Every once in awhile we should take time to clean out our wallet. Or our files, email boxes, bookshelves, closets. No. I promise, I’m not going in the closet. The monsters living in there are real. Srsly!
Brenda Novak’s Auction for Juvenile Diabetes Research is over. My basket sold for $133.00. This year The auction raised $285,780, which brought the grand total to over $1 million! This money will make a real difference in the lives of all those living with diabetes. Not only did I donate a gift basket, I bid on items, too! Once again, I managed to be the high bidder for the Writers for New Orleans conference package (held over Labor Day weekend) donated by Heather Graham. Heidi, my CP and I went last year and had a blast. We’re going road-tripping again this year! This is especially sweet since she had to cancel her plans for RWA once it changed from Nashville to Orlando. I’ll also get to take part in the book signing on that Sunday afternoon, proceeds donated to the New Orleans library. There will be costumes. And merriment. And much plotting!
Speaking of literacy signings, the list is up at RWA for the authors taking part in the signing in Orlando. I’m sitting two people away from Eloisa James and one person away from Julie James one one side and one person away from Sabrina Jeffries on the other. Yeah…I’ll get to smile at lots of people having no desire to see me. LOL HERE’S THE LIST if you want to check who’ll be there.
SEASON OF THE WITCH is finished. Well, it was finished before but this revision is finished! Man, talk about tough! It’s been sent to the ever faithful CP and to a trustworthy beta reader. I await the verdict with bated (and baited *bwahaha* Yay for crab and shrimp!) breath. Yesterday, I took a break. Today, I pull out the query and synopsis and polish them until they shine!
Want to know what I did yesterday? I looked for character pictures. I have models for almost all of the characters for FAERIE FIRE. I think that’s pretty cool. I’ll start introducing them soon. Maybe tomorrow if I get my edits done. Ms. CP hit me with the first three chapters last night. I’m sobbing and sniffling and valiantly rewriting. (I only put that in there in case she drops by so I can make her feel bad *bwahahaha*
Once upon a time, this day was known as Decoration Day--a day of remembrance for our fallen troops, and began in the South at the time of the American Civil War. In honor of my dad, who helped engineer (and build) the first B-17 bomber for Boeing, my father-in-law, who served during the Berlin and Cuban Missile Crisises, my brother, who served as a staff sergeant in an Air Force hospital during Viet Nam, and my husband, a former Captain in the US Army, and all the men and women who have served their countries with honor… (Warning, this is a sad one…)
At some point in life, I came across this site called TUT – The Universe’s Thoughts – or something like that. I signed up, then realized it was a more a self-help guru type thing (along the line of The Secret–you know, visualize and wish and all shall be yours?) but, that said, I enjoyed the daily emails of inspirational thoughts. Some hit close to home, some I deleted with barely a read through. The other day, though, this one popped up in the in-box and I thought it was rather profound.
To empower another, is to empower yourself.
To celebrate another, is to celebrate yourself.
And to free another, Silver, is to free yourself.
I say empower, celebrate, and free them all,
The Universe
See the trend, Silver? Whatever you give, you get.
I say it’s time celebrate. What about y’all? Tell us something you need an extra “push” to get over the hump, something good that’s happened in your life, or something you need thoughts and prayers on. We’ll all push, party, and set our troubles free!
Yesterday was the first day of bidding. With over 2,000 items to bid on, there’s something for everyone, in every price range. Go bid if you’re already signed in. Go register and bid if you aren’t!
Click on the button to go straight to the auction! (Of course, that takes you straight to my donation, lol! Which is still cheap, btw!) Bid now and bid often! If you’d like to donate, there’s still time. Click on the donate link to get more info! Let’s help put Brenda’s auction over the 1 MILLION mark this year!!!!
I’ve been on a whirl-wind tour of the web touting FAERIE FATE. Oh, like, duh. Yeah, yeah. I know you know. But…I just want to point out that some of the nicest people in the world live out there in the vast cosmic void and a whole lot of them love romance novels. While “trolls” still inhabit part of the space-time continuum, there are many “angels” out there as well. Sometimes, people do nice things just because. I want to thank two of those people right now. First, B.E. Sanderson is a name I see on various blogs. I’ve never checked out her blog because, frankly, I could spend all day reading blogs and not get a blasted thing done. As a result, I severely limit my blog hopping. B.E. is a writer on the trail to publication. She blogged about FAERIE FATE yesterday. Unbidden. She read my post at Jen Lyon’s and she…pitched it to the readers of her blog, sight unseen and unread. She has it on her wish list, but hasn’t read the book. I mean…wow. I discovered she’d done this amazingly nice thing because of Google Alerts. She didn’t call attention to her actions. She just did something nice.
And then there’s Amanda, another regular on Jen’s blog. When I mentioned FATE wasn’t available in the “big box” stores, she offered to talk to the romance buyer at the independent where she shops, and to request FATE as their next book club read. I…I’m as gobsmacked by all this as Ciaran is about Becca’s 20th century sensibilities. I’ve met some amazing people on my journey. So many of you who are regulars met me elsewhere on the net and followed me home. Trust me, I’m so glad you did! Each one of you has done something incredibly nice for me by spreading my name, by coming here, by having faith in me as a writer. As time goes on, I hope to meet many more of you, both in person and on the ‘net.
I’m still at Long And Short Reviews with another mini-essay. There are questions posed with each essay. If you email in the answer and/or comment, you’re entered to win a copy of FAERIE FATE. If you already have the book, I’ll substitute something fun! Friday, I’m at Alannah Lynne’s blog.
In the meantime, I’m going to just sit here and marvel at this amazing community of romance writers and readers. Y’all rock! (And make me all sniffly and gooey inside! No. Really!!!)
Starting May 1st, the Brenda Novak Auction for Juvenile Diabetes Research goes live. I’m donating a gift basket this year. You can click on the above link to see some of the goodies already listed. My donation will be added sometime after April 1st. There are some amazing bargains to be found so sign up, keep watching, and bid if you can! In the meantime, what do you think? Is my contribution auction worthy?
From debut author, Silver James, an Irish-themed basket of goodies:
$50.00 gift certificate from the on-line book seller of winner’s choice: Amazon.com, Borders.com, or B&N.com
$30.00 gift certificate from The Wild Rose Press
Faerie Fate goodies: coffee mug, notebook, bookmarks, and tote bag, plus a paperback copy of the book
12 oz. bag of gourmet Irish Coffee (ground or whole bean)
Luck of the Irish ornament
Shamrock candle holder
Claddaugh coin
Magnet to-do list
Hand-made dove ornament from the artisan, Ban Sidhe. Her designs can be found HERE.
Off to the hairdresser in a bit. Still not sure what I’m going to do. Rhonda and I will discuss it. I have pics on the iPhone for inspiration. I’ll keep y’all posted.
Uhm…Okay. A day late and a dollar short? I’ve been busy and weird stuff keeps happening so I’m just now getting around to announcing the winner of September’s contest. Oh, Paula!…Guess what?!? YOU won. Email me with your mailing address so I can get your goodies in the mail to you. You’re getting a coffee mug from Cafe Du Monde, some Mardi Gras beads, and a few other goodies. Congrats!
Check out the contest page for October’s contest. In support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the winner will receive a $10 gift certificate from The Breast Cancer Site. Be sure to click!
I hope to be back on the regular rotation tomorrow. We’ll see. Until then…just make yourselves at home and talk among yourselves.
Oh…I am hiding over at HAPPY ENDINGS today, talking about National Novel Writing Month. Drop by and say hi!
October brings cooler days, turning leaves and the urge to don orange and black. However, many turn to pink as their color of choice. Every day, one of the first things I do is open my email, find the reminder from The Breast Cancer Site, and click. Then I click that big pink button. Why? From the site:
October marks the 25th Anniversary of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month! Join us throughout the month to celebrate the nearly 2.5 million breast cancer survivors in the U.S.; support the estimated more than 200,000 Americans diagnosed this year; and, remember the thousands more who’ve succumbed to this disease. Please also join us to honor the 9th anniversary of The Breast Cancer Site; together, we’ve been helping women receive access to life-saving breast cancer screenings for nearly a decade!
With so much cause for celebration it’s hard to believe that we’re still in such need. Clicks are down 1.4 million this September compared to last September. As the number of under- or un-insured women grows across the U.S., so too does the need for your support. Please commit to clicking every day during our Pink Ribbon Challenge. Your clicks are worth double throughout October–a tremendous help for a little effort. Click on the pink button every day and stay connected to the cause while helping to reach our shared goal of funding 500 mammograms for women in need.
One of the best ways to contribute to the cause is to spread the word! Grow awareness today by sending our Pink Ribbon Challenge e-card to all your friends and family members. Encourage them to take the Pink Ribbon Challenge to help women get the mammography screening they need.
Click the button below. Sign up for the daily reminder. Start your day out with a warm fuzzy. We’re all about romance so let’s do this from the heart!
Every once in awhile we should take time to clean out our wallet. Or our files, email boxes, bookshelves, closets. No. I promise, I’m not going in the closet. The monsters living in there are real. Srsly!
HERE’S THE LIST if you want to check who’ll be there.
![Digibooks Cafe](http://www.silverjames.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DigibooksAd-100x150.gif"alt=""title="DigibooksAd"width="100"height="150" "Coupon for ebooks")
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