Happy Friday All, Before you head off on your weekend fun, please stop by and check out the interview I did with Monroe (the hero of All's Fair In Love & Lion ). We're guest posting on my awesome Critique Partner, Tess St. John's blog. Come check it out and please be sure to leave a comment! (This is stop number 5 on my blog tour, by the way). :-) Have A Fabulously Fantastic Friday!

Happy Thursday All, Yesterday was Box Of Awesomeness Day. But just because yesterday is past doesn't mean you can't still share those awesome things/feelings/happenings throughout the year. In fact, I encourage you to keep me up-to-date on here and on Twitter (hashtag: #BoxOfAwesomeness tweet to me @WriteByBethany). We all need positive things/uplifting things in our lives, so let's see if we can keep it up all through 2013, okie-dokie? Since I'm getting Dream Weaver ready for critiques the process of critiquing is on my mind. Tess St. John and I have been critique partners for oh, about 4 years now. Yes, I have critiqued several of her novels (I swear this woman is a machine when it comes to writing, and she's so talented!) She and I have an understanding, which I think is important for all critique partners to have with each other and that's this:  Use what works for your story and ignore the rest. Which basically means, whatever works to strengthen yo...

Happy Wednesday Everybody, Sorry it's taken me forever to update (December is half gone already!) I promise you, I haven't been sitting around twiddling my thumbs. I've actually been really busy. Yesterday I finally finished my Christmas shopping. I even made a To-Do list yesterday and put "Make To-Do List" as one of the items--partially because I've been meaning to make one, and partially to have something to cross off right away. As you can see, we finally got the tree decorated. It's so pretty! Offspring got excited about putting the tinsel on. It's always fun to get out the Christmas stuff and see things we haven't seen in a year. Unfortunately, my computer refuses to upload this picture the right way. I had flipped it so that it was vertical, but then Blogger wouldn't upload it.*Sigh*. Anyway, I promise, in real life it's NOT sideways. There's two particular ornaments on the tree that have a special meaning to me. One i...

Happy Wednesday All, Whoo-hoo! Your good wishes, prayers, and positive thoughts have rendered an idea for a blog post! (Thank you, God!) This post has 2 sources to it. The first one is the book I'm currently reading (not yet reached 100 pages and there's over 400, so I can't say much about it, just that I'm intrigued and enjoying it) called Juliet by Anne Fortier.  The second one is my dear Critique Partner, Tess St. John's post on English History Authors Blog talking about Shakespeare sayings we still use (very good post, by the way, fascinating and fun!) Shakespeare is a favorite of mine. I've read so many of plays--I've also seen several on stage. I've studied several in high school (probably 10?) So anytime there's something with Shakespeare involved it always catches my attention. I don't know how many different Romeo & Juliet inspired books, plays, and ballets I've seen (oh the ballet is so beautiful!) I've seen ...

Happy Friday All, *EDIT as of 10:50 a.m. (Central Time):  I forgot to mention tomorrow (Saturday, August 27, 2011) is Christie Craig's booksigning for her new release. I wrote a post about this awhile back. Please, if you can make it, go and support her. Whew, what a week! This has been a week of appointments and all kinds of things going on. My body decided I needed to relax so I had to make sure I did that. But the good news is, it looks like I'm finally getting more to where I want to be. Edits are coming along. I finished my round of edits and now have gotten started on the ones from my critique partner. I got my registration mailed out for the Lone Star Conference and reserved my hotel room...yay! So, God willing, I definitely will be there. (For those of you going to the conference and wanting to reserve a hotel room, just click here: http://www.nwhrwa.com/conference.htm ). Anyway, I know I've been away for several days...I have a lot going on but I shoul...

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...

Happy Wednesday All, Yesterday I woke up around 5:45 a.m. for the second or so time in the night. Why? I have no earthly idea. My offspring decided after hearing my husband's voice that it was time to get up. I stayed in bed. Then I found out husband was taking a sick day (turns out he has inflamation in his throat and is on an antibiotic and a thing to soothe his throat). My throat was dry and sore, but I figured based on previous experience--allergies! So all day long I was tossing back water and hot tea. I discovered my throat does  not like Ocean Spray's Cran-Raspberry Juice when it's sore (usually I love this juice, but apparently not when I have a sore throat). So I stuck with water and Apple Cinnamon Tea. The bathroom and I became very well acquainted thanks to all these liquids being forced down my throat with regularity. The sad thing? I got a new Critique Partner and she sent me her manuscript. I hadn't the energy to sit at the computer and critique it...

Happy Wednesday Everyone, Today is Tess St. John's release day! YAY! It's also my day to review said release, Second Chances. (By the way...y ou can purchase her book on Kindle  / Nook--my computer started misbehaving, so for Nook click here: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/SECOND-CHANCES/Tess-St-John/e/2940012305152/?itm=1&USRI=tess+st+john  / or Smashwords ...and soon you can get Second Chances in print through Amazon). Second Chances tells the story of Emma Easton, a not-yet-21 year old wife/care giver to the much older Harmon Easton, who is on his deathbed. When Harmon dies Emma fears her father will come and claim her...after all the estate wasn't left to Emma, but to Harmon's children and Emma is underage. By Regency rules, Emma is back under the guardianship (and control) of her father who has no love for her and until she is twenty-one she's at his mercy. Knowing that Emma's father was a threat, Harmon's dying wish was for Emma to...

Happy Monday All, This week is a special week. My incredibly awesome Critique Partner, Tess St. John, is getting ready to release some of her stories. I'll be reviewing one of them on here this week and giving you information on how to get your hands on them. Tess and I belong to the same chapter of RWA (which is how I met her). At the time I was joining the chapter, she was the treasurer. I was signing up for the annual Conference (which just so happens to take place around my birthday--so it's my birthday present from my husband the last couple of years and this year it's ON my birthday). We started emailing back and forth. I met some of the other chapter members at a couple of meetings before the Conference happened, then I met Tess at the Conference. Those first few emails have sparked a friendship plus Critique Partnership that I feel very blessed to have. She's encouraging, smart, and extremely helpful. I am thrilled she's releasing her work. I'v...

Happy Monday All, I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! My weekend was fun, was yours? During the weekend I finished a novel by Susan Donovan entitled Take A Chance On Me . I really enjoyed this book. It had a disco dancing Chinese Crested dog in it. An attorney and a vet were the romance part of it. The vet was an animal behavorist. Horses were mentioned, which was very fun for me (I used to take horse back riding lessons). The only thing missing was a couple of fluffy opinionated cats...oh well...maybe the next Susan Donovan book I read? Either way, I plan to read more books by this author. The book was funny, suspenseful, romantic, and imaginative. As for the Gorgeous Website part of the title...that refers to my critique partner, Tess St. John's website. Tess is amazing. Not only is she a wonderful critique partner, good for discussing ideas, but she's also a  talented author. She'll be putting her work out soon, and I hope you all will take this o...