Win a Gift Certificate to Home Depot!

Hi! I hope everyone is having a great Friday. The weekend is only hours away.

Would you like to win a $20 gift certificate to the Home Depot? If so, just go to my website: http://dianewylie.tripod.com and sign up for my newsletter. You will automatically be entered to win. The drawing will be held on May 31, 2005.

While you are there, why not read an excerpt of my novel, My Enemy, My Love, release by Whiskey Creek Press? I think you might like it.

Have a great weekend! Diane
:)

I've sent out a new submission - wish me luck!

Well, this past weekend, I decided to dust off a science-fiction manuscript I'd penned about 10 years ago and take the plunge with it. As of yesterday, "Tethers" is officially submitted to Cerridwen Press, the new mainstream e-book division of Ellora's Cave.

"Tethers" is the story of Kathryn ("Kat") Emmente and her daughter, Jerica, who are among a group of survivors from an interstellar vehicle explosion left stranded on an uninhabited terra-farming colony on a satellite moon of Jupiter. Although at first, Kat and her fellow survivors hunker down to wait for rescue, they quickly realize that someone is sabotaging their escape efforts, and trying to kill them in the process -- someone among them.

I'd sent "Tethers" off 10 years ago, when first completed, to Del Rey, and had received a nice letter from an editor there. He suggested some changes and encouraged me to resubmit. Which I never did, because at the time, my confidence in my writing wasn't strong enough, I guess, or my ego, too fragile. I don't know. I just balked -- chickened out. Put "Tethers" in a drawer and didn't touch it again.

I know. *slapping self in head with palm* stupid stupid stupid

Now, 10 years older (and wiser, I'd like to think), I've got my confidence at an all-time high, and figured "why not?" It's a good story -- the first time I learned to develop a villain, in addition to my hero/heroes and find/explain some kind of motivation behind wicked, even brutal deeds. "Tethers" still contains some of my favorite all-time characters.

So cross your fingers, if you happen to think about it. I should hear back in 8 weeks, minimum, if they'd like to see the whole manuscript. I don't have an excerpt posted anywhere at the moment for "Tethers," but will probably post the first chapter at my forum this week: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tiralainn/ I invite you to join, and take a look. Let me know what you think!

Sara Reinke
www.tiralainn.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tiralainn/

Checking In ~ Hi y'all

Happy to be a part of the Flowers and Hearts author team! We have a stellar line up here. Looking forward to shaking up the Internet with y'all.

Hugs,
Barb
www.BarbWebb.com
Blog for Writers (Contests/Market Information) www.BarbWebb.blogspot.com

First ever blog!

I've never blogged before, so this is new terrain for me. I'm proud to be a member of the Flowers and Hearts Author Group. I love to write, and I have five romance novels published so far. Each month I choose a name from my newsletter list, and that person receives a free copy of an ebook of their choice. If you'd like to sign up, please go to:
http://www.janetmills.net/newsletter_request.htm
or e-mail me at: janet@janetmills.net

Contest Promo: Win a free ebook!

I am running a contest for a free download of my forthcoming ebook, The Beast: Taking Back Control. It is a vampire/paranormal romance erotica. It will be coming soon to Changeling Press.

The challenge is to guess the date of release. The person, or up to three people who guess the correct date, will receive a free download immediately after it is published to Changeling Press.

There are two ways to enter the contest:

1. Join my yahoo group romance_the_night and post your response there. romance_the_night-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
2. Or... Send an email with your guess to rgeorge@romance-the-night.com
   

The winner will be announced on my website, yahoo group, blog, and by email.

Warmest,
Renee George

Synopsis:
The Beast: Taking Back Control
By Renee George

Doctor Nathan Greer had his throat ripped out three years ago by a vengeful, dominatrix lover, and awoke the next night to find himself a creature of the night. He discovered shortly thereafter, that returning to a normal life would be less than easy, especially after a night of sex with a "normal" date turned him into a ruthless killer--a beast.

Now, after three years of celibacy, he is finding it harder and harder to control the Beast. After a night in the emergency room, and sex by proxy, he nearly kills a co-worker. Nathan, with no other choice, searches out Guillermo Perez, a master vampire in the city, and owner of Corazon de la Muerta, a BDSM night club in downtown Kansas City, for help. Guillermo is powerful, sexy, and surer of himself than any one Nathan has ever known. He worries about Guillermo's desire to make Nathan his lover, and is unprepared for his own cravings for the master vampire.

Checking In

I had no problems signing in but then I didn't have a previous blog here to worry with --nor anywhere else for that matter. I'm sure this can be fun and a good promotion tool as well. After returning from RT I will post about my latest releases--two this month from different publishers.

Gwynn

Ideas

On a publisher's list, we've been discussing the risk of sharing ideas.

One person asked, "Aren't you afraid if you talk about an idea for a
book, that someone will take that idea and run with it?"

As for me, no, I'm not afraid to bounce ideas around with friends.
No two authors ever implement an idea in the same way or tell
the same tale from the same starting point.

So, if I talk about the idea for a paranormal novel in which the
hero is a vampire with a cavity in his fang ... LOL...

Every author who sees that premise will treat it differently.

Our hero could have a pathological fear of dentists and the
heroine is a psychiatrist. That would be a cool starting place.

Our hero, recoiling from modern dentistry and its light
hardened fillings, could steal an experimental time travel
machine and go back years to when dentists didn't use
ultraviolet light to harden fillings.

Our hero could enthrall the dentist and make her work on him,
using old equipment and procedures, only to find that he's
fallen in love with her.

There are as many ways to approach this as there are people
who might pick it up and run with it.

And none of the stories will be the same, or even very similar
as we all spin yarns in our own way.


Cassie Walder

Oh! A New Place to Blog

Right now, I'm at a lull in publishing. Taking on the Presidency of EPIC -- the Electronically Published Internet Connection -- ratcheted down my urge and my time to create a new book. Then I ran for a second term, and won, and am having to let the book in the back of my head reach a keyboard so that I can sleep at night and not bump into maple trees when I am walk around in my yard. (The trees tend to win confrontations.)

But the question I have is this: Are readers interested in a small-town, hardworking young woman who wins a lottery of enormous proportions? Could readers identify? Could they believe that great good luck could lead to corresponding stress, particularly in a very basic issue: Does he love me or my money?

Responses will be warmly welcomed.

Submissions invited

I am part of a committee assembling an anthology of encouragement for people giving care to Alzheimer's patients. The anthology will be sold with ALL royalties going to a recognized Alzheimer's charity, yet to be chosen. None of us involved in this project will take even a penny of the profits.

We are looking for short uplifting fiction (3 to 5 thousand words) dealing with caregiving issues, short encouraging nonfiction articles (1 to 2 thousand words) about aspects of caregiving, poetry about caring for people, easy recipies for caregivers. Altzheimer's caregivers are frequently low on both time and energy. So, we want to keep things short, and encouraging. Heaven knows caregiving can be tremendously stressful and discouraging. This anthology is our double-edged gift to the caregiving community--encouragement for caregivers and the royalties for research to help find a cure for this terrible thief of lives.

All submissions will be reviewed by a committee to choose the pieces for this book. Contributors whose work is accepted will receive no monetary compensation, but will receive credit for the piece with a one paragraph bio including a website link, if you desire, in the contributors section of the book and will receive one electronic copy of the finished book. We take first print and e-publishing rights. Once accepted into the anthology, the work may not be withdrawn.

If you're interested in participating, email me privately at mkwoods@csj.net.

None of us can do everything. Working together, we can make a difference.

Thanks.

Karen Woods