Friday Five for March 11, 2016

1. Today is my final guest post with The Really Real Housewives. It's been such a fun week with those awesome ladies. I've been talking about geek parenting on a budget. Today we discuss SCIENCE!

2. I'm working on book #4 of my Totem series, and it's sounding more like a contemporary romance than a paranormal one. Where's all the creepy stuff? My protagonist is fighting hard to make it all about her. Sure, the theme is discovering her true self, but still, I need to drop more supernatural scares in there.

3. The final edits are done for the second book in my Sasquatch Susies series, Big Longing. The release date is April 1st. No joke! The third book in the series is my favorite, so I'm eager for my editor to delve in to that one.

4. Next week is my son's spring break. The first of two weeks. Yup. Wouldn't you have loved two weeks off as a kid? Since we haven't had many snow days, the kids have two weeks off. I'm making playdates and writing a list of things to do. This means I won't be around as much. So please forgive me if I get behind in visiting everyone.

5. Finally a big thank you to everyone who participated in the MEME Blog Hop. It was so much fun! And you made it difficult to judge. Plus a huge thanks to my amazing co-hosts Tara Tyler and C. Lee McKenzie. Here are the winners:

2 Grand Prize Winners of $20 Gift Cards

M Pepper Langlinais

and

Yvonne Ventresca

J. Lenni's

We also chose J Lenni Dorner (Broken Branch Falls by Tara Tyler & Double Negative by C. Lee McKenzie) and Juneta Key (Sudden Secrets by C. Lee McKenzie & Of Blood and Sorrow by Christine Rains) as 2nd runners up, winning two ebooks each!

Juneta's

And here's the rest of our winners, each receiving an ebook:
Michelle Wallace - Jolissa by Tara Tyler
Tamara Narayan - Pop Travel by Tara Tyler
Jess Haight/Fairday Morrow - (still deciding)

Have a fantastic weekend!

Last Day of the MEME Blog Hop and Great New Releases

What a super fun week of hilarious and inspiring memes! You guys are awesome. There's still one more day. Let's have some more!

I am hosting this blog hop with the marvelous C. Lee McKenzie and Tara Tyler.

Click here to see the list of participants and check out their memes!

Your awesome hostesses will hop around and ooo and ahh and choose one entry each to win an ebook. AND two lucky random participants will win a $20 gift card.

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Now that I'm finished the first draft of the third novella in my Totem series, I'm eager to get some reading done. Check these fantastic new releases out!

Jolissa is a contrary maiden who thinks an adventure will make her life better, until she's forced to go on one...

Buy Jolissa: An Anti-Princess Story today! 

The ever clever Tara Tyler also has the first two chapters of Jolissa up on YouTube. You don't want to miss out on this amazing tale told by Tara herself!

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Galactic Empires

Eight Novels of Deep Space Adventure

Eight full-length novels of adventure, war, intrigue and survival in the far reaches of space.

The Backworlds by M. Pax 
A man struggles to survive in the harsh world of humanity's outer settlements and prove his father wrong.
Ambassador 1: Seeing Red by Patty Jansen 
To look an alien superior in the eye is a deadly offense. To accuse him of a political murder…
Alien Hunters by Daniel Arenson
A scruffy alien pest controller faces an alien threat the likes of which the universe has never seen.
Hard Duty by Mark E. Cooper
Hostile aliens nearly eradicated humanity. Will the next encounter finish the job?
Bypass Gemini by Joseph Lallo
A disgraced racer pilot gets mixed up with a mega-corporation. Now he has to stop them.
Sky Hunter by Chris Reher
Sent to a human outpost to investigate sabotage, a pilot finds more trouble than she bargained for.
The Galapagos Incident by Felix Savage
A genocidal AI attacks the solar system, and a Space Corps agent has one chance of saving a bunch of asteroid squatters she was sent to evict.
First Conquest by David VanDyke
To Conquest must fight to seize a new star system.

Buy Links: Amazon / iBook / B&N / Kobo / Googleplay / AmazonUK /  

AmazonCA / AmazonAU / AmazonDE /AmazonFR /  

AmazonIT /AmazonES

Laugh, Encourage, Inspire! The MEME Blog Hop

Not only does winter keep poking us, but today is Monday! I can't wait for some funny, encouraging, and inspiring memes!

I am hosting this blog hop with the marvelous C. Lee McKenzie and Tara Tyler. You can post any day this week. Just sign up by clicking on the link below.

SIGN UP HERE!

Easy Peasy "rules":

1) Post a MEME during the week (use your own pic or an easy meme maker app) - and if you can't think of anything, pass on encouraging words from one of your reviews, or an inspiring quote! 

2) Visit others. (I apologize for not being able to get the link to work and show the participants on my blog. I have no idea why the code isn't working. You can click on the sign up link and see all the participants there.)

That's it! Then your awesome hostesses will hop around and ooo and ahh and choose one entry each to win an ebook. AND two lucky random participants will win a $20 gift card.

I want to share some adorable cat laughs. Here is my amazing cat Thunder in his MEME debut!

 

Friday Five for February 26, 2016

1. Big week next week! First off, it's the MEME Blog Hop. I'm hosting with the wonderful C. Lee McKenzie and Tara Tyler. Help us chase away the winter blues. Be it funny, encouraging, or inspiring, we want to see your memes. Join us through February 29th - March 4th. There will be prizes and a giveaway for participants! Sign up HERE!

2. I'm excited to be co-hosting the IWSG on Wednesday. This will be my second time, and I think I'm less nervous than the first time.

3. Thanks to everyone who gave a shout-out for the release of Big Yearning. I didn't have too much time to prepare for the release, but with your help, it went wonderfully.

4. I'm so close to finishing Totem #3. I'm writing the final battle. It's hard to stop when my little guy gets home from school. If I give it that old NaNoWriMo push, maybe I can finish it by tonight.

5. Depending on the weird weather, we might go to my son's school's movie night tonight. They're playing The Good Dinosaur. But that's all the plans we have for the weekend other than getting out to enjoy the warm afternoons if we get them. (Sidenote: I have watched so many hours of the Weather Channel this winter!) Have a great weekend!

Wicked Wednesday - do the yucky things

In case you're wondering, yes, those are real lungs in the picture. A local college brought them to the recent Math & Science Night at my son's school. No one got sick or ran off screaming. The children thought it was awesome.

Did I touch the lungs too? You betcha!

We often hear the more we live, the better writers we will be. I completely agree. But it isn't all about doing exciting, clean things. We should experience the stuff that grosses us out too.

Change a baby's stinky diaper, make a bug pie, or walk through the mud with bare feet. And if you're brave, you can go to the next level. I've walked through a swamp and sewage, sat in the back of a garbage truck, and been in the back of a funeral home.

We writers do have spectacular imaginations, but experiencing something will make our writing better. Will I ever write about a character touching lungs? I don't know, but I know how they feel now, and it's not what you would expect.

Go out there and do something yucky!

What is the yuckiest thing you've ever experienced?

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Only five days until the MEME Blog Hop!

I'm hosting this awesome blog hop with the wonderful C. Lee McKenzie and Tara Tyler. Be it funny, encouraging, or inspiring, we want to see them. Join us the week of February 29th - March 4th. There will be prizes and a giveaway for participants!
 

Sign up HERE!

Friday Five for February 12, 2016

1. BIG news! I have the release date of my first novella in the Sasquatch Susies series. Big Yearning comes out.... IN ONE WEEK! *falls over* You can add it to read on Goodreads here. They're moving fast with this series. But they haven't skimped on the covers. Mmmm... Check out Rayce from Big Yearning.

2. This week, I didn't get a lot of writing done on my latest WIP. Monday was a short story day. I revised one story and sent it to my local critique group for our meeting on the 20th. I also edited two other short stories and submitted them. I'm on track with my short stories goal for the year.

3. I'm also on track with my reading goal even though I binge watched the latest season of Orphan Black. Now I have to wait several weeks for the new season! ACK!

4. I always get a lot of people asking me what I'm doing for Valentine's Day. That day is mostly for my little guy. We'll have a treat, and this year, we got him new swim goggles, so we'll likely be spending half the day at the pool! Though, my husband and I do have plans for tonight. Deadpool! Very romantic, yes?

5. Don't forget to sign up for the MEME Blog Hop. I'm hosting with the wonderful C. Lee McKenzie and Tara Tyler. Be it funny, encouraging, or inspiring, we want to see them. Join us the week of February 29th - March 4th. There will be prizes and a giveaway for participants!

 

Sign up HERE!

 

 

Have you signed up for the MEME Blog Hop yet?

C. Lee McKenzie, Tara Tyler, and I are hosting A MEME Blog Hop!

 

We want to help chase away the winter blues with some Encouraging, Inspiring, and Funny MEMEs! Join us the week of February 29 - March 4!

Easy Peasy "rules":

1) Post a MEME during the week (use your own pic or an easy meme maker app) - and if you can't think of anything, pass on encouraging words from one of your reviews, or an inspiring quote! 

2) Visit others.

 

That's it! Then, your awesome hostesses will hop around and ooo and ahh and choose one entry each to win an ebook. AND two lucky random participants will win a $20 gift card.

 

Sign up HERE!

 

 

Friday Five for January 22, 2016

1. It's Friday already? Where did my week go? I had two days to myself this week between MLK Day and snow days. I haven't been that productive, but I do have some big news... which I'll share soon. Subscribers to my newsletter will hear it first. So if you aren't already a subscriber, all you have to do is put your email address into that little widget on the right and click!

2. I haven't managed to get more than a few hundred words of writing done, but I've been keeping up on my critiquing for one of my critique partners. I do love getting to read new awesome stories before everyone else!

3. The Paramours Tour is just over a week away, but I'm going to do less touring this year with my books. What I want to try to do is have guest posts on blogs more often. Spread out the dates throughout the year. Keep myself out there without the fuss and stress of touring. I also wish to welcome other authors to guest post on my blog. I'll host them on Mondays, and I'm open to a variety of topics. If you'd like to write a guest post for me, please email me and we can work out the details. As you might have noticed, my most popular posts on my blog are guest posts.

4. Adorable kid moment of the week: My son had his 100th Day of School yesterday, and he wanted to dress up for it. He wore a button up shirt and tie with a Superman t-shirt underneath.

5. Finally, an awesome and easy Meme Blog Hop! I'm happy to host this with the terrific Tara Tyler and C. Lee McKenzie. We're giving away ebooks and gift cards. The rules are simple: post your meme and visit others and smile. I'll be reminding you of this again very soon! Sign up here.