Got Fire? Kindle Fire Giveaway & Benefit for St. Jude's Childrens Hospital

Rita J. Webb, the publisher of Transcendent, Tales of the Paranormal, is hosting a Kindle Fire giveaway! Click here to enter on her blog.

There is no purchase necessary to win, but if you do decide to buy Transcendent this month (February), it ups your chances of winning and 50% of profits go toward St. Jude's Children's hospital.

How cool is that?

Transcendent is a YA anthology that includes a whole selection of clean paranormal themed stories including Spectre, one of my stories, and Strike, which I coauthored with Rita.

As of today, Transcendent is moving up the Amazon rankings really fast!
In the Love & Romance, we are #7, right
after the Twilight books. In Fantasy & Magic, we are #6, right after the
Rick Riordan books...
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #330 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in
Kindle Store)
#6 in Books > Children's Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy & Magic
#7 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Children's Fiction >
Literature > Love & Romance
#12 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Children's eBooks > Science Fiction,
Fantasy & Horror > Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Magic

I've never had a book be on the lists like that before. It's pretty exciting!

So, good luck people! I hope you win!
Have you used a Kindle Fire before? What do you think of it?

Show the LOVE and Win Prizes!

It's time to spread the news!

What's better than attending an awesome writers conference? How about getting huge prizes just for talking about it! Storymakers is hosting an amazing contest, and I should know, because I WON this contest 2 years ago. I was treated to a seat at the table with some of the big names in publishing and I loved every second of it!

The following is from Storymaker's blog:
"Ah, love ... don't you just love love? The month of February is the best month of all for celebrating love ... no, not because of Valentine's Day, silly! It's time for the Show Your Love contest in conjunction with the LDStorymakers Writers Conference!

"Prizes: Three lucky people will win seats at a star-studded VIP table for Friday night's dinner. That's right - Kevin J. Anderson, Molly O'Neill, Holly Root, Michelle Wolfson, and Kathleen Ortiz will be your dinner companions. I recommend watching for parsley between your teeth. You're responsible for getting yourself to and into the conference, and we'll take care of the rest (except for the parsley) because we're good like that.

But that's not all - let me break it down for you.
First Place Prize: Seat at the VIP table, a query critique, and two-page manuscript critique

Second Place Prize: Seat at the VIP table and a two-page manuscript critique
Third Place Prize: Seat at the VIP table
Fourth Place Prize: Query critique and 10-page manuscript critique
Fifth and Sixth Place Prizes: Query Critiques
*Our special thanks to Holly Root, Lisa Mangum, Michelle Wolfson, Kirk Shaw, Kathleen Ortiz, and Weronika Janczuk for donating our prizes!"

There you go. How cool is that? For rules and details, please check out their post.

If you haven't already, be sure to check out Storymaker's website --if you put your cursor over the conference tab, it will scroll down so you can peruse that info. They are also on Facebook.

So here's a question for you. If you could sit and have lunch with ANYONE in the publishing industry, who would it be and why?

Winners of the Transcendent Giveaway!

Special thanks to everyone who entered the Transcendent giveaway. If you would like another chance at winning, be sure to check out the publisher's contest that runs till January 15th. More than 25 prizes will go out in that one!

And the winners are....

Drum roll please....

Kristin Feliz with goodie bag #1

Jennifer with goodie bag #2

And

Diana with goodie bag #3

Congratulations ladies!

And thanks again to everyone that entered!

That's a fun way to start out the year. What New Year resolutions have you made this year?

Over 25 Free Books, Ebooks, and SWAG in This Giveaway!

Hey guys,
First off, if you haven't already, be sure to check out the cool SWAG I'm giving away on my blog to celebrate Transcendent.

Robot Playground, the publisher of Transcendent, is hosting this huge giveaway of all these awesome books from amazing writers like...

Lani Woodland
Melanie Marks
Elana Johnson
Karen Hoover
Heather Justesen
CK Bryant
Tristi Pinkston
Cindy Hogan
Laura Bingham
Cheri Chesley
RaShelle Workman
Ali Cross
Cathy Witbeck
Tori Scott
Elizabeth Mueller
KC Blake
Rita Webb
& Wendy Swore (That dashing, amazing, brilliant writer)

I mean really, can you get any cooler than that? With twenty five different prizes, your chances are really good.
Here's the link.

 It runs through January 15th
Have fun!

If you could choose any prize for a giveaway, what would it be?

Winners for the Variant Giveaway

With the help of Kidlet#5, we've chosen the winners for the Variant givaway!

And the winners are...





........drum roll please.......

Lolawid

And  kbrebes

Congrats, ladies! Look for my email today.

Variant Giveaway to Celebrate Writing Season

As you might have noticed, it’s November—my most favorite month of the year.

Goodbye farming, and hello writing season! I celebrated by attending an awesome writers retreat by Park City, with twenty other writers including Lisa Mangum, Kirk Shaw, Annette Lyon, Danyelle Ferguson, Ali Cross, C.K. Bryant, and many others from Authors Incognito that I'm grateful to call friends.  

Imagine 4 days in a condo/cabin by Park City, Utah, where everyone has a quiet nook of their own to plug in and write. There were enough of us there that we only had to help with one meal for the whole time. Can you imagine? Meals done, quiet time, no kids, almost no calls, and house full of people who shared your same passion for writing. After months of busting my rear on the farm, it was exactly what I needed. We also had prizes for word count sprints, early birds and night owls.

If you ever have the chance to go to a retreat, do it. You deserve it.

To celebrate writing season, I’m giving away 2 copies of Variant by Robinson Wells, a hot new YA dystopian that has been heralded as having the best YA twist since Enders Game. Also, Publishers Weekly has named Variant as one of the best books of 2011. That’s some high praise, my friends.

You can read the synopsis and some of its great reviews on goodreads here.

There are a couple of other great reasons why I chose to give Variant away. Bottom line: it’s an excellent book from a deserving author. If you’ve ever thought of buying it, today is a good day.

TO ENTER the Variant giveaway:

Follow my blog and leave a comment with your email like myemail AT wherever DOT com so spammers don’t find you.

If you would like to tweet or Facebook about the Book Bomb or this post, then you win good Karma and my appreciation for passing it on. J

I'll draw a winner on November 20th!

So, to all you crazy nanowrimoers out there, good luck! (and don’t forget to occasionally do boring things like eat, sleep, speak to your family, and bathe.) To everyone else, may you have a very excellent writing season. I know I will.

COLORLESS took second...again!

Boy what a busy time this has been for me! I've been picking corn, harvesting other produce, making the corn maze, & hauling pumpkins. This picture shows one of the many loads we did today. Tell you what, the kids fell into their beds as soon as we were done.

But in the middle of all that, I entered the first chapter of COLORLESS into another contest and took 2nd place! This one was hosted by Authors Incognito. The cool part is that the other gals who placed 3rd & 1st are really wonderful, published authors. I'm happy to even be on the same page as they are.

Here's a look at the results...

The good news on the home front is that I'll be done with farming and back to writing full time on November 1st! Yay! I've registered for a writer's retreat that first week of November as my reward for working my rear off for no pay all year long.

It's great to get the feedback that people understand and enjoy my writing.

Have you ever gotten that one special feedback that just made your day?

Summer Giveaway, POSSESSION by Elana Johnson!

Since summer is always more fun with a giveaway, I’m giving away POSSESSION, by Elana Johnson.

I met Elana at Storymakers writer’s conference 2010 and she helped me change my pitiful query letter into something worthwhile. I was impressed by her vivacious personality and contagious smile. You can’t visit with her and not smile. She’s that cool.

Elana's debut novel, POSSESSION, is available from Simon & Schuster now!

Elana's Bio:

"She wishes she could experience her first kiss again, tell the mean girl where to shove it, and have cool superpowers like reading minds and controlling fire. To fulfill her desires, she writes young adult science fiction and fantasy.

"She is the author of From the Query to the Call, an ebook that every writer needs to read before they query.

"She runs a personal blog on publishing and is a founding author of the QueryTracker blog. She blogs regularly at The League of Extraordinary Writers, co-organizes WriteOnCon, and is a member of SCBWI.

"Elana is represented by Michelle Andelman of Regal Literary."

If you are struggling with getting good responses from your query, you should definitely check her out. She’ll rock your query.

If you like fast-paced, YA dystopian, then Possession would be a fun summer read for you.

Entering is easy! Just follow my blog & leave a comment with your email like this to prevent spammers: youremail AT wherever DOT com.

If you tweet or share this giveaway, let me know and I’ll throw in another entry for you.

I’ll draw a winner July 1st! Good luck!

COLORLESS Won 3rd...

Just a quick note to say that my alternate history WIP, COLORLESS, won 3rd place at the Storymakers first chapter contest. Yep, having a pretty good day...

I shall now go do the happy dance.

Winners of Adopt a Book!

Thank you to everyone who adopted a book. I’m sure they will be well loved and cared for in their new homes.


And here’s the list of the proud parents with their new books:

lisasanuma , Unlocked, Ten Key Tales

Renee Miller , Artemis Fowl, and The Wish List.

Michelle Teacress , Artimus Fowl, The Opal Deception

Ladies! Congratulations. Please be sure to email me with your address!

Adopt a Book!

Spring cleaning has yielded duplicate—but wonderful—books that need a home since I’ve ruthlessly ripped them from my shelves. 



ARTEMIS FOWL, THE OPAL DECEPTION, and THE WISH LIST by Eoin Colfer



GIRL WITH A DRAGON TATTOO by Steig Larsson



BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, hardback Disney classic (my son loves it, can you tell?)

UNLOCKED, TEN KEY TALES - This has one of my stories included in the anthology!

*Wipes a tear* Poor homeless little dears. Do you have a cozy spot on your shelves for these little darlings? The Goddess of the Corn Book-Adoption agency is ready for your application.

To apply:

Follow this blog, leave a comment stating which book you want to adopt, and mention something about what kind of a home you’d give the book = 3 points. 

For multiple entries or to adopt more than one book, you can get extra entries for:

1. Subscribing to this blog via email (The email widget is just above my picture) = 3 points.

2. Sharing this on Facebook or Twitter = 1 point for each post. (use the Facebook link at the top of the page. The one below is giving me fits today)

3. Blog about it, or adopt out some of your own poor homeless books in your Blog and link back = 5 points.

4. Tell me what you did!

Winners will be announced on April 1st (no fooling) *wink*. Good luck everyone!

Here's the good news I told you about

Here’s the good news I told you about.


I participated in a flash fiction challenge for the Canadian emagazine, Open Book, and won! The rules stated that the story had to be 500 words or less, 3rd person limited, and funny. The winner would be published in the next month’s issue.

My flash fiction, Stroke, might feel a little risqué, but stick with it, and I hope it makes you smile.

You can go directly to Stroke here.

Or you can check out the emagazine, Open Book, here and scroll down to see the January Flash Fiction Challenge Winner.

I find writing comedy to be hard. It seems like it should be easy, but I don't think it is. I'm never quite sure if what I think is funny will tickle other people's funny bone or not. Do you have the same issue or is comedy easy for you?

Taking the Plunge: NaNoWriMo

Hello cyber buddies!


I’ve decided to finally take the plunge and do NaNoWriMo. What is it, you ask? It’s an insane challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in one month. November. That’s right. ONE MONTH! I’ve heard about it for years in forums, but I’ve never had the desire to try…until now.

I have a myriad of good, perfectly valid reasons why I don’t have time to do it. Just add 5 kids to the farm and you’ve got an idea of how much I have on my plate. However, I also am a writer.

It finally dawned on me that even if I tried and only got 40k words in one month, then that’s still an awesome achievement. If we make it, we win. If we don’t reach our goal, we still win because we made the effort and wrote every day for the whole month. Is there a downside to this?

If any of you would like to join me in my quest for 50K, my username is mrs.farmgirl. I think I’ll spend every spare moment from now till November outlining.

Happy writing everyone, and I hope to see you there!

Are any of you doing NaNoWriMo with me?

Winners of the UNLOCKED Giveaway!

First of all, don’t forget to get your own free ebook download of Unlocked, Ten Key Tales. Wouldn’t you want to read my story, Crop Circles? One super easy click and this YA anthology is yours. http://www.unlockedproject.com 

Now, onto the contest results…

I wrote the names of everyone who entered a “keyn” response to the Unlocked giveaway on cards, put them in a bowl, mixed them up, and then had my 3 year old hand me three of cards.

And the winners of the Unlocked paperback copies are…. Drum roll please.

Angie

Debbie Davis

&

Grandpa Goose

*Cheers! Yay! Woot Woot!*

Congratulations to the winners and a heartfelt thanks to everyone who entered.

Good News & Bad News

The Good News: I'll soon have a computer again! As my tweeps and facebook buddies know, My poor laptop died.

We held a candlight vigil for the hard drive amidst much tears, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. Okay so maybe it was just me that mourned the loss of all those outlines and notes that it took to the grave, but still. The bright side of this tragedy is that I've emailed all finished chapters to my writing buddies already so my current WIP (Colorless) and my finished one (Coyote Dreams) are not gone forever--just the notes I've made this summer. (You know, all the research, planning, soul searching, character studies... I need to stop now or I'll forget this is the bright side.)

A fixed laptop means that I'll be able to write during the day again--as opposed to in the middle of the night when I should be resting up for the next big day of unpaid grunt labor--er, I mean farm work. Harvest season here on the farm can be brutal, but I strive to write anyway. You can see what I'm up to on the farm right now here.

The Bad News:
You only have a few days left to win a free copy of my book, UNLOCKED, Ten Key Tales. Leave a comment on this thread and you will be entered for one of 3 free copies. No catches. It's easy! C'mon, don't you know a  reader who needs a new good, clean book? Give it a go.

More Good News:
You can download the book for free right now. Go to http://www.unlockedproject.com/ to get your free copy.

UNLOCKED has been...well, unlocked. *Happy Release Day Everyone!*

Hello All,

UNLOCKED is now available to you free! Check out http://www.unlockedproject.com/ and download this YA collection for you, or your kids for a fun, end-of-summer read. Be sure to put your name in the hat for a one of the 3 free copies I'm giving away. You can enter in the comments here  in my contest.

Would you be willing to give us feedback on the project? Like it? Don't like it? Tell us the how and why. You can join the discussion on Goodreads in the new Unlocked group and even chat with each author about their story there. If you'd rather blog, you can check out http://unlockedproject.blogspot.com/ and connect with authors that way.

Remember, if you tweet, blog, or facebook about UNLOCKED, then you get an extra entry in the hat for  a free copy, just tell me in the comments what you did.

IN OTHER NEWS: me.

I had the opportunity to be a guest blogger on Christine Bryant's blog series, Friendly Fridays. Would you like to know a little more about me? Check it out on Christine's Blog!

Book Trailer for Unlocked & Book Giveaway!

Hi everyone! This is the book trailer I've been working on for UNLOCKED, the YA anthology that will be available for free downloads on August 13th. I've just received permission for the music so I'm very excited! I hope you like my first attempt at making a video!

Now, how would you like to win a free physical copy of Unlocked?

Each story in the book contains the word key, though each used the word's meaning differently. So here's your challenge: Think of an unusual way to use the word key and post it in the comments below. At the end of August, I'll draw 3 names and send each a copy of UNLOCKED.

Post your email like myemailATthisserverDOTcom to avoid spam.

Extra entries for every tweet, facebook mention and blog. Be sure to report what you did.

August 13th is nearly here! I can't wait to share this with you all.

Winner of the Drabble Contest...

First of all, a big thanks to all you awesome writers who played along with my Drabble Contest. Your entries were great fun to read!

And the winner is.....*drum roll*......*using Random.org*......

Little Berry Girl!

Congratulations! You requested Seasons of America Past, by Eric Sloane. Consider it done.

Everyone, when my blog hits 100 followers, we'll play another giveaway game. Thanks for sharing your time and talents with me.

-hugs-

...and happy writing!

Contest: 100 Words = ANY Book You Want!

Are you a writer? Yes? Perfect. Then 100 words is a piece of cake for you. Right?

You can write 100 words before finishing breakfast with one-half your brain tied behind your back. But slow down! This isn’t as easy as it seems.

A Drabble must be 100 words exactly. No more. No less. It must be an original, fictional story with a beginning, middle, and end.

So, I’ve decided to sweeten the pot. How would you like to win that book you’ve been drooling over on Amazon? Which book you say? ANY BOOK YOU WANT! I have a wish list a mile long and I bet many of you have a book or two that you haven’t bought yet.

To Enter the Contest You Must:

1. Follow my blog.

2. Write your own drabble following these guidelines and post it in the comments of this blog thread before midnight, Sunday June 13th.

3. End your post with the book YOU want from Amazon and your email (written like: thisismyemail(at)thisprovider(dot)com to prevent spammers).

See? Easy. Want extra entries? You got it. You can get Bonus entries if you:

1. Follow me on Twitter & Tweet about this contest = 2 extra 

2. Post something to Facebook about this contest = 1 extra

3. Blog about this contest -or- Do your own blog with a Drabble contest = 3 extra

....And send me the link. See? Easy.

Here, let me show you one I whipped out this morning so you can get an idea.

*******

Everything will be perfect. Skillfully, I apply the eyeliner and spray the masterpiece that is my hair. Heels, little black dress: preparation for my lover. I live for him, ache for him, depend on him.

His car arrives. A flutter of anticipation fills my belly. My eyes linger on his chest, his face.

The door opens.

I flash a come-hither smile.

He strides across the room, his body inches from mine.

He stoops, groping the recliner for the remote.

Our toddler walks in and vomits on my shoe.

I wince. “Happy Anniversary, Dear.”

The TV flicks on. “What’s for dinner?”

*******

*Snicker* I had you going there for a minute, didn’t I? That’s as risqué as I get, people.

Details: All entries must be acceptable for YA viewers (Nothing nasty, people, or I’ll delete it) If your book cost more than $25 then I will send you an Amazon gift certificate for $25 to go towards the purchase of your choice. The winners will be chosen using Random.org and announced on June 14th.

A special thank you to my good friend, Renee Miller, who challenged the writers from On Fiction Writing to write a Drabble and win a copy of our book Menage-a-20 from Lulu.com. You can follow that link for a chance to win Menage-a-20 with your drabble submission if you like!

******UPDATE! CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED!******* Our winner was Little Berry Girl! Thanks to all who participated.

My Lucky Day!

I've got some more awesome news to share. Remember how I told you that I was attending the LDS Writers Conference? Well I entered a drawing for a seat at the table with the guest authors and won! Oh. My. Gosh. I know!  Crazy awesome. THis is who I will be dining with the weekend of April 23rd...and can I just say, Jessica Day George is one of my favorite authors of all time. I can't hardly believe it!

 "Two--yes, two--lucky winners of the Show Your Love for the Storymakers Contest will receive a reserved seat at the 7th Annual LDStorymakers Writers Conference for Friday night dinner and entertainment at a special table with:

Shaun Barrowes
Musician for Friday night entertainment, and top 48 contestant on American Idol season 7.
http://www.shaunbarrowes.blogspot.com/
http://www.myspace.com/shaunbarrowes

James Dashner
Author of The Maze Runner and The 13th Reality Series.
http://www.jamesdashner.blogspot.com/


Jessica Day George  [[[one of my favorite authors!!!]]]
Author of Dragon Slippers; Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow; Dragon Flight; Princess of the Midnight Ball; and Dragon Spear.
http://www.jessicadaygeorge.com/

Krista Marino
Editor for Young Adult and Middle Grade books for Delacorte Press, an imprint of Random House Children's Books. Recent books she's edited include The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel Series by Michael Scott, Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan, and The Maze Runner by James Dashner.

David Wolverton/Farland
Author of several books, including the Runelords series, and writing instructor of authors like Stephenie Meyer, Brandon Sanderson, and Brandon Mull.
http://www.davidfarland.net/   "

Anyone want to do the happy dance with me? I'm doin it, yeah!

I've also completed editing of three more chapters in my Coyote Dreams YA novel which brings the grand total up to...drum roll please... 25 of the 52 chapters are done. I am on target to get this done and ready for final readers by the end of March.