Red Riding Hood , which was pretty interesting in and of itself, but the night before my husband and I had watched the movie of Red Riding Hood that came out awhile back, so it feels like I had a very Red Riding Hood weekend. So in the spirit of that, I thought I'd also mention another retelling, in the form of a YA novel, called Scarlet Moon by  Debbie Viguié  which I have read more than once. It's a great retelling. Very inspiring and creative. In the TV show it played with the id...

Happy Thursday All, I'm not posting much these past couple of days (not sure about Friday, yet), the reason is I caught the illness offspring had. I'm doing better today--slowly improving and hoping to add more food. It's some sort of viral stomach bug and I don't wish it on anyone. It's not fun. Offspring is much better and my husband has won the Husband Of The Year award for his help this past Sunday when Offspring came down with it, and then his help yesterday and today when I came down with it. I'm very blessed and lucky to have a husband with a strong stomach--mine isn't--and he cleans up yucky stuff without batting an eyelash. Other than that I've been taking it easy. Today I'm still sort of weak, but trying to see if I can spend more time out of the bed (back is killing me from being so much in the bed). Yesterday I didn't do much besides sleep, eat a few crackers, drink some fluid, talk to a couple of people on the phone and go to t...

Happy Tuesday All, In the movie, Night At The Museum historical figures, as well as natural ones come alive at night through a magical Ancient Egyptian stone and gold tablet. So, if you had a hold of such magic, what history would you want to see come alive? What questions would you ask? Would you have to know a different language? It also begs the question, what would historical figures think of today's countries and societies? How about technology? If we're talking about ancient civilizations would what we have now scare them or impress them? What do you think? Have A Treat-Filled Tuesday!

Happy Monday All, A busy week gave way to a busy weekend. My family from out-of-town made it safely home, and I approached the weekend a bit overwhelmed. However, other than the fact that Sunday afternoon offspring threw up, it was a nice weekend (prayers for offspring to get better would be wonderful and much appreciated!) Since Offspring was sick Sunday afternoon, I'm not sure how often I will be able to check in during Monday, however, I will do my best. Please be patient--all comments are moderated by me before they are published in the comment section of this blog (for some reason this has solved some of the commenting difficulties people were experiencing when trying to post a comment on here). Now, onto something happier and much more fun...an official blog review! Some of you have seen some of my official blog reviews I've done for Mystery author, Laura Childs , and for those of you who have not, hope you enjoy my review of Agony Of The Leaves ... What’s bette...