New Contest!

New Contest! - Win Rafe's Moonstone!

Due to the terrific response to my first moonstone pendant contest, I am hosting a new contest which everyone may enter for a chance to win a beautiful and unusual genuine purple moonstone pendant - much like Rafe's moonstone in my story, Dark Encounter. (see photo above)
The pendant is handcrafted of sterling silver and is one and a half inches in length, and set with an unusual large genuine purple moonstone.

In some cultures, a moonstone is thought to be the stone of romance.

Contest rules: Contestants must be 18 years of age or older in order to enter. Contest closes June 15, 2007.

Write to me, Lauren Delaney, and provide the answer to the following question:

(Hint: The answer can be found in the 'Dark Encounter' banner at the bottom of the home page of my website- http://laurendela.tripod.com as well as other places on my website )


What is the missing word in this phrase? (which also saved Rafe):

. . . _____ changes everything . . .

Drop me a line at laurendela@gmail.com telling me the correct missing word from the beginning of the phrase given above, and you could win a beautiful sterling silver and genuine purple moonstone pendant.
It's as simple as that!

The contest closes June 15, 2007 and the winner will be drawn at random from all of the correct answers received and will be announced June 17, 2007.

Everyone 18 years of age and older is welcome to enter.
I would love to hear from you. Good Luck!

Dark Encounter is available as part of the Black Rose line at the Wild Rose Press ~ http://www.thewildrosepress.com

How Do You Promote Your Books?

By Lynette Rees

I thought it might be an idea to share here what we do to promote our books.

I like writing articles, so that’s an easy way for me to promote. For example, I have a romantic comedy coming out shortly, so I’ve written an article entitled, ‘Crafting the Romantic Comedy’ and started circulating it at various article banks.

One article I wrote last year, just before the release of a romantic suspense novel, was entitled, “Seven Ways to Inject Suspense Into Your Novel”. A couple of weeks later, I was amazed to see it as the lead article in The World Wide Freelance newsletter, which has a circulation of 20,000. As a knock on effect, people contacted me after seeing the article via that newsletter and asked me to take part in live chats and interviews at their websites. They also asked my permission to publish the article as well.

I try to gear the promotional article up to suit the particular book coming out at that time and include a link to it in the bio.

If you are interested in trying this, here are some article bank links:

http://goarticles.com/

http://www.ezinearticles.com/

http://www.articlealley.com/

You can probably find many more article banks by use of a search engine. Of course, if you can go the extra step and get your article published in a relevant magazine, so much the better. Last year, I managed to get my article, “Five Reasons I Chose to E-publish My Novel”, printed in The Romantic Novelists Association magazine.

Another idea I’ve had is to have my book covers printed on postcards. I intend to send them out advertising my next book launch and/or to say where the book is available. A friend gave me the link to a reasonably priced online printer, who also supplies 250 free business cards, so I’ll get some of them printed the same time. Here’s the link:

http://vistaprint.com

Or how about putting out a press release, either in the local newspaper and/or online? See here: http://www.prwebdirect.com/

I’ve also started including leaflets to my books that are due for release in other books I sell, so the reader, if he or she likes my style, may consider purchasing the new book when it comes out.

I also involve family and friends who are marvellous promoters. My mother, for instance, likes nothing better than telling her friends at The Salvation Army and Age Concern about her daughter, the author! Several have bought not just one book but the follow up as well!

My husband has promoted my books both at the bowls club and at work and I’ve had several orders that way.

These are just a few ideas I use to promote my books, would you care to share yours?

Lynette Rees has two books due out with The Wild Rose Press this year. Return to Winter and It Happened One Summer. Visit her website here:

http://silverlady00.tripod.com

Glory Days and Scratching my Head

by Maggie Toussaint

I've had the glory of that first blockbuster of a booksigning, I've had people stop me in the street to say they are reading my book and loving it. My neighbors are proud to have a published author in their midst. I'm referred to as "The Author," as if there isn't any one else who writes for thousands of miles. (And I have to admit, vainly, that I love wearing the mantle of The Author.)

What's next on the horizon? The HOUSE OF LIES e-book topped TWRP bestseller list in January. Print sales are encouraging so far. I'm working on the next book, NO SECOND CHANCES. But there's more work to be done on promoting HOUSE OF LIES.

More store vendors to approach. More reviews to collect. More online chats to do. More newspapers to contact regarding publicity. More groups to speak at to make more personal contacts. I'm using my bookmark at every chance I get, handing it to people, telling them about my website and my books.

At this point the marketing of HOUSE OF LIES doesn't feel finished. I'd like to be independently wealthy and send out copies of my book to every librarian and book store owner across the country and beyond, but that's a pipe dream. I'm going back through my files, looking for missed opportunities, trying to see what else can be done to get the word out.

After that, it's back to the drawing board. Back to creating a story that will capture the hearts of readers. Because no matter how much promotion you do, it all boils down to the writing.

Maggie Toussaint
HOUSE OF LIES, buy it now at www.amazon.com

Release Party!

Canyon Wolf Bride - Black Rose

Hello Everyone! I'm so excited about my first sell! I think I called and emailed half the world. It's funny to think about it now, but some of the people I contacted didn't even know I write, like the other mothers who do the car pool with me! Boy, were they surprised!

I've spent half the day doing my regular freelance work, writing articles for magazines and newspapers and trying to force myself to not stare at my author page another second! I know all you writers out there understand. It's so, so wonderful to finally say that all the hard work has paid off.

Ten years ago I wrote my first manuscript, a romantic suspense that continues to furl at the edges and gather more dust. Back then I was a single mom after going through a divorce, so my writing toook the back burner to work.....blech! I've worked as a secretary, receptionist and physician's assistant and let me tell you......I love, love, love going to work now.....waking up, making my morning coffee, dropping my older daughter off at school, coming back home to write while my toddler watches Sponge Bob and happily licks the butter off her toast. Sighhhhhhhhh. No more traffic, no more irritating bosses with impossible demands....."Oh, you need this proposal by when?" Ugh! And don't think I didn't email a few of my old places of employment about my first sell either....snicker! But, they were all happy for me and knew it has been a dream of mine for so long.

After the birth of my second daughter, I took some time off to stay home for at least the first couple of years. I knew I had another shot. I DID NOT want to go back to an office environment. I don't care if I get health benefits or not. My husband bought me a computer and said, "Here, write." Whenever I began to lose confidence in my writing, I'd remind myself of where I'd be in two years if I didn't keep writing.....back in that damn office with demands like this, "Honey, can you fetch me a cup of coffee?" EEK!!! My fingers would start flying. Within two years, I wrote four more manuscripts and a screenplay. I also grew as a freelancer, writing for Dallas Home Improvement Magazine, Valley Babies Magazine, Bend Weekly newspaper and Associated Content. I actually began to make a decent amount of money, which encouraged me as a writer and my husband who replied, "Now you're talking to me." Doesn't money always talk?

When my fabulous editor, Robbi Hess, of The Black Rose paranormal line at The Wild Rose Press sent me an email with a contract attached, I nearly choked on my morning coffee. I just knew it was a rejection. For some reason, I always thought my first sell would come via "the call". I actually skimmed the email because I knew it would be painful for me......and then she closed it with Congratulations! Huh? I reread the email slowly and nearly flipped out! No, I did flip out and called my husband who was working out of town. He's a steel worker......one of those guys who builds the framework of a building.......who walks high in the air on beams. He was in the air when I called and the wind was whipping around him, making it hard to hear. I called him over and over until he picked up. He said, "Honey, what is it? I'm in the air." I said, "Guess what?" He could hear it in my voice. He already knew. "You sold a book?" "Yes!" I answered. "Oh, honey. I'm so damned proud of you. So, how is my published author?" Siggggggghhhhhh, yes, I will be reliving that moment for years and years to come! What an amazing feeling.

Here's the blurb for Canyon Wolf Bride:

When Olympic ski champion, Sean Wilson, takes his best friend’s widow, museum curator, Paige Wellington, on a vacation to The Grand Canyon, he’s attracted to more than the beauty of his companion and the magnificent scenery. Sean discovers an entire pack of werewolves thriving in a canyon paradise. The Havasupai, known as the people of the blue-green waters, share his genetic defect, the werewolf gene. Paige learns the secret of the wolf tribe and struggles with her decision to end their relationship, unable to imagine herself married to a half-man, half-wolf creature and bear his fuzzy, carnivorous children. Sean wars against the beast within. Even as the werewolf, he is an intelligent and keen animal, never losing touch with the man lurking beneath the fur and never losing sight of the woman he loves. Will the wolf gene keep them together or tear them apart?
Okay, I'm off to finish some freelance work if I can ever tear myself away from my author page long enough.......

Reading Romance

When did you first get interested in reading romance?

This question is easy for me to answer. I got interested at the age of fourteen when I used to buy adult romance magazines like 'Love Affair' and 'Loving' at the newsagents. I have no idea why I started buying them. I didn’t know anyone else of my age who read them or come to that, no adult who did either. What I can tell you though is why I read them.

They were written in the first person, so it sounded as if someone was confiding a secret to their best friend. I felt as though I was privy to something I shouldn’t really know about! When I say they were adult, I don’t remember there being any actual sex in them, although there well might have been, I just can’t recall it.

I only ever read them under the bed covers at night, and sometimes by torch light.

Those magazines had a big influence on my writing, so much so I wrote my stories, for English in school, in the first person. My teacher often read them out to the class. I can only remember one. It was something about a man who killed his wife, chopped up her body into little pieces and got them embedded in bales of hay as they went through a hay making machine! Charming and not the least bit romantic.

Sometimes the school bell would ring just as the teacher got to an interesting part in the story and the other girls would beg me to read out the ending to them. I suppose I had my fans back then, I just didn’t appreciate any of it. Nor, did I think I had any particular gift for writing.

It wasn’t until years later that I started to scribble stories down again. This was after I got married and had children.

Nowadays, I still read and write romance. And maybe that story about the man who killed his wife was significant because as well as writing romantic comedy I also write romantic suspense. My favourite films are The Godfather movies, Goodfellas and my absolute must watch TV show is The Sopranos!

Author's website: http://silverlady00.tripod.com

Return to Winter coming soon to The Wild Rose Press

Maggie's Happy St. Patrick's Day Booksigning!

(In the picture above, Maggie Toussaint signs a copy of House of Lies for multi-published journalist and author, Robert Coram)

My booksigning ended exactly 33 hours ago but my feet haven't touched the ground yet. Tinkerbell has nothing on me. No kidding, I feel like I could flit across the world on fairy thin wings.

I was worried that my book seller had set it up for too long and that it would take forever. The four hours passed in the blink of an eye. People came and they came. I couldn't believe it. I did know most of them, and I was related to some of them, but still, it was a BIG crowd.

We outsold any previous booksigning this seller had ever had. And she claims to have had Pat Conroy's (The Prince of Tides) first booksigning. Seriously, we sold 60 copies of House of Lies!!! And there were 10 copies that were sold in pre-sales.

And, get this, unknownst to me, my seller had arranged for the local cable company to TAPE the whole event. So there was a movie camera taking the whole thing in. Both myself and the seller did introductory and closing remarks. Patrons were interviewed. She took up close and personal shots of the posterboard I made of the reviews for House of Lies. She videoed the chats we had about every 30 to 45 minutes where the seller talked about how wonderful I was and how great my book was. My head swelled to 4 times the normal size. I read excerpts from the book. I spoke about myself, my writing, all the while remembering to suck in my stomach, smile, and not say Um, um, every other word.

I asked for a copy of the video because I'd sure like to know what I said. I had no idea that being on tv was a part of this event. And, the cable person asked if I would be willing to do a 30-minute spot for local programming about writing. You could have knocked me over with a feather. I'm not sure this will actually happen but it is an idea fraught with possibilites. And of course I said YES.

Lessons learned: put a sign outside the venue on the day of the event. You might just draw in some incidental people. Also, be ready for anything because you can count on the unexpected happening. Oh, here's a good tip. Use a ball point pen to sign your name. If you use a more flowing ink you may blob your book while you're asking is that A-N-N or A-N-N-E. When the line dwindles, circulate among the folks who are waiting for the next giveaway - they came to see you! Lastly, this may seem a given but I was surprised at how many return smiles I got when I greeted each person with a smile.

I know there will be other signings, but this one will always be special.

Maggie Toussaint

check out House of Lies -- ebook at www.thewildrosepress.com and print book at www.amazon.com

What I Learned From My First Book Launch

By Lynette Rees

A few years ago when I dreamt about my very first book launch, I imagined a huge, white limousine drawing up outside a large, prestigious building. A chauffeur opening the car door as I stepped out, dressed in all my finery, to a sea of cheering faces. Flashbulbs fired off instantaneously and people shouted out my name.

Then I woke up to the realization there was no book launch just a half written manuscript.

Anyhow, all of that was to change when I had my first book published last summer. I work as a counsellor for a local cancer charity in my home town of Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales, and thought it would be a nice idea to donate all the proceeds to our new building fund. I had no idea at the time that the local mayor would get involved, or that he would suggest the book launch would be held at Cyfarthfa Castle, a local historic castle once owned by 19^th Century Ironmasters.

A couple of coincidences were at work here: number one, a castle featured strongly in my novel, and number two, the castle just happened to house the school that I had attended as a young girl. As I read out my speech, I was only yards away from the classroom where my English teacher had read out my stories to the class some thirty years previously!

I had never attended a book launch before and of course tried to read up on the topic beforehand, but I could not have been prepared for everything. This is what I learned on the day:

1. It doesn't have to be perfect

I used to be a perfectionist, but I'm all right now. I am all right, aren't I? Hang on a moment whilst I check.

Seriously, going back a few years ago, if things didn't go just as I wanted them to, I would get upset. The Christmas dinner had to be served for the family bang on 1:00 p.m. on Christmas day, my college assignments would be written and rewritten to the best of my ability, never mind that I was missing out on my favourite television programmes while I slaved over my work at the kitchen table.

Anyhow, on the day of the launch, five minutes after setting out in the car, I realized I had forgotten to put on my new bracelet that matched my necklace. I had purposely bought the bracelet so it would look good as I signed the books. Not only that, I thought I had forgotten my camera. The old me would have stressed and put herself in the dilemma of either returning home to get them, but risk being late for the launch, or carrying on but feeling she had let herself down.

This time, I thought, "So what? It's not the end of the world. The main thing for this signing is that I get myself there, with or without the camera and bracelet."

I guessed there would be others there taking photographs anyhow, and I could get a copy from them.

* * Moral of story:

It didn't matter one bit whether I wore the bracelet or brought the camera. In the end, I found out I had put the camera in my bag after all!

2. Things are going to be different to how you visualize them

In my mind's eye, I imagined the room and the people gathered watching me as I read out my speech. The room was the size of a big hall and I stood on a small stage, behind some kind of pulpit.

In reality, the room was a lot smaller; it was a bit of squeeze to get everyone in as the same room was used for the buffet.

The speech went a lot better than I thought it would, but I decided last minute to cut some of it out and I'm glad I did.

* * Moral of story:

Things will be different to how you imagine them to be. Be prepared to go with the flow.

3. Don't Assume

I assumed as the castle was booked for a book signing, that there would have been a table set aside specifically for that purpose.

I was wrong!

When I realized that everyone was queuing up for me to sign the books on my lap, I knew that something wasn't right. Someone tried to find me a table, but to no avail. In the end, we had to move back some tea cups from the beverages table and I sat on the end of that signing away.

* * Moral of story:

For the next book signing, I'll specify that I want a table! Or failing that, I'll just have to improvise again or bring my own folding one!

4. People are important

Give your time to people. They are your prospective readers. For example, one young lady had been queuing up for ages to get her book signed. I couldn't just shoo people away and tell them to hurry up. I took time to listen to each one individually and the young lady came back to the table later, where I signed her book. I took time to ask her all about herself and then went over to meet her grandmother who had been responsible for setting up the cancer charity many years ago.

* * Moral of story:

Authors need to be proactive and interested in their readers, it's a two-way process!

5. Time will fly

The afternoon was wonderful, but it went by in a whirl. I didn't have time to tuck into the food with everyone else. I just managed to grab a cuppa and a sandwich at the end. I'm just glad I took a bottle of cold water along with me.

* * Moral of story:

Ask someone beforehand if they will bring you a cup of tea or coffee and keep a small plate of food for you [if refreshments are provided]. If not, bring along your own to keep your strength up! Above all, the time goes so quickly, relish it! Write about it afterwards. It doesn't happen every day!

Visit Lynette's website here: http://silverlady00.tripod.com

Return to Winter coming soon to The Wild Rose Press

Blood, Sweat and Ice Cream

Recently, when an acquaintance heard about my romance novel Until Summer’s End being accepted by the Wild Rose Press she commented “What’s it about? Oh, never mind. Romances are pretty much all the same.”

Yeah, they’re all the same. Except for characters, settings, conflicts, themes – you know little things like that.

Romances come in a great variety of styles. Some I love, others not so much. I must admit – with no criticism for those of differing opinions – that I don’t get the “vampire” thing. Romances in the paranormal category frequently feature vampire heroes and heroines and are obviously enjoyed by many people or else they wouldn’t continue to be published at such a rapid rate. And even though I do like fantasy, I’m not one of the ones lining up to buy the next vampire romance.

Upon reflection, I think any romantic visions I had concerning vampires vanished in college. And it all had to do with laundry and ice cream.

When I was a student I had a work study job in the costume department of the University theater. One fall, we did The Passion of Dracula. On the whole it was a pretty cool play. The stage hands figured out how we could do a real explosion on stage and we costumers learned to make really these really cool peasant shirts.

But then….our washing machine broke down. As the only member of the crew that owned a car, I was elected to take costumes to the Laundromat every day to wash them. But we aren’t talking any old sweaty stinky costumes. We’re talking about costumes that were dripping in blood – fake blood, but still.

I was certain someone would call the police about my suspicious daily laundry trips and I would be hauled away to jail. I think it may actually be a little scarier that no one did call the police or question me in any way!

Secondly, there was ice cream. A local restaurant sold peppermint sundaes on Valentine’s Day and I loved them. But for this show, peppermint flavored fake blood capsules were used in a couple of scenes where blood had to flow from Drac’s mouth. After my two weeks of schlepping laundry I now associated the smell of peppermint with blood.

So when the next Valentine’s Day rolled around, my boyfriend thought he would be really sweet and surprise me with a sundae. It was months after the show, but I still couldn’t bring myself to eat it. Blood and ice cream – eewww!

Sorry Drac. I could have forgiven the laundry, but not the ice cream.

Quick Tip: Press Kits Online

Don't forget to make your press kit available online! The press doesn't want to search through endless cutesy pages of stuff to find what they need. Everything in your press kit should be available on one page in your "press room," ready to print or download.

Also, I've heard from a marketing presenter, the press room page of your website will consistently be the most trafficked part of your site. I'll keep an eye on my sitemeter and see if that turns out to be true, but it makes sense. I always click on the link for the press, just because it makes me feel special. (Take that, press. I can see everything you can see.)

Take a look at my press room, for example.

Sonja Foust
Author of LOVE IN SHADOW (The Wild Rose Press)

And So It Begins...

Today is the first step in our Tia Dani blogging career. we joined forces one day after joking that we could become a dynamic duo if we only let our collective creative juices escape. Lo and behold, after a pitcher of margaritas and a bowl of hot, hot salsa with chips, we sat down and laughed our way through a very rough draft of Layover... though it wasn't titled that at the time....it was something funky.

We shared our story with Bev's critique group, "The Butterscotch Martini Girls," http://www.butterscotchmartinigirls.com and few of Chris' other author friends. The verdict?

We had a winner!

Encouraged we started searching for a publisher. That's when we heard great things about The Wild Rose Press. We did our research and were pleased to find that the company was proactive with their authors. Once Layover was accepted, we were delighted to meet our editor, Saige, and are looking forward to working with her.

Wishful Writers

By Lynette Rees

If I had a pound coin for everyone who ever said to me, "I've always wanted to write a book..." I'd be a rich woman.

Why is it the world and his wife think they can write? Not just write, but craft a novel before they have even written anything at all, they've not even kept a journal or attempted a short story. Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not a snob. I'm not one of those people who thinks that writers have to use flowerly terms and unusual words others don't understand. Au contraire! :)

Writing often isn't taken seriously by others. They just don't get it. I mean if they met a doctor they would hardly say to him: "I've always fancied being a doctor and would love to perform major surgery!" This is because that person knows unless they undertake X number of years training, they will not have the skills required.

I don't mind helping new writers but once in a while someone will contact me claiming they want to be a writer and then will try to pick the hell out of my brains. I will answer their questions to the best of my ability but when they bombard me with questions I start to think: Why don't you take a writing course if you don't understand anything at all about writing? I have suggested this and gone out of my way to provide links to help them. I wasn't born with a pen in my hand, if I had been my mother wouldn't have been very pleased! Okay, I had a flair for writing, my stories were often read out by the teacher, but I thought nothing of it at the time.

It wasn't until a few years back I started to take my writing seriously. I joined a local writing group and online ones too, read books about the craft of writing, crafted my first proper short story and article and most importantly of all, got it out there into the big, bad world. I've had some success, I've also had my fair share of failure, but I never thought I had to get someone to do my thinking or my writing for me, like some would-be writers do.

Yet, these self same people who claim they badly want to write, never even get started. I had one online friend who told me she wanted to write children's books, this was supposedly her dream. I asked her if she had ever written anything. "No," she replied, "I don't know how to go about it." I managed to get her enrolled on an online writing course I was taking, which cost her nothing. A couple of weeks later I asked her how she was getting on with her assignments [these were only small writing exercises]. Oh, I haven't been able to do them as I just don't have the time!" she replied. Now this same woman spent hours upon hours chatting on MSN Messenger. Did she really want to be a writer of children's books? I don't think so. I would pigeon-hole her in the category of, 'I've always wanted to write a book..."

Next time someone tells me that, I'm going to ask, 'What's stopping you then?"

Chances are they'll never even get started.


You can visit Lynette's website and blog here:
http://silverlady00.tripod.com
http://www.nettiesramblings.blogspot.com

That wonderful feeling of I've got a secret

by Maggie Toussaint

Do you know that feeling you have when you have a great surprise in store for someone very dear to you? That magical bubbly feeling that they are going to love what you've cooked up for them?

Ever since my book, House Of Lies, got published by The Wild Rose Press, I've been walking around with that wonderful feeling. Some days my feet barely skim the ground. Gravity does not apply to this feeling!

And now, this weekend will be my first booksigning. All the planning and press releases and mailings are done. Now its just sit back and wait.

Not so easy to do when the surprise will be on ME.

That saying from the movie Field of Dreams comes to mind "If you build it they will come" - except in this case, its "If you write it, they will come."

I'll let you know how it went next week!

Smiles from Maggie

Waste not, want not: Recycle! Recycle! Recycle!

So often these days we are taught the importance of recycling. Where I live, the council expect us to put out a blue container for food waste, a larger green one for tin cans and a special bag for plastic bottles. We take glass bottles and old newspapers and magazines to a special recycling container ourselves and everything else goes in our dustbin.

Of course, recycling is important. It helps the environment. But have you ever thought of recycling your writing? By this, I mean digging out your old stories and articles that have been relegated to the back of the drawer or are languishing on disk somewhere.

My first attempt at novel writing was around eight years ago. I had the idea of writing a crime fiction novel about a young girl who went missing after chatting to someone on the Internet. At that particular time, the Internet was fairly new over here. I only knew of one other person who was connected up in my hometown. Of course, there would have been more, it’s just I didn’t know anyone.

I wrote the first few chapters and then ran out of steam. Looking back on it now, I doubt if that book would have got published in any case, I have progressed as a writer during the last eight years. However, nothing was wasted. It was a learning experience for me.

Previously, I had only written short stories, so the novel format was a new thing. I learned how to create cliff hangers and introduce secondary characters etc. Now this brings me nicely onto one such secondary character. I loved one of my villains so much in that particular book that I brought him into my book, Return to Winter. It’s a romantic suspense that will be published by The Wild Rose next month. The beauty of this was I had already created a life for Lawrence Black. I already knew his background and most importantly, what made him tick. Return to Winter is not the same book by any chalk of the imagination. I believe it’s a far superior work to Caught in the Web [my earlier half finished novel].

Don’t just recycle your characters either, what about your plots? If something didn’t work as a short story, how about writing it from another character’s point of view? Or rewriting the piece as a play or to spark the idea for a novel?

As well as dusting down Lawrence Black and giving him an important role in Return to Winter, I also used the same setting in South Wales. The story is set around a fictional place called Pontcae which is close to Cardiff Bay, a real setting. I had already carried out quite a lot of research into Cardiff Bay and the surrounding areas for Caught in the Web. So it all came in handy.

Think about your own unpublished work. Have you got a short story that got rejected or you never sent out in the first place? Is there anything you could do with it? Do you have a character you’ve stuffed away in a drawer, never to see the light of day any more? Bring out your dead and breathe some life into them!

Recycle! As well as being great for the environment it’s also a great way to spark off your interest in work you thought was long since dead and buried.

Bio:

Lynette writes romantic comedy as well as romantic suspense. When she’s not writing, she works as a counselor for a local cancer charity. To find out more about her publications, please visit her website:
http://silverlady00.tripod.com

Return To Winter
Crimson Rose

When Stephanie Baynham comes home to Wales , the lover she ran out on nine months ago, Dylan Pryce-Jones, is waiting at the airport for her.

Will he understand why she left him without warning, during the afternoon of Matt and Sandy's wedding celebration?

Later, she returns to her apartment and finds a threatening message scrawled on her mirror: "You're Dead!" Could her life really be in danger?

Interview with Tarah Scott on Legend of the Celtic Brooch Series

Hey, everyone. Just wanted to let you know that I had the pleasure of interviewing Tarah Scott on my blog regarding the Celtic Brooch series and her newest release THE PENDULUM.

If you get a chance, please stop by. And, don't forget to leave a comment.

http://carolannerhardt.blogspot.com

What I Like About You: Discovering The Wild Rose Press

I have been writing for a long time and though I have had some small success with local newspapers and e-zines and such, I still wanted to have a novel published. There are a lot of choices out there for authors today, from the traditional publishing houses to LuLu.com.

I am an e-book reader and my chosen method of reading is with the e-bookwise reader (which I highly recommend) and I first became aware of The Wild Rose Press through their website. I read a few of their short stories and a couple of their full length books and I liked them well enough to visit The Wild Rose Press site itself.

It's a beautiful site, and if you haven't visited it, you should. Beauty is not much without function. You will find the site easy to navigate and full of many things besides books. There is a forum, a chat room, reviews, links to author sites and articles for writers.

Not that the books wouldn't be enough. I'm very impressed by the variety and quality of choices they offer. Are you a fan of sweet romance? Try the Sweetheart Rose line. Looking for something to give you a spiritual lift? Go directly to the White Rose line. Maybe vampires, ghosts and werewolves are your thing. Then try the Black Rose paranormal line or the Faery Rose fantasy line. And for all you bad girls out there, try the hot and steamy Scarlet Rose line.

If none of these are for you, don't despair. You can find historical romance, western romance, romantic suspense and more at The Wild Rose Press.

But there is one thing you won't find there: Non-romance titles! This was an important point with me. I read in many different genres, but I think that too many small publishers try too hard to cover the limits of genre fiction from children's books to westerns to horror. This is very difficult for a small company to do well. The Wild Rose Press does romance and they do it well!

Don't let anyone tell you that romance books are not worthwhile. Okay, many of them are not great literature, but neither are most sci-fi books or mysteries or whatever. Very few books of any genre are going to be around in 100 years. That doesn't mean they don't have value.

I think the value in romance novels (besides being fun and a great temporary escape from reality) is that they deal with those things that are important to their readers. They reinforce our values and encourage us to pursue our dreams. Maybe not stellar dreams like world peace, but those dreams that I think are pretty universal such as a satisfying, committed relationship, home, family and meaningful work to name a few.

Let's face it, in this world encouragement of any kind is very valuable. When you find a place like the Wild Rose Press that can supply it, you should be happy. I'm happy.

So, I pulled up the file for my romance novel Until Summer's End and gave it another polishing and sent it off. Guess what? It was accepted. Now I'm not only a Wild Rose Press reader, I'm on my way to being a Wild Rose Press author, too.

Good thing I kept reading those romances. They're right. Dreams can come true.

New Author

It's such a joy to be a part of The Wild Rose Press! My short story, "The Earl's Enchantment," was accepted for publication in February and will be part of the Faery Rose line. I've enjoyed visiting the forums for The Wild Rose Press and meeting new people during the chats and am now catching up on the blog entries.

I live in Florida and teach Composition and literature courses at a university. One of my favorite hobbies is traveling, and I especially love to visit England. Northern England is beautiful, and market towns such as Durham and Barnard Castle are definitely worth a trip.

I'm looking forward to meeting everyone!

Traveling on the Publication Superhighway

When I pack for a trip, I figure out how long I'm going to be gone and what clothes I'll need. I usually run into a problem when I try to fit all my shoes in my suitcase, so then I color coordinate more of my clothing so that I don't take every pair of shoes I own along with me.

I recently had the same travel experience when House of Lies was released. Except this time, I was traveling on a publication trip and I didn't know what I needed. I had a website already when I signed the contract, so that was all to the good. But what else was needed?

There was a dizzying amount of information on yahoogroups, author chats, contests, and bookmarks. There were reviews to garner, book stores to woo. Newsletters to write, websites to update, myspace pages to set up. And with all the yahoogroups came an avalanche of mail. How's a new author to cope?

Same way you pack for a trip. You figure out where you're headed and you add one thing to your suitcase at a time. If you want to send out promo items, order these and be ready. If you're going to write a newsletter, start looking at other author's newsletters to see what types of informaiton you want to include in yours.

Figure out what your budget will be for promotional items. Chat with other authors about what they think are successful promo materials. The key thing to remember is that promotion won't happen on it's own. You have to get out there and spread the word. This is true for all presses, small and large.

So lets see, what's in my publication suitcase? Bookmarks, yahoogroups, chats, appearances, bookignings, a myspace page, my website, ads, and a newsletter. I added these items one at a time. If I want to add in book trailers or contests, I'm going to need a bigger suitcase!

Maggie Toussaint
House of Lies, ISBN 1601510310

Good Guys Versus Bad Guys: Are you a Mark Darcy kinda gal or a Daniel Cleaver one?

Colin Firth who played Mark Darcy

Hugh Grant who played Daniel Cleaver

When Bridget Jones's Diary was first shown on Sky Movies one Easter, I sat down on a Sunday afternoon and watched it right through with my mother. We both enjoyed the film but just at the very end, my son burst into the room to ask a question and I never got to hear how it ended!

So, a week ago, this is a few years later of course, they played it on Channel Four. I stayed up and watched it through. I even said to my son, who is now seventeen, "I missed the ending last time, so I want to see it again!" He left the room and can you believe it, he returned just at that crucial point again! I still didn't get to hear what Bridget and Mark Darcy said to one another.

Now, the film was repeated again the following week on the Welsh version of Channel Four -- S4C. I got to hear the ending! If you haven't seen it, it went something like this:

Bridget has run out into the street to follow Mark, wearing just her underwear, a cardigan and a pair of trainers. It's snowing. She's desperate to find him because she has told him to read something while he waits for her to get changed. When she comes out of the bedroom, she sees her diary is open and he's obviously read how much she said she hated him. She didn't mean it of course.

So, this is why she runs out scantily clad into the street. Thankfully, she finds him. He's been out to buy a new diary for her so she can start a new one.

They're embracing in the snow and Bridget says something like: "Wait a minute, nice boys don't kiss like that!"

He says: "Oh yes, they f***ing do!"

I was pretty shocked by what he said, but I have to admit I rather liked it. Although Mark Darcy [Colin Firth] is displayed as a nice guy in the film, I find him more attractive than Daniel Cleaver [Hugh Grant], although he's got something about him as well.

So, my question is, are you a Mark Darcy kinda gal or a Daniel Cleaver one?

Milestone nr.2- check!

2007 began in the best possible way, and all it took was an email from the editor of the English Tea Rose line at The Wild Rose Press, Katherine Malayvin, and the offer of a contract.
I consider myself to be one of the fortunate few on the brink of having my dream realised, and, of course, I'm grateful- but also proud of this achievement; this second milestone on my journey to becoming a successful writer. Proud because I didn't give up when many scoffed at my efforts. Proud because I kept believing in myself when many gave up believing in me. Proud because I trusted my instincts when many doubted my ability. Proud because- revisions, editing, tweaking and rewrites aside- I can finally announce the upcoming release of my full-length novel Ripples in the Water. I hope to have the pleasure of announcing its release date quite soon, but in the mean time I'll definitely be keeping in touch. I enjoy reading all the posts.

Thanks for the chat- Michelle Chambers