Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Holidays and World Building for Paranormal Romance Novels

When it comes to world building for a paranormal romance novel, there isn't a better example of the effect of setting and mood than decorating for the holidays. Seriously, what better time for a writer to consider all the little details that transform a place from the everyday to the festive.

The route to my daughter's boarding school went right through one of those blink and you'll miss it kind of small towns. A tidy little place with a defined and well kept Main Street, it always made me

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Holidays and World Building for Paranormal Romance Novels

When it comes to world building for a paranormal romance novel, there isn't a better example of the effect of setting and mood than decorating for the holidays. Seriously, what better time for a writer to consider all the little details that transform a place from the everyday to the festive.

The route to my daughter's boarding school went right through one of those blink and you'll miss it kind of small towns. A tidy little place with a defined and well kept Main Street, it always made me

Read more ...

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Retired Greyhounds Love Holidays

Being a retired greyhound in our house means bonus time during the holiday season. There are more visits from friends and family as well as the UPS man and mail carrier. There's the extra baking and cooking which means extra opportunities to swoop in on anything that might drop on the floor. Or in Bandit's case, the opportunity to lick anything that might be placed too close to the counter's edge.

When Bandit first arrived he was just under a year old and he showed up a couple weeks before

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Retired Greyhounds Love Holidays

Being a retired greyhound in our house means bonus time during the holiday season. There are more visits from friends and family as well as the UPS man and mail carrier. There's the extra baking and cooking which means extra opportunities to swoop in on anything that might drop on the floor. Or in Bandit's case, the opportunity to lick anything that might be placed too close to the counter's edge.

When Bandit first arrived he was just under a year old and he showed up a couple weeks before

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Thursday, November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving

From my family to yours, I wish you the best Thanksgiving can offer. At our house, the tradition is the Macy's parade, followed by a feast about mid afternoon. The whole family will be here this year as well as a dear friend. I love to see a crowd around the table, it emphasizes the real spirit of the holiday.

This is the next to last day for the Nurture Your Books Celebration blog hop to promote global literacy. (hop runs November 14 - 25) If you haven't entered, be sure to do so right

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Saturday, November 19, 2011

Guest Author Diana Duncan!

How exciting to bring you an interview and giveaway from Diana Duncan today! Especially in conjunction with the Nurture Your Books Celebration to promote global literacy! I'm a fan of Diana's books and she's recently launched two wonderful new titles sure to make you swoon!

First some background on Diana: When her dreams of becoming a ballerina were quashed by early-onset klutziness, Diana Duncan took up the safer vocation of writing. Her first thrilling masterpiece—written in orange

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Thursday, November 17, 2011

NYBCelebration Continues Thriller Giveaway Details!

As you probably know the Nurture Your Books Celebration to promote global literacy is still going strong! Bloggers and readers started hopping on November 14th and they can continue to join the fun, entering all the contests along the way until November 25th! This is wonderful news and I hope you've had a great time here and with the other blogs supporting this event.

I've listed FIVE separate giveaways for this event. (entry details below)

You can see the whole list of prizes in the 1st

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Tuesday, November 15, 2011

NYBCelebration Blog Hop, part 2

Welcome back! Today, my regularly scheduled blogging day, I'm focused on how reading leads to writing...because the theme for the next few days is all about the amazing blog hop event hosted by Nurture Your Books Tourz!

The Nurture Your Books Celebration to promote global literacy is important to everyone - especially authors. Based on a completely random and possibly sketchy survey, I conclude most paranormal romance authors came to writing because they were avid readers.

That's how it

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NYBCelebration Blog Hop, part 2

Welcome back! Today, my regularly scheduled blogging day, I'm focused on how reading leads to writing...because the theme for the next few days is all about the amazing blog hop event hosted by Nurture Your Books Tourz!

The Nurture Your Books Celebration to promote global literacy is important to everyone - especially authors. Based on a completely random and possibly sketchy survey, I conclude most paranormal romance authors came to writing because they were avid readers.

That's how it

Read more ...

Monday, November 14, 2011

NYBCelebration Blog Hop Is Here!

Welcome to the Nurture Your Books Celebration blog hop to promote global literacy! I'm excited to be a part of this two week event which kicks off today and runs through November 25! As of this post there are 19 bloggers on board and great prizes at every stop! You can see the whole list of bloggers here at the Nurture Virtual Book Tourz™ blog!

I had such fun planning this! There are some wonderful prize packages and two fantastic guest author features! Diana Duncan is stopping by on the

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Saturday, November 12, 2011

Blog Hop For Readers and Veterans This Weekend

Yup, the Indie Book Collective is at it again this Veteran's Day weekend. They've created another fantastic blog hop filled with free ebooks and a chance for you to win a kindle! But wait, there's more! Just like the charitable effort of the Memorial Day Blog Tour de Troops, when you comment this time, you also send a free ebook to the troops!

Honoring and supporting our troops in every branch of service is a cause near and dear to my heart as the wife of a soldier who's served in a wide

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Thursday, November 10, 2011

World Building for Paranormal Romance Tips from TV part 2

To continue the theme introduced on Tuesday of learning techniques to strengthen your world building skills from current television shows, let's take a look at Grimm.

This new fairy tale themed show takes a different angle than Once Upon a Time. It's less about one central fairy tale with a supporting cast and more about the Grimms as mythology investigators, themselves.

The Grimms can see all the creatures who are masquerading as humans and it's their job to protect humans from the bad

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Tuesday, November 8, 2011

World Building For Paranormal Romance Tips From TV

As a paranormal romance author I've learned a great deal from well crafted movies in the fantasy, sci fi, and romance genres. If you're a fan of movies or television and, like me, you're a fan of fantasy, you probably know new shows Once Upon a Time and Grimm have been out a couple weeks.

If you haven't seen these shows yet and you do enjoy reading fantasy, romance, light horror, or otherwise paranormal stories, these shows will surely appeal to you.

Personally, I adore the rich and

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Saturday, November 5, 2011

Retired Greyhound Races To The Sound Of Applause!

It amuses me that all of our adopted greyhounds, including every foster greyhound, romp and run with more exuberance when we clap for them as they circle the infield I lovingly call a butterfly garden.

I've met plenty of people who've gone the greyhound adoption route and said the same thing about their new forever friend. A few even say their retired greyhound won't run at all unless someone is applauding the effort.

This just cracks me up.

Greyhounds as pets are so laid back and

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Retired Greyhound Races To The Sound Of Applause!

It amuses me that all of our adopted greyhounds, including every foster greyhound, romp and run with more exuberance when we clap for them as they circle the infield I lovingly call a butterfly garden.

I've met plenty of people who've gone the greyhound adoption route and said the same thing about their new forever friend. A few even say their retired greyhound won't run at all unless someone is applauding the effort.

This just cracks me up.

Greyhounds as pets are so laid back and

Read more ...

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Paranormal Romance Author Looks at Going Indie

As a writer, I've been working on one project or another most of my life. I would go so far as to claim the written word seems to be part of my genetic makeup.

There were the silly stories in school, the wealth of poetry (limericks count!), the angst filled letters among friends, and the lengthy essay explaining my utter brilliance in physiology as contrasted to my utter ineptitude in chemistry. That essay earned me a passing grade in the chemistry class, btw.

When I started writing with

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