NaNo and LaVerne Clark
31 Jan 2012 28 Comments
in Author guest, TWRP, Writing Tags: Calisa Rhose, giveaway, Guardian of the Jewel, guest, LaVerne Clark, NaNoWriMo, Pen of the Dreamer, The Wild Rose Press
Osiyo~
It is my distinct pleasure to have my TWRP sister and friend, LaVerne Clark on the ranch today. It has come and gone without my participation once again. Not so for LaVerne! She took on NaNoWriMo for the first time this last November and came to share her experience.
Welcome, LaVerne! Why don’t you start by telling why you’re here?
My name is LaVerne and I’m no longer a NaNoWriMo virgin. Whoo, boy! Does that ever feel good!
Each year, November came and went without my participation or even the possibility I’d sign up. You see, here is the ugly truth…I’m a lazy writer and the Queen of procrastination. I loved the idea of writing furiously for a month with other like-minded madmen and women, but there were always reasons why I couldn’t. My three-year old needed mummy’s attention; I was helping with school excursions for my son; the dog needed a walk or my house needed tidying – oh – and I needed my sleep. All very valid excuses, but that’s what they were. Excuses.
One day, a couple of online writer buddies of mine mentioned they were going to do the upcoming NaNoWriMo and would I like to do it with them? Out came the excuses – and I had a new good one too. My second book had been accepted and I was expecting edits sometime during the month of November. Why start something I may not be able to finish? And then it hit me. I was being negative! I’ve always prided myself on being a positive person, and the reality I wasn’t when it came to one of my greatest loves gave me a start. So without thinking too much more on, I found myself signing up. Gulp! Now there was no going back, at least in my mind. Have I mentioned I hate to leave anything unfinished?
Well – it was the best thing I could have done at that stage of my writing career. I wrote religiously every day and night and finished with just over the 50K requisite. What a buzz! And I was so thrilled to celebrate with those special writing buddies who’d succeeded too. One had even powered through to over 100K! We’d done it!
So, did I write the next bestseller during the month of November? Uh, no. Definitely not. But that was not the point of the exercise for me. Instead, it taught me a great deal about what I was capable of and reminded me of my love for the written word. Even though the pressure was on – I had so much fun! Maybe one day I’ll revisit my novel and rework it, or maybe not. Either way, it doesn’t really matter. All that matters is I proved to myself I can make time for myself each day to write and to make realistic goals. Now I know what I can achieve, suddenly the idea of writing three books a year is more than doable. How exciting is that? Bring it on!
How about you? Are you a NaNoWriMo virgin? What’s holding you back? Or are you an old pro and what was the experience like for you?
I’ll be giving away an e-book of my first book, Guardian of the Jewel (a romantic suspense) to a lucky commenter.:) Good luck!
Woot! A give away! Where can readers find you?
Blog: Novel Natterings
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorLaVerneClark
That is a great cover, too. Thanks for visiting LaVerne!
Come back next Tuesday, Feb 7th when I’ll have Soulmate Publisher author and my critique partner, Donna Shields, back to share her latest release!
Dodadagohvi~
Christina Wolfer and The Daughter
24 Jan 2012 38 Comments
in Author guest, book to read, getting the word out, Home, TWRP, Writing Tags: Calisa Rhose, Christina Wolfer, giveaway, HOME, Pen of the Dreamer, romantic suspense, social work, Tales of the Scrimshaw doll, The Daughter, The Wild Rose Press, Turquoise Morning Press
Osiyo~
WooHoo! Gonna have a party on the Ranch today! My Diva Christina Wolfer is here with the beer and I have the weenies. I think I see Joelene and Lo trailing in with wine! Ruth and Clancy will be good for the food and chocolate if they make it in. So let’s get started! Go for it Tina. The round pen’s all yours!
Hi Ya’ll,
I’m thrilled to be guest blogging on the ranch today. I’ve spent enough time here over the last year and a half and often behind the scenes sitting on the porch with Calisa and a few other Diva’s throwing back a few drinks, eating little weenies and discussing men, writing and life as it comes at us.
Before I go any further though, I want to give a big shout out to Calisa, on her debut release, HOME. A fabulous story.
Aw dang, thanks Tina. *blushes*
So why am I here, you may be asking? I’m not just filling a hole in the calendar, well, I am doing that too, but more than that I’m here to tell you a little about me and my newest release, THE DAUGHTER, which came out January 14th from Turquoise Morning Press.
Like Calisa, I’m a small-town country girl through and through and I share her passion for horses. Writing, like reading, has always been a part of my life. I write romantic suspense and romance with strong elements of suspense set in current times.
When I first headed off to college, my plan was to get my degree in Social Services with my primary desire to work with children, to save them really and help them have better lives. I went to work at a runaway shelter near my hometown and learned the realities of what I would really be able to do. During that time, I got to work along side some great Social Workers who invested emotionally in the lives of others. Okay, so now you’re probably wondering what all this has to do with anything. The heroine in THE DAUGHTER is a social worker; however, she’s working to get prostitutes off the street.
Back book blurb:
Abandoned by her mother at birth, social worker Katie Delynski believes love and relationships are learned—and she hasn’t learned anything good about either. She avoids both love and relationships by focusing on her career and by getting prostitutes off the street. But when a man she’s never met commits suicide and names her as his daughter, leaving her millions of dollars and a family full of new relatives, things change. Her new family invites her into their lives, stirring a sense of belonging she is afraid to believe in.
Determined to put her windfall to good use, Katie buys an old building for a women’s shelter. Her newfound family puts her in touch with Conner Patterson, a family friend, to help rehab the building. As work progresses, Katie finds herself falling in love with Conner, but fear keeps her from acting on her feelings. It soon becomes apparent, though, that Conner may be her only hope for survival, when someone hurt by her father’s past indiscretions is determined to make Katie pay for her father’s sins.
Please leave a comment to be entered to win an e-copy of THE DAUGHTER.
Other books by Christina Wolfer
Sounds like a keeper to me. That cover is breathtaking. Where can we find you when you’re not kicked back on my porch?
You can find me at the following:
Facebook: Christina Williams Wolfer
Twitter @christinawolfer
www.christinawolfer.com
www.christinawolfer.blogspot.com
It’s been awesome having you talk about The Daughter, Christina. I’m so thrilled for your success since we met! You are on fire girl! Thank you for being my guest today.
Now who wants a copy for your own of The Daughter? Raise your hands folks. Better yet, leave a comment to be entered in the drawing!
Dodadagohvi~
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I’m irresistible and sweet!
22 Jan 2012 9 Comments
in awards, giveaway, Interview Tags: An Inheritance For the Birds, blog award, Calisa Rhose, HOME, Linda Banche, Pen of the Dreamer, The Wild Rose Press
Osiyo~
Okay, so maybe it’s my blog that’s these things. At least according to my TWRP sister, Linda Banche. She’s the author of An Inheritance For the Birds, part of the Love Letters series and releases Feb. 1, 2012. Linda has a lovely blog, too. I’m sure she’d love if you visited her and discover her witty Regency historicals http://lindabanche.blogspot.com/
But before I go further, my heroine in my new release, HOME, is being interviewed at Alana Loren’s blog today. http://alanalorens.com/2012/01/22/on-world-building/ She’d be thrilled if you have a minute to pop in and find out what she thinks about her hero, Sam Callahan.
Now, isn’t this lovely?
Linda says I have to nominate 10 other blogs for this award and then spill the goods seven times on myself. These are supposed to be things people may not know about me so if you do know any…skip to the next. 
Here’s the me-7:
1. I have four darling granddaughters between 1 and 7 years of age.
2. I love horses and riding is my get away when my writing muse leaves me high and dry in the warmer months.
3. My first ever debut book HOME from the Wild Rose Press released on my birthday, Dec 28th.
4. HOME is a historical, but I don’t write historicals.
5. I write warm/sensual contemporary romances.
6. I am writing my first Paranormal and it will be a series about a band of Cherokee Indians who are cursed to live as wolf shape-shifters.
7. I live in the Rose Rock capital of the world.
The 10 blogs I am nominating are:
1. http://ajbooks.blogspot.com/
2. http://vintagevonnie.blogspot.com/
3. http://wwwrachellynneauthor.blogspot.com/
4. http://galestanley.blogspot.com/
5. http://donna-realworldwriting.blogspot.com/
6. http://calliehutton.com/?page_id=72
7. http://christine-warner.com/
8. http://maevegreyson.blogspot.com/
9. http://www.christinawolfer.blogspot.com/
10. http://lynnemarshall.com/blog
Now I’m off to email these lovelies to have them come here and pick up their award. Then it’s their turn to share seven things, post the badge on their site and choose ten blogs to award. I’ll be sure to have them double check their selections so they don’t end up choosing the same ones I have.
Thank you so much, Linda! I love my new badge!
Dodadagohvi~
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What do you like about the golden era?
16 Jan 2012 27 Comments
in Author guest, book to read, giveaway, inspirations Tags: 1945, Brenda Whiteside, Calisa Rhose, giveaway, Honey on White Bread, movie stars
Osiyo~
OMG(osh)! I am so thriled and honored to have Brenda Whiteside on the ranch today! I have been staring at this book cover for weeks hoping I can win it (vs buying it which has no fun of chance but may be my only avenue if I want to read this book-and I do) and read this book! But seriously… LOOK at this cover! Doesn’t it make you want to read her book? So, I’m going to give Brenda free rein on the ranch today while I cuddle my mocha and enjoy her visit. I’m pleased you’re here too.
Take it away, Brenda!
Thank you for joining me today. My name is Brenda Whiteside and I write romance and women’s fiction. I’ll be drawing for the winner of an ebook of Honey On White Bread. Don’t forget to leave your email address in your comment.
Mine’s calisa(dot)rhose…oh, you mean our guests… sorry. So everyone else leave your emails! Proceed sweetie. 
What fantasies did you have as a child that you carried forward into adulthood? Hopefully, you haven’t grown up while you’ve been growing older.
As a child, I was prone to fantasy – not necessarily the stuff of magic but the stuff of romance. I can blame much of my imagination on black and white movies of the 1930’s and1940’s. During the hot afternoons in Phoenix, Mom would draw the living room drapes and turn on The Channel Five Movie Matinee which ran the old black and white movies from her teenage years. On Saturday mornings we’d watch The Shirley Temple Hour. My mother loved to sing. She could sing all the songs from the movies and taught them to her two daughters.
*Calisa says: I love the Shirley Temple movies!*
Movies were set on sound stages mostly and they didn’t worry about too much realism. My heart pattered over Gene Kelly dancing in the rain, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing around a perfect garden under perfectly spaced stars and Dorothy dancing through the Land of Oz.
As a result of my starry-eyed fascination with that era, the book of my heart is a novel set in 1945. Writing Honey On White Bread let me submerge myself into those magical, romantic movies and in a time that seems simpler by today’s standards. My heroine, Claire Flanagan, is caught up in that fantasy called Hollywood. She loves those old black and white movies as much as I did. Of course, for her they’re not old. Her hero, Benjamin Russell, in her eyes, is as dashing as any movie star idol. But it wasn’t all bliss and glitz.
Blurb:
When seventeen-year-old Claire Flanagan is wrenched from her father and deposited at the Good Shepherd’s Home for Wayward Girls, all dreams for Hollywood stardom are lost. But when twenty-year-old Benjamin Russell helps secure her release, she starts to believe in a happy future with him…until she discovers his ex-girlfriend is pregnant.
In this post WWII coming of age novel, Claire discovers the silver screen can’t compare with the fight she takes on for the leading role in her own life.
If you romanticize days gone by like I do, I’d like to give you an ebook of Honey On White Bread. Leave me a comment and your email address and I’ll draw for the winner.
I do and this blurb is fantastic! Even more, you have an excerpt for us.
EXCERPT:
“I’ve never snuck into a theater before. Sneaking into a dark theater with Arnold …” Paulie laughed. “Are you sure this isn’t supposed to be a date?” Paulie appeared at once timid and suspicious.
“I’m sure. He’s getting me … us in to see a movie for free. Dick Hames! He’s so dreamy.”
“Arnold’s dreamy.”
“You know, Paulie, Arnold is a dear friend …”
“Oh, pooh, Claire.” Paulie batted at my skirt.
“Okay, okay, a special friend. We haven’t made any promises to each other or anything. He’s cute, he’s fun … but …”
“But what?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” A hint of guilt over the difference between how I felt about Arnold compared to how he felt about me passed like the breeze drifting over the porch boards. His were childish whims of infatuation, pushy, uninvited. “It’s kind of hard to explain…” I toyed with the folds of my skirt. If most of the girls at North High were stuck on Arnold, a great catch I didn’t appreciate, then I wished my best friend could change places with me. If only …
“Hey, ladies.” The blur of a male figure in jeans had ascended the porch steps, not pausing to pass pleasantries.
He opened the screen door and stepped into the house. Benjamin. My second encounter brought on an unexplained reaction; my heart pattered even though I’d barely caught a glimpse.
“Oh, hey, Ben,” Paulie said. “You look tired, big brother.”
Her words stopped him. “Little bit.” He paused behind the screen door.
“This is Claire.”
He tipped his head to me. “Nice to meet you, Claire.” He continued on into the house.
“Same here,” I muttered as the screen door shut.
“Now, where were we?” Paulie put a finger to her mouth.
I looped an arm through my friend’s. “We were going to see if your momma could use some help. Come on.” I pulled her from the seat. “Let’s help then freshen up before dinner.”
We let the screen door slam behind us and turned into the kitchen in time to see Benjamin lift his mother from the floor and spin around twice.
“You stop that, Benjamin Willis. Man or no, I can take a hand to your hide, if I need to.” Her hands flailed gently at his chest.
He laughed as he set her down, steadying her before letting go. Taut muscles on the back of his arms flexed with the effort; his deep laugh filled the kitchen. I couldn’t help being drawn into this entirely pleasant scene, comical and radiating warmth, inviting me to take part in their joy. His mother snatched a dishtowel from the counter and swiped at his legs.
“Hold off now. I give, I give.” He withdrew what appeared to be a check from his back pocket.
Mrs. Russell accepted the paper without comment and stuffed it into the frayed pocket of her red checked apron. He kissed her on the forehead, took the bottle of beer she offered him, and leaving the kitchen, nodded in my direction.
I sniffed the sweat of hard work and the yeasty smell of beer as he passed by. My head reeled for a moment with the warmth of the kitchen and the people within, combined with the essence of what I labeled man.
**************************
Buy Honey On White Bread at these places:
Honey On White Bread ISBN: 978-1-61235-267-1
http://www.melange-books.com/authors/brendawhiteside/honey.html
Honey On White Bread Amazon ASIN: B006LWJ6VU
And her other newest releases are available if you can’t get enough of Brenda’s voice!
Warm Christmas Wishes ISBN: 978-1-61235-265-7
http://www.melange-books.com/authors/anthologies/WarmChristmasWishes.html
Tattoos, Leather and Studs ISBN: 978-1-61235-258-9
http://www.melange-books.com/authors/brendawhiteside/tattoos.html
Convinced she was born to be an artist, Brenda never took her love of writing seriously. One day, sometime after college, marriage to a man doing a stint in the army and the birth of her son, she discovered she gained more satisfaction by filling a blank page with words than an empty canvas with color. She left her paints behind. After publishing several short stories, she turned to writing novels. Regardless of the length of her story, the characters drive her forward, taking her on their journey of discovery and love.
Brenda and her husband are gypsies at heart currently making Minnesota their home and sharing it with their dog, Rusty. True to their nature, they’re planning to move once again in 2012 to Northern Arizona. When she’s not at her laptop writing, she enjoys hiking, motorcycle riding and the company of good friends.
Visit Brenda at www.brendawhiteside.com.
Or on FaceBook: www.facebook.com/BrendaWhitesideAuthor
She blogs on the 9th and 24th of every month at http://rosesofprose.blogspot.com
She blogs occasionally on her personal blog http://brendawhiteside.blogspot.com/
What a super excerpt, Brenda. Thank you for sharing and hanging on the ranch with us today! Remember- emails in your comments! And Brenda will contact the winner!
Dodadagohvi~
Caroline of Lubbock- Hometowns
10 Jan 2012 23 Comments
in Author guest, inspirations, Promotion Tags: #TWRP, Calisa Rhose, Caroline Clemmons, Home Sweet Texas Home, inspiration, Lubbock, Pen of the Dreamer, Writing
Osiyo! Hello~
I have a wonderful lady here today to bring a breath of Texas air to the ranch. Please welcome my super guest and fellow Rose! Be sure to share a bit of your hometown before you go.
Hello, I’m Caroline Clemmons and I write contemporary, historical, and time travel romances and mysteries. After a few years in Southern California, I grew up on the West Texas high plains in Lubbock. In the past I’ve worked as stay-at-home mom (my favorite job), secretary, newspaper reporter and columnist, assistant to the managing editor of a psychology journal, and bookkeeper. My husband and I live on a small acreage in rural North Central Texas with a menagerie of rescued pets. When I’m not writing, I spend time with family, read, travel, browse antique malls and estate sales, and research family history/genealogy. The family history whirling in my brain started me thinking of what to write today.
Don’t most of us enjoy reminiscing about our childhood? As I look back, my childhood was pretty idyllic. Although my parents didn’t have much money, I had everything I needed and most things I wanted. One of my favorite times was at dinner when my dad would reminisce and share his family stories. I grew up in Lubbock, Texas on the high plains. North of town and, coincidentally north of where my husband’s family and mine lived, was a part of Yellow House Canyon.
The canyon is a surprise to many due to the mostly flat plains through which a long ago river cut a trail
and created occasional tiny lakes. Ten thousand years and more ago, Native Americans camped in and roamed through that canyon. Spanish explorers followed the route, and allegedly Coronado came that way in 1541. Early pioneers trekked over the same trail for accessibility to water at a small lake that has since disappeared. Growing up, I had no idea Yellow House Canyon was important.
Although I wasn’t allowed to roam the canyon, my future husband and his Boy Scout friends did, searching for arrowheads, spear points, and other artifacts. My husband amassed a nice collection that included a Clovis spear point. In fact, there was a local site where Boy Scouts camped.
One winter in the snow, my future father-in-law came to collect my
husband, irate that the Boy Scouts and their leaders didn’t have enough sense to come in out of the bad weather. Years later, my younger brother also camped there in a snowstorm, but my folks had no idea where to find him. He came home from his camping trip ecstatic because a coyote had come right up to their campfire. Only a ten-year-old boy would think that was a good thing!
Near that spot on the canyon rim is the Lubbock Lake Landmark site. Although the excavations were begun long before I was born, I didn’t realize it because I was absorbed in my own world of books while I was growing up. Wait…I am still lost in my world of books, aren’t I? Archeological excavations are ongoing and it’s possible to view them in process. Inside the center is a small but good museum with life size dioramas depicting the Indians who once lived there. Outside are bronzes of some of the extinct animals whose bones have been unearthed. The site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is a designated a National Historic and State Archeological Landmark. It is managed by the museum of Texas Tech University with excavations conducted under a Texas Antiquities Committee permit.
Further southwest along the canyon is the local picnic area, Mackenzie State Park, named for Ranald
Mackenzie, also known as Bad Hand and famous for viciously hunting down Indians. As a kid I was forced to attend what seemed like hundreds of reunions at this park. Okay, it was only three each summer, but I hated them. I’m not the outdoorsy type, plus listening to the same old geezers each year tell my dad, “You ought to tie a brick on her head so she won’t grow any taller” was not my idea of a fun way to spend the afternoon. Since the reunions were in the afternoon, I was always dressed in my church clothes instead of play gear.
At least there was an amusement park–tame by today’s standards–but it featured the only fun rides in town. Now the grassy creek bed where my older cousins played softball has been dammed to hold water. And there’s a prairie dog town on a hill at the edge of the park. Cute little guys, prairie dogs, but not helpful to farmers or ranchers. The park is still beautiful with huge old cottonwoods and elms.
Still further southwest is Ransom Canyon, a part of Yellow House Canyon, where
Comanches traded white captives for ransom. And sometimes where robbers dressed like Native Americans traded captives. Now it’s a nice housing development with its own lake.
Going back to Lubbock is strange now. My parents and my husband’s parents have passed away, although we are related to a huge percentage of Lubbock County’s residents. The town has grown and changed so much since we left it seems almost as if that can’t be the place we lived. Memories have to sustain us, because the Lubbock we knew no longer exists.
Lubbock and the area near it are the setting for my release from The Wild Rose Press, HOME, SWEET TEXAS HOME, which received a 5 Heart review from The Romance Studio.
HOME SWEET TEXAS HOME is a sweet romance, a modern Cinderella story about Courtney Madison. If anyone ever needed a break, it’s Courtney. Her mom died after a lengthy illness and left Courtney with a mountain of debt. Her formerly sweet brother Jimmy for whom she’s guardian has started skipping school and hanging out with rough friends. In two weeks, she’s being downsized and will be without income unless she finds a job immediately. She’s hanging on by a fraying rope, but an inheritance arrives just before the rope’s last thread breaks. Courtney believes all her problems are solved, but she learns money doesn’t really solve all life’s problems, but just changes them. And she encounters roadblocks even a fairy godmother couldn’t foresee.
Rancher and entrepreneur Derek Corrigan, the hero, learned the hard way that women are not to be trusted or loved. No one except his two children, Meg aged five and Warren aged eight, receives his love, and they have his full devotion. He’s determined they will never know the pain he’s experienced. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if parents could protect their children from hurt? We know that’s not possible, and Derek learns that too. And he learns that when he least expects it, healing arrives in the form of a gorgeous blonde who turns into a klutz whenever she’s near him. If only he can convince her he believes in her, and make up to her for a wrong he did her, maybe they’ll have a chance at happily ever after.
Here’s an excerpt in Derek’s point of view after Courtney is injured in a bizarre accident at a cemetery. Derek has brought her home to offer first aid, and Jimmy arrives from school:
When Jimmy saw his sister in bed, he rushed over. “Sis, what happened? What’s with the towel and the ice packs?” He frowned at Derek. “What’s going on?”
She opened her mouth to explain, but nothing came out.
Derek figured the bizarre situation defied description. He patted Jimmy on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, she’s okay now. We were at the cemetery putting flowers on Sam’s and Maggie’s graves and your sister got trapped in the bathroom.”
Jimmy shook his head. “I don’t understand. How could that hurt her?”
Courtney sighed. “The knob came off in my hand and I couldn’t open the door. So, I climbed out the window.”
Derek held out his hands to indicate the small rectangle. “A small, high window.”
Jimmy looked from his sister to Derek. “I still don’t understand what happened.”
Courtney snapped, “I got stuck, okay?”
Now that he knew her to be okay, the week’s tension suddenly snapped Derek and he lost his perspective on the whole situation. He grimaced at Jimmy. “She, um…” He coughed to keep a straight face. “When she tried to go out the window, she got stuck with her head and one arm sticking outside and the rest of her inside.” He stood like a bird with a broken wing to imitate Courtney’s position. A grin spread across his face in spite of all his efforts not to smile.
Jimmy gaped at his sister. “Courtney? But she’s always so sensible. She’s never does anything stupid.” He began to smile also.
Both males burst into laughter.
“Listen, if you two are so amused, go into the other room to discuss my apparently hilarious antics and leave me to suffer in peace.” In spite of her strained muscles and injuries, she threw a box of tissues in their direction. “Go on, get out of here. Now.”
Derek glanced over his shoulder before he left.
She’d stuffed a pillow over her ears, to block out their laughter.
*********************
My daughter created a video for this book:
If you’d care to purchase the book in print or e-book download (and I hope you will!), the buy link is http://thewildrosepress.com/caroline-clemmons-m-638.html HOME SWEET TEXAS HOME is also available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble , Digi-Books, and other online stores.
I love to hear from readers, and my email is caroline@carolineclemmons.com You can also find me at these places:
Blog http://carolineclemmons.blogspot.com Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/CarolineClemmonsRomances
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/carolinclemmons
Goodreads http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/458092.Caroline_Clemmons
Amazon author’s page http://www.amazon.com/Caroline-Clemmons/e/B001K8CXZ6/ref=sr_tc_ep?qid=1322371476
Team blog: http://sweetheartsofthewest.blogspot.com on the 26th of each month
Website http://carolineclemmons.com and LinkedIn.
Whew, no wonder I’m tired after flitting all over cyberspace.
K, I LOVE the excerpt, LOVE the trailer and I LOVE, LOVE this cover, Caroline! Thank you for bringing some great facts about one of my favorite places (Texas) and sharing your home with us.
Thanks, Calisa, for hosting me today.
And now, until we meet again- in Cherokee-
Dodadagohvi~
PS- You can find me at my gorgeous sister, Christine Warner’s blog tomorrow. http://christine-warner.com and Queen Eliza Knight for History Undressed http://elizaknight.com/blog.aspx Friday.
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One More Summer with Liz Flaherty
03 Jan 2012 18 Comments
in Author guest, giveaway, Promotion Tags: Calisa Rhose, Carina Press, giveaway, Liz Flaherty, One More Summer, Pen of the Dreamer
Osiyo~
Liz Flaherty is on the ranch and in the round pen today! I just love the cover of her book, One More Summer. Love. It. So I’m gonna sit here with my mocha and enjoy this. Let’s give a huge ranch welcome to Liz!!!
Calisa, thank you so much for having me here today. I’ve been following you around enough to know you’re a very busy lady these days. Congratulations on your success with Home. It’s a beautiful book!
Thank you Liz! I think so, too.
I always have some down time after the holidays. The weather usually stinks and I’m tired from being constantly busy from the beginning of Thanksgiving week through taking down the Christmas tree sometime during those strange days after Christmas. If I’m going to get depressed—and I do try hard not to—this is when it’s going to happen. Chances are good I won’t see some of the grandkids for several months, I’m wearing a few pounds I didn’t have a month ago, and the house needs cleaning. By someone. Because I’m certainly not in the mood to do it.
But it’s different this year. My fifth book and first one with Carina Press, ONE MORE SUMMER, was released yesterday, and I couldn’t be more excited. The house probably still needs cleaning, but I’m in too good of a mood to care. I don’t even mind about the weather.
Leave a comment for a chance to win a $5.00 gift certificate from Amazon. And thanks for coming by.
ONE MORE SUMMER is available from these retailers:
http://ebooks.carinapress.com/19C28077-E8B2-400A-ACBF-FAE0579EE2F0/10/134/en/Default.htm
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/one-more-summer-liz-flaherty/1107412429
http://www.amazon.com/One-More-Summer-ebook/dp/B006BE6HAG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324908781&sr=8-1
I’d love to have you visit my website http://lizflaherty.com or http://wordwranglers.blogspot.com/ where I hang out with some of my best writer friends.
Blurb:
Grace has taken care of her widowed father her entire adult life and the ornery old goat has finally died. She has no job, no skills and very little money, and has heard her father’s prediction that no decent man would ever want her so often she accepts it as fact.
But she does have a big old house on Lawyers Row in Peacock, Tennessee. She opens a rooming house and quickly gathers a motley crew of tenants – Promise, Grace’s best friend since kindergarten, who’s fighting cancer; Maxie, an aging soap opera actress who hasn’t lost her flair for the dramatic; Jonah, a sweet gullible old man with a crush on Maxie.
And Dillon, Grace’s brother’s best friend, who stood her up on the night of her senior prom and has regretted it ever since. Dillon rents Grace’s guest house for the summer and hopes to make up for lost time and past hurts – but first, he’ll have to convince Grace that she’s worth loving…
Excerpt
It was no use.
Grace had taken her lengthy bath in the claw foot tub, shaved her legs and nicked her ankle right on the bone where it hurt most, and put on her chenille robe. She’d poured a tumbler full of the expensive wine Steven had brought a case of and sat on the couch with the book she’d gotten at the library when she’d read to the kids earlier in the week. Louisa May slept on the couch back, twitching her tail occasionally and smacking Grace in the face with it. Rosamunde dozed contentedly in the baseball cap Dillon had left on the lamp table. The window behind the couch was open, affording Grace a cooling breeze scented by the rain that had fallen that evening.
She’d already gotten up once and closed the pocket doors between the living room and the dining room. But she could still hear it.
Laughing. There were Jonah’s guffaw, Maxie’s theatrical trill, and the husky whoop that was always such a surprise coming from Promise’s soprano throat. Now and then another laugh slipped in, quieter than Jonah’s but no less gleeful. Dillon was there too. They sat on the screened porch, a good forty feet from where Grace sat with her feet up, and still she could hear them.
They were playing Monopoly. Grace hadn’t played that since the day before her mother died. She remembered that last game, the board balanced on a bed tray across Debbie Elliot’s legs in the room that smelled of Cashmere Bouquet talcum powder and sickness and medicine. Faith had sat on one side of her mother, Promise on the other, and Grace at the bed’s end.
“Sit on my feet a little, baby,” Debbie had said. “You keep them so nice and warm.”
Grace had won the game, and the next day—when Debbie was dead and life for the rest of the Elliots had irrevocably changed—she had hated herself for buying Boardwalk and Park Place and forcing her mother into bankruptcy.
“I made her die,” she’d told Steven.
“Her heart made her die,” he’d responded, but Grace hadn’t really believed him until he became a cardiac surgeon.
Sometimes, she still wondered. If Debbie had napped in the evening as she often did, would that hour of rest have made the difference? If Grace hadn’t sat on her mother’s feet with her eighty-five pounds of almost-twelve-year-old exuberance, would the final heart attack not have happened?
But she refused to think about those things now, nor would she consider the game of Monopoly with an inward shudder of dread. She thought instead of the laughter that was dancing along her nerve endings, and wondered if anyone else was using the little iron as their token for moving around the board. The iron had always been her favorite. She liked the way it felt between her fingers.
If she just got off her couch and wandered toward the porch like she was bored with her own company—which she was—would anyone make a big deal out of it? If Promise or the others acted surprised by her presence, Dillon Campbell would think she’d joined them just because he was there. Which was nonsense.
Of course it was.
She remembered how Dillon’s hand had felt when he pulled her to her feet the night before. She’d avoided unnecessary touch all her adult life, and one squeeze of Dillon Campbell’s fingers had her wondering if that hadn’t been a mistake.
More nonsense.
She tried again to devote full attention to the book, but finally gave up and laid it aside. She sat in the harsh light from the reading lamp and sipped her high dollar wine and listened to the laughter of the others. Isolation and loneliness wrapped around her, not new feelings by any means, but somehow deeper and darker tonight.
Maybe this time, as Promise often accused, she was excluding herself and the loneliness was of her own making. Maybe if she stepped onto the back porch, no one would make a fuss and no one would make her feel as though she didn’t belong. It was, after all, her porch.
Carrying her glass, she whispered open the pocket doors and strode barefoot through the deserted dining room and the kitchen with its ever-present light over the sink. After a moment’s hesitation, she pushed open the door to the porch.
“Replacement power. Just in time.” Promise’s smile was wide and brilliant. Welcome to the human race. Grace heard the words she didn’t say. “Now that I’ve been trounced, Grace can take my place while I make popcorn. No one’s using your iron, so have at it.”
Grace sat in the chair Promise vacated, taking the little metal iron from the Monopoly box. It still felt nice between her fingers.
“I’m the banker,” Jonah informed her, passing money around the table. “Since I’m better at losing money than anyone else, I was unanimously elected.”
“I don’t even know why I play.” Maxie sighed, fluffing her blond hair with heavily be-ringed fingers. “I seem to spend all my time in jail. Unless Dillon rescues me with his ‘get out of jail free’ cards,” she added with a flutter of eyelashes.
“I’m just a soft touch for a pretty lady.” Dillon smiled at her, his eyes glinting silver in the dim, yellow light on the porch.
Grace’s heart hammered against her ribs.
Geezy Pete, Grace, grow up.
Great sounding book, Liz! Thank you for sharing with us. Now- questions? Comments? I know I’m not the only one who thinks that cover and excerpt are worth checking this book out!
Dodadagohvi~
You’ll find me at Jill James’s tomorrow. http://www.jilljameswrites.com/
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HOME For Love blog tour- and THE WINNER IS………………
02 Jan 2012 4 Comments
in awards, Blog Tour, Debut release, Followers, giveaway Tags: #TWRP, Calisa Rhose, excited, Free books, HOME For Love blog tour, Jeannene Walker, Tales of the Scrimshaw doll, the winner is, Vampedchik
Osiyo~
Wow this last week was a blast! I want to thank all of my hostesses who helped make my HOME For Love blog tour a wonderful success! I still have a few more sites I’ll be on over the next month, but the tour is over and I had my little helper draw the winner for me. I’m so excited to announce the winner!
JEANNENE WALKER- (day three/Vintage Vonnie blog) come on down!!!!!!!!!!!!! Congratulations my dear. You won a PDF of HOME!!!!
I had such a waterfall of support and company that I decided to give out an extra copy of HOME to a second winner. Helper, if you please… and THE WINNER IS…
VAMPEDCHIK- come on down, Amber!!!!!!! You have also won a copy of HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you all for joining me on this thrilling and crazy week of mad-blogging to celebrate the release of my debut book, HOME!
I hope all who have a copy enjoy it and I hope you’ll leave a review on Amazon, TWRP or Goodrads! Thank you all!!!
Dodadagohvi~
Happy New Year and the end of the official tour
01 Jan 2012 20 Comments
in Blogs, book to read, Contests, Debut release, dreaming, Followers, fun, getting the word out, giveaway, Home, My writing, Promotion, published authors, Release Day, The Wild Rose Press, Word of Mouth, Writing Tags: #TWRP, Blog tour, Calisa Rhose, Debut author, Debut book, excited, Free books, giveaway, HOME, Pen of the Dreamer, Poppy Tippen, released, Sam Callahan, Tales of the Scrimshaw doll, Writing
Osiyo~
It’s January 1, 2012!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Today ends the countdown to my New Year’s release party for my first book publication. I’m sure many of you have heard a LOT about HOME from The Wild Rose Press during this last week if you’ve been following the tour. Blurbs, interviews and tidbits about me have been plastered all over the world via the internet thanks to my wonderful, gracious friends who have hosted my week-long blog tour. I have to take this time now to thank you all! YOU. ARE. AWESOME!!!!!
Second order of business- if you missed any of those blogs you should hop over now and leave a comment before ten o’clock (GMT) tonight. Why? Because tomorrow I will be drawing a winner for a FREE copy of HOME!!! The more times you comment the greater your chances to win so hurry and get those last minute names in the drawing.
To make it easy for you, here are those links:
26th- Anna K. Lanier
27th- Silver James
28th- RELEASE DAY– Vonnie Davis AND AJ Nuest!!!
29th- W. Lynn Chantale
30th- Maeve Greyson
31st- Authors By Moonlight
What are you waiting for? GO!
I want to tell you what this week has been like for me. To do that I’m going back a year and a half. I’ll even include some pictures to please the eye. 
When Alicia Dean first brought this project to Oklahoma Romance Writers I was hesitant to get involved in a series. I mean, I wasn’t even published on my own yet, how could I possibly pull off writing one book in a series? But I did it anyway. It was an experience and we had fun. As of this post there are six books in the Tales of the Scrimshaw Doll series under contract. It was decided that how much the doll played in the books would be determined by each individual author according to their story. Some feature the doll very heavily, as the main theme of the story. I contemplated how much it would feature in HOME and had all sorts of ideas. Unfortunately (not in a bad way I don’t think, so maybe I should say fortunately), it didn’t turn out the way I first imagined as a pantser.
Sam Callahan seemed to have a greater story to tell than that of a doll his mother was obsessed with. A war veteran who loved the town that raised him, idolized him, had suddenly turned its back on their one-time football star and future doctor. That became the story to a certain degree. Moreover, how he dealt with those horrible nightmares of the war became the story. I let him have his way.
How did he cope? With the courage and strength of a gypsy girl who had lived with stigmas all her life. What was alien to him was a way of life for Poppy Tippen. He learned to shuck the opinions of others by her steadfast, if not graceful, example. Popeye’s mantra became Sam’s unintentionally; I am who I am, and that’s all I can be.
Witchy voodoo curses and all that mumbo-jumbo belief and such were more wive’s tales in those days than actual curses and acceptable black magic. Yes, there were witches and such—at least according to my witchy aunt–it just wasn’t readily acknowledged as that in those days. So the doll took a back seat in my story. But for my time period (Vietnam 1967) that worked.
But I still hadn’t really thought as I wrote my story that HOME would sell. Have I mentioned that I’m a tad insecure? Lol When I finally felt ready to submit I got a wonderful editor in Nancy Swanson. She requested to buy it within three weeks of receiving my manuscript! To say I was shocked is a gross understatement. J But I was so excited. Then the excitement waned over the next month. A little. When I got the email with my cover attached it ramped up again. Again when I got my fifteen minutes worth of revisions. Yes, it took me that long to make changes she asked for. What can I say? I worked on this story, had fellow Okie Outlaws read and crit, until it was a clean ms. Then I sent it in before I could screw it up by over editing! Lol Round two revisions was a matter of basically accepting a few punctuation changes the proofreader suggested, the tap of a button and I was finished. Do I expect revisions on my next ms to be so easy? Hells NO! I wish, but I’m realistic enough to know better.
So back to this week. Most know my release date coincided with my own birthday so that was my favorite gift this year, though my lovely daughters competed very well and I will smell nice for a long while! Of course, any gift from my husband and partner of twenty-eight years will trump anything in my life so I won’t count him now. He is a gift I can’t beat if I sell a hundred books that become best sellers! But this week I’ve been up so high that next week will be boring for sure! I’ve been riding high on friends and family buying MY book! My creation. That’s a feeling impossible to explain. Incredible, scary, wonderful! And I already have a four and a five star review on Amazon! How cool is that? When I wrote HOME I worried I wouldn’t quite hit the emotional mark the Vietnam war left on so many since I was born two years into it, no more than eleven when it ended in 1973 (officially the final troops and POWs were brought out in ’75 just before Watergate took over the news airways). I remember my dad calling it the Eleven-Year-War, saying it was the longest and deadliest war in the history of the USA. I think that length has possibly been beaten more recently beginning with Desert Storm in 1991, but I haven’t researched that yet.
But I digress. I was sure no one would “get” the story, what I was trying to convey. Was I able to get across what was deep inside of me? The fears and recovery a soldier must go through, that he has to face those fears head on to conquer them? What about the era itself? Did I portray it correctly? Does the love and growth of my characters show?
After all, this is pretty much the extent of my memories of that time. I was almost five when this picture was taken. We lived in the middle of alfalfa fields like this one on a race horse ranch. I remember the horses more than I recall the strains of that war my uncle and cousins fought in (they came home). And, even though both Mommy and Daddy are gone now, they both knew I wrote way back when I was a teen, and I know they are smiling on my success today, partying in heaven for me!
I had my doubts until a few days ago. Read those reviews and you’ll see how wrong I was again. My family knows I hate being wrong, or admitting if I am, but in this process I’ve been wrong about a few things I’m happy to admit to!
HOME is out and available NOW at The Wild Rose Press and Amazon. If you don’t win here today I sure hope you’ll feel inclined to go buy it.
Now, to end this tour, here’s one last brand new peek from HOME to make you smile.
Excerpt:
Hearing Sam laugh did crazy things to Poppy’s insides. But she hadn’t forgotten the last time she’d said something to make him laugh. She’d avoided him in the days since. It had been dumb luck that she was out now instead of at work. Mother had sent her on an errand, and she was heading back to the shop.
Seeing Sam sitting at the stop sign had made her cringe. He’d looked like he was in another land, and she couldn’t help speaking up. Maybe he had been. It had startled and surprised her that he pulled over, since he was angry at her the last time she saw him.
She hadn’t forgotten the hurtful words he shouted under the big trees. “So what are you doing? Hiding from Mrs. C. again, I imagine.”
“Something like that. What about you? Can I offer you a ride?”
“You can offer, but I’m going right there.” Sam turned to look where she pointed, across the street to her mother’s doll shop.
He stared, for what seemed to Poppy a long time, before he swiveled back to her. “I’ll walk you over.”
“Yeah? Why?”
“To look at a doll. What else would a guy do in a doll shop?”
Poppy gauged his response and noticed the twinkle in his eyes. He was up to something fishy, but dang it if she knew what. Shrugging, she moved to cross the street. “Fine, soldier. Walk me across the street like a good Boy Scout.”
As she stepped off the curb, she felt his hand touch her elbow and she glanced up at him. “I am a good Boy Scout. Remember that.”
“Yeah? Prove it.” She had no idea why she said that. How did a grown man go about proving he was a Boy Scout? Not her best line, she admitted, and smiled as she softly whistled her favorite song, “He’s So Fine.”
“Why do you always whistle that song? There are a lot that are better and make more sense.”
Poppy stopped in the middle of the street to stare at Sam. “Are you serious? No one is better than the Chiffons! They say exactly what a girl wants to. You take that back, Sammie.”
Sam took her hand and led her from the street and into the nearest building’s shade, out of the August heat. She stood back against the brick and stared up, waiting for him to take back what he’d said.
“Do the Chiffons say what you’d like to say, Poppy? Why do you think of that tune around me?”
She thought she’d choke as she gulped air and looked away in embarrassment. How had she stuck her foot in so deep? Did he know what she’d been so diligent in hiding from him? “Just, they are a great group, is all.”
His eyes bored into hers for a fast count of fifteen before he raised his gaze to look out over her head at the street. “Hmm.”
“Hmm, what? What are you thinking, Sam Callahan?” Did she really want to know?
His eyes fell on her again and he leaned against the wall, one hand propping him to block her view of anything around them. He leaned close. She felt his warm breath on her cheek, could smell butterscotch on his breath. He’d been eating those cream candies Dr. C. used to give out. Now she knew where he’d been before finding her. Maybe he was getting ready to take over his dad’s practice. Holy Joe, he’d be her doctor!
“I’m thinking we need to visit the woods again, soon.”
“The woods? Why?”
He chuckled and leaned closer, so close his mouth almost brushed her hair. “I’d like to fix something that I can’t fix here on Main Street.”
Poppy forced her eyes to look at him so near, to gaze into his almost purple eyes. Her chest pounded with each breath punched out as she whispered, “What?”
Sam slid his lips across hers before backing away to a respectable distance, then smiled lazily. “That.”
Oh, my golly! It didn’t seem to matter how he’d hurt her, when he stood so close she could smell his shower soap. Poppy shivered and looked away from his intense gaze. “I don’t… We can’t…”
“Relax, Poppen. Let’s go look at dolls.”
What? Just like that he turned off the heated charm that left her legs feeling soft and gushy like chewed gum in sunshine and her head spinning out of control. It wasn’t fair he should be able to make her feel like heaven was touchable and then just walk away.
Dumbly, she followed him around the corner to her mother’s store. He opened the door and held it for her to enter ahead of him. Poppy knew she wouldn’t sleep soundly until she discovered the heart of Sam’s charm, why he was so easily able to heat her blood so thoroughly with a word, a kiss.
Maybe he was trying to charm her. But…why?
She was nothing more than a gypsy’s daughter, a doll store owner, a “bad” girl—the wrong girl, from the wrong side of the tracks. What could Sam want with her?
Ok, I’m gonna offer MORE chances to win! Tweet this post, Facebook– with the buttons below this post– RT it, and then tell me that you’ve done these. I’ll take your word for it. Just tell me which you did in a comment and I’ll add your name an extra time into the drawing for each thing you do. That’s three plus more chances!!!
Until tomorrow-
Dodadagohvi~
PS- don’t forget to check my schedule in the news>blogging news tab at the top of the page to see where I’ll be through January and February. You might have more chances to win a copy of HOME if you don’t get one now.
I write contemporary and paranormal romance, with sensuality as the key ingredient and spice for kick.
