Christmas 2013...A Success! Also Writing Updates...

Happy Monday All,

I hope everyone had a wonderful and very Merry Christmas! We sure did.

Christmas Eve we attended church and then came back and relaxed a while before friends of ours came over for a brief visit. 

On Christmas Day, we slept in, (yes, Offspring does sleep in from time to time--which is lovely, especially when didn't have to get up

early!) We got up, Offspring and I ate breakfast, then we opened gifts (Husband opted to wait until after gifts to eat breakfast because he was going to have oatmeal and he said that took him a while to eat, and Offspring was going crazy wanting to open gifts LOL).

We spent the rest of the day just relaxing. Offspring and husband played in the backyard--I went out there for a while. I spent most of the day reading one of my new books, Katie McGarry's Crash Into You (She writes contemporary/romantic YA novels. I've enjoyed everything she's published so far).

Husband had to work the next day. I was supposed to be writing, but last week was a bust--I was pretty distracted (gee, I wonder why! New presents, and brain not focusing). I finished another book I got for Christmas last week--Jessica Day George's Princess Of The Silver Woods (I've read her other princess novels in that series and I really enjoyed it).

I got a bunch of new novels on one of my E-readers (we now how two) using a gift card I got from one of my friends. I read one of the short stories I got--Lisa Scott's Say My Name, which is a play on the Rumpelstiltskin story. 

Now I'm needing to read Rick Riordan's House Of Hades, then get moving on some of the other books I got on my E-reader until the

next round of library books come through here. (Yes, I both buy books and get books from the library--some books I own are books I first read from the library and liked so much I wanted my own copy). 

I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of all the awesome gifts I got, but I'll go ahead and list them:

1.  Several new books (as I said, gift card from one of my best friends).
2.  A blender from Husband and Offspring (to make smoothies)
3.  A board game called Damn You Autocorrect from one of my other best friends. I laughed when I saw the title. Looks like fun!
4.  Two pretty t-shirts from my parents
5.  Lounge socks, slippers, lip gloss, and a sample of lotion from my "lil sis" 
6.  10 Things I Hate About You anniversary edition DVD from one of my sisters (a sibling of mine has a program that takes me and my siblings, and our spouses' names and pairs us up with someone for Christmas)
7.  Perhaps Love Jonathan & Charlotte album from one of my sisters
8.  Kindle Fire for my family from my parents

I'm pretty happy with what I got. I really like that movie, 10 Things I Hate About You...husband and I both like it, actually. I'm looking forward to seeing the special features on it, too. It's also a movie my deceased friend, Sarah and I enjoyed.

Writing news?  I do actually have some. I may not have worked as hard last week on the writing as I intended, but I have made progress on TWO novels I'm working on:

*Book 2 of the Third Realm novels (Loralyn from All's Fair In Love & Lion story) has a few pages written (I still need to do a lot more work on that one).

*Book 2 of my New Adult (NA) Paranormal Romance has made some progress (and has some plot points for me to use for the rest of the novel--yay!)

I don't know when I'll have these two novels, done, but I'm glad they're moving forward.  There's been a few people who have asked about a book coming after All's Fair In Love & Lion--be patient, I do have plans for at least one. Right now, the New Adult series has taken a lot of my attention. When I have more news on that and other novels I'm working on, I'll let you know. :-)

So...

How was your Christmas? Do you have a favorite gift? If so, what is it?

If I don't get to posting before January 1st, Happy & Blessed New Year to you and yours.

Have A Marvelously Magical Day!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas...

Happy Monday All,

Hey everybody! I hope everyone is having a wonderful Advent. During this second week of preparations for Christmas, I'm looking at my shopping list going "Aaahhh, what do I do for so-and-so?" But I have a few ideas, so I don't have to completely freak out. At least, not yet. I hope.

Last week gave me a horrible surprise. I had an awful sinus infection. I'm doing much better, thank goodness, but I don't recommend getting one. It's not fun. 

The first book in the Immortal Dreams series has been sent to my editor. Already need to change the title (apparently someone else in the publisher's community has the same title of Dream Weaver, so now I'm working on that). I'll let you know what I come up with. (Please NO suggestions. I've got some people already working on it, and too many suggestions make it hard for me to make a decision--I do appreciate your desire to help, but this is something I gotta do on my own).  Hopefully editor likes the story. I really had a blast writing it. I'm working on book 2, which is coming slowly (unfortunately).

The post about my favorite Christmassy things is up, and Anna Kathryn Lanier is running a giveaway (there's still time to enter) details are found on the post. Click here to see what I said.

I've got several other novel ideas that are going (can't talk about them right now). 

In any case, it's a busy time of year for everyone, but I hope you take some time to stop and enjoy the season. Yes, it can be hectic, but don't forget to have some joy, too.

What are you doing for Christmas this year?

Have A Marvelously Merry Monday!

Christmas Gets Extended & Boxes Of Awesomeness

Happy Monday/Tuesday All,

Given that I'm writing this after 8pm on Monday night, I figure this post will serve as Monday & Tuesday's posts.

I have received a Box Of Awesomeness. Actually 2. The first one is in the form of my younger brother's Christmas present to me, that somehow got detained on its travels from its starting location to my parents' house. You see, originally brother was going to be at parents' house to receive said package. However, given it was detained, he was back at his house (many miles away from parents' location) when it arrived. So my parents, being the Box Of Awesomeness they are, kept it for me. I was able to pick it up on Sunday.

My younger brother hit it out of the park in his selection of Christmas present!

I received the following THREE books:

Opal by Jennifer L. Armentrout (book 4 in the Lux series--really good series)

Much Ado About Magic by Shanna Swendson (book 5 in the Enchanted Inc. series--fantastic series!)

Starling by Lesley Livingston (Book 1 in the Starling series, featuring Fennrys Wolf, a character from her Wondrous Strange trilogy, a series I absolutely loved).

The other Box Of Awesomeness I received came today. It was my new business cards, which now include my Twitter name (@WriteByBethany). Yay! So I finally have those. :-)

Out of my Christmas presents (both from brother and a friend) I have finished 2 books and started another.

A friend of mine gave me The Christmas Candle by Max Lucado. It's a pretty good story. Fast read, with a nice message about believing in miracles. Ooops! In the original text of this post I got my authors mixed up! Mitch Albom wrote Tuesdays With Morrie. I'm very sorry about that. Thank you, Kathy, for reminding me. I should've remembered that. I'm so embarrassed.
However, one of the other things Max Lucado is known for (and I've double-checked this on his website so I wouldn't be getting mixed up again) are the Hermie stories (popular Inspirational fiction for Children). 

The other one I finished was Much Ado About Magic by Shanna Swendson. It was glorious to finally find out about Owen and now I'm very excited about book 6, No Quest For The Wicked, which is already out. Folks, if haven't read this series, you're missing out. Great fantasy fun, with a contemporary feel. There's suspense, action, dragons, magic, romance, New York, it's got all kinds of fun (kissing frogs to find a "prince") I absolutely love this series.

I started Opal by Jennifer L. Armentrout. I haven't gotten real far, but that will change quickly. I've been very much looking forward to reading this book, so I'm glad it's finally here!

There's a lot of excitement in the air over upcoming books (particularly on Twitter). I'm pleased to be able to share some of this with you:  I found out that Shauna Allen has a release date for her Inked By An Angel, (Ooo! So excited about this book) which is January 30, 2013! Two other books in this series are under contract, and I believe the next one comes out later this year. This is a contemporary Romance. I've read about the first 5 pages awhile back and I can't wait to read the rest. Her cover art is awesome, too.

Anyway, what have you been reading lately?

Have A Marvelous Monday Evening and a Totally Terrific Tuesday!

The NWHRWA Makes Merry

Happy Monday Everybody,

It's December, if you can believe it! I hope everyone had a great weekend.

On Saturday I Christmas partied with my NWHRWA Chapter mates.

Whomever did the decorations knows how to make things bright, merry, and cheerful.



Look behind the love gift bag, you'll see the very top
of the present I got to keep.

 We have a gift game that we do--the "white elephant" one. We didn't have too many joke presents...although someone did find a cookbook that was the source of much merriment. I ended up with a chalkboard type thing that says "The Writing On The Wall" and a box of chalk--it's really cool. I'm going to get husband to put it up on the wall...great place to jot down ideas real quick.



from L to R:  me, Christie Craig, William Simon

 My chapter mates are extremely talented, encouraging, and wonderful people, and I count myself lucky and blessed to be among them. The two chapter mates / published writers in the picture with me, William Simon, and Christie Craig, have been so wonderful and encouraging in my journey. William was the NWHRWA president when I joined and he took me "under his wing" so to speak and made me feel very welcome. Christie has encouraged me to believe in myself and to keep going. She gave me advice on my pitches. She calls me her "book pimp" and I proudly wear the title--her books are full of comedy and romance. William's Thrillers are fascinating.

As always it was full of fun and laughter! We had a blast.

Have A Merry Monday!

Kick-Your-Butt Allergies, Or, How To Imitate Sneezy

Happy Thursday All,

Is it really Thursday already? Gosh, time flies when you're sick. Or slows down, depending on who you are. That's right. I've been sick. Allergies laid me up in bed with my computer and Christmas gifts in the form of DVDs of Seasons 5, 6, and 7 (final) of Sabrina The Teenage Witch. Good news--I got through all the episodes (I just have to watch the TV movie special feature on the last disc of the final season). The bad news? Didn't get a lot done in the way of writing, reading, or pretty much anything else.

For the most part I've finally quit imitating Sneezy the Dwarf (from Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs) and I found that turning off the heat during the day has kept some of the problems from flaring. Namely, my eye finally stopped tearing and my nose quit running and I started feeling a little better. I've got some medicine and a nasal spray and I'm doing better than I was, but I'll tell you what...I hate allergies. Fortunately I've got ways of getting steam if I need to open up my sinuses, and a Vaporizer that runs at night (complete with a little green light on top--how nifty is that? Oh jeez, you can tell I've been sick, I'm thinking lights on vaporizers are cool. I really do need to get back to writing and reading and getting out of the house!)

Good news, however, (and yes there is definitely some) is that being MIA (or rather, sick with kick-your-butt allergies) gave me a chance to contemplate ideas for blog posts. I have an idea for one week, probably starting some time in January. I've also been thinking about authors to ask for interviews, and eyeing my stack of books I got for Christmas. Apparently I started a YA theme with my wish list.

I received:

Once Every Never by Lesley Livingston (if you haven't checked out her Wondrous Strange series, get yourself over to it. It's YA Fantasy/action/romance that is so fantastically written, it's just plain gorgeous).

Sweet Venom by Tera Lynn Childs (I LOVE this woman's "Oh. my. gods." series dealing with Greek gods/goddesses and her mermaid series that starts with Forgive My Fins).

Vanish by Sophie Jordan (book 2 of her Firelight series--awesome book dealing with people who can turn into dragons--how dang cool is that?)

Plus I started reading a book (before Christmas) on my e-reader called Jessica's Guide To Dating On The Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey (I love that last name...sounds almost like "fantastic" --great last name for an author!) Anyway, it's pretty good so far, I haven't gotten real far into it, but vampire lovers, you might enjoy it--Romanian Vampires of royal blood.

We're so close to 100 official followers (those who are listed as followers in the right hand margin of this blog) I can almost "taste" it. When I hit 25 followers I did a big giveaway. Get me to 100 official followers listed and I'll look at doing another big giveaway in 2012. So tell your friends, fellow readers, blog followers, Tweeps, and anyone you know who reads/likes books (no, your dog/cat/fish/ferret/bird/lizard/monkey/lion/jackal/tiger/bear/hyena/ whatever pet unfortunately doesn't count...in my experience, they aren't exactly readers and they don't usually know how to post comments...of course, they probably could be trained...but still, I think we'll stick to the human species at this point for blog followers--makes it a little simpler).

What fun thing has been happening to you this week? (And am I alone in the allergy/cold department?)

Have A Terrific Thursday!