Welcome to Day 7 of my Launch Contest!

Today is the final day to enter the contest and win some free books! I’ve had fun this week and I hope you have too. :D

It’s an extremely frigid (19 degrees) and icy morning after the nasty storm Friday/Saturday. Today the sun is shining even though it’s so damn cold my teeth hurt when I rinsed them with tap water. LOL. I’m sort of stuck in the house, not that I really need to go anywhere, so hopefully I’ll be writing.

One of my favorite weekend activities is reading the Sunday paper with a cup of coffee. *sigh* I lurv that hour where all I do is read and drink my hot brew. It’s very relaxing, something that I’ve always fiercely insisted on, no matter what my crazy kids are doing. Sometimes it takes some time to get there but I make sure it happens.

What’s your favorite weekend activity? Mine are:

- Reading
- Shopping (when my ankle is ready again!)
- The Sunday paper and coffee

Happy Saturday and welcome to contest day 6!

It’s a snowy/sleety/yucky day here in NC and I’m a little late getting my post up. Something about the morning made me sleep late, which was of course quite nice. :)

I went to my book club last night, came home exhausted after a couple of hours, and didn’t get a chance to discuss the book.

So for today’s post, we’re going to talk about books. I just started The Bargain Bride by Barbara Metzger. I love the kind of romances where the marriage is based on money, then there’s conflict (lots of it), then there’s love (lots of it).

I also just got The Gentleman’s Quest by Deborah Simmons, one of my favorite HQ authors. I will finish the other book first even though I’m verrrry tempted.

The rest of my TBR pile is so enormous, it’s frightening.

How about y’all, tell me what book you’re currently reading, just finished, or are just about to start.

Isn’t it beautiful? Gorgeous, wonderful and elegant? I’m in love with this new design!

And did you see Emma’s site? All pink and pretty!

So we’re on day 5 – woohoo! I loved reading about everyone’s fondest wishes. Some of them made me want to revise my list. LOL.

Today let’s talk about something really different – favorite TV shows. Last night I watched one of my favorite TV shoes, Bones. I just adore watching the show, the interplay between the characters is flawless and hilarious at times.

So, here is my list of favs in no particular order:

- Bones
- CSI (Vegas)
- CSI: Miami
- Survivor (yes, I will admit it)
- Holmes on Homes (love me some Mike Holmes)
- House Hunters

Note that I don’t get a lot of TV watching time so I know I’m missing some good ones. I am addicted to HGTV shows and watch so many of them, I only picked my two favs. LOL.

Okay, now everybody share their favorite show(s).

Happy Thursday and welcome to my launch contest day 4. The new design should be online tomorrow along with Emma’s first site. I’m uber-excited!!

I’m hoping y’all will like them too – it’s kind of like buying a new wardrobe, which of course I would be thrilled to do too. LOL. I’ll be looking for y’all to let me know what you think. :)

Today’s post is going to take another right turn. It keeps it exciting, eh? Let’s travel down the road of wishes…

Yesterday Apple introduced the new iPad (which by the way sounds like a feminine product) and it got me to thinking about wishes. Gadgets, toys, money, house, whatever it is that is your fondest wish.

Books allow us to get those wishes, at least in the time that we’re reading them. My fondest wishes are practical…

- To lose weight (now that’s a familiar tune!) and get in shape
- To be debt free
- To be a full-time writer and quit my day job
- To help my family and my husband’s family with money when they need it
- To buy a winning lottery ticket (maybe not practical but honest!)
- To get a B&N Nook – they are sooooo sweet and cute

What about y’all? Share your fondest wishes.

Welcome to the Launch Contest Day 3!

I’m so glad y’all have come by to hang out and play during the week before my new website launches. This will be the third design Croco has done for me and every time, it just gets better and better.

Covers are really important, sometimes not so much, but I think what really grabs me is the tagline and blurb. I don’t read past it if it doesn’t grab me. Let me tell y’all, blurbs are hard to write! Summarizing your story in 150 words or less?

I’m glad I get help from a blurb editor or y’all would probably never read past it. LOL. I thought we’d have fun today and write a tagline and blurb about our own story. The Smart Bitches have done it with taglines with hilarious results.

Ready?

I’ll go first… hee hee…

“The calluses weren’t from real work…

Beth spent her life at a keyboard when she should have been at the farm working. Her mother didn’t know what to do with her and her father simply shook his head. She yearned for more than cows and chickens.

Gareth didn’t know what to make of the farm girl with the laptop. She seemed obsessed with vocabulary words and sentence structure, but it there was something about her that made him want to sing.

When these two love birds have to muck the stalls, who will end up in the hay?”

Okay, who’s up next? Lay it one me! Give me your tagline or blurb.

Welcome to Day 2 of my Launch Contest!

Remember, keep posting to be entered in the launch contest for free books! Woo!!

Today I’m going to talk about something completely different. Covers.

You know as a reader, a cover is what catches my eye. The eye candy, if you will. If a cover looks odd, weird, ugly or just plain badly done, it definitely turns me off. I mean look at the fabulous covers Stephenie Meyers had for the Twilight series. Tastefully done, had nothing to do with the story IMHO, but eye-catching.

As a writer, the cover is the thing I worry about as much as the edits. I’ve had some fabulous covers and I’ve some clunkers that I’m embarrassed to call my own (one was snarked by the Smart Bitches and rightfully so).

Now Emma’s publishing career is starting off with an especially nice cover…

And Beth, well, she’s got an amazingly, deliciously kick-ass cover for her first Berkley…

I could stare at that for hours… :D. What do y’all think about covers? If a cover is truly heinous, will you ever even pick up the book and read the blurb? Or buy it?

Welcome to Day 1 of my Launch Contest! *tosses confetti* I published the contest details last Friday, so let’s get crackin’.

Let’s start the contest by introducing y’all to my new other half, Emma Lang. She’s a bit more feminine than me, likes pink (I’m a purple kind of girl) and her favorite candy is Reese’s. Well, she has that in common with me. :)

Emma grew out of a need to write more, push myself to try new things, and have a fresh look at my books. She’s my softer side, the girl who always wanted to be girly, but was always a tomboy. I’m pleased to have Kensington Brava publish Emma’s books and hope to see many more in the future.

But don’t worry, y’all, Beth isn’t going anywhere! I’m still here, still sassy and sizzling. ;)

Emma’s first book is being released in late June. It’s called Ruthless Heart – the hero is an assassin (squee!) and the heroine is a runaway Mormon scientist/inventory. It’s a “road romance” and is great fun to read.

So today’s question for y’all to answer is, what are the names of the hero and heroine in Ruthless Heart (you can find that info on my site)?

And a bonus question for one more entry into the contest… who is your favorite bad boy hero and why?

Hidey ho y’all! Okay starting Monday January 25, I’m going to have a “Launch The New Design Contest” on my blog. This will run all week and is open to everyone. Here’s the deets:

- All you have to do to enter is post a comment/answer to the blog post. One entry per person but of course, you can comment as many times as you want.
- The winners will be announced the following Monday February 1.
- I am giving away three prizes, and look out y’all, these are FABULOUS prizes.

Prize #1 – An ebook set of all three Devils on Horseback books, (Nate, Jake, and Zeke) in format of choice

Prize #2 – An ebook set of all seven Malloy family books (The Bounty, The Prize, The Reward, The Treasure, The Gift, The Tribute, The Legacy) in format of choice

GRAND PRIZE – A complete paperback set of ALL SEVEN MALLOY FAMILY BOOKS! *gasp*

Yep, you read that right! Lots of free books for everyone!

I’m going to have fun with this and add a funky post each day. Remember, you won’t win if you don’t comment!

So my fabuloso web designer, Frauke at Croco Designs, has been creating a brand new website design for me. It will combine both my site and my new site for Emma Lang.

You may have noticed a few changes in the site, such as new links and different placement of graphics. I just got a sneak peek of the new header and it’s just beautiful! Elegant, sexy, soft and professional. Can’t wait to see it all in action!!

It should be live next Friday the 29th. I’ll have a fantastic blog contest to celebrate so stay tuned for details!

I went for my post-op appointment yesterday afternoon and the dreaded cast is gone! Yay!

The foot was a rainbow of colors from the orange of the antiseptic to the purple of the marker, and the various shades of bruising (we’ve dubbed it the frankenfoot). However, my doctor said it looked great and after some sworn promises from me, agreed to forego another cast, and I am now in a boot (technically it’s an air cast). It’s removable and heavier than what was on my foot. LOL.

The stitches came out (owwwwwww). I can start resting on the foot, while in the boot, and in another three weeks can start walking in it and get my PT started. The boot is a bit awkward and heavy but a cast is too. So I adjust and wear wide legged pants. :)

Happy Hump Day!