C.M. Brown - He Came For Mine

Happy Friday! Today I'm helping celebrate the launch of C.M. Brown's latest novel, He Came For Mine.

He Came For Mine

Book Two in The Protector Series

By C.M. Brown

Available as an eBook at:

Smashwords

and

Amazon

Price: $2.99

Add He Came For Mine to your TBR list on Goodreads

You can connect with Carolyn 

c.m.brown.books@gmail.com

http://cmbrown-books.blogspot.com.au/

Facebook

Twitter

For the next two weeks Carolyn is holding a Rafflecopter Draw on her Blog, to celebrate the following three reasons:

1. The release of Book Two in the Protector Series, titled:

He Came For Mine

2.   One full year of Blogging!

&

3.   Twelve months since the launch of Book One in The Protector Series!

Prizes will include:
One $20 AUD (Australian Dollars) Amazon Gift Card
One free eBook of Book Two in The Protector Series, He Came For Mine!
One free book cover illustration by Rebekah Romani
TO ENTER CLICK HERE!
Also, during the two week launch
Book One, in The Protector Series

He Came For Me

will be free as an eBook
to download
from
Smashwords

JUST USE THIS CODE: 
RF83E

Synopsis:

This book continues the story of Jazz and Sebastian's fated love affair.  Sebastian abandoned Jazz at the end of book one and returns to his home world of Aidensdein, which was burned to the ground when Jazz escaped from his nemesis Brennan.  He is kept busy rebuilding the city and restoring order to his people.

Unfortunately, Jazz is left alone to transform into a part-vampire and deliver their child on her own.  Seb, of course does not know that she is even pregnant when he leaves her.  As Jazz tries to survive the changes to her own body and raise a young vampire, she finds herself being drawn into a relationship with someone who looks very much like Seb.  Can she trust this stranger, or should she be wary?

BLURB:

Fending for herself for almost two years, Jazz worries she will never see Sebastian again.

A new man enters her life,

But does he hold a secret?

Will Jazz trust him?

 ~~~~

Sebastian discovers an ancient ritual which must be performed on the Chosen One's son before his first birthday.

He returns to Earth to find Jazz in the arms of another man.

A man he knows very well.

A man he doesn't trust!

About Carolyn Brown

I live on the beautiful Sunshine Coast in Queensland, Australia and love the beach lifestyle.  I try to share some of the wonders of this area with my readers, in the content of my books.

I am happily married and have two children, one in university the other in his second last year of High School.

Many years spent supporting high school students with Learning Difficulties has inspired me to take on the challenge of writing, which I am finding I am enjoying immensely.  I spend my free time reading and writing and try to relax on the beautiful beaches I live near, walking my dog and swimming, at every possible opportunity.

I love and am drawn to the dark and mysterious things that go bump in the night and love writing in the paranormal romance genre for New Adults as I enjoy enticing my audience with small hints of sexual fantasy.

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Wishing Carolyn all the very best with her release! Have a great weekend, everyone!

Back, with News

Hello all, I'm back after my month off and excited to get round and see what everyone's been up to. I've got some news to share and I'd also like to ask you all to do me a small favour which will hopefully have a big impact.

Before I left I wrote about my new blog which charts the progress of my stepson, Andrew McNaughton, in his efforts to secure funding for a place at a specialist college in England. I'd love it if you could pop over and give him a follow, and if you could also click on the button with Andrew's face on it to the right, it will take you to the Facebook page which features daily updates. Please give it a like, and if you want to show some extra support, you're more than welcome to grab the code for the button and paste it on your own blog.

One of the simplest ways to show support is by signing the online petition, which you can also get to via its widget over there -->. We're trying to change the entire landscape and get our very own college built in Scotland with the facilities that Andrew needs in order to thrive and have a meaningful career, and we'll only achieve that by banging on the door of the Scottish Government with enough voices behind us! Just to emphasise this point - further education is FREE in Scotland, yet we are obliged to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds to send Andrew to a college far away from his home and family. The Scottish system has no equality and no choice for those with complex support needs - what is offered is essentially daycare - and that is what we are trying to change.

We've also got loads of items for our online auction which will run from 2nd to 9th October, including signed books, handcrafted jewellery, toys, portraits, a bottle of champagne, and yours truly is offering a full book critique! Get yourself an early Christmas present and help a deserving cause. All the details are on the Facebook page.

I initially took a break to secure part-time employment, and I managed to achieve that goal halfway through the month, although it won't start until 22nd October (also Andrew's 18th birthday). I posted before about my previous job offer, but that fell through before I got a shift. Hopefully this one will run smoothly. My break was extended to help get the fundraising off the ground, which is probably going to continue for the next three years. I'm planning to continue with this blog and update Andrew's blog once a week. I want to give a massive thanks to those of you who have donated books and other items - we've got enough auction items now, but I'll be keeping you up to date on all the other ways you can support us!

Editing and critiquing are continuing apace, and I can't wait for my one year blogiversary on Thursday 11th October! It will also celebrate 300 followers, and I'll be giving away some fab prizes, so don't forget to come back for that.

Finally, myself and my better half have taken the leap into the Twitterverse - @NickPWilford and @HeatherWilford, which is another way we're keeping everyone up to date on the campaign. Big wave to those who have already followed me there!

Have a good week, and I'll see you around!

Friendship-Is-Forever Blog Tour: Welcome J.L. Campbell

I'm pulling this blog out of temporary hibernation to bring you a guest post from the lovely J.L. Campbell as part of her Friendship-is-Forever blog tour, celebrating the release of her excellent novel, Distraction. If you like novels with vivid settings, real characters and tangible emotions, you won't go far wrong with this. Find it on Amazon here, but, for a chance to win yourself an e-copy, just leave a comment below!

Today Joy's going to talk about the issue of timing in writing. Certainly something I've tripped myself up over. Take it away, Joy!

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Have you ever read a book and found that the timeline isn’t right or one thing or another didn’t get tied up satisfactorily? I know I have.  

I think about these things with each story I write and get antsy, usually close to the end of each book. Distraction was a challenge because of the nature of the story (one character takes frequent trips down memory lane) and the fact that there are three main characters.

It was fun to weave all the stories together and resolve most of the plot points, however, it took a fair amount of time to wrap things up nicely. Aside from a general edit, I had to take the story apart, print and compile it in three units. By doing this, I was able to read each woman’s story in isolation to ensure that everything was in the correct sequence and individual problems were sorted out properly.

One round of editing took care of the timeline. Apart from being listed by the character’s names, the chapters run by dates. I’ve gotten used to writing all my novels this way—that is posting at the start of each chapter, something like, Wednesday, Week 3. This makes it easier to track the timeline from start to finish and allows characters to make accurate references to things in the past.

While this might sound like a lot of work for one novel, editing was a lot easier because I’d already laid the groundwork by noting date and time when writing each chapter. D’you do things any differently? If not, how do you keep track of time in your stories?

To celebrate the release of Distraction, I wrote a prequel, A Baker’s Dozen: Thirteen Steps to Distraction  in which you’ll meet Dionne, Kyra and Justine a year before Distraction takes place. I hope you’ll like this taste of friendship and things Jamaican. Download your complimentary copy from Smashwords.

At the end of this Friendship-is-Forever tour, there’ll be a main prize of a Distraction note pad & pen and a $10 Amazon gift card. The second prize is a paperback copy of Distraction. Sign up for that at the Rafflecopter here.

I haven’t yet touched on friendship, which is the theme of this tour. How strange is that? I will say that the craft that we share does so much to bring people together. Were it not for writing, my path (here in Jamaica) wouldn’t have crossed Nick’s (way over there in Scotland). And so it is with many other writers I’ve met on the internet.

Nick, many thanks for letting me take over your blog.

J.L. Campbell on Amazon

J.L. Campbell on Facebook

J.L. Campbell on Goodreads

J.L. Campbell on Twitter

J.L. Campbell is a proud Jamaican and the author of Contraband, Distraction, Dissolution, Don’t Get Mad…Get Even, Giving up the Dream and Hardware (pen name Jayda McTyson). Campbell is always on the lookout for story making material, loves company and can usually be found lollygagging on her blog at http://thecharacterdepot. blogspot.com.

Off Again

I know, I know, I've been coming and going recently. As a blogger I've been as reliable as a chocolate teapot. (Sorry, too tired to think of a simile that's not a cliche.) But this time something's come up that I just have to deal with and it'll leave me little time for anything else. So I'll have to extend my break for an indeterminate length of time, but I'm determined to come back for my one year blogiversary in October, when I'll also host my 300 follower giveaway. It also means I'll have to drop out of GUTGAA. GUTted is the word, but maybe I'll be able to join in a bit later on.

Please come back next Wednesday, when I'll have a guest post from the talented J.L. Campbell as part of her Friendship is Forever blog tour, but after that I'm offski.

I'd also like to ask you to do me a very special favour before I go, if you will. My stepson, Andrew, is a very   talented and sweet-natured 17-year-old who just happens to have severe cerebral palsy. He'll shortly be leaving school and heading off to college; however, the only places that can offer him suitable provision are in England. Our local authority won't pay for any of the funding, and as you can imagine, this isn't just a regular college placement. I've set up a blog for him, Andrew McNaughton - On The Road To College, where you can follow our fundraising efforts. I'd really, really appreciate it if you could head over, read Andrew's story, and show him some support.

Cheers, and I'll see you all in October if not before!

Get an Agent and Win Books!

Well, probably not both at the same time, unless you happen to be unusually blessed by the deities of fortune. But as they say, you have to be in it to win it.

If you haven't heard of Deana Barnhart's Gearing Up to Get an Agent blogfest, go here for the details! Even if you're not looking for an agent, there are also chances to get signed by a small press, and it's a great opportunity to learn and network. I'm in awe of Deana for putting this massive event together.

Now, a couple of giveaways. First up, Donna L. Martin is celebrating the nine month anniversary of her blog with two extremely generous book packages: one geared towards writers, the other towards readers. I'd be happy to receive either! Please visit Donna at her website or blog, and you can check out the contest here.

Next, E. Arroyo has got some great news to share: she was recently signed by Sapphire Star Publishing for her debut novel, The Second Sign, and she wants to give something back to all those who have helped and supported her on her journey. So she's holding an awesome giveaway of some great writing craft books. Go here for all the details. Please note, this contest is open to US residents only.

And finally, I want to say that I'm humbled and amazed to have reached 300 followers! When I started this blog, I thought it was extremely unlikely that anyone would even see it. So, thanks for being here, reading my flash fiction and helping me muddle through this whole writing malarky! A special hello to those I met in the Hookers & Hangers and What If bloghops, I look forward to getting to know you better! I'll be doing something special to celebrate so stay tuned.

For now though, I'm afraid I need to disappear for a week or so... I know I've just been on a break, but I'm going to see if I can't get my MS gleaming for GUTGAA! I've received tons of stellar feedback from my CPs, and I now have a better handle on what my novel needs. I'll still reply to any comments and visit you back. And if you're in for the blogfest, I'll see you there. Have a great weekend!

How much research do you do?

First of all, apologies for not making my normal rounds of commenting recently. Since my holiday, I've had some work issues to deal with, we've been getting the kids back to school, and I've been generally adapting to the shift in routine (I'm a creature of habit, after all). I'm still getting back to all the commenters on my twisted version of Goldilocks - thank you, I'm overwhelmed by the response! - and I've picked up critiques again for my CPs. As I've begun my redraft of The Memory Cell, I've also been looking closely at the feedback I've had so far.

Now my book deals in part with amnesia, a subject of which I admittedly know very little other than what I have gleaned from online resources (and we all know we can never completely trust these). My CPs haven't said much about it, but maybe a professional in the area would if I sent them the book. But I wouldn't know how to go about such a thing, and they'd be far too busy to help me anyway, wouldn't they?

We've all seen books where the author thanks an exhaustive list of authorities and experts in their acknowledgements. I really admire this approach; it's rigorous and it's clear they've tried to make the book as watertight with facts as they can. My problem is that I tend to research on the fly; what I need to know, when I need to know it, and I can't wait to get back to the writing.

It's funny I should be this way considering I trained as a journalist. Everything had to be as evidence-based as possible. I've still got reams of tapes of all my interviews and notebooks full of shorthand. Not saying I didn't enjoy the process; it was the nature of the beast.

But now I've got no one to answer to (for the moment, anyway) and this is fiction, right? Suspension of disbelief, and all that? It's like the first time I lived on my own at the age of 23. With no one else to take into consideration, my flat quickly fell into horrifying disarray. Luckily my girlfriend (now wife, amazingly), pulled me back into line. Maybe I need that for my work. I'd hate for my book to lose credibility because I got things wrong, and it would only take one person to point it out.

I'm a bit nervous about admitting I'm a lazy researcher, but it's something I'll definitely work on. How about you? How far have you gone in the name of research? And do you think a great story and writing make up for the sin of not having your facts 100% straight?

"What If?" Fairytale Madness Blogfest

This fun blogfest is running from Monday to Friday this week. Our mission, if we chose to accept it, was to pick a classic fairytale and tweak it by altering "one detail, one event, one character trait, one thought". There are four categories: Plot Twists, Love Stories, Comic Relief and Tragedy. It didn't take me long to opt for the Tragedy team (I do like putting my characters through hell), but I've only just done my entry now although I've been signed up for almost two months. I was a bit stuck on the fact that most fairytales are tragedies if you just take away the happy ending, but I think I've finally come up with something a bit more creative. Anyway, it was super fun to write! Here's my entry of 300 words, hope you enjoy...

The smell of fresh porridge wafted out of the open door of the cottage and Goldilocks followed her nose inside. Sure enough, three different-sized bowls stood on the kitchen table. The smallest bowl tasted the best, and she ate it all up.

Her stomach felt rather heavy after that, and she thought she’d better sit down. The smallest chair was the comfiest, but after a few seconds she heard a crack and ended up on her bottom amid a pile of broken wood.

Now her bum was sore, her tummy seemed to be full of lead weights, and to add to that, she felt like she was going to black out. She dragged herself upstairs to find a bed. She chose the smallest one – it felt like it had been made for her – and fell into a chasm of sleep.

The three bears were shocked when they returned to find the mess and the empty bowl. They hurried upstairs to find a little girl asleep in Baby Bear’s bed.

“Who is she?” asked Daddy Bear.

“Was she,” corrected Mummy Bear, after feeling for Goldilocks’ pulse. “That porridge...” She sank onto her own bed and put her head in her paws. “Bear porridge is poisonous to humans – only sugar cancels out the effects. If she’d waited for us to come back, I would have given her some and none of this would have happened.”

“What do we do now?” Daddy Bear was comforting his son, who had started to cry.

“Take her out to the woods behind the house. Then we’ll need to pack up and get gone. Once her family realise she’s missing, the local bear family’s going to be first on their hit list. I really thought this time might be different, but it seems bears find trouble everywhere.”

If you want to read more, you can find a linky list here, courtesy of awesome Team Captain Leigh Covington. I can't wait to get round to all the other entries!