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Monday, January 30, 2012

A to Z April Blog challenge SIGN UP!

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It's official!  Sign ups for the A to Z April Blog Challenge are now open! 

Sign up using the linky list below. 

Still not sure if you want to participate?  Not sure what I am talking about?  No problem! 
Go HERE to check out the official A to Z blog.  
Go HERE to check out the official A to Z Facebook page.
Go HERE to check out the A to Z page on my blog.  

Don't have the time to Sign up right now?  
No problem! 
There will be a page on my blog so you can sign up any time between now and April first! 
Or
You can sign up on the  Official A to Z blog HERE
Or 
You can sign up on any of the team member's blogs! 
(Not sure who they are? Go HERE to meet the team!) 

And now. . .Go Sign up! 

A. . . B. . . C. . . Go! 


. . . One more thing.  If you have a problem with signing up, or you need to change something,  e-mail us and we will get it fixed for you.  


2012AZinfo(at)gmail(dot)com





Sunday, January 29, 2012

Now that is some Karma, that is paying it forward!

A week ago I was at Subway buying lunch for everyone at work.  There were a few kids there getting lunch as well.  They stood in line waiting behind me as I placed my order and paid.  When I was finished I was about to leave but once I got to the door I had a feeling I needed to wait.  So I did.  And when the three kids got the counter,  they realized they didn't have enough money to pay for their lunch.  Right then I was very glad that I had waited.  I walked back to the counter, paid the difference for them and left with a smile.  


Yesterday,  I was at subway buying lunch for everyone at work.  I stood in line, placed my order, gathered everything up and handed the cashier my Subway card.  She took it and then told me the total.  I count out the cash I had,  dug through my pockets and wallet and came up short by a few dollars.  I was about to begin putting things back so I would have enough for every one else's lunch when a man stepped out of line behind me,  walked to the counter and asked the cashier how short I was.  She told him and he gave her the remaining few dollars I didn't have.  

THAT is karma.  The good kind. That is paying it forward.   I couldn't help but smile as I left.  

Want to help pay it forward?  Check out my post HERE on how you can win a handmade gift from me! All you have to do is pay it forward.  

Also,  don't forget that Sign ups for the A to Z blog challenge begin Monday morning!  (January 30th).  


Saturday, January 28, 2012

That 'Movie Perfect' scene? Well. . . it isn't so perfect after all. . .

You know that overused, overrated scene in the movies where a woman is walking her dog and a man is walking his dog and they happen to walk past each other and then the dogs start barking at each other so the two people kinda start talking while trying to get their dogs away from each other and then the man and the woman start to like each other right off and so they exchange numbers, go on a first date and a week later they are married?  (Okay that might be an exaggeration. . .but still) You know what I'm talking about??


Yep!  That would be the movie perfect scene I am talking about.  Well. . .my point to this scene?  I shall explain.  

Three days ago I was outside working and my boss has a dog.  He (the dog) decided to escape and go run around outside.  And as you can imagine. . . the dog doesn't obey me.  So while I am working away this dog decides to terrorize other dogs in the area.  (Just my luck)  Because a man was walking by with a great big huge dog and my boss's little dog decided to attack it and growl at it.  (This is where I am smacking myself in the face thinking *You stupid dog!*) 
I yell at the dog.  Call to the dog.  Even offer the stupid thing a treat!  What does the dog do?  Ignore me.  
So here I am yelling at this dog that doesn't belong to me while the guy with the big dog is just laughing and laughing getting a kick out of the whole thing.  Yep.  That is my embarrassing movie scene of the week. . . except  it didn't work out like in the movies.  (At that is totally fine with me.  I don't like dogs anyway.) 

Yep,  that 'movie moment'  is going on the list of Overused/ untrue moments in Movies & books! (This list will be the next one I begin working on.  To check out the other lists I have started go HERE

**Disclaimer:  I do not like dogs because I have only had bad experiences with them.  My own dog at one point turned on me and attacked me.  **

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Keep Calm and Write On


Lately, more then ever I have been blogging and networking trying to promote my blog and get connected so that once I am published I will be well connected.  
 I want to get published very much and I think if I just wrote, edited and re-edited my book and then sent it to my beta readers,  I would be off to a good start.  

But. . . 

I realized that I am so worried about getting connected with the world so that when I get published, I will have people reading my books that I'm not working on my book.  If there is no book to be read,  there is no book to promote.  If there is no need to promote my book, there is no need to even worry about networking for it.  

So, my goal this week is to WRITE! 
Yes I will still be around online, and I will probably blog a couple times this week.  But I need to get my darn book finished.  I've only been working on it for six years! 
And now I am going back to writing!


Reminders: 
Video Challenge going on at A to Z.
A to Z now has an official Facebook page.  Check it out HERE. 
Don't forget to answer the poll on the sidebar.  (Are you participating in the A to Z April Challenge?) 
Pay it Forward giveaway going on HERE (on my blog).

Now I am actually going back to writing! 

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Once upon a time, The End, Unconditional Love.

How often do we honestly understand what we are saying?  I know I can ramble on and on and on and only half the time does the person I am speaking to understand what I am trying to tell them. . . But how often do I understand what I am saying?

I am going to take a few ‘famous' phrases and break them down.


‘Once Upon a Time' 
. . . oh the classic beginning to the classic fairytales.  But what does it mean? 

Meaning:
Once:  1. at one time in the past; formerly
2. a single time

Use: 
Once = At one single time in the past.  

Meaning: 
Upon: 1. immediately or very soon after
2. on the occasion of

Use: 
Upon= Soon after the occasion. 

Meaning: 
A: 1. not any particular or certain one of a class or group

Use:      
A= A particular or non particular person.

Meaning: 
Time: 1. of, pertaining to, or showing the passage of time.

Use:
Time= Showing the passage of time.  

Finished sentence: 
Once Upon A time = At one single moment in the past, soon after the occasion, a particular or non particular person showing the passage of time. ..  (And so  the sentence would continue.)  

Does that make sense?  I mean. . honestly. .. does that make sense to you?

Let's do another. . .


The End
The famous two last words in Movies, Books, Plays,  and occasional even songs! But what does it mean? 

Meaning: 
The: 1. used, especially before a noun, with a specifying or particularizing effect

Use: 
The  (Yeah this one is pretty self explanatory) 

Meaning:
End: 1.the furthermost imaginable place or point
2.termination; conclusion

Use: 
End= Conclusion or Termination 

Finished product:
The End= The Conclusion or The Termination. 

So. . . at the end of the story,  that's the conclusion?  The characters don't just die.  What happens afterwards?  Yes the part of their story that is being shared is over but their story still goes on.  Why don't we ever share that part?  Why don't we talk about what happens after our hero/heroine saves the world?  

Alright I am going to do one more example.  These two words mean more broken down than they ever could together and they are the inspiration for this entire post. 

Evie
Inara
Unconditional Love.  I couldn't find any better example in the world to explain these two words together than my two beautiful nieces. 

Meaning:
Unconditional:  1. not limited by conditions

Use:
Unconditional=  Not limited by conditions

Meaning:
Love: 1. a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection

Use:
Love= A feeling of warm personal attachment and deep affection 

Finished product: 
Unconditional Love= Not limited by any condition, a feeling of warm personal attachment and deep affection. 

This is how my two nieces feel about me.  And when I am with them it doesn't matter how many other things I need to get done,  it doesn't matter what jobs need my attention.  They hold all of my attention.  They love me unconditionally.  

So,  if you broke down every sentence you have ever written or said,  how much of it would make sense?    (Honestly,  more than most would think) 

What sentence/ phrase do you want to break down to see what it really means? 

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Query Letter

I have written the same novel six times now.  I have edited, re-edited and edited again. 

 The title has changed three times,  the main character has had different personalities.  
The Story Line has changed (to a point). 
The Point of View has changed.  
Some Characters have gotten news names and the writing has changed.  

But most of all. . . I have changed.  
I now know how Not to write this novel.  
I know my characters better than I know myself.  
I can name each character, their age and describe every one of them to you. 
I can say without a doubt that my writing has improved. 
My style is more clear.
I have learned a lot, gained many friends,
earned respect,  created a blog that people (aside from my family) read.
I have become a part of an amazing team (The A to Z team, of course) 
And I go to Writing Conference yearly.  

And yet,  after six years. . . I have still never written a Query letter.  I am terrified!  (No I am still not done with the book.)
But I know it is time to start working on the query letter.  
I have always been told that you should put just as much work into the Query letter as you do your book.  I used to think 'I have to work on the query letter for six years too?  I thought working on the same novel that long was hard!'

I now know that this is not what people meant.  Putting the same amount of work into it is not the same as taking as long to write it.  
But. . . I don't know where to begin.  So Suggestions?

Where did you look for help in writing your first query letter? 

Thursday, January 19, 2012

A winner, a Facebook page, a post by me and a giveaway!


Congratulations to BJ!  She won the beautiful Wolf Dream catcher I gave away during the Dreaming of Books Giveaway Hop.  

A HUGE 

THANK YOU!

To all who participated!  

And now. . .for a couple announcements:

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A to Z now has an official Facebook page which you can check out HERE

Tomorrow on the official A to Z BLOG,  a post by myself is being posted.  Don't forget to check it out!  And you can do that HERE.  


Here on my blog,  I am doing a Paying it Forward giveaway (and it's not what you would expect) so check it out HERE

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Pay it forward ~ 2012



A couple nights ago I read a post by Reviews From My First Reads Shelf and it really got me thinking.

AimeeKay, talking about paying it forward by doing a giveaway for the first few people who commented on the post and then doing a Pay it forward giveaway themselves.  (you can read the post HERE) and I thought it would be super fun to do!

So Here I am,  putting together the post.  But. . . I am going to add my own little twist to it.

*Five Ten people are going to win a **surprise prize!  And I am gonna tell you how.  . .

Instead of doing your own Pay It Forward post (Which I HIGHLY recommend you do)

The first five people to FOLLOW Reviews From My First Reads Shelf  and then comes back here and leaves a comment gets a prize.
And
The First Five people to SHARE somebody else's blog  (It does not have to be mine) on one of their social sites (Blogger, Twitter, Facebook. . . etc)  and then comes back here and leaves a comment gets a prize.  (Don't forget to leave the link you shared in the comments so I can check it out as well. )

Ready. .. set. . . .go!

*Only one prize per person .  Though you are highly encouraged to do both of these things.  If you do please let me know in the comments.  Also don't forget to leave your e-mail in the comments so that I can contact you for shipping information.

** While the prize will stay a surprise,  I can tell you that your prize will be a homemade gift is someway.  It can be anything from Jewelry to Hand decorated Notebooks to Wall art. . . etc

How long will this be going on?  Until I have ten people to give prizes to!



Tuesday, January 17, 2012

A to Z announcement! And some other news. . .

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The A to Z April Blog challenge now has a Facebook page!  

Click HERE to check it out! 

And

There is an A to Z video Challenge happening starting  Wednesday (1-18-12) on the A to Z blog.  To check it out Click HERE! 


And in other news the Dreaming of Books blog hop giveaway ends tomorrow night at midnight.  Click here to Enter! 


And back to A to Z news . . . on January 20th I will be posting on the A to Z blog! So don't forget to keep checking the A to Z blog! 

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Dreaming of Books Giveaway Hop

****This contest is now over.  Winner to be announced soon***


A huge Thank you to I Am A Reader, Not A Writer and Martha's Bookshelf for hosting this wonderful blog hop.  

At the bottom of this post is a list of hundreds of blogs.  So when you're done here click on the next link and hop on over to another blog for another chance at winning an awesome prize! 

And now. . .  I Shall show you what you can win here. . . . 

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Yep, that's right!  A dream catcher!  . .. (Well what else would I giveaway for a blog hop about dreaming of books?) 

Do you want to win this beautiful Dream Catcher?  I will tell you how you can. 

How to win: Mandatory Entries: 
1+ Be a follower of this blog &
 Comment on this post (telling me what you did to enter.  Don't forget to leave an e-mail)

Bonus Entries: 
1+  Read the A to Z special announcement POST or PAGE
1+ Leave a comment on the A to Z special announcement POST or PAGE

And that's all!  So go enter and now hope along to the next blog for a chance to win more prizes! 
And thanks for stopping by! 

(This contest ends on January 18th at midnight.  Open to US residents only.  Sorry)

*******ATTENTION: It has come to my attention that commenting is being difficult for some people.  I do not know what the problem is (most likely Blogger)  But if you are having a problem,  feel free to e-mail me your entry.  Very sorry about this!************

E-mail: nothought2small(at)gmail(dot)com

Writeaway:


Writeaway is a blog my friend Liz and I created together to help people get their writing done.  It started with us racing each other to finish our books and we decided to make it bigger.  We want to help people the way we helped each other.   (You can read the whole story here

Well we are having a writing race on Sunday so please Check it Out Here out if you are a writer hoping to get through lot's of writing this year!  We will be holding monthly writing races and there are always fun prizes to go with them.  

Check it out,  enter on Sunday,  Share! 

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Friday, January 6, 2012

Welcoming the A to Z team

********Special Announcement********

This year I am one of the co-hosts for the A to Z April Blogging Challenge! 

Before I go any further,  let me introduce the rest of the team! 

Arlee Bird: Tossing It Out
Damyanti Biswas:  Amlokiblogs 
Alex J. Cavanaugh: Alex J. Cavanaugh 
Tina Downey: Life is Good 
DL Hammons: Cruising Altitude 2.0 
Jeremy Hawkins: Retro-Zombie 
Shannone Lawrence: The Warrior Muse 
Mattew Macnish: The QQQE 
Elizabeth Mueller: Author Elizabeth Mueller 
Jenny Pearson: Pearson Report
Stephen Tremp: Breakthrough Blogs 
&
Me of course

Now. . . for those of you who know what the A to Z blog challenge is and/or have done it before,  Glad to welcome you back this year!  

For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about. . . good news.  I am here to tell you! 
Just kidding. . . No I'm not.  
Okay no really,  I am going to tell you about it.  

The A to Z blog challenge is. . . okay nope. I have decided that it is better for me to send you to a place that can show you what it is I am talking about  rather than me try to tell you some more. 

Okay how about I just tell you the short version and you can check out the long version Here

Short Version:
The A to Z April blog Challenge is where you post everyday in April minus Sundays, giving you exactly enough days to do 26 posts in April.  Each post is based around the letter of the day.  So April 1st,  the letter will be 'A'.  That means on April 1st. you post about something that starts with the letter A.  Then on April 2nd you post about something that starts with the 'B'.  Get it? 

Now I know that this may sound absolutely terrifying to some  (I know because when I first heard about it I was terrified and I backed out.  Big mistake)  

Don't back down.  Don't not participate because it sounds like a big bad scary blogging task.  Trust me,  this is going to be AMAZING! 

I am part of the team putting it together this year and I am still terrified.  But I know that it will be worth it! 

So that you know what it is,  I suppose you want to know where it is. . . well that's kinda obvious.  On your blog of course!  And here.  And on the team members blogs.  Okay I will quit with the jokes.  

HERE is where you can go to find out more.  
(The link also takes you to the LONG story of how the challenge works) 

And don't forget about it either!  Sign Ups start January 30th! 

Now that you know about it,  And you know the team members,  And you know when to sign up, And when the challenge starts, And where it is,  do you want to know what I will be blogging about throughout April, from A to Z?  

. . . .Yeah I would like to know that to. . . . 




 


Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Darkspell~ Review

Now available!

Darkspell Description: 

Winter Sky believes she is everything ordinary ... until she is kissed by Alex Stormhold. 





As seer of Stormhold Coven, Alex is sworn to be Winter's protector against the darkness that hunts her. Violently thrust into a magical realm she always thought impossible, she stumbles upon a disturbing secret of her own. 




Will love prove thicker than magic?


My Darkspell Review: 

I was captivated within the first paragraph.  Elizabeth spins a wonderful tale.  Winter is a believable and relatable teenage girl.  Once you pick up Darkspell, you won't want to put it down until the very end.  

The detailing is overwhelmingly wonderful.  The story continues spinning until the end, leaving you guessing the entire time.  Just when I thought I knew what was going to happen, I was caught off guard.  

My only complaint is that, there were a few scenes that went a little to fast and a couple scenes where the scenes went a little to slow or got a little confusing.  

Overall I give Darkspell 4 Stars! 
     
And now. . . I am giving you the chance to win an e-copy!

Leave a comment on this post and tell me why you should win a copy!  Don't forget to  leave your e-mail. 
This contest ends on Monday January 9th.
Follow Elizabeth and Darkspell on the Darkspell Tour going on this month:

January 1 Ana at BookSpark
January 16 Michelle at