Harvesting~ the best part of gardening!

August is nearly over and somewhat cooler weather has finally arrived! At least sporadically but hey, nothing's guaranteed, right?

One thing's certain, if you plant a seed, it will grow! And I love to see how my efforts have paid off. Put on your garden shoes and follow me.

Now, what'd I do with all those lovely tomatoes??? Well, I promised myself I'd eat BLT's and sliced tomatoes every day. And I have, with pleasure! I also hauled buckets of them to the neighbors down the road, and shared with friends and family living in town so they could enjoy them too. And what kind of gardener would I be if I didn't can a few jars?

Oh, and I saved the best for last. It's inside the pen....

We're expecting!!

That's Hazel and Lucy, two very competitive hens with an 'Anything you can do, I can do better!' attitude. They're both sitting on eggs and I can't wait to see how they will tell their babies apart! For sure it's going to be one big happy boxful!

Yep...definitely looking forward to September!

How do you read your books? KINDLE…NOOK...ANDROID

Whew! This past week was tremendous, stupendous, and everything a new author can hope for thanks to all of you! Now that the hoop-la’s over, I plan to dive into my stack of TBR books and read non-stop for a while. Because I love reading and never want to lose sight of the fact that without readers, where would authors be?

When ebook publishing busted through the gates and into the publishing community, ( I mean world- taking the publishing world by storm) I wasn’t at all sure what it meant for people like me. There were still many who believed online publishing and books was simply a flash in the pan. Like vinyl records and eight track tapes. (You do remember those, right?) Well, my concerns were for all the folks who didn’t have an ereader or didn’t want another gadget cluttering up their life.

I’ll admit, it took me awhile before finally breaking down and purchasing my Kindle. Seriously, it was a gift from my kids. I probably wouldn’t have shelled out that kind of money, but kids...hey, they owe ya, right?

But....
Did you know you can download a Kindle app. free onto your computer? That’s right. You don’t have to actually buy an ereader to read ebooks. Amazon offers free Kindle downloads.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000426311&tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=7893047648&ref=pd_sl_3ies3d4yuc_b


You can even down load the Kindle app to your smart phone, Kindle Cloud reader or tablets.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771




Why, you ask, do you want one? Because every day thousands of books are given away absolutely free! Honest. And if you love reading as much as I do, you don’t want to miss out. You don't need to miss out. All you need is an Amazon account. And then shop and read to your heart’s content.


Of course there's more than one fish in the sea. So here’s a few sites other sites offering free ereader apps. All you do is download to your pc.

http://www.mobipocket.com/en/downloadsoft/productdetailsreader.asp

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/nook-for-pc/379003591/

Easy and free.


So…what’s stopping you?

Blogging today!

It's been a whirlwind release week with Man of her Dreams available now worldwide! Wow! The internet is amazing at getting the word out. As for the many friends like you who decided to give it a try, you're pretty amazing too!
Thank you! And I hope you enjoy meeting the folks in Sleeping Falls, a laid-back, friendly community...Home of your dreams.
But I haven't been sitting with my feet up, let me tell you.





I've got a few more places to go before the weeks up. Today I'm wrapping up at Bella's

http://enwalters.blogspot.com/2012/08/a-teaser-man-of-her-dreams.html?spref=fb

And tomorrow I'm cooking over at Jennifer Lowery Kamptner's romancerecipes.wordpress.com I'll be sharing a delicious chili-dog sauce recipe just in time for fall. The sauce is thick, spicy and perfect to smother your favorite hotdog with.

I'm scheduled to stop at Peggy Bird's blog too. She's another Crimson Romance author.








http://www.peggybirdwrites.com/#!/interview-with-teresry-blue/

Maybe I'll run into a few of you there. : )

Down & Dirty-- First draft that is.

I really enjoy dreaming up a new novel. Developing the pefect characters and finding just the right place for the call to action. Should I settle for some place I'm comfortable with, like my home state? Or maybe a southern state would be better. One thing's sure, there's a time and place for skirting around the issue and NOT producing. Yep. Everything from reseaching tedious tidbits that lend realism to your story, to unearthing delicious details-- what dishes were prepared, the styles or dress of the day? and so on. The list is endless. And can qickly zap your zest of story faster than a power outage.

Because when you're feeling the rush and excitiment of discovery, the first draft is NOT the time to stop and go searching for perfection. I know, I love a tidy first draft. Hoping there'll be less work during revision. But how much time am I really saving? If I'm continually putting on the brakes and leaving the story idling while I'm off on a run-about, digging up something that may or may not even make it into the manuscript! I'm daring myself to run out of steam! Or worse...give up on the story all together.

And unless it's another writer, no one has an inkling of what I'm referring to when I talk about how hard it is breathing life into our story folks. We'll mimic our characters beneath our breath, weedle or beg...anything if it gets them talking. And when they do, go with it! Because this is exactly what first drafts are about! Trust your instincts. Give yourself free rein to stumble around while you're trampling the path the story will follow. Who cares if it's pages and pages of rubbish? You can clean that later!

Don't waste time second guessing yourself. Revision is the place for adding detail. Right now it's just down & dirty.

Many sucessful authors know the benefit of free writing. In case you aren't familiar with Candance Havens let me say she's one very productive author. She hosts workshops aimed at turning off the internal editor and writing a book in two weeks! Seriously! Her online workshops are bursting with energy and jam-packed with great information and heavy doses of encouragment to complete your story in record time.

Fast Draft and Revision Hell

Beginning October 15, 2012.
In the new version of Fast Draft, Candy teaches you how to let go of that internal editor and let your creativity flow. She has exercises and advice that will help you get those words on the page faster than you ever imagined. The last two weeks of the class are devoted to Revision Hell. Candy will take you through revisions so you may polish your prose to perfection. The best part is you must be accountable to the class on a daily basis and Candy is there to cheer you on or kick your butt, whatever the case may be. Cost is $20.

Or, if you work better with a ticking timebomb, I suggest Dr. Wicked. (I always mistakenly call him Dr. Evil and if I do, you know I'm referring to Dr. Wicked.) It's actually a very cool website that allows you to set your writing goal(s)to a timer. For instance, a word count of 500 words. You would type that into your screen as your goal. Then as you're typing along if you linger too long in one place the screen will change colors until finally (I think) a bloody red. Some claim if you're still long enough your monitor will explode. But I wouldn't know because I've always met my goal.

Check Dr. Wicked out here. http://writeordie.com/

I plan to sharpen my pencil and get down & dirty.

Wish me luck!