How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Books, uh, Ways...(Social Picnic $500 and Tablet Giveaway)

Seriously, I can't tell you the number of giveaways I've entered, hoping to win an ARC or exciting new release. So when I came across this upcoming giveaway that includes 500 bucks and a Free Next6 Android Tablet, I knew I had to be a part of it! If only to sprinkle freebie goodness on my readers! Can you imagine $500 worth of books? Oh my aching eyes! Gimme! Gimme!

Of course, you don't have to buy books, you could spend the money on gobs and gobs of dark chocolate and Starbucks coffee. Or maybe as a down payment on a car, rent, sky diving lessons, clothes, spa day, jewelry, groceries, stock in Jif peanut butter, toward college tuition, a weekend getaway--this is a nice chunk of change we're talking about here! Oh what fun can be had!

If you're already following me that counts toward an entry--just check it off on rafflecopter and you're in the running! See how good I am to you?


Twitter Hashtag: #SocialPicnic2

The Social Picnic event is finally here, hosted by This Lil Piglet and Family Approve. To enter the giveaway, the Rafflecopter giveaway form will be located on participating blogs September 1- 12:01 AM EST - 8th 12:01 AM EST

Enter to win...

$500 Cash via PayPal

Next6 Android Tablet

If you like reading books, browse the internet, listen to music, view your favorite photo albums or videos, Next6 is your new best friend. Its sleek design, touch screen feature, 7 inches color display,and WiFi is nothing short of amazing. As an added bonus, Next6 also comes with 25 free preloaded books. With one touch, you can open your favorite book and enjoy it anywhere anytime. When fully charged, you can read for up to 10 hours.



Your new Next6 will come with the EBook Store App, so you can download eBooks directly from the web. Its crystal clear capacitive screen is easy to use and gives you crystal clear images especially when playing HD video. If it’s games that you prefer, there are thousands of free 3rd party apps available for you to download. Next6, it is all you need in a tablet!!

Rules and Regulations of the giveaway:

1. Each entry gains you one entry towards the winning prizes

2.The winning entry will be checked to ensure they have complied with their entry. If it is found that the winning entry has not completed the entry requirement, a different winner will be selected.

3.The $500 Cash prize is open Worldwide. The Nexbook Next6 Tablet prize is open to US and Canada residents only. One winner will be chosen and will win ALL prizes. If the chosen winner is located outside the US & Canada, they will win the cash prize only and a second winner will be chosen for the tablet.



Tips: If you've never used Rafflecopter before, it's an easy way to enter giveaway's. Keep in mind that Rafflecopter is run using Javascript so you must enable javascript on your computer to use. If you are having trouble, try a different browser or make sure you have updated your computer and browser.

Because of the amount of entries for this event, we suggest bookmarking this page and spreading out your entries throughout the course of the event.

Have fun and Good luck!

Don't you feel silly when...

This morning my hubby was sorting his pills into one of those Monday thru Friday pill boxes with the help of our four y/o. With tiny fingers she placed the last of the multivitamins into Sunday and then held out her hand for more.
"Sorry honey, I have to do these myself," he told her, carefully dropping his blood pressure meds across the slotted week.
"Ohhh." She sighed.
Her disappointed expression had me asking "why" on her behalf.
Apparently the vitamin D pills look identical to the blood pressure pills. It's easy to see why he didn't want any mistakes.

In a weird way, this brought to mind a time I was applying makeup. As usual I felt around my makeup bag for foundation, and then mascara. After which, I found my retractable blush brush (all with my eyes still on my reflection, tweaking my work--it takes a lot of effort these days), pulled off the lid, twisted it open and swiped it across my cheek. Only it wasn't my blush brush after all, it was my lipstick. I about died laughing. Serves me right for not paying closer attention. In my defense, though, you should know that the lipstick and brush are about the same size, housed in identical gold cases.









      See the cheeks? That was me, only it was one cheek-- streaked, like a die hard fan at a football game.                                                                    





                                                         (BTW, this is some random person-not me)


                                                                                 

Yikes! Mixing up heart meds, and makeup, isn't good. Mixing up anything isn't good. This couldn't be more true than with writing. (Good golly, I actually have a point)

I'm the worst at this. Forgetting to double check, to make sure I've chosen the 'write' word . Use the wrong word, and the sentence becomes incomprehensible, or worse yet, changes meaning altogether.

For example:

The writer poured over his rewrite.

You make my heart beet.

I don't have thyme to stay for dinner.

Weak examples, but I'm sure hope you get the idea. I've heard writers, agents, and editors discussing this at great length, driving home the importance of using the correct word.  All I have to say is: Hear, hear!

**I posted this without asking if anyone else has any other examples. What are your red flag words that trip you up and make you think twice?

Are you attending?

Hello?!? Of course you are. After all, every swanky person we know is going to be there. I'll be the one disguised as Angelina Jolie. Oops...let the cat out of the bag.  No worries though, secrecy is definitely not one of the requirements to gain entry! Quite the opposite, in fact.

The Details:

When: September 14th


Where: Talli Roland's Blog

Why: To celebrate the launch of Tilli's book Watching Willow Watts, silly!

No one plays a heat strapping, butt kicking gal better than Angelina. There's something to be said for that! So who will you be? (Promise not to tell!)

I'm a Killer

And I won't be quitting any time soon. The first one was the hardest. I mourned for days. But it had to be done, it's a necessary evil, you see?

 I never kill for the sake of killing. I only do it if it makes things better. If you knew, knew the terrible, repulsive things my victims are capable of, then I think you'd agree that I'm doing the world a favor. I'm sort of like Dexter, the serial killer. There's rhyme and reason to his method. Murder the bad ones to satisfy his urge to kill. I don't have that same lust for blood, (at all--the sight of it makes me queasy and light headed) but I understand the need to remove the cancer. I can't describe how satisfying it is to cut them out and be done with it--even if I do occasionally miss them. But there's always someone new on the horizon. So kill 'em, and then make up a new character with silver dewed wings and sun sucking powers. Very therapeutic.

But sometimes, I have to kill the good ones, too. There is no satisfaction in that, no smirk to be found on my face. The tears run free with the innocent, kind hearted ones, who've done nothing to deserve such treatment. However, they must be sacrificed for the greater good. I'm sure they would understand if I could sit down with them and talk it out. Murder doesn't work that way, though, does it? It must be a surprise--quick and calculated. Although I must admit that botched up, frenetic acts of violence can also be fun at times.

However, while I'm a self-proclaimed fiction character murderer, I never thought I'd be an orange tree killer.

When I pass by this tree, I want to cry out: "Why, world? Why?" But then the neighbors would give me that look again. Not sure how they put up with me. (that's a whole other post)

As I've said before, Texas has been in triple digits for a loooong time. It's stupid. Someone needs to have a word with Mother Nature. It's like she turned up the thermostat and forgot to turn it back down. Her bill is going to be MASSIVE!  Alas, my little dwarf orange tree isn't fairing too well. I bought it about a month and a half ago and cleverly thought I'd leave it out in the sun till it became too cold outside--and then I'd bring it into the house. I had this fond image of this little tree's boughs weighed down with fat juicy clementines, sitting by the Christmas tree, the children decked in flannel pajamas, happily opening gifts. Pretty sure this daydream also involved a warm crackling fire, and the faint sound of Elvis's Christmas playing in the background. But at the rate this little guy is going, he'll be dead by Halloween. Maybe sooner.

I thought about giving up and bringing it inside, but I'm afraid the air conditioning will shock it and finish it off. Any tips?  And I'm curious, are you a killer too? Or are you the amicable sort?

Fall Into Fun

Can you feel it? There's a change in the air, so faint it's easy to dismiss. But we all know that fall is coming and soon enough those hot days will turn into crisp autumn. With this transition to a new season comes many new and exciting opportunities. Today I want to share my recent finds with you. These are the two that have caught my attention:

1. The Muse Online Writers Conference
2. Rach Writes: Third Writers' Platform Campaign 

The Muse Online Writers Conference is great for pitching your work and getting yourself out there in front of agents and publishers.

Rachael Harrie (who is completely fabulous, by the way) is the brain child behind Third Writer's Platform Campaign--a great way to meet and support other writers. --Seriously can't wait to get going on this! 

I hope you can find the time to join in, I'd love to see you there!