Sorry this is soooo late! Life’s been nuts the past 24-hours. Last night we had a hellish thunderstorm and my daughter, her husband and the little ones wound up sleeping all over my bedroom. Today, I had the housekeeper underfoot (I live in rural Arkansa—it’s not that expensive and so worth it!) and my daughter going nuts because she found baby squirrels that had fallen out of a tree. I took pics and will share—but only if they survive. It’s too sad otherwise.
In the meantime, I promised the grab bag winner would be announced today, but I’m too tired to tally up all the comments to enter into the random number generator, so you have two more chances to enter! I posted blogs at the following two places. Go comment!
Ooops! I didn’t think I had the blog from Mary until I read through my huge inbox from yesterday. So now you have two blogs for today to comment on! ~DD
A Few Sneaky Tricks To Make A So-So Writing Day Better!
By Mary Kennedy Eastham
We all have days when our inner writing spirit needs a pep talk! Here are a few things that work for me:
…This one is easy. STAY ON TRACK. I try to end each writing day with a promise for the next day. When I go to sleep, I think about what I need to discover about my heroine. It could be something simple, like her fave late nite talk show host – is it Dave, Jay or Jimmy???
…This one is corny but it was suggested to me by a wonderfully successful fine artist. I start every writing day by giving myself a ‘star’, the way our teachers did in those early school days. I look for stars in fun paper stores like Paper Source. Their motto is: DO SOMETHING CREATIVE EVERY DAY.
…Drop and give me: 10 push-ups, a minute of jumping rope, 10 sit-ups, a minute of jumping jacks, 10 lunges and a minute of running in place. Repeat as often as you want to. I always feel better after exercise. Even if it’s only for a few minutes.
…Work on something else. I was really getting stuck in my novel Night Surfing, so one day I just decided to start writing a short-story “The Girl With Sand in Her Hair.” I am loving working on that story. It will be the final story in a short story collection of the same name.
…Give yourself a real treat. For me that’s a Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Mint Square. Then I pick up a book by one of my favorite authors. I sit down for only a minute and read a passage from the book very slowly and sometimes out loud. I let the beautiful flow of the language seep into my brain. It’s like listening to a favorite song. I’m all pumped and I can’t wait to get back to my writing.
MARY KENNEDY EASTHAM’s book The Shadow of a Dog I Can’t Forget is a 2011 WILD CARD Runner-Up Winner in the Hollywood Book Festival, WINNER of the 2010 Celebrity Achievement Award, was a Runner-Up for BEST POETRY BOOK & Honorable Mention Winner at the L.A. Guerilla Marketing Book Contest. Points of Love, a poem from the book, was a $5,000 award winner in the Dorothy Sargent Rosenburg Poetry Contest. Her website is: www.RP-Author.com/MKE. She’s on Facebook under her name and on Twitter under Word Actress.
Just a quick reminder! The Grab Bag Contest ends tomorrow! Click on the link for details!
This past week was pretty much a bust writing-wise. I did finish writing my short for Beastly Babes (which is being renamed, darn it!), and I powered through reading Cowboy entries. Most of the week was eaten up with family things and yesterday’s two trips to Little Rock—one for the DSRA meeting, and the other to place a rescue dog with a loving family. So, worth the lost hours of writing.
This next week, I have to get serious about wrapping up Beastly Babes and making decent inroads into my new cowboy story. Thanks to everyone who bought A Four-Gone Conclusion. Remember, you can help an author out by writing reviews wherever you buy and “tagging” the story on Amazon.
Also, I do have another story releasing this week. If you like vampires and/or lesbian fiction, you won’t want to miss Bitten in the Big Easy!
And because I need to get my week planned out, here’s something to keep you busy…
If you were completely blind, but could somehow see for just one hour each month, how would you most often spend that time?
Whoa, Nellie! Yesterday, I hoped for a few suggestions to mull over for a title for my cowboy anthology, but who knew there were so many creative and crazy people out there? I’m heading to the Diamond Stare Romance Authors meeting in Little Rock this morning, but when I get home, I’m sharpening several pencils to list my favorites from the many wonderful suggestions you all gave me! Thanks again for all the help.
So while I’m otherwise occupied, here’s a little video my dd shared with me. LMAO! Thought you might enjoy it too. Sometimes, over-sharing can kill a good thing!
I LOVE that you all enthusiastically voted on yesterday’s poll. Studs ‘n’ Spurs is the overwhelming favorite. Too bad I can’t use the title! As one reader pointed out to me yesterday, it’s a great title, but Cat Johnson’s using it for a Cowboy series she’s writing—which would be awkward in the extreme if I went forward with the title for reasons that will be apparent when I make the announcements in a couple of months! Lips zipped!
Sooooo, I need another title to give my editor—something just as catchy, just as “cowboy”. Wanna help me? Remember, that grab bag prize is still on the table and you need to keep commenting anyway!
This is what I sent to my editor in the first place. Let’s not spend any more time on these:
* Sex in the Saddle
* Rawhide
* Ride a Cowboy (way too over-used)
* Studs in Spurs
* I Like My Cowboys Naked
So…we’re off! Give me your suggestions. No idea is a stupid one when you’re brainstorming! Think—cowboys, leather, horses, attire, ropes, saddles…
Hey, did you see? 4-Gone’s #1 at Samhain! Thanks again, for making that happen.
I’m a little tired today. I’ve been working damn hard. In the past week, I finished a book, something I know you’ll like, Five Ways ‘Til Sunday. I wrapped up a short story yesterday, something for my Beastly Babes book for Cleis. Let me just say I invented new ways to enjoy a tiger’s tail. Today, I have to read through and edit more of the BB stories so I can get them back to the authors. I really, really want to put Beastly Babes to bed by next week. But of course, I have to be writing too. Something sexy. I owe an editor at Samhain a follow-up to True Heart, and she’ll come after me if I don’t give it to her soon. 🙂
So you’ll understand if I’m not as chatty as usual, right? I do need some help though. The next Cleis collection I have to turn my attention to is The Cowboy. That was always a tentative title. My editor there likes two titles I proposed, and wanted me to ask y’all what you thought. Keep in mind, these are sexy, hetero cowboy stories.
Which title do you prefer for an anthology of erotic cowboy stories?
Quick note: Thanks sooooo much to all of you who went out and bought 4-Gone yesterday. This morning, the book was #3 in Samhain’s store! And remember, you help authors by “tagging”, “liking” and reviewing! ~DD
I have this grab bag I tried to give away back in June, but despite my messages to the winner—she never claimed it! Soooo….
I’m going to give it away again! What do you have to do to enter? POST A COMMENT—here or on facebook! This contest ends next Monday!
This is what the bundle includes:
Autgraphed books: Dragonbound by Jade Lee Carpe Bead’em by Tonya Kappes Escape by Kate Douglas, Willa Okati and Marteeka Karland (signed by Marteeka only)
Autographed drink koozie from Kristin Daniels
Assorted stuff (much of it autographed as well)…bookmarks, trading cards, excerpt booklets from:
Emma Wildes, Jade Lee, Marie Force, Leah Braemel, Jane Rylon, Leanna Renee Hieber, Madelyn Ford, Lila DiPasqua, Virna DePaul, Donna Grant, Zenobia Renquist, Samantha Kane, Krista Daniels, and Cheryl Brooks.
No doubt, I’ll throw some of my stuff in as well! So, what can you comment about today? How about this?
From Snapple’s Real Facts: “The average person spends 2 weeks over
his/her life waiting for a traffic light to change.”
What would you rather be doing with that time?
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