Monday Meanderings and a Cover Reveal

First Meandering ...

The winner of Friday's drawing for a copy of Marlene Bateman Sullivan's book For Sale by Owner is

Jill

Second Meandering ...

I found it necessary to step back from the Swing Vote edit this week to work on the timeline. One challenge is that I have to make the things that happen fit in with the state's election laws. It's actually been a help rather than a hindrance. It gives me very specific guidelines.

I wanted June 7th (the last day candidates for municipal election can file) to fall on a Friday, so I found which year that happens in, and I've got my next 90 days to calendar the different scenes. It also has shown me where I need to provide some other scenes in between.

Now to get this all on Scrivener ...


Third Meandering ... a cover reveal by Carrie Butler!

I've loved Carries other books, so I'm excited to share the cover for this action/adventure (disaster) romance. How cool is that? It comes out this December.

Deep beneath the ocean, stretching hundreds of miles alongside the Pacific Northwest coastline, lies the Cascadia subduction zone—a fault on the verge of unleashing a catastrophic earthquake, thirty times more powerful than the San Andreas. Unfortunately, like most tourists, Elena Cordova is oblivious.

She’s got her own pent-up stress to deal with, a humiliating breakup that’s driven her to end her tenure as a human doormat once and for all. So, when a pickpocket makes off with the last remnant of her relationship, she takes action—only to get trapped with him when disaster strikes.

Now, if either one hopes to survive, they’ll have to get past their initial impressions and work together . . . because in fifteen minutes, half the town will be underwater.

About the Author: 

Carrie Butler is an award-winning author and the owner of Forward Authority full-service studio—not to mention an inbound-certified marketer with a penchant for superhero socks and Firefly. Time away from her desk is spent playing with her rescue pup, yelling at the TV during hockey season, and indulging in target-based recreation. Otherwise, you’re likely to find her glued to her chair, discovering new ways to share her daydreams...

Carrie’s Favorite Virtual Haunts

Twitter  |  Facebook  |  Pinterest  |  Goodreads  |  Google+  |  Amazon

Carrie’s  Websites

CarrieAButler.com  |  ForwardAuthority.com

Other Social Media

LinkedIn  |  BookBub  |  Instagram  |   YouTube  |  WattPad  |  Wiselike

Geeky Science Resources

Fourth Meandering ...

The house continues to move along. We've been working on wiring (part of the sweat equity the contractor's letting us do) for electricity, Internet, and lighting. This is a picture of one of my sons who's been helping install the canned lighting. This is the kitchen.

A funny (in the future but not right now) thing happened. We'd ordered the appliances and set them for delivery when we expected to be done--ninety days away. 

Um ...

Things have taken longer than we'd hoped. So,  yeah. They tried to deliver them Friday. We'd completely forgotten about that, and Home Depot didn't bother to call and let us know they were on their way. Hubby had to make a mad dash to get a storage unit.

What have you been up to? 

Seen any good movies?

Read any good books?

Done anything to enjoy the wonderful fall weather?

Blog Breaks, Online Evaluations, and Scary Stuff

Interrupting this blog break to bring you the following news!

The awesome Carrie Butler, author of the Mark of Nexus series and marketer/designer extraordinaire, is beginning a blog series called Breaking It Down, where she evaluates blogs or online presence and offers suggestions.

I think I'm her first guinea pig.

She did a video evaluation and made some terrific suggestions that I'm already working to incorporate. Her blog post is here. You can check out the videos and see if there's anything you might not have considered:

Breaking It Down - Donna K. Weaver - Part 1

Breaking It Down - Donna K. Weaver - Part 2

HOWEVER 

(and this is the potentially scary stuff)

There was something she pointed out that I hadn't been aware of. Did you know that people can find out where you live by the information you have listed on your blog/webpage?

It's called Whois.

Go ahead. Open a new tab and type in "whois".

Godaddy comes up first, so I clicked it.

Type in your webpage address. You'll have to type in a captcha to prove you're human.

What does it say?

Mine gave my real life address (a few days ago). Not that I'm expecting any psycho stalkers or anything, but people can put the information from Whois into a Google search and find you.

See the outside of your house.

Know what kind of car you drive.

Watch your children playing outside if they were out there when the Google peeps were doing a driveby with their streetview van.

Creepy, no?

I went to my webpage provider and contacted them about adding a security feature. It's not expensive, and they did it almost immediately.

I strongly suggest you consider adding this if you haven't already.

Monday Meandering

It was much busier than I thought it would have been last week. I made great progress on Swing Vote, Safe Harbors #3, until I had to work through a glitch in the ebook formatting for Torn Canvas. At least it was an educational week.

I'm trying not to think too much about next week and the release of Torn Canvas, but I did submit the audition manuscript for the audiobook. That twists my stomach as much as the release of the book. lol

*********************************

I listened to the audiobook of SEALED with Love, the second book in the DiCarlo Brides series by Heather Tullis. Besides the wonderful characterization, I'm enjoying this series so much because the romance is being served with something else. In this case, there's been a mystery of some kind--and life threatening situations.

Interesting premise to the series:
When George DiCarlo’s two daughters walk into the reading of his will, they find a big surprise–they have four sisters they never knew about–all by different mothers. The will stipulates that they work together to get his latest hotel/resort up and running and that they share a home for the first year that it’s running–he’s determined that they will all get to be good friends.

If that’s not enough, he’s picked out the perfect man for each of them, ensuring that they’ll get in each other’s way. Obviously love is bound to ensue. The daughters and their intended grooms, however, are not so amenable to his plans and where possible, fight his continued interference in their lives–which he manages to do, even from the grave.

I'm reading the novella Honesty by Carrie Butler. This book bridges the second book in the Mark of Nexus series--Courage--with the third and yet to be released book--Loyalty. The first book is Strength.

I'll be honest (haha, no pun intended). I was not a fan of Cole, the main character when I first met him in Strength. Sorry, but he's one disturbed man. Like crazy. Dangerous. And everyone seemed to treat his outrageous behavior like it wasn't that big a deal. But it was!

By the end of Strength, I'd gotten a little more sympathy for the character and by the end of Courage, he'd become a guilty pleasure. He makes me laugh--and I shouldn't. In Honesty, besides getting to see things from his point of view--and the reasons he's so messed up and dangerous--he's changing. I like the direction his character is moving. I like Cole.

*********************************

I attended a writing conference specifically for indie authors. It was a wonderful event with some great and useful classes. I always love coming away from a conference with knowledge I can put to use immediately. And my hubby even attended with me. Now is he a great sport, or what?

Because of the conference I wasn't able to get to any movies this weekend. Hubby would like to see Godzilla, and we'd both like to see Edge of Tomorrow. I'm not sure we'll see Maleficent until it's in the dollar flicks.

How was your weekend?

Carrie Butler's "Courage" - Character Interview

Click here for more stops in the blog tour.

I read and loved the first book in the Mark of Nexus series, Strength. The characters were intriguing and the magical world interesting. While New Adult (NA) has a bad reputation for being all about sex with some of it quite graphic, this book is not. But there is one almost sex scene and some sexual references, so be warned.

Before we begin the character interview, here's a teaser about Courage, book 2:

Making a deal with the bad guys wasn’t the highlight of Rena Collins’ semester, but, hey, it saved her boyfriend. Now, in order to appease the human-altering organization known as ERA, she’ll crawl under their microscope while they study the Mark of Nexus and plot their eye-glazed version of the future—until she realizes that’s not all they’re plotting.

Wallace Blake has always known his girlfriend is unlike most girls. But now that information has surfaced regarding the two bloodlines that balance his supernatural race, he finally understands why. Rena belongs to one of them. She’s been augmenting his power, all along...

Enter: Corynn Catley. Brought into the country under the guise of an internship, she’s intended to become ERA’s secret weapon. Kind of. Her abilities cancel out Wallace’s, rendering him powerless, but that’s exactly what he’s always wanted. Too bad it only works when his girlfriend’s not around.

All the while, Rena fails to notice the crush her geeky best friend, Aiden Ross, is nursing. He’d give anything for her to see him in a new light—even reinvent himself through questionable means--but there’s a reason people are told to be careful what they wish for. Finding the courage to tell her could put everyone’s lives in danger.

Interview with Cole (Wallace Blake's brother)

Me:  What's your birth order?

Cole: What does it matter? You’re not one of those people who believe birth order has anything to do with sibling personalities, are you?

*He groans* Oh God. You are, aren’t you? Fine. Technically, Wallace came out first, but let me clue you in on my theory of how it went down.

He had to precede me to make sure we weren’t in any kind of hostile territory. I’m serious. It’s obvious that I was the dominant infant—the dominfant, if you will—so he felt compelled to take that risky journey down the birth canal first. I waited until I got an “all clear” cry to make my entrance.

Stop looking at me like that. It’s true.

Me:  Have you ever been in love?

Cole:  No, and now that I’ve seen my brother in love, I’m pretty sure it’s the opposite of everything I want in life. A chick hanging on me all the time, making me factor in her safety when I make decisions... pass. I like to keep my relationships between two and five weeks.

Me:  Hmmm...two and five weeks. That's how long your "relationships" have lasted them. Cole, really? Anyway, when you think of your childhood kitchen, what smell comes to mind?

Cole:  Syrup in Grandma’s house. She made the best pancakes, and the scent always clung to the wallpaper. Before that, back in my old house... no, I can’t go there.

Me:  What is your biggest fear? Who have you told it to? Who would you never tell it to? Why?

Cole:  Let’s go reverse order on this one. I’d never tell my biggest fear to some random chick, and the reasoning would be three-fold. Ready?

One, it’s a liability. You could use it against me.

Two, I’m not all touchy-feely with the emotions. Go figure.

And three, you might tell someone I actually give a crap about and make me look bad. I mean, no offense, doll, but we just met. You understand, right?

*Silence*

Okay, fine. I admit that was a copout answer. How about I tell you, and in exchange for your silence, you get to keep that tongue of yours?

*I give him a hard stare, and he leans in* I’m not keen on the idea of losing the rest of my family.

*I blink and keep my mouth shut for a moment, swallowing.*

Me:  Okay. You're kind of a wild and crazy guy. What's the thing you've regretted doing the most?

Cole:  The thing I regret the most has nothing to do with my lifestyle. I just wish I would’ve spent more time with my folks before they were killed, okay?

Me:  Thank you, Cole. *I watch as he leaves*

And now you know why I wanted to interview Cole. Intriguing guy.

About the author
Carrie Butler daydreamed her way through college—until they thrust a marketing degree into her hands, slapped a summa cum laude seal on the corner, and booted her out into a less-than-stellar job market. Instead of panicking at the prospect of unemployment, she used her Midwestern logic to steer into the skid and point her life in the direction she really wanted to go: writing out those daydreams.

Her passion for New Adult fiction led her to co-found NA Alley—a widely recognized informational hub for the category. She is the author of STRENGTH (Mark of Nexus #1) and COURAGE (Mark of Nexus #2).

Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Google+ | Pinterest | YouTube | Goodreads

Cover Reveal - Courage by Carrie Butler

I'm on a blog break through July.

I interrupt this blog break to bring you ...

Courage

 

Book Description:

Rena Collins never thought she’d long for the past—back when affection from Wallace, her freakishly strong boyfriend, was the most dangerous aspect of her life. But now that the human-altering organization known as ERA has gone on the offensive, nothing is safe. Her bloodline is exposed, her relationships torn apart, and just when it seems like things can’t get any worse, ERA ups the ante. To save mankind from forced evolution, Rena will have to mend her broken ties and form a resistance... hand-in-hand with the one she hurt most.

Note: Courage (Mark of Nexus #2) features four unique points-of-view. While the novel stands alone, it is best enjoyed after Strength (Mark of Nexus #1).

I read and thoroughly enjoyed the first book in the series, Strength. Can't wait for October!

 

Day 3 - A Change of Plans Block Party

What a crowd we've got today. Check out these awesome peeps!

Suzie Forbes - Guest Post/Author Interview - My Not So Secret Writing Life

Suey - Review + Guest Post/Author Interview- It's All About Books

Laura Josephsen - Guest Post - Laura's website

Lindzee Armstrong - Review - Lindzee's website

Lisa Faber - Review - Bookworm Lisa

Nancy S. Thompson - Book Spotlight - Nancy's website

Michelle Cole - Review - The Blushing Reader

Tasha Seegmiller - Review - Tasha's website

Carrie Butler - Author Interview - So, You're a Writer 

Jaleta Clegg - Author Interview - Jaleta's website

Rebekah Grow - Review + Guest Post/Author Interview - R.K. Grow - reading. writing. blogging.

Fiauna Lund - Review + Guest Post/Author Interview - See My Wings

Julie Daines - Review - An Author's Compendium

Crystal Casey - Review - Peace Love Books 
Andrea Frisby - Review + Guest Post/Author Interview - Literary Time Out 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Strength by Carrie Butler

What it's about:

When college student Rena Collins finds herself nose-to-chest with the campus outcast, she’s stunned. Wallace Blake is everything she’s ever wanted in a man—except he can’t touch her. His uncontrollable strength, a so-called gift from his bloodline, makes every interaction dangerous. And with a secret, supernatural war brewing among his kind, there’s no time to work it out. To keep Wallace in her life, Rena will have to risk a whole lot more than her heart.

Just a little warning here for my clean romance friends--this one's just a tad steamier.


About Carrie Butler:
Carrie daydreamed her way through college—until they thrust a marketing degree into her hands, slapped a summa cum laude seal on the corner, and booted her out into a less-than-stellar job market. Instead of panicking at the prospect of unemployment, she used her Midwestern logic to steer into the skid and point her life in the direction she really wanted to go: writing out those daydreams.

                                                Where to find Carrie:

WEBSITE  |  BLOG  |  PUBLISHER  |  TWITTER  |  FACEBOOK  |  GOODREADS  |  GOOGLE+

Where to find Strength:

AMAZON |  NOOK | BOOK PAGE  |  GOODREADS  |  PUBLISHER  |  FACEBOOK  |  PINTEREST  |  BOOK TRAILER

Cover Reveal of "Strength" by Carrie Butler

It's cover reveal day for Carrie Butler's book Strength, Book 1 of the Mark of Nexus series and due out on March 7, 2013.

What is this paranormal romance about?

When college student Rena Collins finds herself nose-to-chest with the campus outcast, her rumor-laced notions are shattered. Handsome, considerate, and seemingly sane, Wallace Blake doesn’t look like he spends his nights alone, screaming and banging on the walls of his dorm room. Hell, he doesn’t look like he spends his nights alone, period.

Too curious for her own good, Rena vows to uncover the truth behind Wallace’s madman reputation—and how two seconds of contact had left her with bruises. Of course, there are a few minor setbacks along the way: guilt, admiration, feelings of the warm and fuzzy variety…

Not to mention the unwanted attention of Wallace's powerful, supernaturally-gifted family.

They’re a bloodline divided by opposing ideals, two soon-to-be warring factions that live in secret among us. When Rena ends up caught in their crossfire, Wallace has no choice but to save her by using his powers. Now they’re really in trouble. With war on the horizon and Rena’s life in the balance, he needs to put some distance between them. But Rena won’t let go. If fighting is what it takes to prove her own strength and keep Wallace in her life, then that’s what she’ll do—even if it means risking a whole lot more than her heart.

Superlatives?

I need to thank Carrie Butler over at So, You're a Writer for an award I'd never seen before:

Thanks for thinking of me, Carrie. I agree with you in your post here. This award is a little more complicated and, for me, difficult to assess. Recipients are supposed to provide links back to a few of their blog posts based upon seven categories. 

How the heck am I supposed to determine "seven post superlatives"? For example, is a post most popular because it had the most comments, that it had the power to get people to take the time to respond? Or the number of visitors who, perhaps, left too stunned by the quality of the post to comment (yeah, and then I wake up). How do we quantify someone else's experience when they visit our blogs?
I can't. So you're stuck with my interpretation. And I'm biased, either for or against.

1. Most Beautiful

Tribute
The post I wrote after my father died last march.








2. Most Popular

According to my blog stats, it appears that my Fun & Games Blogfest post had the most page views. By a substantial number.


3. Most Controversial
This one was easy to decide on. It was the post about self-publishing.

4. Most Helpful
Okay. Now it's getting hard because this is so subjective. How do I really know if something I've written about turned out to be helpful to someone? 

Source

So, I'll go with one of my Grammar Friday posts and hope that I'm right. I like the one dealing with punctuation because I love the example so much.



5. Most Surprisingly Successful

I think this has to be my unmentionables post. I'm not into risque posts, and most of the ones I'd seen were definitely that, so when I was tagged for that meme, I was conflicted. However, I decided there was room for some potential humor there while still maintaining my propriety.



6.  Most Underrated
Once again, how can I even guess at this? I suggest it was my review of Natalie Palmer's book Second Kiss, which I dearly loved.









7. Most Pride Worthy
I'm not sure what to put on here, either. I was tempted to leave it up to you guys, but I decided to list my book review of the I Am Not a Serial Killer series by Dan Wells. Perhaps because this is not a genre I read anymore. Perhaps it's because of the way Dan managed to make me love the terribly flawed, icky fantasizing, wanting to be noble John Cleaver that makes me gush about this series. John is no Dexter to try and justify his atrocities by targeting an "appropriate" kind of victim. Seriously. I can't gush enough about this series. It really struck a chord with me.

So, there you have it. My 7 (presumptuous) superlatives. Now I get to select seven others to pass this on to. Be sure to check their blogs out:

An Alleged Author

Cindy M. Hogan

Dianne K. Salerni

Ellie Garratt

Laila Knight

L.G. Smith

Mark Noce

Here's to a great week everyone. I need to get through another poll worker training session (hopefully not an epic fail this time) and then I have a four-day weekend. And my mind is buzzing with ideas for WIP #3!