Winners All Around

Wow! Has it been a busy week! Between launching Roots of Insight, running the scavenger hunt, and beginning the writing of Book Three in earnest, I’ve been busy. Oh yeah … I’ve also started watching a sweet new baby in my 50-hour-a-week day job. (Anyone want to do my laundry? 😉 )

The winner of a $10 Amazon gift card,  a gift pack of e-books by Kristy K. James, and your choice of an e-copy of either Seeds of Discovery or Roots of Insight, as determined by Random.org, is …. Megan from Hardcover Feedback! Thank you so much for participating!

Check this space later this week for another chance to win! 🙂

And now, for another winner … Me?

I’ve said it before, and at this rate, I’ll find the need to say it a million more times. The writing/blogging community is

A-MA-ZING. 

The people I have met, and the stories and articles I’ve read in the last six months since I really started to make a go of this thing absolutely blow me away. The support and the love I’ve felt in this community … I can’t even begin to describe. Those of you who really know me know that a year ago at this time, I was miserable. Writing, and being a part of this community has changed all of that. I am thankful every day.

A week ago, Kristy K. James passed on my first-ever blog award — The Versatile Blogger award. 🙂 And then, in the time it has taken me to get this post up (I’m busy! And for those of you who are dying to know — today I’ll pass 15k words of progress on Book Three, and the one beta reader who’s seen it so far says it’s her favorite yet) …

Anyway… in that lag time, I’ve actually been given this award not one, but two more times. By Lillie McFerrin, (@LillieMcFerrin) and Steven P. Watson (@AshViper), two amazingly talented writers who so very frequently keep me motivated and going over at #wordmongering.

There are some rules I must follow in accepting the Versatile Blogger award, so here goes. 😉

1. Thank the blogger(s) who gave it to you. Kristy, Lillie, and Steven – you guys rock my world every single day.

2. Share 7 random things about yourself. (Do I ever share anything about myself here that’s not random?

• My daughter shares a middle name with my grandmother, who was the person in my family who inspired me to write. Someday, I’d love to share some of her poetry with the world.
• My favorite cereal is Sweetened Wheat-Fulls by Mom’s Naturals (like Mini-Wheats, but without chemicals). They’re so popular in the house that we sometimes go through 3-4 boxes a week.
• If I ever get rich from writing (this used to be my lottery dream, but since I don’t play the lottery and I do write, and getting rich from my writing carries about the same likelihood as winning the lottery — it’s a new dream), I will spend at least a month of every year in Australia, right in the middle of our winter and their summer. An entire month of writing on my laptop, and drinking beers by the barbecue with my dear friends, Kylee and Mellisa, while we listen to our girls chatter to each other in their beautiful different accents. It’s a good dream.
• Even if I never get rich, I’m going to save up enough money to have an Australian summer like that at least once.
• I have a thing about brushing my teeth. If I think about it, I have to do it, or it drives me crazy. In fact … I think I’ll go brush them right now. 🙂
• I cannot handle having long fingernails. Manicures are a waste of time on me (but a gift certificate for a pedicure is a perfect gift for me — my birthday is April 23). I chop off fingernails without mercy, even when I can’t find my nail clipper and have to use the baby one. I’ll even do a hack job with the toenail clipper (I wash it first.)
• I can name all 50 states in alphabetical order, from memory, without singing the song. And lots of other weird things, too.

3. Nominate other bloggers you love for the award and share it with them. (Okay, it’s supposed to be 15, but a lot of the bloggers I love have already passed around this award, and I’m still new at this!) But here are some of my favorites! 🙂

• Julie Jordan Scott at Julie Unplugged 
• Danni  at Epic Robot Danni
• B.A. Matthews at The Writings and Musings of B.A. Matthews
• L.S. Taylor at What I Learned Today 
• Moni-Marie Vincent, founder of #wordmongering.
• Kristen at Better Read than Dead
• Kerry Schafer at  KerrySchafer.com

Thank you so much everyone. Hope it’s a wonderful week for you all. My goal this week is ambitious — I want to break 25k words on Book Three. It’s working title is Sprouts of Decision. 🙂 (All title suggestions welcome at this point!)

Launch Day Celebration!

It’s January 9th, which means Roots of Insight officially releases for Kindle today! 🙂 (If you have a different kind of e-reader, make sure to read my previous post.)

You can check out Roots of Insight at Amazon by clicking here.

If you haven’t yet read Seeds of Discovery, it is free at Amazon today only!

To celebrate, I am going to be hosting a week-long scavenger hunt with lots of great prizes. Each day, there will be more questions in the hunt, and each day there will be new prizes.

Today’s prize is a $5 e-gift card to Amazon and a surprise e-book gift pack! 🙂

To enter, find the answers to the following questions by clicking on the links. Then e-mail (don’t comment!!) the answers to breeanap@gmail.com.

Everyone who answers the questions correctly will be put into a drawing for today’s prize. You can enter every day for the new prizes.  On Friday, there will be a grand prize drawing for participants who have answered EVERY question in the hunt. 🙂

Bonus entries into the drawing will be awarded for those who comment on this post and share it with others (but only if you e-mail the questions, too — they’re bonus entries!) 🙂

Here are today’s questions! (Click on the blog name to visit!)

• From Kristy K. James’ blog:   Who are my three favorite bad boys-in order of favorites?  Answer in “It’s a Bad Boy Thing,” published on Dec. 5th.
• From Megaword Journey: Who is the main character of the Snapshots storyline?

Find the answers to these two questions, and e-mail them to breeanap@gmail.com with “Scavenger Hunt” in the subject line for your chance to win! 🙂 Don’t forget to comment below and share for bonus entries.