The Winner of the Free Critique Is . . .
July 17, 2009
Did I already tell you all that I’ll be offering these critiques from time to time? My goal is to do one a month, at least. We’ll see how that fits into my schedule. Sometimes the I-can-do-this side of my brain goes into hyperdrive and needs an all-nighter to get recalibrated.
Enough stalling. 
The winner is — Bonnie.
Bonnie, I’ll send you an email with the formatting for the ten pages.
Thanks for throwing your name in the hat, everyone. I always hate that only one person can win. Maybe next time I’ll have two winners. (See? That side of my brain is heading for the cliff.) Regardless, let’s do it again soon.
A Month of Randomness
March 2, 2009
It’s been quite a while since I did any serious blogging, despite my January goal to do more, but it’s not my fault. Really! My laptop betrayed me right after I listed my goals, and it limped along for almost two months before it finally died in February.
Insert moment of silence.
I had someone look at it to see if it was fixable, but, alas, it was not. I’m just relieved that I backed everything up two hours before the computer froze on me for the last time.
So I spent about two weeks running up to my husband’s office at church to do my editing on his computer. Needless to say, all other online stuff had to wait.
But we have a new laptop now so I’m back! And I thought I’d catch up on a few things that have been banging around in my head for the last month.
1. You all might want to thank my laptop for dying when it did – the day before the news about A-Rod’s flunked steroid test came out. I did several mental blog rants in my head since I couldn’t get to a computer. Lucky you. But I feel better now. And I caught a White Sox preseason game yesterday which they won in the ninth inning. Go Sox.
2. Shelf Life, the story that finaled in the ‘07 Genesis contest, has been simmering and deepening in my mind for the last couple of years. I’ve got a pretty thorough outline, but there was one important bit of info that I couldn’t figure out — why the heroine’s husband had failed as a major league closer. I didn’t want it to be the whole steroid issue (see #1), and I already knew how the book would end, but I couldn’t figure out for the life of me what the guy’s problem was.
I figured it out! And in the weirdest place. My husband gets ESPN the magazine, and I skim through it for whatever looks interesting. There was an article in there about a month ago on fans heckling players, and bam — my answer was right there. What excited me the most was that what happened to one pro player was something I already had as a major issue in my story. So the answer fit perfectly into the story and deepened so much of the novel. I know that’s vague, but I’m pumped.
I really want to enter the Genesis contest again, but I think our two mortgages are going to prevent that. Which stinks because I’d love the feedback on Shelf Life and two other stories. But I’m getting okay with that.
Still . . . rats.
3. I’d love to hear what you all feel about novels that make you read the next book to find out what happens. On my last post, Tina Forkner, who’s a published novelist, left her thoughts on Daisy Chain and its ending. From the reviews I’ve seen, it almost seems like people who are more readers than writers don’t like to be left hanging while people who are writers are fine with it.
I know I’m a writer so I’m not even in line with what I think I’m seeing, but right now I’m looking at it as a reader. I want to get from beginning to end in that book I’m holding because I’m reading for fun. And getting to the end and not finding out what happened isn’t fun. I wonder if we writers sometimes get caught up in our work as art and forget that our readers are into it for fun, escape, relaxation, etc.
What do you think?
I Forgot!
July 31, 2007
I forgot to post July’s book giveaway today. But here’s the news you’ve been waiting for. The winner of Mary DeMuth’s debut novel Watching the Tree Limbs is . . . Julie.
Congrats, Julie. For the rest of you, I have a great book by a new author for August’s giveaway. Stay tuned for info on that . . .
June Book Winner
July 2, 2007
Congrats to Jane who won Rene Gutteridge’s Snitch. It’s a very fun book, and I’m sure she’ll enjoy it.
I haven’t yet picked out July’s book giveaway, but there will be one. Keep an eye out on the blog, and it’ll show up at some point during the month.
June Winners — July Giveaway
June 4, 2007
We have winners again!
Georgiana D won Crime & Clutter, and Laura at I’m an Organizing Junkie won A Bigger Life. Congrats, ladies!
July’s giveaway will be Snitch by Rene Gutteridge. I reviewed this very funny book a week or so ago. You can find out more about it and Rene here.
Also, I’m going to be working this month’s giveaway a tad differently. If you’d like to be entered in the contest for this book, please leave a comment ON THIS POST. You have no idea how much time it took to go through each June post and copy every commenter’s name on little slips of paper. Frankly, I have no idea how much time it took either because I wasn’t timing it, but it sure felt like a lot!
As always there may be another book that comes up for grabs later in the month so stay tuned.
Also, remember the 4 book Glass Road giveaway I did a couple weeks ago? Well, it’s going on this week on Deborah’s blog, only this time it’s 5 books.
I tell ya, there’s nothing like free books!
Glass Road 4-Book Giveaway — And the Winner Is . . .
May 25, 2007
For those of you who showed up to see my summer schedule, I apologize. The Glass Road book giveaway has taken up today’s post so we’ll postpone that until next Friday.
But we do have a winner. My husband took a moment from his video game playing to pull a name from the “hat,” and he pulled out . . . Kerri!
So, congrats, Kerri. You win all four books — Fair Game, Veil of Fire, Gone with the Groom, and Bygones. I’ll send your snail mail on to Glass Road, and they will mail the books to you.
I hope you all enjoyed hearing about the books. Just more to add to the To Be Read list, isn’t it?
Speaking of To Be Read lists, I got tagged about that. Come back Monday for something I never thought I’d say.
Thanks for playing, everyone! Remember to leave a comment through the end of May for a shot at Crime and Clutter or A Bigger Life.
We Have Winners! And May’s Month of Goodies
May 2, 2007
Those of you who left a comment during April were part of a top-secret drawing last night. All your names went into my little stainless steel bowl (it was clean), and I swished you round and round while you slept (or something) and drew out two names . . .
The winner of Sharon Dunn’s Death of a Garage Sale Newbie is Deborah!
And the winner of the free critique is David Fry!
So congratulations, everyone.
For everyone who didn’t win (I hate losing, too), take heart. After all, May is another month, as Scarlett would have said. Here are the two books I’ll be giving away for sure with a third possibly in the works. Stay tuned for that one.
A Bigger Life by Annette Smith
Joel Carpenter’s life was never supposed to turn out this way. But after making a careless choice four years ago, his marriage was permanently shattered. Living in a small town deep in the heart of Texas, he now finds himself estranged from his ex-wife, Kari, and sharing custody of their son.
Just when Joel thinks the worst is behind him, he realizes he is facing his greatest challenge yet. And in the midst of deep tragedy, Joel is learning that forgiveness is way more important than freedom. Hopefully it’s not too late.
I have an interview with Annette coming in the near future.
Crime and Clutter by Cyndy Salzmann
A storage unit, a 1963 Volkswagen minibus, and tattered letters…reveal shattering secrets from the ’60s.
It’s been a year since Mary Alice lost her father — the father she never really knew. Now she’s stuck cleaning out his rubbish from a storage unit. Just when she’d rather it all go away from her well-ordered life, her long-held secret is discovered by the feisty Marina, one of the six members of the Friday Afternoon Club.
When these friends make it their mission to help Mary Alice tackle her stash, they arrive at the storage unit, prepared to clean. But what they discover takes them on a riotous ride through the crime and clutter of the sixties, the angst and betrayal of those caught in The Revolution, and the forgiveness that can only come through acceptance of a different kind of Cause.
Includes fun, easy, and tantalizing recipes!
I got to meet the lovely Cyndy Salzmann recently. The interview we planned for last month has been moved to May. I think it’ll be a fun one.
One last bit of business–it’s late and I’m really tired so if there are any typos, it might have just been my forehead momentarily falling onto the keyboarzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
- Don’t forget to leave a tip! Prize for the best tip will be announced soon, as soon as Sally remembers it (seriously).
- Friday — where are our routines now?
March Winners — And April Giveaways
April 2, 2007
For those of you who’ve been following my blog this first month, THANK YOU! You all are my new best friends. It’s been a little scary jumping into the blogging world. I wondered if I’d end up like that tree that falls in an unoccupied forest, but this afternoon, as I was writing every commenter’s name on little scraps of paper, I realized how many have posted here. Thank you! It’s been fun.
And now for our winners. Shelley won Linda Nichol’s In Search of Eden. Congrats, Shelley! Still haven’t had a chance to read it. Let me know how it is.
Robin has won the 2007 Christian Writers’ Market Guide. Congratulations, Robin and Shelley. I’ll get these books to you right away.
Now for April.
I was actually on vacation last week so I didn’t have a chance to plan out April’s schedule completely. The one book I know I’ll be giving away is Sharon Dunn’s latest release Death of a Garage Sale Newbie. I haven’t read this book yet, but I’ve read Sharon’s three previous books and they were great. I’m sure this one will be fun, too. You can check it out here if you’d like. Again, just post a comment any time during April to be entered.
I will also be offering a free twenty-five page critique to one writer who posts a comment this month. If you’re interested in that, please do include that in your post. That’ll help me so much come May 1st! If you’d like info on my critique service, please check here.
There still may be another free book or two in the works so stay tuned. I’ll let you know as soon as I nail everything down.
Well, I’m off to straighten my house after vacation. A week’s worth of laundry in one day — ughh.