Friday Five for April 24, 2015

1. What a busy week! I had a great visit with my mom. My son's birthday party was rained out, but he wasn't bothered by it at all. He's such a trooper! I, on the other hand, was really disappointed. Spring weather is unpredictable. We brought his cake and decorations to school on Monday and had a little party there with his school friends. It makes me so joyful that I have a happy child who goes with the flow when things like this happen.

2. Thank you to everyone who visited this week. It's my pleasure to help out my fellow writers with reviews and promos. It'll take me some time to catch back up on things, but I'll be making the rounds.

3. For those of you doing the A to Z Challenge, wow, we're nearly at the end. You're almost there! This month has been speeding by. It's been so much fun to participate with Untethered Realms. Next week, look on X day for a certain dragon slayer. *winks*

4. No writing or reading was done this week, but I squeezed in a bit of time to critique two short stories for my local writer's meeting this Saturday. I submitted my sci-fi horror tale. Hopefully I managed to pull off the terrifying twist.

5. Have a wonderful weekend, folks! Here's a smile to help you get into the happy weekend mood.

Wicked Wednesday - A Thankful Teaser

Tomorrow is the American Thanksgiving. Every day the past week, my son has been going over with me what he's thankful for. Kittens are at the top of the list almost every time. That boy really wants a kitten!

I'm thankful for several things, and you're one of them. Every single one of you. Loyal readers and fellow writers, I wouldn't be here without you. Thank you so much for all your support and encouragement.

As a little bird might've told you, I have a new series releasing in the new year. A hilarious and geeky trilogy called Dice & Debauchery. Here are the first lines from each of the books to tease you.

LOOSE CORSET (Book 1)
Geek girl problem #31: Your flat-chested best friend is a cosplayer and tries to fit you into her costumes when you're built like Rose Tyler from Doctor Who.

LAYERS OF LACE (Book 2)
Geek girl problem #19: When the many layers of lace you carefully hand-sewed for your cosplay costume come between you and hot sex.

A MASKED KISS (Book 3)

Geek boy problem #11: Girls ignore you, but when one does pay you attention, it's usually to sell you something.

Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends! And have a great week to everyone else!

Friday Five for February 21st, 2014

1. Thank you so much to DL Hammons and the Blog Blitz team. I was blitzed last Friday. It totally shocked me. And it felt absolutely wonderful. What a way to end the week! This is one of the reasons I love the Blog Blitz. You, too, can make other people feel this fantastic. Join the Blog Blitz team now!

2. Thanks to the blitz, I now have over 500 followers! Yay! I'm also nearing 850 posts on this blog. I think it's time to do a giveaway. Let me think on this. I want to make it worth your while.

3. It hasn't been a terribly productive week. I've been distracted by babysitting, headaches, and Archer. I managed to do some revisions to my superhero WIP, but little else. If I push it these last days of February, I might be able to finish the 3rd draft by the end of the month as I planned.

4. When I'm working on a WIP or critiquing, I always do it with the document single-spaced. I don't know why this is. I think maybe the extra white space of double-spaced documents is distracting. How do you usually format documents that you're working on?

5. Our household is just getting over a sick week. We haven't been horribly sick, but something icky has been sticking around. So we have no plans for the weekend except resting up. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

The Final Day of the 13th Floor Collection blog tour

Happy Halloween!

And happy last day of the tour!

What a month it's been. I'm so thankful for all the support and encouragement from everyone. You guys rock!

A special thank you to all my tour hosts. You've made this the best tour ever.

We're ending big today.

I'm at the awesome Clare Dugmore's blog.

One more giveaway and the 13 biggest moments in the 13th Floor series. Come on over and tell us if you agree!

Don't forget Realms Faire 2013 next month.
It starts on the 11th, and I'll be participating in the Joust. I would love for you all to come cheer me on. How do you do that, you ask? It's easy. Head on over to the Joust on M. Pax's blog, and cheer for my knight, Sir Xanthus Ehrensvard. You must use the "key" words provided to cheer for my champion. I get a point for every time someone uses one of the words. You can cheer up to 3 times a day. Not only can you win prizes, but I can win a prize if Xan is the victor! Huzzah!

A to Z Challenge Reflection Post

I survived the 2013 A to Z Challenge!
Congratulations to all the other survivors.
A big thank you to everyone who stopped by during April with your words of support and encouragement.

A special thank you to the A to Z team. You guys are awesome!

The Madlab Post - Nicole Ayers

Tossing It Out - Arlee Bird

Amlokiblogs - Damyanti Biswas
Alex J. Cavanaugh - Alex J. Cavanaugh
Life is Good - Tina Downey
Cruising Altitude 2.0 - DL Hammons
Retro-Zombie - Jeremy Hawkins
The Warrior Muse - Shannon Lawrence
The QQQE - Matthew MacNish

Leave it to Livia - Livia Peterson

No Thought 2 Small - Konstanz Silverbow
Breakthrough Blogs - Stephen Tremp

Spunk on a Stick - L. Diane Wolfe

This is the 2013 A to Z Challenge Reflection post. It's another way to visit more participants and see what everyone thought of the Challenge. Sign up on the linky list and let everyone know what your experiences were last month.

One of my favorite blogs to visit is Heather M. Gardner's. Her theme was Stormy the Weather Gnome's bucket list. It was hilarious! She also recently signed a contract to have her book, MAGUIRE'S CORNER published! Congratulations, Heather. On the final day of the Challenge, Heather bestowed upon me the Zombie Rabbit Award. I get to pass on this magnificent award to my ten favorite blogs from the Challenge. Thank you, Heather, and thank you to the ten bloggers who entertained me during April with your awesome posts.

1) Nick Wilford - wrote an amazing story about an angel with words supplied each day by his readers.

2) M. Pepper Langlinais - had intriguing snippets of her characters Peter and Charles (from her book St. Peter in Chains) traveling the world and looking for a place to settle down.

3) Elise Fallson - an A to Z of "ology" words. People study and collect the strangest things.

4) Lily - follows Spawn's descent into madness with his plans for world domination. Hilarious!

5) Sandy - excellent traveling tips and sharing her adventures.

6) Julie Flanders - her theme was Alaska inspired by her book Polar. I've always wanted to go there!

7) Mark Means - a whole month of obscure comic book characters. Even my geekery was put to the test!

8) Al Diaz - a tour of his magnificent dragon's cave and dwarf cheerleaders.

9) Shannon Lawrence - an A to Z of history's mysteries. Absolutely fascinating. Just up my alley.

10) Mina Lobo - an enthralling A to Z of aphrodisiacs. I learned so much. Made notes!

I'm Thankful For My Readers Bloghop

This fantastic bloghop is hosted by two lovely ladies, Vikki and Tara Tyler. This is a thank you to your readers. Readers can be critique partners, beta readers, blog readers, etc. We can never thank our readers enough.

Here’s the rules:

1. Sign up on the Linky List on the hosts' sites.
2. Post thanks to your readers on your blog between Monday, November 5 and Wednesday, November 7 by 1700 UK/1200 noon EST US time.
3. And if you don’t have a CP and you would like to find one, go ahead and post a ‘personals’ ad. 
4. Be CREATIVE. Write a letter, a piece of flash fiction, a haiku, a poem, or a vlog. It can take whatever form you like. We’d like it if you kept it under 300 words but won’t be counting. 
5. Naming your reader(s) is up to you and feel free to link to them. 
6. Hop around and comment on other people’s!

Vikki and Tara will each pick a winner, and jointly choose another overall winner, to be announced on Thursday November 8 on our blogs. They win:

• Vikki’s Winner: A Reader’s Report style full MS Critique, chosen for Most Heartfelt Post
• Tara’s Winner: A Banner for their blog (or other graphic), chosen for Most Creative Post
• Overall Winner: Both of the above prizes, for Best Overall Post!

Lastly - for anyone on twitter, Vikki thought it would be fun if during the same period we tweeted thanks using the hashtag #thankstomyreaders for additional fun. She is vixatthemovies there.

I am thankful for so many wonderful and supportive people. I never feel like I can properly express my gratitude. I can say thank you a thousand times, and it never seems like enough for what all of you have done for me. You've cheered me up when I was down and encouraged me to get past the rough spots. You've danced with me when I was happy and stood with me when I attempted to be strong. I am humbled by your generosity and compassion.

I don't think I can be as eloquent as other people. So I offer up some quotes that have touched me, and I hope you feel the warmth of the message that I pass on too.

"I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder." ~ G.K. Chesterton

"The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention." ~ Oscar Wilde

“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” ~ John F. Kennedy 

“No one who achieves success does so without acknowledging the help of others. The wise and confident acknowledge this help with gratitude.” ~ Author Unknown 

"Courtesies of a small and trivial character are the ones which strike deepest in the grateful and appreciating heart."  ~ Henry Clay 

"Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow." ~ Melody Beattie 

Thank you so very much.

Final Day of the Fearless Blog Tour

My last stop is at a gorgeous blog belonging to the

Reader Girls!

Thank you so much to all the hosts of this tour

and to Shades of Rose Marketing.

Thanks again to Aubrie for giving me this

awesome gift, and to you,

my readers.

Winners of the Birthday Bash giveaway

Thank you so much to everyone for the birthday wishes. I love this community! You guys are awesome.

I also want to give a big thank you to Aubrie Dionne who gifted me with a blog tour for FEARLESS from Shades of Rose Marketing. It's set for the week of the 22nd. I have the banner with the link on my sidebar.

The winners of the Birthday Bash giveaway are:

Summer Ross
and
Jeremy Bates

Congratulations!
I'll be in contact with you shortly.

Jeremy did ask if he won, the book be donated to charity or the library.
I'm going to the library today or tomorrow.
I've always wondered what you had to do to donate.

Last day of Fearless release week

Hop on over to Tara Tyler's blog today.

Find out how I came up with the idea for Tawa.

Thank you all for your encouragement and support

in releasing FEARLESS.

You guys rock!

Also, a HUGE thank you to all the participants

in the "What was your childhood monster?" blogfest.

It was my first time hosting a blogfest,

and because of you, it was a great success!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the dads and like-dads!

This is for doing the silly stuff

like riding on giant bees at the park!

And for holding hands to give a bit of help,

or just because.

Thank you for everything.

Thank you so very much to my husband

for being such a fantastic father.

To my dad and granddad,

I miss you.

Thanks and awards

First off, a BIG thank you to Kathleen Doyle for surprising me

on Monday with a Random Act of Kindness.

You really made my day.

And that's hard to do on a Monday!

The Random Act of Kindness Blitz is a fabulous idea started by

Becca and Angela at The Bookshelf Muse to commemorate the

release of their book The Emotion Thesaurus.

Come pop by my blog tomorrow for my contribution to the Blitz.

I received the Beautiful Blogger Award from the wonderful Sheri L. Swift.

Thank you for passing it on to me.

 Another thank you goes to the cool E.J. Wesley for passing on

the No Strings Attached - Real Trooper award.

Both awards ask you to share some random facts about yourself. (The Trooper Award also has some specific questions, but I will spare you an overly long post!)

Ten random facts about me:

1) I enjoy doing laundry. It's the clean scent and the warmth of clothes fresh out of the dryer.

2) I've been engaged twice, but not to my husband.

3) My husband and I had been together for ten years before we decided to get married in Las Vegas by Elvis.

4) When I get a chance, I love watching cheesy SyFy movies.

5) I have a fear of speaking in front of groups of people, but I force myself to do it whenever I have the opportunity.

6) I have a sonic screwdriver on my desk.

7) I have my own set of special game dice.

8) I set my son's toys up in fun little scenes, so that the next time he comes upon them, he'll wonder what they've been doing.

9) I took karate in high school, and I was two belts away from my black.

10) I cannot imagine life without writing.

I'm not going to nominate anyone, because I want to share these awesome awards with you all. Take one or both if you wish. You're such fabulous people. You deserve them.

Flashes of Foxwick

Please join Cherie Reich during the A to Z Challenge for her

Flashes of Foxwick.

Twenty-six great pieces of flash fiction from her Kingdom of Foxwick's fantasy world.

Cherie will be publishing her flash pieces in a collection,

and they will be available mid-April.

It will include a bonus story entitled "Lady Death."

You can mark it to read on Goodreads.

If gifting us with her great fantasy stories isn't enough,

Cherie is also featuring authors participating in the Challenge from A to Z this month.

You can check out the writers at Surrounded by Books.

Thank you, Cherie, for all you do for the writing community.

Heartfelt thanks

Thanks to the lovely ladies at Thinking Through Our Fingers for passing on to me

the Liebster Blog award.

Thank you and welcome to my new followers.

I'm at 180.

I hope to meet some wonderful new people during the upcoming blogfests.

I will hold to my promise of another giveaway at 200.

A big thank you to every one of my followers for all your support and encouragement.

I look forward to my blog time every day and it's because of you.