Jeff Strand, under PRESSURE

I recently mentioned author Jeff Strand here on my blog. We met last month at the Romantic Times Convention, where I caught him ogling cover models we bonded a little over dark humor, severed heads and the fact that we live in the same Florida town. He has a new book, PRESSURE, coming out on May 26th, and is desperate for promotion eager to tell us about it! Unfortunately, Jeff is a bit on the lazy side, so he decided to put together a cookie-cutter guest blog, which I happily stole from his MySpace page, because hey... that's what friends (even new ones) do.

Anyway, I want you to read Jeff's charmingly innovative guest blog, which will be full of references to me and my own current release, You're the One That I Haunt, because Jeff kindly left tags everywhere reading [Insert Your Book Here] and [Insert Your Name Here], so I did.

(Hey, Jeff - your scheme to get free and easy promo worked! You're brilliant!)

In all honesty, I wouldn't be pimping Jeff if I didn't think he deserved it, and I mean that sincerely. I just finished one of his earlier works, GRAVEROBBERS WANTED (NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY), and it was good - mystery, murder and mayhem (Hah! The protagonist's name was Andrew Mayhem! Am I lame, or what?), graveyard humor, and plenty of twists. One of the few times I've read a mystery when I didn't know "who done it" until the very end. At any rate, Jeff is a clever guy and a good writer, and I think you should buy his books.

And now, without further ado, meet Jeff:
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Hi! I'm published author Jeff Strand! My novel PRESSURE will be at a bookstore near you on May 26th, and it answers the age-old question "What if your best friend was a killer...and he wanted you to be just like him?" Publishers Weekly called it "marvelously creepy reading...the horror in this tale of twisted friendship is relentless." Sweet, huh?

But you know what? Screw PRESSURE. [YOU'RE THE ONE THAT I HAUNT] is way better. After I read it, I called up Leisure Books and begged them not to publish my crappy book. "Don't worry," they said, "not everybody can be [TERRI GAREY]. Even [TERRI GAREY] has trouble being [TERRI GAREY] some days. It's a level of awesomeness that only three or four people can attain at any given time. PRESSURE may not be as good as [YOU'RE THE ONE THAT I HAUNT] but it's still a fine piece of work."

So I broke into the Leisure Books warehouse and burned every copy of PRESSURE that my flamethrower could reach. I think a few copies may have survived, so if you've already read [YOU'RE THE ONE THAT I HAUNT] and everything else by [TERRI GAREY] you might want to give it a shot.
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Aw, Jeff... I'm a little teary here from all that praise! Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedule and joining us today! When did you say your book was out again? May 26th? At bookstores everywhere?

Kewl. :-)

Just Say "NO" to E-book Piracy

I've been spending way too much time lately trying to get free versions of my books taken down from "file sharing" sites all over the Internet. No sooner do I find a stolen file, fill out the form to have it taken down and provide documentation that I hold the copyright to the work itself, when another stolen file pops up somewhere else on another site.

What absolutely amazes me is that people think it's absolutely fine to gleefully download these stolen files, never once thinking about who they're hurting (which, quite frankly, is me). In fact, some people even think they're doing me a favor by spreading my work around and making it easy for others to get them without having to pay for them. Um.. no. Not only are they stealing the royalty money from legitimate ebook sales from my pocket, they're stealing my numbers, which is far more damaging. Pirated books don't get counted toward the number of books I've sold, which is the biggest thing my publisher looks at when they decide to continue publishing me or not.

Publishing is all about the numbers. Publishers make an initial investment and print X numbers of books. Needless to say, for an author to be considered successful, those books have to sell. No, ebooks are not printed, but the demand for them is another huge indicator of an author's success - every sale of an ebook through a legitimate source like Kindle or Sony is registered and recorded, which is another way my publisher sees whether people are buying my books or not. So if hundreds or thousands of my books are being given away free through file piracy, my publisher has no way of counting them. An author may be hugely popular when it comes to free downloads out there, but that popularity does them no good in the eyes of their publisher, because all they see is the number of legitimate sales. So those people who LOVE those authors enough to download those files are actually upping the odds that those authors won't ever be able to publish another book, because their numbers will be too low.

Make any sense? Oh, and let's not forget this basic fact: downloading pirated files of any kind for free is stealing, plain and simple. So just say no, would you, and support your favorite authors in a way that helps them go on doing what they do. Books are very inexpensive forms of entertainment, after all.

Vampires Obviously Have More Fun!

Time to share more photos from the Romantic Times Convention!

I had a great time at the Vampire Ball, in large part because I got to let my inner "ghoul" run wild by dressing up as a Goth Vampire Chick. There were two fun parts to this, the first being that absolutely nobody knew who I was (costumes are such fun!), and the other being that when you're dressed as a vampire chick, people seem to want to get their picture taken with you! (Which, when you go back to reason #1, is actually kind of fun: "Hey, look at this picture taken with this Goth Vampire Chick! I have no idea who she is, but cool, huh?") This is me with thriller writer (and total hottie) Barry Eisler on the left. The place was swarming with cover models, but he was one of the best looking guys there, and man, did he know how to work a room!

This is me with fellow dark humorist and all-around scary author Jeff Strand, and his friend, a disembodied head. (He never said where the head came from.) Jeff's newest book, PRESSURE, hits the stands later this month. (PRESSURE was a recent finalist for the Bram Stoker award, and I can't wait to read it.) I've already ordered and am waiting on one of his previous novels, called GRAVEROBBERS WANTED (NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY). I mean, c'mon - I'm a sucker for great titles, graveyard humor and disembodied heads!

This spooky fellow on the right is actually cover model C.J. Hollenbach, who was wearing the coolest contacts I've ever seen. They were yellow in the center, with red flames sparking outward. C.J.'s costume made me think very strongly of Louis in Anne Rice's INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE. *sigh* Great costume, C.J.!

These are my dear friends Mona Risk and Janice Lynn. Mona didn't recognize me either at first, but it's hard not to recognize Janice - doesn't she look hot?

And speaking of hot :-), this beautiful woman asked to have her photo taken with me (I'm the one who looks scared in this one, don't I?) Seriously, I don't know her name, but she was very sweet and very, very pretty. (Hey, I'm straight and married, but I'm not blind, and perfectly willing to give credit where credit is due!)

And this just may be my favorite picture of all - Victoria Fraasa with Circle of Seven Productions, asking me to play with her adorable little baby! Isn't he cute? LOL (Actually, he was unbelievably creepy, in large part because he was animated. His eyes rolled, his arms waved, and he liked to bite! I seriously loved him and wanted to take him home!) :-)

I've Been Bitten... By Books!

Join me tomorrow, May 5, on this very cool "paranormal review site with bite", Bitten By Books!

I'll be answering interview questions, taking questions from readers, talking about my books and generally chatting up a storm, as well as giving away two books a day for five days!

I mean, c'mon... how could I possibly turn down a chance to hang out at a review site that gave my last book a "Five Tombstone" review? LOL You can read the review HERE, and stop by stop by for fun and prizes tomorrow by clicking HERE. Hope to see you there!

The Paranormal Party on BlogTalk Radio

Remember that cool "Paranormal Party" on BlogTalk Radio show I mentioned last month? Well, we did the taping live from the Romantic Times Conference in Orlando last week, and it was so much fun! Authors Kerrelyn Sparks, Jeaniene Frost, Jocelynn Drake, Pam Palmer, Jamie Rush and I all got together in a suite at the Wyndham Resort, along with Avon editor Tessa Woodward and Avon publicity queen Pam Jaffee, and talked about the current appeal of the paranormal romance in today's market. I'm not going to lie to you - we had some techical difficulties - but the show turned out great anyway, mainly because everybody there was determined that the "show must go on", so we had fun with it! We talked about who inspired the heroes and heroines in our books, whether we were "fur, fang or fey" girls, and what we like to read ourselves in our spare time. If you'd care to give a listen, click on this cool little widget, and off you go!

Looking For An Agent?

LOOKING FOR AN AGENT?
You should be looking for a partner.

Four agents talk about the business of writing at the 2009 Romantic Times Convention

Despite the bevy of buff, handsome cover models wandering the halls of the Wyndham Resort in Orlando, Florida during the April 2009 Romantic Times Convention, literary agents Laura Bradford, Christine Witthohn, Lucienne Diver and Miriam Kriss were able to focus on the business of writing itself, and gracious enough to share their wisdom with the rest of us.

While these four agents differed in style, they had similar views on the industry, and what they look for when considering a new client. It’s not just about selling your book— it’s about communication, expectations and professionalism on both sides. The author/agent relationship is a partnership, and like any partnership, nothing to be embarked upon lightly. Many aspiring writers are so eager to get an agent that they fail to do their homework, both when it comes to the technicality of submissions themselves and to what to expect if—or when—a literary agent agrees to work with them. (Read that sentence again, and make sure you recognize the “work with” part.) A good agent is business-minded, professional, and career-focused, and that’s what they expect from you in return.

All four agents gently but firmly emphasized that writers who are thin-skinned, overly demanding, uncooperative about critiques, edits, deadlines or have unrealistic expectations regarding advances and/or publisher support are going to find themselves floundering. Good agents do their best to help their authors manage expectations and hone both their business and their writing skills, earning their 15% commissions through career counseling, advice, informed contract negotiations, and unabashed enthusiasm for your books. They’re your best advocate, and your best chance at getting your works in to the hands of an editor who will love it as much as they do. They are, in short, the “gatekeepers” of the industry, and as such, they have their own professional reputations to maintain with the editors and publishing houses they deal with.

Laura Bradford (far left in the photo) has over fourteen years of experience in the world of books, and formed her own agency, Bradford Literary, in 2001. She acquires and sells all genres of commercial fiction except for inspirational, poetry, screenplays and short stories, and is particularly interested in works that “push the envelope”, as she loves nothing better than to discover the new and different. At the current time, she is particularly interested in historicals, and is happy to accept e-queries (one-page query letter only, no attachments) via email at laura@bradfordlit.com or a full proposal (query letter, synopsis and first three chapters) via regular mail. Detailed submission guidelines and her mailing address can be found on her website at http://www.bradfordlit.com/, along with a list of her current clients.

Christine Witthohn (second from left) began Book Cents Literary Agency in 2006. She’s very interested in contemporary romance, women’s fiction, paranormal romance, mystery and loves young adult novels. She is NOT interested in erotica, category romance, science fiction, inspirational, historicals or the horror genre. She accepts e-submissions only, and prefers two separate attachments to your email, one for the synopsis and one for the manuscript itself. Her email address is cw@bookcentsliteraryagency.com and more detailed information about her agency and submission guidelines can be found on her website at http://www.bookcentsliteraryagency.com/.

Lucienne Diver (second from right) has been in the literary business for over 16 years, and joined The Knight Agency in 2008 after spending most of her career with Spectrum Literary. She is interested in all genres of commercial fiction, feeling that a great voice and great characters are paramount over genre. She has a particular interest in mystery, suspense, and paranormal, and is fascinated by stories with a psychological or forensic aspect. Lucienne recommends that an author be a “leader”, not a “follower” when it comes to the current trends in the market. Trends change and what might’ve been considered “hot” at the time it sold can be passe by the time it’s actually published. She is happy to accept one-page queries (no attachments) via email at submissions@knightagency.net, and will request further material if she has an interest. Detailed guidelines and specifics about Lucienne and The Knight Agency are available on their website at http://www.knightagency.net/.

Miriam Kriss (far right) began her career with Irene Goodman Literary Agency in 2004. She represents all genres of commercial fiction, and all genres of romance except for inspirational. At the moment she has a particular interest in young adult, but she only takes on clients whose voice she is passionate about. Miriam urges aspiring authors to recognize that no agent enjoys rejecting an author’s work, and that true professionals will do their best not to take rejections personally. She recommends a fascinating online article called “Slushkiller” to help them gain perspective on the process. Miriam accepts e-queries (query letter, first 10 pages and a synopsis) at queries@irenegoodman.com. More detailed information about Miriam and the Irene Goodman Literary Agency can be found at http://www.irenegoodman.com/.
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*Terri Garey is very happily represented by her current agency, Jane Rotrosen Agency, LLC, but feels very strongly that it’s good karma to share as much information about the industry as she can, particularly when she’s fortunate to attend a convention swarming with a bevy of buff, muscular cover models. She is a two-time RITA finalist and the winner of the 2008 RITA Award for Best First Book, as well as the winner of the 2008 PRISM Award. Visit her on the web at http://www.tgarey.com or http://www.harpercollins.com/TerriGarey.

Costumes and Cover Models - a quick wrap-up of the 2009 Romantic Times Convention

Now that I'm home from the Romantic Times Conference, I wanted to share a few of the highlights. (I wish I had more photos for you, but most of them were taken with my friend Janice's camera, and we took so many that she hasn't had time to upload them all yet!) Here's a few, though:

Here I am with my friends Janice Lynn and Mona Risk before the craziness of the conference truly began. (Don't we look well-behaved?) I have to give a special shout-out to Mona's husband, Sam, who is quite literally one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet (and quite debonair, too, I might add!)

Right after this photo was taken, we ran into cover model Jimi Gaskin, who was kind enough to guest blog with us last year on my group blog, Writers At Play. Jimi was absolutely one of the sweetest and most wholesome of the Mr. Romance competitors (the poor guy blushes every time you pay him a compliment, and believe me, he got LOTS of compliments!) We ran into him several times during the conference, and couldn't resist getting a few photos of him in Spartan gear at the "Gods of Midnight" party!

And speaking of the Gods of Midnight party, Janice and I had an absolutely fabulous time there playing "Musical Cover Models", which is pretty much the equivalent of Musical Chairs, only there were Spartans sitting in the chairs (I say "we", but I was just the official photographer that evening, while Janice did her best to sample every warriors' lap!) Here she is in Rodney Chatman's lap (Mr. Romance 2006), and here she is on the right with Jeremy Rivenburg (who won 3rd runner-up in the Mr. Romance competition). But the photo that she forced me to stay up until after 1:00 in the morning to get (seriously!) was this one of her below with Mr. Romance 2002, Jimmy Thomas. I must admit that it was well worth the wait, as I honestly think he was by far the best-looking guy there! (considering that my main man, Andrei Claude, did not attend this year.) Wah!

(Still, it was hard to be disappointed when you're in a room full of gorgeous men wearing little but gladiator outfits.) LOL

And then there were the other costume parties, which we enjoyed immensely. Here we are below at the Seelie and UnSeelie Faery ball. Janice was a good fairy (which made her a Seelie), while I was the bad fairy in the pink and black (which made me an UnSeelie).I'm not sure which one of us had more fun, but I think it was me, because let's face it... ghouls just wanna have fun! :-) Even my wings looked evil, didn't they? Janice's wings were black which made them nearly impossible to photograph in the dark room, and her dress was a flowy brown confection. Check out the wings tattooed on her face! Trust me, she was every inch the feminine, delicate fairy girl!

LuckilLuckily for me, handsome elf and Legolas look-alike, legendary cover model C.J. Hollenbach, didn't seem to mind hanging out with a bad fairy! Yes, that is C.J.'s real hair, which is long and blonde. He was absolutely adorable, and such a gentleman (a hunky, muscular, gorgeous gentleman!) Here I am on the right with author J.A. Konrath, whose wings were rather... um... tiny, and strapped on with green duct tape. LOL Luckily, his sense of humor was huge!

The following night was the Vampire Ball, and I had tremendous fun dressing up as a vampire Goth chick, and having absolutely no one recognize me! (Hey, I'm a Halloween kind of girl - what can I say??) I wish I had the photos of Janice and me together, because she looked absolutely gorgeous. Sadly, all I have on my camera was this close-up of her shoes (notice the zipper up the heel). My friends and "shoe-a-holics" Tawny and Anna would've been eating their hearts out over those babies!



Anyway, a fabulous time was had by all, and I just couldn't wait to share. Which of these photos is your favorite? Which of these guys do you think is the cutest?

Off To The Romantic Times Convention!

I'm SO excited this morning, because I'm off to attend the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention, held this year in Orlando, Florida! I've heard about this wild and wacky four-day event for years, but I've never been able to attend. This year, Orlando being only a short drive away from where I live, I was absolutely determined not to miss it.

Being an RT virgin, so to speak :-), I'm not entirely sure what to expect (except for lots of fun!)

I begin the day with a short drive to the Orlando airport to pick up dear friend, Janice Lynn, who has promised to show me the ropes. Once Janice and arrive and get settled into our room, we'll be attending workshops, publisher spotlights and editor panels.

I have some publisher-related functions to attend, beginning with the Avon "Paranormal Party" on Thursday, April 23rd! From 2:00-2:30p, you can tune in live on the Internet (by clicking the graphic to the right or the link above) and hear me and my Avon author "ghoulfriends" talk about vampires, werewolves and all things spooky. The call-in number for the show is 347-826-9686, and we'll be taking questions, so please give a listen! After that, on Thursday at 5:00p, I'll be attending the Avon "Dusk to Dark" cocktail party, and signing copies of my latest release, You're the One That I Haunt! There will be another signing on Saturday, April 25th, at the giant Book Fair at the Orlando Wyndham Resort (open to the public), with hundreds of other authors in attendance! Immediately following the signing, I'll be doing a video book excerpt for Romantic Times Magazine, where I'll be reading from my current book and spending a few minutes talking about the Nicki Styx series. (*gulp* Wish me luck!)

And then, there are the nightly costume parties! Every single night, conference go-ers go wild and try to outdo each other with their costumes (or so I'm told), each party based on a different theme. On Wednesday night, Janice and I will be attending the Ellora's Cave jungle-themed Fantasy Party, on Thursday night it's the Seelie and Unseelie Faery Ball Dinner and Dance (followed by the Greek Gods of Midnight party, but I'll probably be asleep by then - I'm not much of a night owl), on Friday night it's the Vampire Ball, and on Saturday night it's Splashing By the Sea party! Costumes are not mandatory, and Janice and I will be in the "minimalist" group, I'm sure, though we do have our fairy wings and vampire teeth at the ready!

We'll need to have our vocal cords in good order on Saturday when it's time for the RT BOOKreviews Award Ceremony, so we can cheer for our good friend, Stacey Kayne, whose smokin' hot western hero, Chance Morgan of MAVERICK WILD, is up for a K.I.S.S. award! Hopefully we'll still have some steam left for the 2009 Mr. Romance Cover Model Competition that evening! It'll be a hardship watching those handsome guys strut their stuff, but somebody's gotta do it, and it may as well be me! :-)

Anyway, if you could go to one of the costume parties I mentioned above, which one would it be? Which theme sounds like the most fun? Jungle, fairies, vampires, greek gods, or by the sea? I'll post some pictures here on the blog when the conference is over.

It's A Paranormal Party!

Mark your calendars for April 23rd, ghoulfriends, because I, along with some of my "ghoulier" Avon friends, will be broadcasting live from AuthorsOnAir.com during the Romantic Times Convention in Orlando, FL!

AuthorsOnAir is a really cool new radio initiative begun by BlogTalkRadio and Romance Radio, where you can tune in and listen live over the Internet to interviews by some of your favorite authors. If you miss a show, no problem - you can still hear the taped version afterward.

It's much more fun when it's live, though, because you can call in and ask questions! Set yourself an email reminder to tune into the Paranormal Party by clicking here: REMIND ME!

By the way, if you haven't read any of these other spooky authors, you're missing out! NYT best-selling author Jeaniene Frost writes fabulous vampire urban fantasy, Pam Palmer has previously written for Silhouette Nocturne and has a sexy new "feral warrior" series coming out with Avon this summer, Jamie Rush has a new series about the Offspring (psychics with special powers), and Kerrelyn Sparks is the NYT best-selling author of the "Love At Stake" series.

So tune in, listen, and try to avoid being drawn over to the dark side - I dare you!

Thai Me Down!

Do you know what this means?

คนตาย เด็กผู้หญิง เป็น ง่าย

Loosely translated, it's the Thai version of "Dead Girls Are Easy".

And why do we care? :-)

Because I just sold the Thai rights to my first novel, which means Dead Girls Are Easy is going to published in Thailand, of all places! (I can't wait to see what the Thai cover is going to look like - I sure hope I can find an image file when it's released over there.)

At first, I found it very strange that a Thai publisher would be interested in a romantic comedy about ghosts, until I did a little research and found that a belief in ghosts and spirits is an integral part of the Thai culture. Thailand is FULL of stories about hungry ghosts who roam the land, always searching for innocent souls to steal. Apparently, going out after dark in some Thai villages is the same as taking your life in your hands, and taking a baby outside after dark is practically a crime, as ghosts are said to be especially drawn to them. It's fascinating, really.

At any rate, I'm tickled, both by the novelty of having my book reprinted in a foreign language, and by the sale itself!

"Kob-kun-mak, Thailand!" (which means "Thank you very much!")

Say Yes To The Dress

Well, it's official - somewhere along the line, I became a sucker for a beautiful dress. (I think it has something to do with being the youngest of four girls, and wearing a lot of hand-me-downs as a child, none of them particularly flattering, either!)

Last summer, I got the chance to attend a star-studded event (well, stars of the romance writing world, anyway, with stars like Nora Roberts ) because I was up for a RITA, a major award within the industry. Not only did I win the RITA for Best First Book, I got to wear the most beautiful formal gown I'd ever owned, a gorgeous, full-length gold creation that I will probably never wear again! (I mean seriously, where am I going to wear it?)

Anyway, I got a phone call last week from Romance Writers of America, asking if this year, as last year's award recipient, I'd present the RITA award for Best First Book during the RWA annual convention in Washington, DC.

It's quite an honor, but I will be completely honest and tell you that my very first thought was, "YES! I get to wear another beautiful dress!" LOL

And so the hunt begins. I haven't been shopping in the stores yet, but I've been scouting around online, and so far my favorite is this black, one-shoulder gown with a flowy skirt.

Any thoughts?

People Are Weird

Well, it finally happened - I'd heard about it, but found it hard to believe until it happened to me.

While at my booksigning on Saturday, I was sitting at a table, stacks of books in front of me, with a tabletop poster of my cover prominently displayed (see post below for a refresher of what said cover looks like). A woman came up, glanced at my books and the poster, and said, "Oh, what kinds of books are these?"

I'd barely gotten the words "paranormal romance" out of my mouth when she interrupted me with a wave of the hand, a toss of the head, and a snide, "Oh, I don't read books like that."

*Um... hello.... do you see the covers right in front of you? Is there really any mystery involved in what they might be about?*

And then, without missing a beat, she stood there chatting about how she used to live across the street from a well-known romance author who shall remain nameless, the author's husband, the author's children, and the fact that her house was so over the top that it was clearly the kind of house a romance author would live in. HUH? (Did it have hearts dripping from the windows? Cover models in flowing white shirts and tight leather pants coming and going? Was it painted lavender and trimmed with lace? I didn't bother to ask.)

Luckily for me, the author sitting next to me had clearly dealt with people like this woman before, and managed to chat pleasantly with her while I did my best to pretend she was invisible. :-) Then she finally walked away without buying a book, having, in my humble opinion, wasted ten minutes of my life simply so she could brag about knowing a famous author who she clearly considered beneath her!

People are weird. Ever met any of them? :-)

Book Signing Today from 12-3p

If you live in the Tampa Bay area, please stop by and see me today at the South Tampa Barnes & Noble at 213 N. Dale Mabry Hwy., where I'll be signing copies of my latest book, You're the One That I Haunt!

I'll be joined by USAToday best-selling author Julie Leto, and a variety of other authors I haven't met yet. :-)

Hope to see some of you there!

RITA© and Golden Heart© Awards!

Today's a big day in the world of romance writing, because it's the day that the nominees for the two biggest awards in romance publishing are announced!

A little background on these awards:

The RITA is the romance-publishing industry's highest award of distinction, and is presented annually to the best published romance novels of the year. The award itself is a golden statuette named after RWA's first president, Rita Clay Estrada, and has become the symbol for the best in published romance fiction.

Up to 1,200 romance novels from 12 different categories are entered each year in the RITA competition. After the first round of judging by fellow published romance authors, the competition narrows to approximately 100 finalists. Once the RITA finalists have been revealed, they must then wait until RWA's National Conference each July to find out which books will win the coveted RITA Award. The names of the winning books are kept secret until the final night of the Conference. The RITA and Golden Heart Award Ceremony is a formal event similar to the Oscars where the winners are finally revealed and honored.

The Golden Heart is a contest for unpublished writers. It brings manuscripts written by unpublished RWA members to the attention of the publishing community and celebrates excellent, unpublished writing. (I have no idea why the only picture I could find is silver, when the heart itself is gold! LOL)

Each year, over 1,000 manuscripts are entered in the Golden Heart contest by writers who have yet to sell their first romance novel. Similar to the RITA Award contest, the Golden Heart contest has 10 different categories with only one winning manuscript per category. In the preliminary round, the 1,000 manuscripts are read and judged by members of RWA, who narrow the field down to approximately 100 finalists. The final round of the contest is judged by acquiring editors from romance publishing houses. Many Golden Heart finalists sell their manuscripts to publishers as a result of the exposure from the contest.

The winners of the Golden Heart contest are revealed alongside the RITA Awards at RWA's Annual Conference every July. At the formal Award Ceremony on the final night of the Conference, the winners of the Golden Heart contest receive a gold, heart-shaped necklace in recognition of their achievement.

I was lucky enough to win a RITA last year, but I certainly don't expect lightning to strike twice! Instead, I have my fingers crossed for many of my writing friends, that they'll get that super-exciting phone call today telling them that they've been nominated!

Writing Raw

Aspiring writers take note! Writing Raw is a literary sharing website where writers can upload, view and share their writing. I love their mission statement:

Our goal at Writing Raw is simple - to serve the literary community with the opportunity to have their work online and out in the world. Who knows who may see it! In this world of disappearing literary magazines, Writing Raw is providing the blank pages for writers to fill.

It's not a huge site, but any site that showcases aspiring writers for free and promotes the writer within is okay by me! (Check out their "Exercises" page for inspiration on breaking through writer's block or jump-starting a new idea.)

Anyway, when they contacted me and asked me to do a short interview, I didn't hesitate. You can read it by clicking HERE.

And the Winner Is...

Sue Ahn of Vancouver, B.C. is the lucky winner of these gorgeous vintage earrings from the "virtual store" of Handbags and Gladrags!

I must admit that I hate to let these beauties go, but a promise is a promise! :-)

Thanks so much to the 200+ people who entered my February/March contest in the hopes of winning these earrings, and please check back on my website in April to see what I'll be giving away next.

(I love contests - they make me feel like Santa Claus!)

Top O' the Mairnin' to Ye!

*says Terri in her best Irish accent*

Yes, I'm Irish (at least a part of me is), and so I'm wishing everyone a happy St. Patrick's Day! I'm wearing green, and have already pinched Captain America for walking out the door without even a touch of it. You can keep the green beer, however... it's red wine only for me!

My maiden name is Bohannon, which, if my research at the libary is to be believed, is really an elongated version of the name "O'Hannon". Elongated, yet shortened, because it was apparently once the custom in Irish villages to refer to male children as "Boy of so-and-so". Thus, Bohannon came from the phrase "Boy of O'Hannon", i.e., Bohannon.

I've been to Ireland, and it was there that I finally believed my uncle when he told us our family originally came from County Clare. I've never felt more at home or more at peace with myself than I did in Ireland - exploring the colorful city of Cork, driving along narrow little country roads that didn't look big enough for even one car (much less two!) wandering a countryside filled with rich shades of green and unexpected stone circles, quaint flower-laden cottages and genteel old manor houses, and roadside pubs that fairly begged a traveler to stop and stay a while.

My favorite souvenir of that trip sits above my front door: a metal plaque with the Gaelic phrase, "Cead Mille Failte". Almost impossible to pronounce, but I'll give it a try: "Ka-yud Mal Fal-cha", and it means "a hundred thousand welcomes".

So a hundred thousand welcomes to my blog, and may the luck of the Irish be with you today!

It's Never Too Late to Have A Happy Childhood...

I'm in a playful mood this morning, because I just turned in the completed manuscript of my upcoming November 2009 book, SILENT NIGHT, HAUNTED NIGHT! Not only that, but I've already seen the cover (though I'm not allowed to show it to you yet), and it's pretty awesome!

So much work goes into each of my books: months of writing, researching, re-writing, tweaking, editor revisions (which means more writing), emotional angst, hair-pulling, aha moments and uh-oh moments, and lots of guilt for ignoring my friends and family while I'm sequestered in my writing cave (a/k/a office). By the time I've finished, I feel elated, relieved and ready to do something different for a little while - something that requires using a different part of my brain. I'll still have to do copyedits once it's been nitpicked to death by a copy editor (remove this comma, use a semi-colon instead of an em dash, "kinda" is not a word, etc., etc., etc., but that's a good month away.

And yes, I'm already mentally plotting and planning my next book (because that's what we writers do), but today I want to play a little!

As I type this, I'm busy downloading a spooky adventure game that I've been wanting to play for a while. I consider it a reward for working so hard. I'm going to play it and do my best not to feel guilty about the time I'm going to waste on it!

Besides, it's spooky. :-) I can always salve my guilt by calling it "research".

I do love a good adventure game, but they seem harder and harder to find these days. I'll let you know if this one is worth it!

Happy Anniversary, Sweetheart!

Seventeen years ago today, I married the man of my dreams. (Well, technically that's not true, because I'd given up on dreaming about the perfect man - which is when he showed up!)

As sappy as this sounds, I'm more in love with him now than I was when I married him, because he's proven to me, over and over again, that we're truly in this thing together. No matter what life throws at us, we deal with it. When life hands us lemons, we make lemonade. When one of us feels like crying, the other one makes us laugh. When one of us is sick, the other one takes care of us. When one of us feels like pulling our hair out, the other one gently removes our hand and holds it.

We've got our stupid little inside jokes that nobody would ever understand (most of them involving monkeys and sometimes aliens, toilet paper, and ridiculous pet names) and every single day, as soon as he comes home from work, we unwind with a glass of wine and talk about our day. Seventeen years, and we've yet to run out of things to talk about!

Oh, and he made me breakfast this morning, as he does many mornings. We won't be going out tonight, because we have a family function to attend, but we don't need to. I like to think we show each other how much we love each other every day.

So here's to marriage: When it's good, it's pretty darn good! I hope yours is good, too.

Revenge Of the Nerds

What was your high school experience like?

Were you a cheerleader, into sports, popular, lots of boyfriends? Or were you like me - the straight A student who hated dressing out for PE, belonged to the National Honor Society, the Beta Club, and gave up her free period to volunteer as a teacher's aide?

Yep, I was a nerd, and most of my friends were nerds. So when I got an email from someone at my old high school letting me know that our graduating class now had a free private alumni website (as opposed to Classmates.com, who you have to pay for if you want to contact anyone), I couldn't resist going to check it out. Very nice, actually, and one of the suggestions it had for your "profile" was to put up "Then and Now" pictures, so that everyone could see your face how it looked in high school, then see a recent picture of what you looked like now.

I honestly can't believe I'm about to do this, but I'm going to show you my "Then" and "Now". :-)

First, the "Now':










And here's the "Then":
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Are you ready?
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Here we go...
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Yes, it's me. LOL Amazing what losing a few pounds, a pair of contacts, and a change in hair color and style can do, isn't it? If you compared your "then" vs. "now", what would the biggest change be?