Honorable Mentions

I’ll be posting this Wednesday for Alex J. Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writers Support Group, so for today—which is my normal blog day—I just want to tip my hat to a few fellow bloggers who honored me with an award or included me in a meme. 

First, CPs and writing buds, Tara Rendall at More Than Fiction and Lisa Regan have both bestowed me with the Fabulous Blog Ribbon.  For this one, I'm supposed to name 5 of my most fabulous moments, 5 things I love and 5 things I hate and then pass this along to 5 fabulous bloggers.

5 Fabulous Moments:

• The day my daughter, Julia, was born – September 23, 1984
• The day I was reunited with the love of my life, now my husband, after a devastating breakup – May 11, 1985.  We’ve been together ever since
• The day I married Eric – March 24, 1990
• The day my son, Brandon, was born – October 18, 1994
• The day I was offered a publishing contract – March 11, 2012

5 Things I Love:                                

My family, friends, and pets                 

Writing                                    

Music                                                  

Good food                                          

My car                                                

5 Things I Hate:

Judgmental people

Dishonest people

Mean people

Misinformation (media)

Chores: shopping, doing my nails & coloring my hair

5 Fabulous Bloggers (who haven’t yet received this award):

JeffO, the Doubting Writer

Heather M. Gardner at The Waiting is the Hardest Part

Jennifer Hillier at The Serial Killer Files

Kelley Lynn at Get Between the Bookends & Falling for Fiction

Michael Abayomi

My pub sister and critique partner, Carrie Butler at So You’re a Writer, has tagged me for the Be Inspired Bloghop Meme.  I have to answer the following questions then tag five people.

1. What is the name of your book?

The Mistaken

2. Where did the idea for your book come from?

From a song:  Hurricane by 30 Seconds To Mars

3. In what genre would you classify your book?

Adult thriller/suspense

4. If you had to pick actors to play your characters in a movie rendition, who would you choose?

I covered this topic in the Casting Call Character Bloghop on October 25, 2011.

5. Give us a one-sentence synopsis of your book.

Devastated by the death of his pregnant wife, Tyler Karras impulsively exacts revenge against the stranger responsible, but when he mistakenly targets the wrong woman, he must risk his own life and that of his brother to set things right and protect her from the enemy he’s unleashed.

6. Is your book already published?

The Mistaken is due for release on:

10.18.2012

7. How long did it take you to write your book?

It took me three months to write and well over a year to polish.

8. What other books within your genre would you compare it to? Or, readers of which books would enjoy yours?

Since The Mistaken is a psychological thriller, I think readers who dig Greg Iles or John Hart would enjoy my book.

9. Which authors inspired you to write this book?

No author inspired me to write The Mistaken; just the song. 

10. Tell us anything that might pique our interest in your book.

It’s a multi-layered story about good guys tangled up with organized crime, revenge and forgiveness, loss and regret, love and hope.

Consider the five bloggers I listed above also tagged!

And lastly, the wonderful Hope Roberson at Writing With Hope has given me the 7x7 Link Award.  Though I covered this award in a post last September 5^th, I think I can probably update it:

My most beautiful post:  How Do You Let Go?

My most helpful post:  2012 A to Z Challenge (What I’ve learned about writing)

My most popular post:  Casting Call Character Bloghop

My most controversial post:  Jealousy Among Writers

My most surprisingly successful post:  When a Character Does the Unforgivable

My most underrated post:  Finding My Book’s Theme:  Forgiveness

My most pride-worthy post:  How I Was Saved

A lot of bloggers have already done this one and don’t wish to repeat it, so I’m not going to tag anyone specific, but I invite everyone and anyone who hasn’t participated yet to compile their own list.  Consider yourself tagged!

See you again on Wednesday for the IWSG!

Party Time!

A few quick reminders:  On Friday, I’ll be taking part in the Tumble 4 Ya Blogfest hosted by Mary Pax and Suze at Analog Breakfast which should be loads of crushin’ fun!

On Monday, February 13^th , DL Hammons, Creepy Query Girl, KatieMills, Alex J. Cavanaugh and Matthew MacNish will be sponsoring the Origins Blogfest in which participants will post their own origin story, sharing where their writing dreams began.  

And, because I do love all good blogfests, I will try to participate in Hope Roberson’s Valentine’s Day “Is It Getting Hot In Here?” Bloghop.  In this one we will share one of our favorite kissing scenes from a book we've read, our own WIP, make one up, or write about one of our own memorable kisses.  Considering how long I’ve been married, this will likely be as hot as it gets for me on Valentine’s Day! 

Also, I’ve signed up for the A to Z Challenge sponsored by several of my favorite blogger friends.  I must be crazy for taking up this challenge because anyone who knows me knows I only post once a week at most.  But I’ve already made good progress and should hopefully have all 26 posts ready way before April 1^st.  If you’re insane and want to make a lot of new friends, go sign up!

Lastly, I received two awards in the last week:

From my very bestest friend in the whole wide world, Lisa Regan, I received the Thumbs Up From Skunk Award since "we all feel like stinky, stinky skunks some days" and there are people who "make us feel (and smell) a lot better."

To pass the award on, I’m supposed to name one thing that I love about myself, then pass on the award to whomever I want.  Hmm…okay, here goes:  I am fiercely loyal.  If I’m on your side, I cannot be shaken off.  I will sing your praises, compliment everything about you, offer you love and encouragement, and defend you ‘til death.

So now to pass this thing on…  I’d like to share it with:  Gary and Penny at Klahanie and Jennifer Hillier at The Serial Killer Files.

And speaking of Gary and Penny at Klahanie, Penny the Jack Russell has bestowed me with the Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award.  I have received this one before, but here are 7 brief facts about me:

-         I’m half Irish, half Italian and so cursed with a wicked temper.

-         I have dark red hair and bright green eyes.

-         I love to watch TV almost as much as I love to read.

-         I’m a sucker for a big dog, of which I have 2.

-         I miss my “home” state of California more than I can bear.

-         I drive a really cool car!

-         I just started writing my second novel, another thriller, tentatively titled Parasite.

Many thanks to Lisa, Gary, and Penny for the accolades!  I’ll see you all again on Friday for the Tumble 4 Ya Blogfest!  Have a great week!

A Little Halloween Housekeeping

This is just a quick mini-post since I will be blogging for Alex Cavanaugh’s Insecure Writer’s Support Group on Wednesday.  Today I'm doing a little housekeeping.

First off, Laura Barnes over at Laura B Writer has graciously critiqued my blog this morning.  She’s a marketing consultant with loads of experience in writing, as well.  She was very complimentary and had some great suggestions on how to improve my blog.  Some I will definitely do.  Others I haven’t a clue on how to fix so I’m not sure what I’ll do.  But overall, Laura has been very helpful.  She does these critiques for free so contact her if you want any feedback on your blog.

Second, I’ve been very fortunate to receive a couple of blogger awards in the last two weeks. 

The first one is the Friendly Blogger Award from Gary & Penny over at Klahanie.  Thanks, Gary!  This is a new one for me.  Go check out Gary’s blog.  It’s both beautiful and inspiring.   

 

The second is the Liebster Award from Rebecca Kiel.  This is an award given to up-and-coming bloggers with less than 200 followers.  While I have received this award before, I still want to thank Rebecca for considering me.  I feel quite privileged!  Last time I received this award I think I had like 40 followers.  Now I have a combined 164 through Blogger and NetworkedBlogs so you can see it really works!  

In response to these illustrious honors, I will quickly list a few blogs I believe worthy of your attention:

BarbaraKloss over at Scribbles-n-Jots 

Carrie Butler over at So You’re a Writer

Cynthia Chapman Willis over at Laptops & Lattes…An Author’s Journal

Happy Halloween everybody!