Happy Wednesday Everybody, Also, happy my birthday to you all! It's a beautiful, sunshiny day outside. Weather report says it's 75 degrees out (I wish that was 65 degrees or lower--but not bitter cold; and no snow or ice. LOL) but the weather doesn't listen to me. (How rude, LOL!) PLEASE NOTE AS OF 10/17/2014 10:00 PM Central Standard Time this contest is now CLOSED. I am NOT accepting any more entries. Thank you! I know it's customary for the birthday person to receive gifts on his/her birthday, however, since it's MY day I'm going to shake things up a bit. I'm going to GIVE something away to you, my darling readers, instead! Please read the details below VERY CAREFULLY! I repeat VERY CAREFULLY . I'm emphasizing "very carefully" because if you're anything like me, you embarrassingly misread something in a giveaway rules section and ended up feeling stupid that you didn't read them carefully, so I'm trying to spare...

Happy Thursday All, So sorry I've been away--there's been a lot going on over here, so I've been very busy. Allergies are a little better--thank you to everyone for your good thoughts/wishes/prayers. The other day I mentioned my RWA (Romance Writers' of America) chapter, the Northwest Houston Romance Writers of America  is having its annual Lone Star Contest for writers. There are several categories to enter, everybody. There's great prizes available and an opportunity to get your work in front of editors and agents. One year I was a coordinator for one of the categories and I saw some really talented writers come through. This is a chance to show people what you're doing with your work. It's fairly easy to enter, and it's not real expensive either. Please go to the contest web page and check out further details . The category chairs (coordinators) are all really nice people and the person who heads it up is so helpful. Have A Thrilling Thursday...

Happy Friday Everyone, Congratulations to Babz, who won yesterday's contest. I'll be getting Christie Craig's Don't Mess With Texas to you soon. The NWHRWA is gearing up for the Lone Star Conference and so am I. There's still a little time to sign up! Twitter and I have an interesting relationship. Half the time I get on there I have no idea what to say. So apparently, I don't have the hang of it, yet...but I knew that. However, I do post on there, so if you have Twitter find me . Oh yes, and next week...I'm posting an official blog review! I finally finished the book and so now all I have to do is write the review. I have it scheduled for Monday. So be sure to check back Monday for the review. I don't have a lot planned for this weekend, which is just fine. What do you all have planned for the weekend? Have A Fabulous Friday!

Happy Thursday All, ***THE CONTEST IS NOW OFFICIALLY CLOSED!*** Today's the day to win a signed book! Yes, you read that right--today is the day you can win a SIGNED copy of Christie Craig's Don't Mess With Texas . Here's what you need to do to get your hands on this adult Contemporary Novel... (be sure to read the  ALL information coming up, because I'm going to have a particular comment you have to make to be entered to win this prize ): 1.  BEFORE 11 p.m. Central Time today comment on this blog INCLUDING your name and email address . If, for some reason, Blogger is misbehaving and won't let you post, or you don't want to make your email address public, you can email me at this address  and let me know you want to have a chance to win this prize. In your comment (or email) please tell me what you think is great about Texas. It can be one thing or more than one thing. It can be anything (but let's keep the comments at PG rating, please). T...

Happy Monday Everyone, This past weekend the illustrious Christie Craig gave a special workshop to the Northwest Houston Romance Writers of America , which, I'm proud to say I'm a member of this awesome group. The workshop was called "High Tea & POV" although, I don't know how many people actually consumed tea (I had water), but we sure listened in rapt attention as Christie talked about getting into your character's heads. In fact...that's precisely what POV is. POV--point of view. Which character is telling the story? Is it your heroine? Then you see, feel, hear, smell, taste, experience intuition and thoughts of that character. These are things that I've talked about with my C.P. but I'm not always consciously aware of them while I'm writing. When I'm writing I'm imaging how the character reacts based on what I know about the character. I'm reacting and visualizing. When I go back and edit I'm looking at the dialogu...

Happy Monday Everybody, ****CONTEST PORTION OF THIS POST IS NOW OFFICIALLY CLOSED!******* Friday afternoon I finished reading Christie Craig’s new book, Don’t Mess With Texas , which is available on August 23, 2011. This is laugh out loud humorous fun! A heroine who pukes on the hero, a no-nonsense Nana (loved her! Nana needs her own story, she's just that funny), a strong defend-and-protect type hero--mix it all together and you've got a novel jammed pack with Christie’s humor, romance, mystery, suspense and everything else she could think of including an English Bulldog sleeping in a coffin. Ex-cop turned P.I. Dallas O’Connor and his buddies got a bum deal when they were framed for a crime they didn’t do. Now out of jail and setting up their P.I. firm they’re ready to kick some serious butt and make sure those who are falsely accused get a fair shake in this system. They’re gonna make sure a 19 year old boy doesn’t get locked up for a murder he didn’t do and...

Happy Thursday All, **Contest portion of this post is now officially closed.** I enjoy every author interview I post on here for different reasons. This author's writing is what I term "tight". She writes in such a fashion that not only does she keep track of the main story, but she's able to weave several side stories without getting lost. You never quite know what's going to happen next when you enter this author's world of New Orleans Mob, a sassy strong-willed dectective, "preternatural" creatures...it's enough to send shivers down your back. And all of it is from the talented pen/keyboard of author Nancy Gideon. So, let me introduce you to Nancy Gideon , author of the Moonlight series (Adult Romance), which has a brand new one coming out July 26, 2011. However, Nancy has graciously offered to giveaway a copy of her up coming release, Bound By Moonlight as well as a "book thong" to one lucky blog commenter (I'll tell you...

Hey Everyone, I'm behind on reporting on a couple of contests. I apologize to the contests hosts and to you, my readers, as well. I hope you all will forgive me. Anyway, TA-DA! Here's some information on a couple of contests I know about... Here's info on the contest that C.C. Hunter's holding . The deadline is September 1, 2011  and there's all kinds of prizes. Please go to her blog for more information. C.C. Hunter is the author of Born At Midnight. Her second one, Awake At Dawn arrives in print in October of 2011. It looks like a really fun contest, so I hope you'll take the time to go check it out. Fortunately the owner of the blog that's hosting this contest just posted about it on Tuesday, so I'm not far behind--I hope. Anyway, I need to tell  you all about the contest  Suzan Harden , author of Blood Magick and Seasons Of Magic: Spring (both novels available on Amazon Kindle  and Barnes & Noble Nook) is holding on her blog . T...

I did post Tuesday's blog post, but this is one fun contest that I think a number of my readers wouldn't want to miss (and I didn't know about it until just now). C.C. Hunter's character, Kylie, and Suzan Harden's character, Sam are having a debate on who's life is harder. Come read the conversation and make your own decision. Christie Craig is sponsoring it on Killer Fiction and giving away prizes. The conversation was a lot of fun. Go see:  http://killerfictionwriters.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-life-is-so-much-more-worse-than.html HURRY! It ends at MIDNIGHT (I'm guessing Centeral time). Have A Great Day!

Happy Tuesday Everyone, Instead of my usual The Nanny watching while I write this, I'm watching reruns of What I Like About You . Yes, I'm very delighted reruns are a part of cable networking.   Congratulations goes out to yesterday's winners of the Plum Crazy Janet Evanovich Giveaway--Kerrelyn, Tess, Barbie, Jeff and Stacey. Congratulations you all! Exciting stuff is coming up here. Friday is an author interview! No, I'm not telling you who the author is, you're just going to have show up on Friday. I finally finished reading Lady Of Quality by Georgette Heyer and it's fun, funny, and a good read. I recommend it! Over the weekend I saw  Gnomeo & Juliet . (It's brand new release on DVD & Blu Ray).  Very cute! It's basically a retelling of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet, but it's adorable and has a happy ending. Anyway, I recommend it if you're trying to choose a movie. So what new movie have you seen? Have A Tip-Top Tues...

Happy Monday Everyone, CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED! One of my regular followers, Tonette, has 5 booklets with the first chapter of Janet Evanovich's newest Stephanie Plum novel , Smokin' Seventeen  to give away. In order to enter the drawing you need to do the following: 1. There's some adult content in the booklet, so Tonette requested that only 17 or 18 year olds and up enter . No offense to the younger readers, just don't want any angry mothers after us. 2.  Either email me or leave your comment on here. If you can't post a comment, email me . Include your email address and first name. Please note:  Blogger sometimes acts up for some people and not so much for others. If you can't post a comment, just email me .      3.   Have your entry posted in the comment section are emailed to me no later than 10:30 p.m. Central Time. I will email the winners and Tonette will send the winners t...

Happy Tuesday Everyone, I'm posting this a little later in the morning than I intended, but since I woke up later, then had to take care of some things, and finally had to make sure C.C. had put up the blog post about this before I could post it here. C.C. Hunter has some fantastic news for you all. Born At Midnight is doing very well, and in October she'll release her next book in the series, Awake At Dawn.   But now here's a real treat:  she's revealed the cover for book 3, Taken At Dusk, and sent the cover art in the email she sent me. So, here's the cover art for all 3 books:  Book 1 of the ShadowFalls series by C.C. Hunter (available now)  Book 2 of the ShadowFalls series by C.C. Hunter (available October 2011)  Book 3 of the Shadowfalls series by C.C. Hunter (release date yet to be announced) But that's not all... As I mentioned yesterday, C.C. Hunter is running a brand new contest starting today (May 31, 2011) and...

Happy Memorial Day, **Edits 11:29 a.m. (I remembered it was Memorial Day, but I should've posted this earlier):  Here's to all the USA's service men and women, both past and present , fallen or alive . Thank you for your service to the U S A and God bless you and your families. (Note:  If I tried to do actual white, it wouldn't show up). Everybody have a good weekend? My weekend was fairly nice. Mostly quiet, which was just fine with me. For all you C.C. Hunter fans, tomorrow she's starting a very special contest. I'll reveal more details tomorrow, so be sure to come back tomorrow to see what those details are. Hope everyone enjoyed Tess St. John's author interview on Friday . I had fun having her on my blog. She's an incredibly talented author. Be sure to watch for her Romantic Suspense novels. I'll also probably let you know about those releases here.  Did you all follow the link to Tess St. John's blog on Friday and meet th...

Happy Memorial Day Weekend, Thank you to everyone who commented on Tess St. John's interview yesterday. Congratulations to Sarah, the winner of yesterday's drawing. Tess will be sending you a copy of her book soon. Hope Everyone Has A Great Weekend!

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 Friday All, The contest portion of this post is closed, however, you may enjoy the rest of it :-) Congratulations goes to Beth, who emailed me her entry, and is the winner of the Eyes Of Jade Bracelet & Earrings Set in yesterday's drawing. Today is the last day of the Great Jewelry Giveaway. I've had so much fun hosting it and the comments have been very creative and imaginative with their usages of the contest words. So, I hope today to see that creativity and imagination alive and well for this, the last giveaway day for this particular contest. Kathy of Beadmore Designs and I both share a love of Georgette Heyer's books. Ms. Heyer died in 1974, leaving a legacy of Regency Romances and Mystery novels behind. I have read that she often called "Queen Of The Regency".   I've read about 13 of her Regency Romances . Kathy's favorite is Lady Of Quality (which I have not read, but it looks good). Lady Of Quality follows the friendship b...

Happy Thursday Folks, The contest portion of this post is now closed, but please feel free to enjoy the rest of it. Congratulations goes to C.C. for winning Wednesday's drawing! Tea will be sending you the "Diamond & Ruby" Hidden Treasures Necklace. The week marches on and so does the Write By Bethany Great Jewelry Giveaway author and jewelry pairings. Thursday (today) features one of my critique partners, Tess St. John . Tess has written a Romantic Suspense called Eyes Of Jade . I've read the first 3 chapters of this novel (as one of her critique partners) and I'm chomping at the bit to read the rest of it. Unforunately, Eyes Of Jade won't be available until later this summer.   Edit at 11:16 a.m. Central Time ( Eyes Of Jade blurb!):    Sick of acting, Hollywood film and TV star Eve Knight plans to start life over in Houston, Texas. But before she can announce her retirement, repeated attempts are made on her life—in ways mirroring deadly scene...