W I N a copy of HOURGLASS by Myra McEntire

And so Tuesday is here and my shelf is about to get one book lighter! 

Feast your eyes on today's offering.  Myra McEntire's HOURGLASS is another book that I absolutely loved. I mean... check out THAT cover!  It is as fabulous as the pages within, and the sequel is coming soon, I hear.  This is a HARDCOVER book.

See it at www.amazon.com

One hour to rewrite the past . . .

For seventeen-year-old Emerson Cole, life is about seeing what isn't there: swooning Southern Belles; soldiers long forgotten; a haunting jazz trio that vanishes in an instant. Plagued by phantoms since her parents' death, she just wants the apparitions to stop so she can be normal. She's tried everything, but the visions keep coming back.So when her well-meaning brother brings in a consultant from a secretive organization called the Hourglass, Emerson's willing to try one last cure. But meeting Michael Weaver may not only change her future, it may change her past.

Who is this dark, mysterious, sympathetic guy, barely older than Emerson herself, who seems to believe every crazy word she says? Why does an electric charge seem to run through the room whenever he's around? And why is he so insistent that he needs her help to prevent a death that never should have happened?

Full of atmosphere, mystery, and romance, Hourglass merges the very best of the paranormal and science-fiction genres in a seductive, remarkable young adult debut.

To win this hardcover copy of HOURGLASS by Myra McEntire:

1. Follow the blog
2. Leave a comment on this post
3. Extra entry if you tweet this post, just be sure to @corinneoflynn when you do so I see it.

Contest open to internationally. 

ENDS THURSDAY AT MIDNIGHT MDT.

Check out yesterday's giveaway, it is open until tomorrow night.

Good luck!

Spring Cleaning = Giving Books Away

Hello friends!

It is that time of year when the birds start chirping, the sun starts feeling warm again, the windows are open and Miss Corinne gets the urge to purge! Spring Cleaning is hitting my bookshelves, and that means I have some goodies for you!

Today's little ream of goodness is:

I loved this book! It was fast paced, pearl-clutching, and enjoyable. It even has puzzles to solve along with the mystery! I once changed my twitter pic to have pink hair to help promote this book when it came out. And now, I want you to have my copy!

The blurb:

"A page-turning, pearl-clutching mystery!"
-Kimberly Derting, author of The Body Finder and Desires of the Dead

"One killer novel."
-Lee Nichols, author of the Haunting Emma series

"The moment you finish, you'll start writing your fan letter, begging for more."
-Adele Griffin, National Book Award Finalist and author of The Julian Game and Picture the Dead

Since when do the dead send emails?

Kate Lowry's best friend Grace died a year ago. So when she gets an email from her, Kate's more than a little confused.

To: KateLowry@pemberlybrown.edu
From: GraceLee@pemberlybrown.edu
Subject: (no subject)
Kate,
I'm here... sort of.
Find Cameron. He knows.
I shouldn't be writing.
Don't tell. They'll hurt you.

Now Kate has no choice but to prove once and for all that Grace's death was more than just a tragic accident. She teams up with a couple of knights-in-(not-so)-shining armor-the dangerously hot bad boy, Liam, and her lovestruck neighbor, Seth. But at their elite private school, there are secrets so big people will do anything to protect them-even if it means getting rid of anyone trying to solve a murder...

CONTEST CLOSES MIDNIGHT MDT on WEDNESDAY MARCH 21

HOW TO WIN in one easy step:  Sorry - Open to addresses in USA Only.

1. Comment on this post. That's all.

(If you feel like tweeting it I'll give you an extra chance to win. Be sure to @corinneoflynn so I will see your tweet.)

Good luck and come back for more, I'm clearing the shelves!

How Not to Write a Novel

www.amazon.com

I'm in the middle of HOW NOT TO WRITE A NOVEL by Howard Mittlemark and Sandra Newman and have been giggling on almost every page. This book is hilarious and so insightful when it comes to what not to do in your writing. It teaches by way of example and as the blurb from Amazon.com below illustrates, the examples are worth reading:

    "What do you think of my fiction book writing?" the aspiring novelist extorted.

    "Darn," the editor hectored, in turn. "I can not publish your novel! It is full of what we in the business call 'really awful writing.'"

    "But how shall I absolve this dilemma? I have already read every tome available on how to write well and get published!" The writer tossed his head about, wildly.

    "It might help," opined the blonde editor, helpfully, "to ponder how NOT to write a novel, so you might avoid the very thing!"

Many writing books offer sound advice on how to write well. This is not one of those books. On the contrary, this is a collection of terrible, awkward, and laughably unreadable excerpts that will teach you what to avoid—at all costs—if you ever want your novel published.
The names of the characters alone are cringeworthy. My favorite is Synthia, the unfortunate female lead in a drama that unfolds throughout the book.  I love reading books on writing and craft.

Have you read any that were especially helpful or interesting?

The Artist's Way: Deep Thoughts from Pg xxiii

Listening to my darling friend S talk about doing this program with her friend in a far away land, I picked up a copy of The Artist's Way and decided to give it a go. If I know anyone who is struggling with creativity, it is me.  I started reading it this morning. And while I look at the cover and wonder where I have seen this before, I know I have not read it.

I am on page xxiii where Julia Cameron, the author, is talking about her own journey to bring this book and the program into the world and she writes:  (emphasis mine)

     One minute I was walking in the West Village on a cobblestone street with beautiful afternoon light. The next minute I suddenly knew that I should begin teaching people, groups of people, how to unblock. Maybe it was a wish exhaled on somebody else's walk. Certainly Greenwich Village must contain a greater density of artists--blocked and otherwise--than nearly anyplace else in America.
     "I need to unblock," someone may have breathed out.
     "I know how to do it," I may have responded, picking up my cue.

Holy cow!

How often have you closed your eyes and opened your heart to ask the Universe for something...a solution to a tangible issue, courage, guidance, or love, and were blessed enough to see it come to you at some point down the road in unexpected ways? Do you call that coincidence? 

I don't like that word because it takes us humans out of the equation - and that doesn't make any sense when we ARE all the equations. I am a huge believer in asking for what you need and doing what you can to manifest your dreams spiritually... but I have never really thought about it from the other side. 

What if the things that you feel called to do are actually responses to someone else's wish whispered in the breeze? Are you thinking at this point in time that perhaps Miss Corinne needs to stop going to Hot Yoga all the time? This little sentence made my heart race and made my hands get all sweaty.

We're all connected!

I feel like I just bit into a York Peppermint Patty.

Story Cubes Return and American Idiot.

So, 2012 so far for me has been a wild whirlwind of things to do away from writing. While I am pleased to report that many of those things are complete or now off my list and running under their own steam, I am stunned at how completely out of whack I am on my writing and blogging routine. Don't you hate when that happens?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Disney-Little-Whirlwind.jpg

 I haz news, and then some Story Cubes to get my head back in the game. 

First the news, which is good stuff:  5MinuteFiction has found a solid new home at Nicole Wolverton's pad. (I know, I know, this was last week's news). This week's news is that it has moved to a new time.  830PM EST.  I hope you'll give it a try. This is 630pm for me, which is going to be interesting as two of my four spawn have stuff on Tuesday nights. Perhaps it is time to take my netbook on rides and locate wifi around town?  Anyone have thoughts or recommendations on hotspot devices? I have an iPhone.

The sad news: I won't be able to defend my Leap Day Queen crown and partake of the 5MinuteFiction this evening because I will be here: 

http://americanidiotthemusical.com/

Yes, I know you're crying big fat baby tears for me.  ;)  And now for some story cubes creativity:

"It was like magic," I said. One minute I was going in every direction and had to hunker down, seek shelter and tell myself to just STOP. It didn't take special credentials to see that everything was out of balance around here. All it took was some focus. My mind is now like a magnet, pulled toward the new goal: contentment and simplicity - the truest path to happy.

Happy Tuesday people!  What are you reading?

It tightened and tangled, like a...

It's Tuesday, and that means it's time for #5MinuteFiction. Today marks Week 89 for this fabulous contest, and Week 1 at it's new home with Nicole Wolverton's blog. I met Nicole through our competitions during this weekly contest and just want to give her a shout out and say thank you for giving it a new home!

Big love to Leah Petersen, who created this weekly contest and hosted it for almost 2 years.  With her book coming out, she has to let go of this brain child.

Here's the 5MinuteFiction deal:  The prompt goes up at 12:30pm EST, you have 5 minutes to use the prompt and write your story. There is no editing, no research, no spell checking... you just GO!  Then a judge picks five finalists and the public votes on the winner.  Easy as pie.

Today's prompt was: "It tightened and tangled, like a..."

Here is my entry (warts and all):  
ETA: My post made it to the finals!  Go read and vote for your fave!

God, the pain. It tightened and tangled, like a baling wire around my head and around my heart. How can one word hold so much weight?

Cancer.

The doctor said it came on like a wave, a tsunami. There really wasn’t anything we could have done to prevent it, to prepare, to pre-see. He said “we” like this will impact his day. His week. His life.

I sat in the doc’s office, the hard plastic chair making it impossible to stop sliding, as I tried to stay focused on the words as they fell from his lips and shattered on the floor. So many tiny shards I couldn’t avoid stepping into them with my loafered feet: Chemotherapy. Radiation. Surgery. Lymph. Prognosis.

Weeks. Maybe months.

Like a crap shoot. The doctor’s words rolled off his tongue like he was rolling the dice. Life dice. My life dice. How long would I have before I crapped out? I already feel like I’ve rolled snake eyes.

He takes my hand, shakes it firmly. Squeezes my shoulder as he urges me toward the door. As if I am now repellant enough to require shooing. I step into the sunlight and breathe in the sun. Is this the beginning of my recovery or the beginning of the end?

Only time will tell.

Thursday Haiku - Waiting

waiting like children

minutes stretch elongated

swim in three short months

Wednesday Word

We interrupt your daily hectic to bring you this:

Yogi Bear

*breathe*

Living in Hawaii - Guest Blog by Toby Neal

Welcome my friend Toby Neal, author of Blood Orchids to the blog today! As a resident of Hawaii, Toby wanted to share a little bit about the things in her every day that make living in Hawaii so special to her. I admit I'm a tad jealous reading about her tank top moments right now as I look out my window at the inches of Colorado snow.

Take it away Toby!

http://hawaiiw.net/wailua-falls-kauai-hawaii/

Hawaii is a beautiful place to live—and in February in the U.S., one of the best places to be in the whole nation! Thought I’d share some of my favorite things, and not just the obvious palm trees and blue water (though that’s hard to beat.)

• Whalesong underwater when swimming—in February, we have the most whales of the whole season.
• Lilikois (passion fruit) falling off the vines—like untimely Easter eggs, passion fruit collect in the grass waiting for me to make scrumptious pies, jam, sauces out of them.
• Going snorkeling in the rain. Something about the patter of rain all round as you swim through the warm ocean—bliss.
• Playing tennis with my daughter, working up a sweat, in my tank top…while the rest of the world digs snow out of their driveways. I grew up in Hawaii, so it wasn’t until I lived in the Midwest for seven years that I really “got” this one—but now I relish every tank-top minute of it.
• Clouds dancing elaborate ballet on the mountains—in Hawaii clouds are almost like another physical part of the landscape, they have such form and drama.
• Wind—which means windsurfing, kiteboarding, and spectacular feats of athleticism on the part of many sporty friends (I prefer to spectate.)
• Mynah birds commenting on everything, hopping around beady-eyed busybodies.
• Sugar cane bending in the aforementioned wind, entire fields dancing hula skirts of green.
• Waterfalls pumping rainbows as they refill our waterways.

We have our challenges here in Hawaii, and I explore some of them in my books—but living in this lush natural beauty isn’t one of them while making a living is!

 __________________________________________

Visit Toby's Blog

Toby Neal was raised on Kauai in Hawaii. She wrote and illustrated her first story at age 5 and has been published in magazines and won several writing contests. After initially majoring in Journalism, she eventually settled on mental health as a career and loves her work, saying, “I’m endlessly fascinated with people’s stories.” She enjoys many outdoor sports including bodyboarding, scuba diving, beach walking, gardening and hiking. She lives in Hawaii with her family and dogs. Toby credits her counseling background in adding depth to her characters–from the villains to Lei Texeira, the courageous and vulnerable heroine in the Lei Crime Series.

About Blood Orchids:

Fast-paced crime mystery with a touch of romance, readers call Blood Orchids "un-putdownable"!

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Smashwords

"Sometimes in crime fiction you stumble across a character who lives on beyond the book's end by virtue of their psychological complexity, and the richness with which the author has drawn them. Will Graham, Jack Reacher, Alex Cross, and now they have a worthy female counterpart in Lei Teixera. Blood Orchids is that rarity among debut novels, in that it satisfies on every level. A powerful new talent is on the scene, whole-heartedly recommended."
-Drew Cross, former police officer and author of BiteMarks

Hawaii is palm trees, black sand and blue water—but for policewoman Lei Texeira, there’s a dark side to paradise.

Lei has overcome a scarred past to make a life for herself as a cop in the sleepy Big Island town of Hilo. On a routine patrol she finds two murdered teenagers—one of whom she’d recently busted. With its echoes of her own past, the murdered girl’s harsh life and tragic death affect Lei deeply. She becomes obsessed—even as the killer is drawn to Lei's intensity, feeding off her vulnerabilities and toying with her sanity.

Despite her obsession with the case and fear that she's being stalked, Lei finds herself falling in love for the first time. Steaming volcanoes, black sand beaches and shrouded fern forests are the backdrop to Lei's quest for answers—and the stalker is closer than she can imagine, as threads of the past tangle in her future. Lei is determined to find the killer—but he knows where to find her first.

A to Z Challenge 2012 is Coming!

In case you have not already heard, there is something fun going on the web each April. In 2011, if you took away all the Sundays in the month of April you were left with exactly 26 days. This year it looks like we start on Sunday so we might have to bend that rule a little.  Assign each day a letter and blog along that theme, and you're in!  Check out the A-to-Z Blog Challenge.

Join me and more than a thousand other bloggers this April as we embark on yet another month of alphabet goodness. It sounds easy, but I have to say they call it a challenge for good reason.  You get Sundays off, but that is still a lot of blogging.   Sign Up here!

As you might have learned hanging around here, I love words and word origins. Last April I had a blast blogging about a fab word each day. Some were new to me, some were oldies that deserved some time in the sun, and some were just hilarious. Even more fun was finding images to go with the posts every day!

There is a lot of great information about the blogfest on the site, so go check it out and join me in April.

Sign Up on the Official Linky

Peace, love, and alphabet blogs!

Stuff and happenings

My dear friend S. shared this image from Orlando's airport on her Facebook a while back, and looking at my last post and the subsequent hiatus, I thought it would be the proper segue back into the blog routine.

How have you been?

What's New: I've got a guest blog over at my friend Jenna Quentin's.  It is about inspiration and how images can help with that. Do you find images inspiring? I certainly do.  Come see me over there and check out the teddy bear that ignited my inspiration for the post and leave a comment while you're at it.

What's News: So where the heck have I been?  I spent the better part of last week preparing for a hearing at the House of Representatives in my state capital in Colorado.  We learned while there that the dome of this building is actually still plated in gold leaf. The crew that installs it is one of very few in the world that have retained this skill as part of their trade, and they apply the gold from 7" squares of gold leaf sheets using cotton balls. Can you imagine?  

Denver's Capital Building (dome refurbish underway)

My org's bill to create a Child Loss Awareness license plate was brought before the Transportation Committee. We were so nervous and excited about testifying, and were glad that we had prepared statements to be read aloud. There wasn't a dry eye among the committee as five of us shared our stories and explained why this license plate is important to us. The committee was so amazing, very moved by our testimony, and honored us with their own thoughtful words. Several made a point of having their statements heard about how heartfelt their "yes" vote was.  In the end, the committee voted unanimously to approve the bill!   

This has been years in the making, and we still have a few more hearings to go, but we are now one step closer to this:

remembering a child - www.rowantreefoundation.org

Reading: I'm about 3/4 of the way through Game of Thrones Book 3 - A Storm of Swords - and dear sweet Jesu this man can tell a story!  If there is anyone out there looking for something to read who has not yet partaken, please just do yourself a favor and pick this up.

Enjoy the weekend people!

A Thursday Haiku - Combobulation

I spent most of today trying to get recombobulated
after realizing that it wasn't Wednesday anymore.
You ever have on of those days (daze)?
T.G.I.F. (tomorrow)

http://dogs.icanhascheezburger.com/page/8/

combobulation

a state of zen, joy and peace

sometimes includes nap

Loosening the Tight Grip

Do you spend time being mindful about getting what you want? I don't mean actively doing things and checking them off your list - although is important too and is probably what comes next.  I'm talking about visualizing and manifesting what you really want by using images, words, or other means.

-My prayer box-

When I look around my office I see dozens of totems and quotes and inspirational tools that are all meant to keep my mind and energy focused on whatever it is I need. Now that I am writing this, I am starting to realize I have oodles of things here. I wonder if visitors to my little space think this is a crazy place, lol.  *considers decluttering*

I wrote once before about vision boards, and how powerful they can be as a manifesting tool.  What I wanted to share today was my little prayer box.  This was a gift from a friend and has become quite cherished to me. The gift was intended for me to use as a meditative tool, to write love notes to my deceased daughter, to put worries down on paper and let them go, to release any number of things by placing them into the box.

If you were to open the box you'd find all kinds of notes and scraps and little trinkets that are probably meaningful only to me. I have written prayers for friends, for my family, for myself, requests for help, requests for clarity, requests for the Universe to rescue me from the hectic. I've written notes about being ready to move on from something, about being ready to receive something into my life. 

I have never gone back through to check the status of the things I have requested - I think that goes against the point. What matters is that when you put something in the box, you've given yourself permission to loosen the tight grip you've had on it - which allows things to happen (usually exactly what you need).

I once found an image on the internet that someone posted of their achievements in life, and I wish I had saved it because it was stunning. For me, it represents what comes after the prayer box. I'd love to reproduce this in my office.

In the image there was a shelf on a wall, with a mason jar on top. On the wall above the jar were dozens of plain paper butterflies attached to look as if they were flying from the jar. On each one, in neat lettering was a goal.  Once that goal was achieved, the butterfly was plucked from the wall and placed in the jar. The goals were varied from the material, to the emotional and mental, to fun and very personal. If anyone out there has seen this... I would love if you'd send me the link.

What do you do to help you let go of the things that weigh you down?

2001: Stop Making Contact on Twitter

Scrolling down the list of my new followers on twitter *waves hi to you all*, I clicked to follow one of them and got an error that I was no longer allowed to follow any more people.

Seems I had hit the magical threshold of 2001 people being followed, and now must wait until I gain more followers of my own.

Back when I joined twitter, I heard grumblings about this mysterious follow ceiling, but honestly never paid it any mind because I was still hanging on every word tweeted by the 100 I was following.  And so here I am wondering how in the world I am going to move on in Twitterland.

Enter google, to whom I posed the question about how best to cull the list of people I am following. I was pleased to find a bevy of tools to help me do just that.

There are oodles, but I decided upon: ManageFlitter because it was listed on several "best of" lists and it seems to be intuitive to a new user and most importantly, it was FREE.

In a few short minutes I was looking at a matrix showing a detailed analysis of my twitter makeup. Who was I following, who was most active, who was not following me back, etc.  I don't really subscribe to the school of "follow me or I will unfollow you". It is counter to my purpose for using twitter.  I'm not in a race to gain followers, I am trying to stay connected to people that interest me in the publishing world.

A few minutes more and I was able to zero in on people I was following who hadn't tweeted in months and years.  Those are the ones I decided to cull. Now I am back down to 1800 or so, and able to continue hooking up with the people who are active and sharing things of interest to me.

Short of an explosion in my own meager following, I will be returning to ManageFlitter in the future when I hit that ceiling again.

By the way, did you know that once you hit 2001 people being followed, you're then held to a formula keeping your limit at the number of your following plus 10%.  Thereby protecting us all from the robot twitter flood.  Who knew?

Stephen King's ON WRITING

Leafing through Stephen King's ON WRITING for the umpteenth time, I was drawn to the section in the back called "On Living: A Postscript". 

-click to see at Amazon.com-

The postscript is a retelling of the day he was struck by a car while walking in rural Maine.  The writing is stark and a little bit funny in that way only King can do with the darker stuff.

I had heard about his accident when it happened in 1999 and I know I've read this part of his book before, but something about it resonates differently with me today. I guess it's true that who you are and where you are in your own life shapes the way you receive what you read. Thankfully, the world wasn't finished with Mr. King on that day in June 13 years ago.

ON WRITING is one of those books that you can move forward and backward through, I am not sure I've read the whole thing in order. Although, now that I've restarted it from the First Foreword, I think I'll move through it this time in order.

The book is about so many things, his life and stories he remembers from his childhood.  And of course, writing.  He calls it a Memoir of the Craft, and it is indeed that.  King talks in the early pages about how there are so many books out there on writing that he didn't want to write that book. 

Instead he describes his book as "my attempt to show how one writer is formed. Not how one writer was made. I don't believe writers can be made, either by circumstance or by self-will (although I did believe those things once)."  (emphasis his)

All in all, it is an interesting read and I think any fan of his, writer or no, would enjoy what's between these pages.