TGIF! and a Contest

Just a couple of things before I wish everyone a Happy Holiday Weekend. Abby Annis is having a 200 followers celebration and contest. Go here to check it out for the chance to win some very cool swag.

My current WIP, which apparently is also my once and future WIP is chugging away. I am, however, in dire need of naming help. My male lead needs a name, so if you are so inclined, please leave me your suggestions in a comment.

That’s it folks. Short and sweet. If you are traveling this fine weekend, have a safe trip. If not, I hope you enjoy the fun and frivolity of BBQ and fireworks at home. Happy Fourth and I’ll see you on Monday.

Celebrate Monday and Giveaway Winners

Here we are again at Monday and it’s time to celebrate ourselves. Tell us something good that happened to you. Something that made you happy. Something that you did that made you feel good.

It doesn’t have to be big news or anything earth shattering. Small is good, too.

Today I want to celebrate the winners in my 150 followers contest. There were a ton of entries and my husband did the honors of picking the winners. So here they are.

The winner of the first prize of a $20 gift card is VR Barkowski. The two winners of the $15 gift cards are Justine Dell and Summer from …and this time, concentrate.

Congratulations to all three of you. Click on my email in the sidebar if you would please, and shoot me an email with your email address and your choice of gift card, and I’ll get that out to you as soon as I can.

So that takes care of that. What about you? What’s happy and/or good going on in your life? Share it with us and celebrate yourselves.

TGIF!

Just a reminder that you only have until 6 PM tonight to enter my 150 followers giveaway. Click on the link in my sidebar if you haven’t already signed up for your chance to win a gift card. I’ll announce the winners of my giveaway on Monday.

On the award front, Kelly over at Just Write gifted me with this very cool award sometime forever ago, and now I’d like to pass it on to people who lift me up with their comments.

Jen over at unedited
Theresa at Substitute Teacher’s Saga
Wendy at W.M. Morrell’s Musings From Down Under
Shannon over at Book Dreaming
Tara at Feel of Something New

All of these blogs are great and if you haven’t been over to check them out, you should go over and say hi. Enjoy the weekend and don’t forget to check out the Last Line Blogfest posts going up tomorrow.

TGIF! and a Contest

Being the slacker you all know I am, I completely missed celebrating my 100 followers when I hit that milestone. And I promised myself that I would not miss celebrating at 150 followers because I never cease to be amazed at your kind, generous, warm response to me and my words.

Anyway, I was gifted with that monumental milestone of 150 on 4/19 and now it’s time to celebrate. I wish I could offer critiques or a fiction contest, but real life is not being kind and my brain is dead.

So to celebrate, we’ll have nice old-fashioned giveaway. Up for grabs are three gift cards. One for $20 and two for $15 from either Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Borders, winners choice.

So how does this work?

The rules are simple. You get one entry for each of the things listed below that you do. Since I’m a low-tech kinda girl, I’m keeping this simple. Each entry you get goes into a hat. At the end of the contest, I’ll pull out a winner.

What do you have to do?

1. Comment here to enter. Your comment gets you (+1) entry. Include any of the following information you have to get more entries.
2. You must be a follower of my blog. New followers get (+1) entry, current followers get (+2) entries.
3. Blog about this contest. That will get you (+2) entries. Leave the link here in your comment.
4. Put this contest in your sidebar. That will get you (+2) entries. Leave the link here in your comment.
5. Send followers my way. Each follower you send me that mention you by name gets you (+1) entry.

That’s it. Easy peasy. Make sure you leave your comments. This contest ends next Friday, 4/30 at 6:00 PM EST, and I’ll announce the winners by the following Monday.

TGIF, Contests, and an Award

Happy Friday. It’s been a long stretch with posting both days last weekend with blogfest entries. It’s good to be looking at the weekend. Before we get there though, here’s the last post for this week.

We all know what a slacker I am about awards, so here we are again. It’s time for me to pass on another award that was given to me forever ago by the lovely Christine D and more recently by Tara at Feel of Something New. I don’t think I have to do anything here except pass it on to some of my favorite blogging buddies:

Elizabeth Mueller
Justine Dell
Lola at Sharp Pen/Dull Sword
Talli Roland
Niki at Wool ’n Nuts
and Lilah Pierce

There's contests, too. Rebecca over at Sonshine Thoughts is giving away the cutest owls to celebrate her followers. And Julie Dao over at Silver Lining is celebrating 200 followers. Go over and check them both out.

And that's it for this week. I'm off to Chicago after school today for a wedding this weekend. Have a great Friday folks, and enjoy your own weekend.

Monday, Monday

Happy Monday. At least it’s the start of a short week. I hope it is for you, too. I know we could all use a little time off. Lately life has seemed just a lot more brutal and tiring.

I don’t usually talk about my real life online, but Friday I got my pink slip. My district, with the greatest regret, pink slipped about 230 of their 400 teachers. 48 teachers in the high school where I teach were pink slipped out of 106. And that doesn’t take into consideration the 50 or so teachers they are trying to push out into retirement with negative incentives.

So if I’ve seemed a little short or abrupt or not there at any point in my replies or anything, my apologies. Even though I’m in the top five to be recalled and no one seems worried about my job except me, and even though I’ve known for a while this was coming, I have been surprisingly cranky, and I’m not sure if that’s bled over into my online presence or not.

Either way, I’ll get my job back, or I’ll go back to school. I’ve wanted my Ph.D forever. Or I’ll write the novel this summer instead of curriculum. As my daughter would say, it’ll be fine.

But enough of the Monday gloom and doom. It’s award time. B. Miller and Shelley have given me the Prolific Blogger Award, so thank you very much to them. And Jen over at unedited has gifted me with the Supportive Commenter Award.

It’s my honor at this point to pass this award on to people that gift me with their heartfelt comments regularly. There are so many others that could be on this list, but a lot of them have already received this award. So here is my list. I appreciate you all more than you can know.

Christine at Christine’s Journey
Aubrie at Flutey Words
Lola at Sharp Pen/Dull Sword
Laurel at Laurel’s Leaves
Talli Roland
Tara at Feel of Something New

And speaking of Jen, she’s running a great contest to celebrate her birthday and her 300 followers. Click here and go over and join her.

And speaking of contests, Summer over at And This Time Concentrate is running a contest, too. She's celebrating finishing her MS. So go over and check it out.

Also running a very cool contest is Heim Binas Fiction. Go check it out and enjoy your Monday.

Monday, Monday and a Whole Lotta Links

Sometimes we get a chance to do something that might make the world a better place. Sarah Ann is giving away beautiful handmade earrings in a contest to help highlight the work that NightLight International is doing to rescue girls from human trafficking in Thailand. Click here to find out more and enter. It will go a long way to making this a better Monday.

And on a lighter note, there’s still time to sign up for the In the Beginning…First Page Blogfest. Entries will be posted on April 2nd, so head over to Kelly’s and put your name in Mr. Linky. Go ahead, you know you want to. Mine's already done.

Laurel is running a contest to celebrate her 100 plus followers. The second half of that celebration is a writing contest. So go over and check it out. You have until Sunday, April 4, at midnight EST to enter. And, yes, mine's already done.

Muse in the Fog is giving away a copy of Cleopatra’s Daughter. The contest ends on March 29, so click here to enter.

And last but not least, Karen over at Naptime for Novels has a cool new contest celebrating her 101 followers. Click here to check out the very neat prizes you can win.

Happy Saturday

Today’s post is all about Southern Princess. First up is Courtney’s moving post today about Team Brooklyn Rose. Go read it and see what you can do to help.

Second up is Courtney’s great contest to celebrate her one hundred followers. Great giveaways, great contest. Go check it out. And then have a great weekend, everybody.

Two Contests and an Award

And because everybody likes to get stuff, the contests come first.

Beth Revis is having a wicked cool contest to celebrate her book deal, and she’s giving away two prize packages, one for a writer, and one for a reader. Contest ends April 3rd, so go enter.

And Shannon, over at Ramblings of a Wannabe Scribe is also hosting a contest to celebrate hitting 400 followers. Go here to get in on the festivities.

And now for the award. Laurel over at Laurel’s Leaves has passed on the Prolific Blogger Award to me. What is a Prolific Blogger you ask? I’m glad you asked.

"A Prolific Blogger is one who is intellectually productive...keeping up an active blog that is filled with enjoyable content."

And what are the rules for this award? I’m glad you asked.

The rules for this one are as follows:
1. Every winner of the Prolific Blogger Award has to pass on this award to at least seven other deserving prolific bloggers. Spread some love!
2. Each Prolific Blogger must link to the blog from which he/she has received the award. (see above).
3. Every Prolific Blogger must link back to this post, which explains the origins and motivation for the award.
4. Every Prolific Blogger must visit this post and add his/her name in the Mr. Linky, so that we can get to know the other winners.

So thank you Laurel for this lovely award. And now I get to pass it on to seven of the most prolific bloggers I know.

Amy at She Writes writes with such fierce honesty her work takes my breath away. She never ceases to amaze me with her words.

Yvonne at The Organic Writer amazes me with her prose and her poetry. She creates incredible pictures in my mind with so few words. I am in awe of her talent and her mad skillz.

Lola at Sharp Pen/Dull Sword has the most lovely pictures with her posts. They make me smile and her words make me smile. It’s a joy to read her posts.

Patrick Tillett is the most incredible storyteller. Enough said.

Talli Roland always makes me think when I read her posts. Or crave cupcakes. Both of these things are very, very good.

Karen at Coming Down From the Mountain asks interesting questions that really beg answers. This, too, is very, very good.

Erin at Musings of a Writer Chick Living in Paradise encourages great discussions over at her blog. She also has some of the best blog post titles around.

And the winner is...

Ok, I know I said I'd wait until Monday to post the winner in my contest/blogfest, but I was so excited that I couldn't wait. I had everything ready to go for the big moment, and now it's official. We have a winner. So with all appropriate pomp and circumstance and a big drumroll, it is my pleasure to announce said winner.

Christine Danek, come on down! :) Congratulations, Christine. Please click on my name in the sidebar and send me an email telling me which gift card you'd like, (Amazon, Borders, or Barnes and Noble), and give me your snail mail address so I can get your prize right out to you.

And again, I want to say thank you to all of my followers for their kind words, their warmth, and their intelligence. It's a pleasure to hang out in the blogosphere with you all. And if/when I hit 100 of you, it's gonna be flash fiction time. I want to read what you write.

Happy weekend to you all.

TGIF!

Don't forget my contest ends tonight at 6:00 EST. So if you've been procrastinating, you're running out of time to get your entries in. I'll be announcing the winner tomorrow. And since we're here at the end of another week, I'm leaving you with a snippet that just kinda makes me feel good. Enjoy and have a good weekend.

Reeds sway, silent sentinels chasing shadows. A night heron crows as it takes flight. The call of a willet pierces the early morning stillness, and he catches the black and white pattern of a flashing wing as it comes in for a landing.

His hand finds hers. Long, cool fingers wrap his as she leans in, strong and solid beside him, fused shoulder to hip.

The whisper of bare feet is lost here to the sounds of the shore; the soft rustle of grass, the screams of gulls swooping low, the gentle slap of waves coming home.

Sand is implacable here. It blows and shifts, changing boundaries and erasing everything.

He can almost forget there’s a world up the bluff on the other side of the highway.

They crest the dune together, in lockstep, the way they do everything, and stop and stare.

Shards of brilliant gold explode on the horizon; the first orange-red brush strokes of a rising sun painting a lightening blue-black sky.

The breeze shifts; picks up; sea and salt and sun; time and tide. It’s all right here, right now as the world transitions into life and light.

He slips in behind her; slides his arms around her, pulls her back tight against him, hands gentle as they glide along the curve of her belly.

A small shiver runs through her and into him as she leans back, quiet and still in his arms, hands covering his.

He buries his face in her hair; breathes her in deep, feels the band around his chest loosen as he exhales softly in her ear. “High tide.”

She hums in response, stretches out an elegant arm; pulls his focus out as she points down the beach. It’s colder here now; his arms wrap her tighter and he rests his cheek on her hair as clear, hollow eyes track his sisters across the sand, onto the pier.

All his senses push; salt air and sea breeze and the sun climbing high on the horizon converge and he blinks hard against the sudden sting in his eyes.

Through crystal tears he sees they’ve reached the end of their journey; stand suspended statue-still between sea and sky and sand; the illusion of solid ground.

He wonders if they’re crying as their arms stretch out in unison over crystal-clear blue water.

Her voice is soft and low as she shifts against him. “Your mother, too?”

“Dad kept her ashes.” Possessive hands roam over her belly; his eyes drift shut as he feels his child kick. “He wanted this.”

He wants to move, can almost feel himself step; feels sick as he wonders what it would be like to be standing there next to them.

She shifts again, and cool, satin fingers wrap his hands; still them.

He anchors himself against her and rocks them as he steps outside himself and stares; counting up the years in one last invocation to who he used to be.

He doesn’t know how long they stand there, but the sun’s climbing higher on the purple-pink horizon, burning off the haze, and she’s in his arms as he watches his sisters disappear across the sand.

She shifts and steps, slides her hand into his and leads him down the dune.

The scent of sea and salt carries on the breeze and he’s going to walk on the beach with her.

Happy March Monday!

I began blogging on New Year’s Day and within weeks I’ve already reached fifty followers. I am touched and humbled beyond belief at the warm, kind, generous response I’ve received from all of you to my thoughts and words. That you choose to share your thoughts and words with me makes me grateful beyond belief.

So in and amongst the flurries of snow and the flurry of contests and blog parties that have come at the end of the month, I thought I would like to give back and have my own blog party/contest to thank all of you for being so welcoming of me.

The rules are simple. You get one entry for each of the things listed below that you do. Since I’m a low-tech kinda girl, I’m keeping this simple. Each entry you get goes into a hat. At the end of the contest, I’ll pull out a winner. And said winner will get the prize. What prize you ask? A twenty dollar gift card from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Borders, winner’s choice.

What to do:

1. Comment here to enter. Your comment gets you (+1) entry. Include any of the following information you have to get more entries.
2. You must be a follower of my blog. New followers get (+1) entry, current followers get (+2) entries.
3. Blog about this contest. That will get you (+2) entries. Leave the link here in your comment.
4. Put this contest in your sidebar. That will get you (+2) entries. Leave the link here in your comment.
5. Send followers my way. Each follower you send me that mention you by name gets you (+1) entry.

That’s it. Easy peasy. Make sure you leave your comments. This contest ends this Friday, 3/5 at 6:00 PM EST, and I’ll announce the winner the following Monday.