May I have a drum roll please? Contest time! Jeepers, I had a lot of entrants. Have written all the names down on tiny fortune-cookie-sized papers and folded them up. Have dropped them into the beautiful ceramic bowl my son made in high school. Have stirred them. Have woken my teenaged daughter from her after-school nap and made her dip her fingers into the bowl. Draw one please?

But wait! No, I’m thinking I’m feeling very generous today. Pick THREE. Yes, dear, pull out three and then go back to bed.

WINNER #3 – DEIDRE DURANCE

WINNER #2 – CAITE MAIRE

and (drum roll quickens, ascends, ceases!)

WINNER #1 – SUSAN GRISCOM! Susan, you’ve won your choice of a $25 giftie card from everybody’s favorite big box book bin, Barnes & Noble… or 5 ebooks of your choice from Echelon Press!!

Deidre and Caite each win a copy of one of my books!

Well done, bloggers!!

And thanks ever so much to Karen for hosting me today! In the words of our immortal governator, “I’ll be back!”

Nonetheless, I embark on another sort of tour Monday, where I will begin my “trip” with author Sean Hayden! Sean has taken the time to ask me some new and interesting questions, and will share them on his blog at Sean Hayden’s blog.  Do stop by!

Same day, I’m guesting at The Romance Studio, talking about whether books with lotsa sex and lust sell better than those considered “sweet” = plot that suggests intimate relations but doesn’t give the play-by-play. Help me out with your comments.

Don’t forget about the contest! All you have to do is read the CAPE SEDUCTION excerpt and leave me a relative comment—you’ll be in the drawing for FIVE Echelon Press eBooks of your choice, downloaded onto a really cool 2GB flash drive! (Or a $25 gift card to B&N, your choice.) Drawing will be on my last blog tour stop.

To make this more interesting, you’ll get an additional chance to win for every comment you leave at my tour stops! Whoa! Dude! So here’s the sched:

Monday, Aug 30:  Sean Hayden’s Blog

Monday, Aug 30:  The Romance Studio Blog

Tuesday, Aug 31:  Legendary Lighthouse

Wednesday, Sept 1:  Enjoying the Waves

Thursday, Sept 2:  Beth Fish Reads

Monday, Sept 6:  JFHilborne’s Blog

Tuesday, Sept 7: Mysteries and Margaritas

Wednesday, Sept 8:  A Writer’s Jumble

Thursday, Sept 9:  Lighthouse Musings

Friday, Sept 10:  Echelon Press

So, come on down!!

I'm All Packed!

It’s going great. A LOT more fun than I thought it would be! And it’s forcing me to write on-the-fly. I offered these topics, now I must make good on them. (What was I thinking??? LOL).

Monday kicked off at Life of a Publisher. Confession, my actual article got lost in cyberspace and never made it to host Karen Syed’s hands. Karen, ever the fix-all wonder that she is, dredged up a pretty darn decent replacement blog about me. The original article will go up at the end of the tour, to wrap things up!

Tuesday found me jabbering about photography and writing at Beth Fish Reads. What fun! And what a great bunch of readers she has!

Wednesday I stopped in at Write First, Clean Later with L.J. Sellers. By the time I finished talking about how to find more time for yourself, I was convinced I need to take my own advice! L.J.’s site is a wealth of information for any writer. Great blog!

Today, I get a break from writing and instead got to sit back and read a review of my middle grade reader, LOCKER SHOCK! by Mitali at Alley of Books. Felt like a reward! This 18 year old reviewer is articulate and thoughtful, and I couldn’t be happier with her well-written review.

Tomorrow ends my first week with My Friend Amy, where I’m talking all about lighthouses. And guess what: August 7th is actually National Lighthouse Day! What a treat!

My line up for next week:

Monday - Writing & Life, hosted by Nick Valentino:  Taking the Mystery Out of EBooks

Tuesday - Twiga Tales, with Regina Leake:  Haunting Lighthouses

Wednesday - Vintage Cookbooks, cooked up by Amy Alessio:  Living the Romantic Life

Thursday - Nisha Sharma is on the calendar to review me!

Friday - Candid Canine (Cute name!) led by Christine Verstraete: Keeping Young Readers Motivated!

Hope you’ll stop by for a visit!

I'm All Packed!

Okay, it’s a blog tour, but it’s still going to be a real trip… !

I’m blogging all over the place anyway, so why not hand pick a variety of entertaining spots to visit while I’m at it? The entire schedule can be found on the Book Tour calendar on my website.  I hope you’ll join me on my tour and leave a comment here and there—there’s bound to be some reward for the fans who visit all of my stops!  More details on that CONTEST to come!

On the first week of the tour—between August 3 and August 7th—you can find me at the following websites with lots of fun and reading matter. Thanks to my fab publisher, Ms. Karen Syed, for helping me get this off the ground!

August 3: Life as a Publisher with host Karen Syed

• Tour kicks off with an article about a subject near and dear to my heart: Kids & EBooks
• How EBooks Will Increase Literacy

August 4:          Beth Fish Reads

• Read how photography can enhance your writing in
• A Story’s Worth a Thousand Pictures

August 5:          Write First, Clean Later interview with host L.J. Sellers

• Ever had a conflict between your professional life and your true self?
• Finding Time to Be Yourself (and Stay Sane)

August 6:          Alley of Books review post by Mitali Dave

• What did Ben find in his school locker?
• Mitali will be reviewing LOCKER SHOCK!

August 7:          My Friend Amy hosted by… Amy!

• What do lighthouses have to do with romance? Find out in
• Living, Loving and Lighthouses

Come along for the ride and let’s have some fun!