Happy Thursday All, Wow! I know I've been very silent lately. We've been battling infections--we thought they were allergies but turned into infections. I've been on an antibiotic for about 2-3 days now and offspring is going on an antibiotic and husband is trying to keep sore throat from needing to go to the doctor. Life is far from boring. NEW THING-- I am on Twitter now. Yep, I finally decided to just go ahead. I'm still trying to find my way...but you can find me on there @WriteBethanyBethany --profile has a pretty purple background (very fantasy looking, kinda romantic, so I thought it worked. Don't have a background of my own to load up at this point).  The Twitter Feed can be found in the right hand margin of my blog. I'm prepping for the Lone Star Conference --yes it's right around the corner--October 15, 2011--but there is still time to sign up to go! Beadmore Designs and authors Tess St. John  (Adult Romantic Suspense, Historical and Mystery...

Happy Friday Everyone, Also, Happy September--yay, Fall is on its way! Not only am I late posting this during the day, but I'm also behind on blog posts. I've been working hard on edits and a bunch of things going on in my life, so I had to put blog updates on hold. I don't know what next week will bring in the way of blog posts, but I'll try to post more. I'm not the only busy one around here. While I'm hiding under the editing rock, the world keeps spinning around me (which is a good thing!) So, I'm going to tell you to what's going on in the order I heard/found out about it: In October I'll be posting another official book review. This is one where the author has asked me to do this. I've started the book in question and I'll be setting a date, soon. Adult Romance author, Robin Badillo's Whiskey Road is now available on Amazon Kindle . My book review of Christie Craig's new release (adult Romance), Don't Mess With ...

Happy Wednesday Everybody, Lucky me, I get to go to the dentist! Actually dentists don't bother me too much, just not my favorite pastime. Lately I have a lot on my mind (edits, reading for a book review, the Lone Star Conference and some family things) so it's harder to come up with a blog post than usual. I hope y'all will forgive me and bear with me. Life is a little crazy right now and hopefully it'll calm down soon. What's going on in your life? Have A Wonderful Wednesday!

Happy Monday All, So...did y'all notice the new addition on the top of the margin on the right hand side? Yes...it's that time again... registration time for the Lone Star Conference ! The Northwest Houston Romance Writers of America is inviting writings near and far to come join us for fun, pitching appointments, a keynote speaker ( Alexandra Sokoloff ), and a great group of writers who are waiting to welcome you to the Lone Star State. Whether you write Romance or something else, I urge you to think about coming down. I attended the last 2 Lone Star Conferences and it was and awesome experience both times. I plan (God willing) to be at the conference for a third year. To me, it's a great way to celebrate my birthday!  (Yep, you read that right. The Lone Star Conference falls on my birthday this year...October 15th). Anyway...I hope writers all over will come and visit the Lone Star State and hang out with us NWHRWA members. We'd love to have you. What ...

Happy Wednesday All, All right, before I get on topic, I got a quick question (and of course the question at the end of the post, too):  anyone keeping up with the show Castle on CBS? I used to, then I got interested in other things on TV. So now I don't know what's going on with Castle . Now that I got that out of the way... Okay, maybe I'm just being a little ahead of myself, but I'm already gearing up for the NWHRWA's annual Lone Star Conference  (October 15, 2011). Three agents, and an editor are coming, not to mention the keynote speaker sounds very interesting. I am hoping to finish my edits for Surreal so I can pitch. I have a draft of a pitch written up to help me get started, but I'll have to go over it. You do not, and I repeat, you do not have to write romance to come to our conference. I had a rhyming sales pitch for the Lone Star Conference written up here, but it got out of hand and very cheesy, so I deleted it...you understand. Ahhhh! I ...

Happy Monday Folks, I'm posting this way later in the day than I normally would, but there's several things going on in my life right now (not bad, just several things) so if I miss a day posting (or post later in the day), that's why. The NWHRWA's Annual Lone Star Conference is still accepting early entries--early bird discount won't last much longer (early bird discount ends on May 25, 2011 at midnight). Oh and writers/authors--the NWHRWA Lone Star Conference is in October ! Have A Merry Monday!

Happy Monday All, Hope everyone had a great weekend. I did...it was incredibly busy, which would account for the fact that I'm not yet mentally fully awake (the right amount of coffee will remedy that). On Saturday, the NWHRWA hosted Alicia Rasley , who gave a wonderful all-day workshop on how to improve and vamp up your writing (it's no wonder she's so popular!) She was interesting, funny, fun and very informative. A bunch of us (myself included) have been raving about her ever since. (If you click on her name it'll take you to her website. She has a lot of information on her website, as well). But an all-day workshop means I was wiped out. Sunday I was still tired, but it was library day, which means I got to go see Valerie and Anthony (two librarians I've gotten to know, whom are both awesome). It was great to see them again and to chitchat. Sunday I got together with a few members from NWHRWA to sit and talk about pitching in conjunction with the fab...

Happy Monday Everybody! I hope you all had a good weekend :-) I had a great weekend. Friday night was the Meet & Greet for those attending the NWHRWA's Lone Star Conference . ( Click to go to the NWHRWA's Website ) In this relaxed atmosphere, I got to first meet Naomi Hackenberg of Elaine P. English PLLC . Naomi was very personable, and really nice. I also got acquainted with one of the Finalists of the Lone Star Contest for the YA Category--which I had been the category chair. It was a delight to meet her and soak up her enthusiasm. Keynote Speaker, Randy Ingermanson , was also at the Meet & Greet, so I got an opportunity to say hello to him. He also seemed very nice and has a good sense of humor :-) Christine Whitthohn was also in attendance. She also seemed very nice. I sat in with a small group and listened to her talk about the business during the Conference and she gave a wonderful talk during lunch. The Conference was incredible. We had door p...

Happy Friday Everyone, I believe Little Lesley Gore (my Dad always called her "Little Lesley Gore") sang that song (the title of this post). Okay, it's not really my party and I'm not planning on crying, but it is my birthday. :-) I love my birthday because it comes in the fall (and pretty much always have had fun on my birthday). Also, I really like the cooler weather, the Holidays coming up, that warm and cozy feeling you get when you snuggle down under the blankets, or when you drink hot chocolate or tea. Or, when I was growing up, when my dad would light a fire in the fire place and we'd watch it crackle and sparks fly up the chimney. My birthday is smack dab in the middle of all those things starting to happen. It's far enough into fall, that I can feel the weather changing down here in the deep South, but it's also early enough that it doesn't collide with the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays. This weekend is the Lone Star Conference...

Happy Tuesday Everyone, Before I get started on today's post, author CC Hunter is running a contest. If you go here , you can get info on the contest--the prize is worth checking it all out! (The contest takes a bit of thinking, but it's not hard). All right...now onto today's post: Normally a muse or a character whispers in your ear and suddenly you think, "Aha! Story idea!" But what about those times when you feel something coming, but it won't materialize? I've been editing Surreal and taking a look at two of my other stories, but there's something poking at me. Right on the  fringes of my imagination and other than perhaps character's(s') names, nothing is coming. I can feel it prick at my imagination, but I can't get a lock on the idea. It's like a gnat that flies up at you, you bat at it, then it's gone, then it's back and the whole cycle starts over again. This is not a muse whispering at me, or even a chara...

Happy Wednesday All, I wanted to post earlier, but for some reason the site was acting crazy, but it's mostly behaving right now. So, I can finally put something up. New Releases: Last night I picked up my copy of Kerrelyn Sparks' new book, Eat Prey Love, which is Carlos's story from Sparks' Love At Stake series. Looks good, by the way. Coming up: October 1st:  Robin Badillo makes her debut with  Journey Of The Damned: Retribution. October also means Laura Childs' new book from her Scrapbooking Series, Fiber & Brimstone will be available. Notes on Query Letters: A couple of days ago Scott Eagan talked about query letters and what he has to say about them. On a similar note today,  BookEnds, LLC talks about what their rejection letters look like. On September 26th, Query Shark had a winning query letter posted. Other News & Fun Things: Another thing happening in October is something I've been talking about:  NWHRWA's Lon...

Happy Monday, In every email interview I've done with a published author there's one question I always ask:  What piece of advice do you find helpful? (or most helpful).   With every interview, there's been different answers, but I think in a lot of ways it boils down to:  don't give up.   Now that doesn't mean authors never get nervous about putting their name out there. It doesn't mean they never fear it won't work. What it means is that they've stopped letting the fear get in the way.   So...what makes  you keep goinging for it?   One way you can "go for it" is in 2 weeks and 5 days the NWHRWA Lone Star Conference will happen (October 16, 2010). I don't know how much room they have, but you won't know if you don't "go for it".  Please click here and check it out.   Have A Merry Monday!

Hi Everyone, I've been reading and editing, and some other things, which is why I haven't been doing a lot of blogging. But I hope to get back to regular blogs, soon. (Possibly next week). I still have to finish this round of edits--but I'm getting closer--less than 100 pages left. I got some comments back from a "beta" reader and played around with those edits; so I'll have to wait for the next several pages from her. Which, depending on the comments from her, could mean some more edits, but at least it's getting polished up and things that I didn't catch in my editing are being caught. I'm trying to make Surreal as polished as I can. So, still moving forward. I'm also gearing up for the Conference ! 3 Weeks until the day of the Conference (October 16, 2010). Have A Wonderful Weekend!

Happy Friday Everyone, If you have NOT signed up for the NWHRWA Lone Star Conference, you need to hurry and do so! Why? Because... Randy Ingranmanson of the Snow Flake method is going to be there. (He's the keynote speaker). http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/ Christine Witthohn (Luncheon Speaker) of Book Cents Literary Agency is going to be there. http://www.bookcentsliteraryagency.com/ Naomi Hackenberg of Elaine P. English, PLLC is going to be there. http://www.elaineenglish.com/ Amy Boggs of Donald Maass Literary Agency is going to be there. http://www.maassagency.com/ I was told Katy Budget Books was going to be there.   http://www.katybooks.com/ Several writers both published and unpublished just like you are going to be there. So, don't wait another second...get over to the NWHRWA's website and register now:  http://www.nwhrwa.com/conference.htm There's only 4 weeks and 1 day left until October 16, 2010 when the Conference is happenin...

Happy Tuesday Everyone, Here's the scoop: Progress is being made on the "polishing" of Surreal. Ideas are popping up like daisies for this other story I'm working on, which, will cover a being completely different than that of Surreal or Conjure A Man . CAM's been on hold while I've been prepping Surreal .  This other story came to me and I had to get it out and we'll see where it takes me. The mermaid story is still being fleshed out. There's some details that aren't quite coming to me, yet. I've ordered my business cards and I am hoping to get them before the Conference (info on the Conference can be found below). Life got a bit chaotic when my son got sick, so I had to play "catch up" for a bit. A few notes on some release dates: Debut author (and someone I know), Robin Badillo, has her first book (I believe an e-book title) coming out next month. Check out Retribution here.   Looks good :-) I'm totally into Rick ...

Hi Everyone, Yes, I know it's the weekend; and I don't normally post on the weekends, but I'm here to remind you to sign up for the NWHRWA's Lone Star Conference happening in 1 month and 5 days! Click here to sign up! Have A Wonderful Weekend!

Happy Friday All, Working with the Lone Star Contest (it's the annual contest hosted by NWHRWA) has been quite the experience. As a Category Chair, I have seen some stuff that, while I couldn't give an opinion because I wasn't one of the judges, but a part of me was thinking "I'd like to read this one!" If you haven't had a chance to help out with a contest, find a niche that fits you and go for it. You get to learn how the critique process goes, some of what happens behind the scenes, and you never know, you might see something awesome. I'm really excited about when we get to announce the finalists. I'm sure it will be a very positive experience. I can't announce the results here, since things have to be done through the official channels, but I am going to say, it's been one of the parts of the Contest I've really been looking forward to--that is, giving that news to people that their story is going on to the final judges! Ent...

Happy Tuesday All, There is less than 62 days until the NWHRWA's annual Lone Star Conference. In the margins of this blog you'll see a little ticker with a black cat (in honor of one of my characters in a manuscript I'm in the process of writing) telling how long until the Conference and if you click on some of the words below it, they'll take you to the NWHRWA's Conference site. Some of you might remember how I went on and on about Todd Stone last year . This year, it's 3 agents and Randy Ingermanson of the Snow Flake Method .  Christine Whitthohn from Book Cents Literary Agency is scheduled to speak during lunch. Then, if that wasn't enough to whet your appetite for a writers' conference, there's 2 other agents as well:  Naomi Hackenberg from Elaine P. English, PLLC and Amy Boggs from Donald Maas Literary Agency. Last year was an incredible experience...with book signings and all kinds of things. I don't know everything that's planned...

Happy Thursday All, NWHRWA has the rest of the information up on the upcoming October Conference. Please head over to the page for more information .  Looks like it's gonna be a good one! Have A Thrilling Thursday!

Happy Monday Everybody, Hope you all had a great weekend. Mine was fun. :-) I'm reading the 2nd book in Shanna Swendson's series that started with Enchanted, Inc. The 2nd one is Once Upon Stilettos and it's good so far. Chick lit meets fantasy is how I'd describe the series thus far. Now...onto the reason why I have the blog title I do: October 16th the NWHRWA is going to have it's annual conference . These are the sort of opportunities authors look/need. So, if you're available, I suggest you go.  The Conference will feature Randy Ingermanson , as well as three agents:  Naomi Hackenberg from Elaine P. English, PLLC Amy Boggs from Donald Maass Literary Agency   Christine Witthohn from Book Cents Literary Agency I don't have all the details, yet, but it looks like it's shaping up to be a good conference. But once I do, I will be sure to give them. Anyway, just wanted to alert everyone. Have A Meritorious Monday!