Dark Divas

Summer Lovin’ is featured on Dark Divas today. Leave a comment to win a free copy.

Trick or Treat?

Author Kimberlee Mendoza is giving away a free copy of her YA book, Trick to Treat. Find out more at the Climbing Rose website.

Sarah Bradley has wanted to hang with the popular kids since her freshman year, and now she has the chance. All she has to do is survive a Halloween scavenger hunt with the “in” crowd. When the girls lock her in a haunted mansion, she feels the trick is on her. Then she meets Matt and begins to believe that maybe she got a treat after all. But what if “love” is part of the game?

http://twrpclimbingrose.blogspot.com/

Surprise!

When I checked my mail recently, I found a lovely surprise. Blogger Keli Gwyn, who had hosted me at  Romance Writers on the Journey sent me a thank-you gift. How thoughtful is that??!! A darling little tablet in its own case and refrigerator magnet. But best of all, they were personalized with my initial, so I know she picked it out just for me. I’ve never had anyone give me a gift for being a guest blogger, so I was doubly thrilled.

Even better was the experience I had when Keli interviewed me. She’s very professional and super organized. The questions arrived a month before the blogging date. She asked that I choose 8 of her very extensive and thought-provoking questions and return them a week before the interview. Then she added her comments, edited the blog, and sent it to me for approval before it was posted. What a great way to insure that the blog is error free! And it’s a testament to her organizational skills and efficiency. She was a dream to work with. Bloggers who are interviewing authors could take a page from Keli’s book. Who knows, you might even find the author will end up blogging about YOU.

How Do You Deal with Rejection?

I’m looking for suggestions from fellow writers on ways they deal with rejection. Post your helpful hints or healing therapies, special potions, or magic formulas at Romance Writers on the Journey for a chance to win prizes.

Here’s the address:
http://romancewritersonthejourney.wordpress.com/2009/08/30/meet-debut-author-laurie-j-edwards/

Come on, even those of you who are mega-successes have rejection stories to share. Eating a whole gallon of ice cream? Bawling in the shower? Throwing darts at the editor or agents picture? Pounding a hole in your office wall? Or perhaps something more constructive (unless you’d already been planning to enlarge your office by knocking down a wall).

Calling a supportive crit group member?? Running 10 miles on a treadmill? (Hmm, just think how svelte that would make me.) Spending a session on your psychaitrist’s couch?

One of the crit groups I belonged to rewarded members with a candy bar for every rejection they received, and every year, we had a rejection party and gave out prizes for the cruelest rejection, the nicest rejection, the funniest, etc. And the person who had gotten the most rejection letters won the grand prize. In another group, we ritually burned our rejection letters in a bonfire while chanting, “I am an excellent writer and I deserve to be published.”

Okay, so I admit it. I hang out with wackos. At least I haven’t danced naked under a full moon while chanting curses against editors…yet. Hmmm, think my crit group would go for that one?

So pop on over to Romance Writers on the Journey and share your rejection stories. If you don’t have a solution, then just share your most painful rejection. We’ll all sympathize, which is bound to help.

Another Great Review!

How exciting is this?? Five out five hearts for Summer Lovin’ from The Romance Studio!! Here’s a quick peek at some of the comments:

“One of the best things in Summer Lovin’ is the variety of locales. From a sand sculpture contest on Vancouver Island to a miniature golf course somewhere in middle America, the appealing heroines set forth. They are from different backgrounds, and all kinds of families, but each one is someone the reader would love to know.

And of course, there are the boys. Cute boys, gorgeous boys, even kind and caring boys.

And a few the reader hopes will go away before they cause any more trouble. But there are definitely boys, because how could a girl imagine her summer without at least the hope of one of these guys to make it special. And maybe a few kisses to make the summer extra sparkly.

Read this book this summer, I think its magic is contagious.”

Overall rating:

Wow! Another Great Review!

Just got a fab review for my story,  “Summer Storms,” in the Wild Rose Press anthology, Summer Lovin’. The reviewer discussed each story individually–how cool is that? Here are a few excerpts from the LASR review:

Summer Storms by Laurie J. Edwards

I’ve never read anything by Ms. Edwards, but I have to say after reading this story that I plan to read some more from this talented author. Summer Storms was my favorite of the anthology…

A heart touching story…I could feel the urgency and emotions of these characters caught in a possibly deadly situation. Outstanding.

Check out the review for more about the stories by the other authors:

Dara Edmondson, Mona Ingram, Kimberlee R. Mendoza, Sydney Shay, and June Sproat

http://longandshortreviews.blogspot.com/2009/08/summer-lovin-by-dara-edmondson-laurie-j.html

Wow, I’m Rich!!

Or I will be soon. I’m already dreaming of the things I’ll buy with the royalty check from this:

Our Price: 85,008.00

Prices excluding shipping charge.

Summer Lovin’
by: Dara Edmondson, June Sproat,Kimberlee R. Mendoza, Laurie J. Edwards, Mona Ingram, Sydney Shay

Too bad it’s in Indonesian money… Still it’s exciting to know someone bought it in Indonesia.

Red River Falls Radio Blog

I did a radio show yesterday with a group of other authors. We each read from our books to put together an hour show. I was nervous going into it, but it was fun once I got started. I read the first two chapters of Summer Lovin’ and talked a bit about how and why I wrote it. The show’s archived at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/RobinFalls if you want to listen.

So stretching and doing what scares you is good practice for expanding your world, your boundaries, your mind, and your experiences. And just like exercise is good for your body, it’s also good for your soul and spirit. What stretches have you done today??

Roses of Houston

I’m the featured author today at the Roses of Houston. Pop on over and visit at http://rosesofhouston.blogspot.com/2009/06/laurie-j-edwards-on-summer-lovin.html.

Dream Time

Are you running in frantic circles? Have too much to do and not enough time? While you’re here, I hope you’ll take a deep breath and calm your racing heart. Ask yourself: If I wanted to be supremely happy at the end of the day, what three things should I accomplish?

Examine your to-do list. How many items are expectations others put on you? How many items are on there because of your guilty conscience? How many because you want to please other people? Cross off as many of those things as you can–without doing them. Don’t you feel lighter, less burdened, happier?

Count how many things on your list will lead you to your dreams. Focus on where you want to go, what you want to be, and how you’d like to get there. But make sure each day your list has at least one thing, however small, that moves you in the direction of your dreams.

Living your dreams takes courage. If you need more courage, see Finding Courage (below). And always schedule some time to rest, to daydream. Just as your body needs sleep for renewal, your mind and spirit need time to rest, to daydream, to be creative, to learn new things.

I hope you’ll also take some time to smell the roses. Twenty Wild Rose Press authors have banded together to present you with a bouquet of beautiful flowers. A special interlude for you to relax and enjoy.

You can mosey to all the blogs, meandering from one to the other in an hour or so. Or you can stretch it out over the twenty-four hours. Either way, if you leave a comment at each one, you’ll have a chance to win 20 different prizes.
www.amberleighwilliams.blogspot.com
www.authorsstudio.blogspot.com
www.bettyhanawa.blogspot.com
www.christineclemetson.blogspot.com
www.findagreatromance.blogspot.com
www.freewebs.com/lesmora
www.freewebs.com/teriwilson/apps/blog/
www.grgiall.blogspot.com
www.hywelalyn.blogspot.com
www.jennfrancesca.blogspot.com
www.joycemoore.blogspot.com
www.lianalaverentz.blogspot.com
www.LindaHopeLee.blogspot.com
www.lje1.wordpress.com
www.noveltrails.blogspot.com
www.plotsandthoughts.blogspot.com
www.tanyahanson.blogspot.com
www.tinagayle.blogspot.com
www.traveltheages.blogspot.com
www.willtravelforromance.blogspot.com