Friday Five for July 26, 2013

1. Thank you so much again to all my awesome hosts and everyone who joined me for THE GHOST blog tour last week. It was so much fun, and the book has gotten a great reception. The winners for the tour's giveaway are at the bottom of this post.

2. Cecilia Robert and I announced the MORE THAN JUST A KISS blogfest! We're joined by two other lovely romance writers, Kyra Lennon and Laurelin Paige. We want to read your kissing scenes. Sweet, fiery, sizzling, awkward, and mind-blowing. We want to read them all. Not only will we be sharing some scenes, but we're offering prizes. We'll judge the posts and pick three winners to receive a critique. Plus, there are bonus prizes! Romance ebooks galore!

3. I was so excited to win a contest on FB from MG fantasy author Jessica Day George. She asked people to suggest names for her MC's new baby griffin in her next book, and she picked mine. Woot! I suggested Lorcan which means little and fierce. If that isn't awesome enough, she's sending me a surprise in the mail. If you're a Harry Potter fan, you'll love Jessica's books.

4. It's been a week of ups and downs with the boy. He had fun blueberry picking on the weekend, but now doesn't want anything to do with the berries. He did great the last few days of swim lessons last week, but he doesn't want to jump off little drops on land. As some of you heard on FB, we now have to start patch therapy with his turned eye. He has to wear a patch over his good eye for two hours every day. That's actually going quite well so far. He's been very cooperative, thankfully. Oh the multiple personalities of toddlers!

5. I've been working on the cover for the 13th Floor collection. Am I getting anywhere? Maybe. I don't know. I'm seeing how well my Photoshop skills can improve. I've already learned some new tricks. I'm designing some little graphics for the interior that I do like, though.

And now the winners of THE GHOST giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congratulations to the winners!

Emails have already been sent.

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.

Learn Your Craft Giveaway

200 followers!

Woo-hoo!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I'm excited to celebrate with my new and old followers alike. You're the ones that make blogging worthwhile. This past year has been a good one for me in terms of writing. I didn't write as much as I would've liked, but I've learned a lot about the craft of writing. As my thanks to you, I'm going to give away three books about the craft.

On Writing by Stephen King. (hardcover) The best book on the craft of writing. No need to say any more.

How To Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card. (hardcover) Another genius. 

The Art of the Book Proposal by Eric Maisel, Ph.D. (paperback) One of the hardest parts for me is creating a proposal. This book helps break it all down.

But wait! Reading books about the craft will help you, but you have to read fiction too.

My Zombie Valentine by Katie MacAlister, Angie Fox, Marianne Mancusi, and Lisa Cach. (paperback) A great collection of paranormal romance stories. Picked just because love is in the air this month!

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. (paperback) For those of you who love the classics with a twist.

Tuf Voyaging by George R.R. Martin. (paperback) A great sci-fi adventure. Martin is brilliant. He's one of my idols.

There will be three winners chosen by Random.org. Each winner will get a book on the craft and a fiction book. Winner number one will get first choice.

All you need to do to enter is leave a comment with your email address and your two preferences.

The winners will be picked in one week. Thank you all so much!

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.