CONTESTS - CONTESTS!!!

Okay, let's not be shy here - we all know that everyone loves free stuff and CONTESTS!!

Here are two you won't want to miss -
one on my site - Tina Donahue Presents

and one on the Romance Books 4 Us site.

Here are the details. :)

Contest at my site: http://www.tinadonahue.com/monthly-contest-2/ -

AUGUST CONTEST

Nice Package!!

Rules: Simply leave a comment about the above picture and yummy guy AT THIS LINK - http://www.tinadonahue.com/monthly-contest-2/ - and you’re entered in my August contest! WINNER CHOSEN AT RANDOM.

Duration: Contest begins August 1 and runs through August 25 – Winner announced August 26

Prize: Winner chosen randomly and will receive her choice of one of my following books (13 choices in all - contemporary, paranormal, menage, suspense):

 

1.   Adored 

RWA award-winning; EPIC 2011 Finalist; 4 Stars RT

2.   Deep, Dark, Delicious

EPIC 2011 Finalist; Holt Medallion Award of Merit

3.    Lush Velvet Nights 

EPIC 2011 Finalist; Golden Nib Award

4.   In His Arms 

SIX 5 Star Reviews; 4 Stars RT

5.   Sensual Stranger 

2010 Book of the Year (erotic); 4 Stars RT

6.   The Yearning 

Top Ten Bestseller

7.    Take Me Away 

#1 Pick, Miz Love Loves Books

8.   Unending Desire 

Best Book Rating LASR

9.   SiNN 

Nominated for Book of the Week LASR

10.   Sinfully Wicked 

Magnificent – Romancing the Book

11. Claiming Magique
Top Pick - NOR 

12. Illicit Desire 
4 Stars, Romantic Times

13. Come Fill Me 

5 Stars - A True Gem, Guilty Pleasures

Image credit: logos / 123RF Stock Photo

_________

Contest at Romance Books 4 Us: http://www.romancebooks4us.com/

"HEAT UP SUMMER" CONTEST!

Did you know that August is National Romance Awareness Month? We're going to help HEAT UP SUMMER with our Romance Books '4' Us Contest while we keep writing those "HOT" romance books! Contest runs 1 August - midnight ET 27 August. To enter: Find the 20 pages that have an animated SUN like the ones you see above (this page doesn't count). Make a list of the names of those pages (ex: Marianne Stephens, Liz Crowe, etc.) and send your list to: contests.rb4u@gmail.com  NOTE: Snail mail prizes only shipped to US or Canadian addresses.

PRIZES:

1. $50 Gift Card for Amazon/Barnes & Noble.

2. Two winners will each receive a Romance Books '4' Us Tote bag.

3. Two winners will each receive a print copy of Fiery Bride from romance author Cynthia Woolf.

4. An ebook of the reader's choice from romance author JC Szot.

5. Winner's choice of ebook from list provided by romance author Kathryn R. Blake.

6. Digital copy of Conquering Passion from romance author Anna Markland.

7. E-copy of Fantasies Unbound as well as swag goodies from romance author Raine Delight.

8. An ebook  copy of Blind Acceptance by romance author Missy Martine.

9. A bag of books (some signed) received at RT2013 from romance author Marianne Stephens.

Will Fifty Become The New Forty?

Would you think twice about purchasing a book if the cover depicted a man with graying or totally gray hair and an attractive mature heroine? An aging biker and a fiftyish Marian the Librarian wearing sensible shoes? What would happen if the aging biker rescued Marian from a mugger? What if they hadn’t seen each other in thirty years and he regrets—oh heck, before I plot out an entire book, I think I’d better finish this blog.

That’s right, both the hero and heroine have been around the block or at least glanced longingly at it and wished they had been brave enough, once upon a time to throw away the map and have an adventure.

The hero/heroine may have been so focused on their career that they never married or their marriage didn’t survive their demanding workload. They might be widowed or divorced or surprised that someone might think of them as a love interest. They may have children or not. Whatever is going on in your character’s lives, they have reached a point where they’ve realized that change is inevitable and necessary.

If this is a romance, they will be making some hard choices that will probably include being forced to consider life without the person who has been driving them insane through most of the book.

Wait a minute. What makes a romance between these fiftyish contemporaries so different from any other romance? Nothing—except the age of the protagonists and their unique perspective of whatever problem gets thrown at them. 

The possibilities for an interesting story and fascinating characters are endless and that is fodder for any writer’s imagination—which is probably why I stopped working on this blog for a minute and started jotting down the story inspired by Marian the Librarian. I’m a hopeless romantic. 

But then again, maybe I’m just hopeful. It isn’t that I can’t admire or want to read about a thirty-something hero and heroine but I’m looking at situations from a different perspective these days and I wouldn’t mind reading about a sexy, fiftyish hero falling for someone in his immediate age group.

Most of us are familiar with the older hero/younger heroine and even the younger hero/older heroine theme, but what if both protagonists were closer to fifty? Would the character’s age matter if the story was compelling and the excerpt intrigued you or would age be the deal-breaker as to whether or not you wanted to read past the blurb?

Until next month,

Happy Reading!

Paris Brandon

http://parisbrandon.com

Bend Over, Cowboy-5 Stars, Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews

Petting Kitty-Ellora’s Cave

Cross My Heart-NOR Top Pick

Head Over Heels-5 Hearts, The Romance Studio

Assassin’s Kiss-4 Stars Romantic Times Book Review

No Holds Barred-4 Stars JERR

Today’s post is brought to you by the letter J -- J for Jungian Archetypes.

Several years ago, long before I dove head-first into writing romance, I wrote a 5-book, 500,000 word brain child affectionately referred to as my Magnum Opus -- the unnamed MO for short. My tome-to-be is heavy in more than just wordage. It's steeped in philosophy, theology, theosophy, physics/quantum physics, metaphysics, energy medicine, and above all, it's a timeless love story. The MO is filled with historical vignettes starting 38,000 years ago in what is now France to Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War. As with all of my novels, I also make a social statement with it. (I'm naturally compelled!). The story was one all authors wish for -- the kind where someone flips a switch inside your head and it  writes itself.

The concept came to me after reading Joseph Campbell’s The Hero With a Thousand Faces. His book discusses the journey of archetypal heroes found in world mythologies. Hero quests are the stuff of literature and we love them from Homer's Odyssey to Harry Potter.

It got me thinking...why do we love the hero quest? I suspect it's because we can so easily see ourselves in them. Be it Odysseus escaping Calypso's island or Harry Potter ridding the wizarding world of Voldemort, it's very appealing when heroes and heroines win the day. Campbell’s book got me interested in the notion of opposites -- good/evil, light/dark, right/wrong because these are recurring themes in humanity. I was unknowingly tapping into common hero and villain  traits when creating the characters for my stories. These traits are called Jungian Archetypes after Swiss psychotherapist and psychiatrist Carl Jung. Jung studied and named the personality traits we all know today – the outgoing extravert and the quiet introvert, for example.

After splitting from his colleague Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung founded analytical psychology. He discovered there were more facets to human personality than just being outgoing vs. reserved. Along with his study of prehistoric artworks, it was his interest in world folklore and literature spanning thousands of years that led him to categorize everyone. Jung created some of the best known psychological concepts of all time, one of which was the archetype. 

What are Archetypes exactly? To begin, the origin of the word archetype comes from the Greek archétypon, which means first-molded. In essence, this is the original model of a person – a prototype which others emulate. In psychology, an archetype is a model of personality or behavior universally recognizable by all. In works of fiction, these personality traits are the platform we build our heroes and heroines upon.

Here’s what Jung came up with. See how many make instant connections in your mind.

I'll start with the ego and its four functions: Sensation, Thinking, Feeling, and Intuition. From there we have:

• The Self: the regulating center of the psyche. The whole, unified consciousness and unconscious of a person.
• The Shadow: the opposite of the ego image. Contains qualities the ego does not identify with but still possesses. The part of the unconscious mind consisting of instincts, repressed weaknesses, and shortcomings.
• The Anima: the feminine image in a man's psyche, aka, the unconscious feminine qualities that a male possesses.
• The Animus: the masculine image in a woman's psyche, aka the unconscious masculine qualities that a woman possesses.
• The Persona: how we present ourselves to the world.

Within these, Jung determined the archetypes were limitless. Here are a few recurring ones:

• The Child: or innocent, is more likely to suffer at the hands of others
• The Hero: comes from a position of weakness, but in the face of danger or adversity will display courage and self-sacrifice for some greater good.
• The Great Mother: the bountiful embodiment of the Earth. Refers to any mothering goddess associated with motherhood, fertility, or creation.
• The Wise Old Man: usually a profound philosopher, who uses personal knowledge of the world to teach wisdom and sound judgment.
• The Trickster: intentionally breaks the rules but unintentionally gets positive effects out of it.
• The Devil: displays characteristics of pure evil. Typically self-centered and power-hungry, only interested in achieving personal goals.
• The Scarecrow: Mysteriously knows everything about the world, yet has had no interaction with the world to gain that knowledge.
• The Mentor: Are often imaginative people who are more intrigued by future possibilities than concerned with the here and now. A great source of inspiration to the people around them.

I've used most of these and I've also combined traits to add depth to the circumstances of my characters' personal histories. With them I create intelligent characters. The heroines in all of my stories are strong competent women. All of my equally sharp heroes walk through their world confident and unashamed to be tender and kind-hearted. Their anima/animus duality is what makes both interesting and loveable. The best thing about them is they both know how lucky they are to have the other person in their lives – twin flames, two halves of the one. 

Sample my archetypes for yourself with Amazon's Look Inside feature. http://www.amazon.com/Rose-Anderson/e/eBOO4XDGWL6/

Here's an intriguing clip to explain the Anima and Animus.

 

What's your type? Take the test and find out!
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm

Rose is multi-published author and dilettante who loves great conversation and learning interesting things to weave into stories. She lives with her family and small menagerie amid oak groves and prairie in the rolling glacial hills of the upper mid-west.  
Main Blog:
Subscribe on the Main blog for interesting posts, updates & more. http://calliopeswritingtablet.com/


My Links Page -- oh so many.
http://caliopesritingtablet.com/links-links-more-links/

Guest Blog: Toni Noel: What Would It Be Like To Be Homeless?

I had no idea what it would be like to be homeless when I started plotting my latest release, Homeward Bound. I grew up in a happy home, a roomy barn with a hay loft my father remodeled into a nice home for the six of us during WWII when the purchase of lumber was frozen and building materials were scarce, like elastic. At nine-years-old I couldn't understand why elastic was needed to fight a war, making me have to wear underpants with uncomfortable draw strings and Daddy have to uses aluminum nail that constantly bent.

I'll get back to how I plotted Krista's story, but first I'd like to tell you some more about me, so you have a good understanding of how important home is to me. After we married, my husband and I set up housekeeping in the upper floor of an old Georgian style house, the perfect first home for newlyweds, we thought. About the time I finished washing the grease off the wall behind the gas apartment stove we discovered the widowed landlady had been prowling around our apartment while we were at work, so we moved into a new duplex and lived there while we shopped for our own home. We didn't like to rent, and had only been married a year when we bought a new eight-hundred-fifty square foot two-bedroom brick ranch style house we brought our first daughter home to the following year.

Home has always meant a great deal to me. I've never been without one, so when Krista, the heroine of Homeward Bound, revealed in a character interview that she had been raised in foster homes, I wasn't sure how to deal with the news. Like mine, her life started out sharing a home with two loving parents and she never dreamed she would someday be homeless.

One day her father left and never came back and her mother, an artist, had to find a job. When she couldn't make the payments on their house she moved them into a one-bedroom apartment and for a while Krista's life seemed back on track. Then their apartment building caught fire and Krista was orphaned. She entered foster care the same day.

This is where I ran into trouble plotting my novel. What would an industrious young woman who grew up in foster homes want most, I asked myself? A new car? Pretty clothes?

No, none of those. She wants a home of her own.

So, what is keeping her from having one?

Financial problems -- she earns her living styling hair because the only state-funded post-graduate schooling offered graduates of foster care is beauty school. Krista has become a highly-recommended hair stylist, but now has aspirations of becoming a stager. She is tired of standing over a shampoo bowl all day and is enrolled in interior decorating courses while she dreams of staging upscale homes.

Before she completes her training Krista is offered the opportunity of a lifetime -- the chance to stage a wealthy bachelor's poorly decorated home. He has become disenchanted with being a homeowner, feels saddled with the responsibility of his huge house and hopes to unload it at a good price once it's properly staged. To Luke, a house is just a house.

Krista doesn't understand Luke's lack of feeling for his home because she has longed for a permanent home most of her life, but a successful staging could earn her the down payment on the bungalow of her dreams, so she agrees to stage his house.

Without realizing what she is doing, Krista decorates Luke's house as if the owner will continue to live there. She pours her heart and soul into the task, sometimes even picturing herself sharing the house with Luke, whom she now loves with all her heart.

Then Luke accepts an offer on the house. Krista is devastated.

It took some doing, but I managed to plot a resolution that makes everyone feel good about the outcome. Check it out.

Buy links:

http://www.desertbreezepublishing.com/noel-toni/

Or

Here: http://amzn.to/HdUpj1

Or wherever e-Books are sold.

BIO:

Toni Noel's love of books started in childhood, when her mother first read The Five Little Peppers and How They Grew to her. She helped start church libraries in two rural Tennessee towns and appeared before the City Planning Commission and the San Diego City Council to urge a site be purchased. As the neighborhood spokesman for the new library the City Councilman for her district invited her to turn the second shovel of dirt at the groundbreaking for the new library. Toni's fondest dream, to see one of her safe-haven-for-the-heart novels available for checkout was realized when Desert Breeze Publishing has release the author's first published novel Law Breakers and Love Makers in print form.

Toni Noel's Novels... Safe havens for the heart.

You can visit Toni on line here: http://www.ToniNoelAuthor.com

WELL DANG! WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?

Welcome everyone to the Dog Days of August hot weather! Are you ready for Fall yet?

 

My post this month is about what inspires your writing. Where do you get your ideas for the next great novel? Where does your inspiration come from?

Mine? They come from many different places and when I least expect. 

The other day, I visited my new speech therapist. Seems I have what is called VCD or Vocal Cord Dysfunction. Never heard of such a thing, but it sure does explain some things that have been going on with my voice for a while. Basically, I have a lazy larynx, combined with the “Silent Reflux” I’ve had trouble breathing if I talk too much or cough. That in itself has been a problem. I like to talk. Ha! Ha!

So my point is I got inspiration for a future story based on other information the doctor provided. The storyline for the story came together on my drive home. The next day, while I was preparing for a virtual blog tour with interview questions and more, the question of inspiration came up several times. I got to thinking again about how important that is in the writing process. As I prepared the many blog posts, I kicked the idea around in my head, but all the concentrated effort to figure out the direction I want to take my “inspiration” I came to a screeching halt when a fellow author posted an interesting post by another about how readers find their books. Some of you may have seen it, and if not here’s the URL: http://e-bookformattingfairies.blogspot.ca/2013/08/the-readers-sound-off-how-they-read.html. Well, that was an eye opener.

My inspiration for a story took a backseat to what I plan to do with my promotion side. I’ve written a lot of books in my brief career, three and a half years since my first release, and now I need to concentrate on getting the word out more than I have in the past. Beef up what I have in place and work on some of the points brought out in the survey results. With this ever-evolving industry, you have to know everything it seems.

My full-speed ahead writing blog posts came to an abrupt stop for a few minutes while I read the article and reassessed what I’ve been doing for promotion. This weekend I’ll be making a few changes and see what happens. Hopefully, somewhere in the few hours I might even get some writing done on that new inspiration.

I’d be interested to know what your thoughts are on this readers’ survey above. Do what we’ve been doing or change up?

Until next month,

Cynthia Arsuaga

 

Erotic Romance Author

http://romanticwordsbycynthia.blogspot.com

 

Website: http://cynthiaarsuaga.weebly.com
Publisher Page: http://store.secretcravingspublishing.com/index.php?main_page=products_all&filter_author=1&zenid=7ea916acb5075615d6f30b6f25e77c3e
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CynthiaArsuaga?ref=tn_tnmn
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#%21/CynthiaArsuaga
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/4715026-cynthia-arsuaga
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/cynthiaarsuaga/
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/cynthia-arsuaga/30/101/49b
Vampire Book Realm: http://www.vampirebookrealm.com/cynthia-arsuaga.html
Amazon Author Central: https://authorcentral.amazon.com/gp/profile?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0 

Disorganized Chaos

Welcome to Romance Books 4 Us everyone. I'm your tour guide for the day, Nicole Morgan and as some of you may have noticed I drop by with a new post on the first of every month and either ramble like a fool or amaze you with my intellect. LOL. Okay, yes that last one was a stretch, but...I've got you smiling now, don't I? Now that you're good and loosened up, go ahead and kick your shoes off, sit back, relax and enjoy!

Happy August everyone! I can't believe we're already in the eighth month of the year. I was fairly certain that my to-do list I wrote out in January had me slotted for accomplishing much more than I have. In fact, I don't think I've made much of a dent in it at all. Pffft... fizzle sticks. Planning is over rated anyway. Isn't it? At least I hope so. Because that sort of brings me to my topic today. Pantsing. Hmm... is that the right word? Is that even a word at all? LOL 

We've all been asked the same question in various interviews around the world wide web. You know the one, "Are you a plotter, or a pantser?" It seems every where we go these days people are asking us this question. I often wonder why this is so commonly appearing on interview sheets, mainly because I always end up admitting with embarrassment that I am the quintessential pantser. Why do I feel so much shame in this admission, you ask? I guess it's because I feel like I should be able to sit down in front of the keyboard and type out my great American novel merely by following the neatly inscribed notes that I collected while traveling the country side researching for very such novel. Isn't that how it is portrayed in the movies anyway? You know the ones, where the writer takes a year off of work, rents some cabin in the beautiful mountains while she spends her day drinking tea by the lake and writing a chapter here or there until she's ready to hand her book over to her big time agent.  Then once it's handed over all she has to do is sit back, wait and look pretty as her book skyrockets to the top of the best seller lists. Right? *sigh* If only! 

I could never portray such a life of luxury. My life is not just different than that. It's the exact polar opposite. There is no planning in my writing, no weeks taken off of work while I roam the countryside researching my next great masterpiece. It's usually me sneaking in a chapter here or there. You can usually find me wearing mismatched t-shirts and sweat pants, you know, because I'm classy like that. LOL. I'll probably have my hair pulled up in a pony tail as I defiantly ignore my cell phone which vibrates it's way into Annoyanceville. And did I mention, I'm no where near a beautiful lake or gorgeous countryside. Not to mention that I am not just a pantser, I am a chronic pantser. Picture someone with a thousand thoughts running through their mind and voices to match the internal struggle. I'm sure you're all thinking...oh, so Nic is crazy. Well, not exactly. At least not that I've been diagnosed. Although my fiance does say that I suffer from a severe case of BSC (clinically referred to as Bat Sh*t Crazy). I'm not sure where he gets such ideas. I'm really a sweet and harmless little thing *bats eyelashes at you all innocently* Regardless, my point is, that while I am not insane, I merely have too many thoughts running through my head to ever jot down notes and stick to them. I like to call my writing method, disorganized chaos. My stories tell themselves. Sometimes I don't know what's going to happen from one chapter to the next. I let my characters speak and grow as their story evolves around them. And while this may not be the most ideal way to write a book, I can tell you that when I'm doing it and in my zone I am having one hell of a time! 

To keep in theme with the content of today's post, tell me...  "Are you a plotter, or a pantser?" Muahaha... oh come on. You know I had to ask!  XOXO 

Nicole Morgan is an author of erotic romance novels, which more often than not have a suspenseful back story. Erotic romance mixed with good old-fashioned whodunit. While she's written everything from contemporary to paranormal her leading men will more than likely be wearing a uniform of some kind. From military to police officers, she has a love for writing about those who protect and serve. From her very first novel (which turned into a four book series) about Navy SEALs to her more recent releases you will be sure to find a few twists and turns you were not expecting.

She also has a recurring monthly column in Book & Trailer Showcase's eMagazine, and is a proud member of the Romance Books 4 Us Gold Authors. 

Find out more about Nicole and her books by visiting her website, blog, Google + Page, Twitter, Facebook and her Yahoo Group, Nicole’s Think Tank.

Until next month my lovies ~ Nicole