Fun in San Francisco!

This year the Romance Writers of America convention will be held in San Franciso in just a few days! My Orange County Chapter is holding a wonderful contest for attendees.

If you're going you won't want to miss playing OCC Bingo. Here's the details from our esteemed president, Sue Phillips:

For anyone attending the National RWA Conference in SF --
Win a $100 Visa Gift Card!

The Orange County Chapter/RWA is sponsoring a fun game at the Literacy Signing on Wednesday night, July 30th!

Look for an OCC member passing out Bingo-type game cards with the names of 30 OCC/RWA authors who are signing that night. (They will have a tent-card with a big orange on it!) Get at least 15 signatures plus the title of their next book, write your email address on the card and drop it at the OCC Hospitality Suite. A winner will be drawn after the conference and notified by email.

Say hello to your favorite authors! Meet new authors! No obligation to buy! (But, of course, feel free to do so!)
See you there!

I hope you stop by my table and say hello. They always seat us alphabetically, so you'll find me at the "S" table!!

Good luck with the contest! It sounds like fun!!

HERE IT IS... SUITE SECRETS CONTEST!

Have you ever gotten stuck in an elevator in a hotel? Have you ever been in a hotel black-out? Any hotel mishaps? Met your other half in the hotel pool or gym?

Celebrating the launch of Five-Star Cowboy set in Tempest West Hotel, the first of the Suite Secrets mini-series, we're holding this blog contest!

Simply post any fun/intriguing/harrowing/romantic adventures that has happened to you in a hotel! Every so often I'll be picking a favorite and sending out autographed books.

Then in September, all hotel blog comments will go into a random drawing for a Grand Prize of a $25.00 Victoria Secret Gift Certificate AND a Secret Prize.

Remember you have to blog here to be entered!!

I want to hear your stories!

New Contest Coming!

Yep, we picked a winner for the Five-Star Cowboy Contest a few days ago. Congratulations to Vickie H!

Soon we'll be posting a new Suite Secrets Contest.

This time it's something a little different. So put on your thinking caps ! The contest will be held right here! I'll be asking you to relay your most memorable, favorite hotel story.

Have you ever gotten stuck in an elevator? Have you ever been in a hotel black-out? Any hotel mishaps? Met your other half in the hotel pool?

Win a Victoria Secret Gift Certificate and a Secret Prize, sure to please.

Look for the Suite Secrets Contest ... coming soon!

The Changing Ways We Read

Do you remember, before the invention of backpacks how we would pile up our schoolbooks onto of a thick binder and walk to school each day? It may have been five or six books at a time. I recall the books falling off the neat stack as we gabbed with friends along the way. I also remember my parents taking pity on me when I had too many books, offering to drive me to school. Some days I took them up on it.

Times HAVE changed!

There's no denying it. I don't think my parents would have believed or fathomed how much. With the ever emerging inventions of electonic devices these days, even a person well atuned would have trouble keeping up with the new technology.

Would my parents ever have believed that you could have hundreds of books held in the palm of your hand? What would they say if they saw the new teeny tiny cell phones that have computer tendencies? Would they even grasp a text message?

I think not.

I've been keeping up, barely. I have a cell phone, a bluetooth, a 22 inch computer monitor with all the bells and whistles. But I'm not a text messager. I haven't succumbed to reading a book on my cell phone or an ereader. Amazon now has Kindle, a device that turns pages like a book. For effect, I'd say.

And now the latest is Daily Lit. How many of you know what Daily Lit is?

I'm learning.

Yesterday I received a message from a representative from Daily Lit who has partnered with Harlequin, that my book The Corporate Raider's Revenge, will now be available in this form.

In essence, they spoon feed you a story daily. Here's where cell phones come in handy. Many people will read the stories via their cell, via email or RSS feeds. Daily Lit provides you with two free samples which seems to consist of several pages of text, then if you like what you're reading ... if the author has hooked you ... you can buy the entire book and it's delivered in daily chunks.

The books are read in short, daily installments via email or RSS. They offer both free and paid books and have titles available in genres as diverse as science fiction, classics, and, of course, romance.

Daily Lit has chosen The Corporate Raider's Revenge, 1 of the 100 that they are featuring to date ... pretty impressive ... and I'm delighted they chose my book for this!

To view two free samples of my book from Daily Lit :
http://dailylit.com/books/corporate-raiders-revenge

Please check it out.

Let me know what you think!

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Rules to Blog By

Today I joined Fronnie Lewis and HelenKay Dimon at the LARA chapter of RWA as we shared insights about Romancing the Internet. I spoke a little about Group Blogging and my wonderful experiences with Petticoats and Pistols. It was a fun day for all in beautiful Barnes and Noble.


For those of you who might be interested in joining or developing a group blog ...

10 COMBLOGMENTS

1. Thou shall have FUN with your blog. It's a strategic way to market and promote your books. It's fast and easy and inexpensive.

2. Thou shall promote with a bigger picture in mind. The Blog never stands alone. Should be tied to other events, web sites, gimmicks and media relations.


3.Thou shall develop the blog with a goal and audience in mind. No random thoughts here.


4. Thou shall be provocative - in that your blogs should provoke a response from the readers.


5.Thou shall recreate the experience of your books, tie into your brand or your story.


6.Thou shall use NEWS YOU CAN USE. Write about your craft, your style, how you write.


7.Thou shall always have an advance schedule for posting and use a tag line: "Coming up next on the blog:" to increase reader interest and participation.


8.Thou shall find inspiration in: themes in your books, your brand, your book titles, current events, causes you support or are passionate about and your writing expertise.


9.Thou shall realize media and readers want "topics and "expertise" not people. Events, stunts and PR activities are easier to pull off with a group. ALWAYS USE LINKS in your blogs.


10.Thou shall remember to be TOPICAL. Try to tie your blog into what's happening in today's world. Hot Topics.

Think about what blogs intrigue you and ask yourself "Why" and see if the blogs fit into this criteria. I bet they do!

Happy Blogging all!

Harlequin's Way to Ease Gas Prices!

Harlequin is offering some great bargains this July! Hope you can take

advantage of some free books!

Keep a lookout for the winner of the Five-Star Cowboy Contest

ending soon!

Are you a Trivia Junkie?

Come visit me today (Friday) on Petticoats and Pistols. We'll talk trivia, including these 4 guys who made history in the 1960's!

See you there!!

Petticoats and Pistols

Church Bulletin Funnies... Couldn't Pass These Up!

Church Bulletins: Thank God for church ladies with typewriters. These sentences actually appeared in church bulletins or were announced in church services:

If you love Jay Leno's Monday night Headlines, then you'll enjoy these!

The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals. ~~~~~~

The sermon this morning: "Jesus Walks on the Water." The sermon tonight: "Searching for Jesus." ~~~~~~

Our youth basketball team is back in action Wednesday at 8 PM in the recreation hall. Come out and watch us kill Christ the King. ~~~~~~

Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands. ~~~~~~

The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been canceled due to a conflict. ~~~~~~

Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our community. Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say "Hell" to someone who doesn't care much about you. ~~~~~~

Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help. ~~~~~~

Miss Charlene Mason sang "I will not pass this way again," giving obvious pleasure to the congregation. ~~~~~~

For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs. ~~~~~~

Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get. ~~~~~~

The Rector will preach his farewell message after which the choir will sing: "Break Forth Into Joy." ~~~~~~

Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days. ~~~~~~

At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be "What Is Hell?" Come early and listen to our choir practice. ~~~~~~

Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones. ~~~~~~

Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children. ~~~~~~

Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered. ~~~~~~

The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment and gracious hostility. ~~~~~~

Potluck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM - prayer and medication to follow. ~~~~~~

The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon. ~~~~~~

This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn singing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin. ~~~~~~

Do You Kindle?

I just found out that my Cobblestone Press book, is available on Amazon and Kindle! So what is a kindle. See below. It's handheld, but much easier to read than some of the other types of ereaders. There's some fascinating facts below about Kindle.

As you can see it looks like real paper instead of a screen. Almost all Harlequin/Silhouette books are also available in this format.

From Wikipedia:

Amazon Kindle is an electronic book (e-book) computer appliance launched in the United States by Amazon.com in November 2007. It uses an electronic paper display, reads the proprietary Kindle (AZW) format, and downloads content over Amazon Whispernet, which uses the Sprint EVDO network. The Kindle can be used stand alone without a computer. Whispernet is accessible through Kindle without any fee

.[1] Amazon does not sell the Kindle outside the United States as Whispernet only works in the U.S.

[2] On the release day, the Kindle Store had more than 88,000 digital titles available for download, but that number has steadily increased.

[3][4] Amazon's first offering of the Kindle sold out in five and a half hours[5] and the device remained out of stock until late April 2008.

[6] At launch, the device retailed for $399; Amazon subsequently lowered the price to $359.

How many of you use a Kindle? I think it's becoming more and more popular! You can download books you want to read in mere seconds. The technology is mind-bloggling.

Happy Birthday, USA!

Wishing everyone a very safe and happy Fourth of July!

God Bless America!

New Cell Phone Laws in California

I'm all for the Cell Phone Laws! I think it's about time. I'm a cell phone user and I DO use my phone while driving, only when necessary. But this law will make the roads safer for everyone. And it forces me and everyone else to really pay attention to driving.

The law went into effect on Monday, July 1st here in California and I'm happy to say that I haven't seen one person breaking that law! Both hands are on the wheel.

I have been shopping for a speaker phone from Bluetooth, but guess what? They are all sold out. My sister bought hers months ago, so she's all set and she showed me yesterday how easy they are to use. It's on my To Do List. But in the meantime, I won't be driving and dialing!

Here's some info:

Many states now have a ban on using a hand-held device while driving. These states include:

California (effective 7/2008)

Connecticutt

District of Columbia

New Jersey

Virgin Islands

Washington (effective 7/2008)
Parts of Illinois, Mass, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio and Penn.

Violaters are fined between $20 and $500. While it is highly advised that you reduce distractions when driving, it is still possible to tak on a phone when really needed through a hands-free headset. There are two types of headsets that can be used while driving 1) wired 2) wireless (Bluetooth)

Primary - An officer can pull you over just for using a hand-held device while driving.

Secondary - An officer can ticket you for use of hand-held device while driving only if you are pulled over for another traffic violation.

Drive Safe, Be Happy!