June 10th

Hi, It’s Christina –

Today’s blog is going to be completely different than any other blog I’ve done before. This morning, before I even took my second swallow of coffee, I was issued a challenge, a gauntlet was thrown and crazy me picked it up.

The challenge was issued by my friend Keith, better known in the writing world as K. Edwin Fritz, author of stories which will keep you up at night. He just published the second installment in his Man Hunt trilogy. Keith is an amazing writer, and even though I tend to avoid horror at all cost, he has such a way with words, I tolerate being terrified so I can read his work.

Well, here’s what my friend got me into:

Meet My Main Character Blog Tour

1) What is the name of your main character? Is he/ she fictional or a historic person?

The main characters in A Second Chance are Kathryn and Graydon. They are both fictional characters in a historical setting.

2) When and where is the story set?

The story is split between rural England and London in 1804.

3) What should we know about him/her?

Kathryn is a young widow with two grown sons. Graydon is a widower, and he also has a grown son. Oh, did I mention, Graydon is an operative for the Crown?

4) What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?

The main conflict in the story is Graydon’s niece is kidnapped. During his initial attempt to rescue her, he is shot. Kathryn’s quiet life is turned upside down when she finds him and nurses him back to health.

5) What is his/her personal goal?

Graydon’s goal is to get his niece back from a ruthless unknown assailant, hell bent on revenge; and Kathryn’s goal… well she didn’t really have one. She was quite content, living her boring existence, in her tranquil country estate with her smart-alecky butler.

6) Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?

Excerpts from all of my books can be found on my website: ChristinaPaul.webs.com

7) When can we expect the book(s) to be published?

A Second Chance, the first in my Bradford Series, was published in 2012. It, as well as the second book in the series, Taking Chances, published in 2013, are available on Amazon.com, in both hard copy and on Kindle. Simply By Chance, the third in the series, will hopefully be finished by the end of the year.

And now it's my turn to pass the challenge along!

It was difficult to choose, but the following are five fabulous books by five incredible authors I have met since I embarked on this insane profession of being an author. The links will take you to their books.

Dorothy May Mercer

Linda Rawlins

Julien Ayotte

Jan Raymond

Heidi Angell

Authors, friends, tag, your it (photo stolen from Keith, but I loved it).

Okay folks, tomorrow’s blog will be back to normal. Hopefully by then, my sister in law will send over pictures from this crazy weekend we just had, and I’ll be able to get you updated. Until then, I hope you have a wonderful day, and happy writing!

November 19th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina – 

Good morning!

I really need to stop reading Facebook first thing in the morning. More times than not, I stumble on a post which manages to aggravate me, and that is not the way I want to start my day.

Today I saw a post from a young person who I have known practically their entire life and I just wanted to reach through my computer screen and smack them and tell them to get their head out of their butt. (Yes, I know in proper English I should have used “he” or “she”, but I wanted the comment to remain as ambiguous as possible.) First off, what they did was so incredibly stupid and second, it was even more stupid to post about it. I just wanted to scream! Okay, I’m done ranting, even if I’m not done seething.

By this time on Friday, I will be on Route 87 a couple of hundred miles into New York State, on my way to pick up my daughter. Can you tell I’m getting excited already? She called yesterday, and she is equally as excited to come home as we are to have her home. She will be home for eight days, and almost every minute of the poor girl’s time will be accounted for; come Sunday the 1^st, she’ll be more than ready to return to school.

Since I caught up on NaNoWriMo a few days ago, I have managed to stay pretty much on track. Yesterday’s milestone was 30K and I only missed it by a few words. I think I can handle a few dozen extra words added to today’s writing. My main concern is the limited time I’ll have to write all weekend.

Friday I’ll be traveling, but I am bringing my computer with me this time so I can write while my daughter’s in class on Friday. Saturday morning we are leaving her school bright and early for our trip home, and then when we get home we are having dinner at Grandma’s. Sunday is church, and then after church we are going to my son’s house to watch the Cowboys vs. Giants game, so Sunday is completely shot. I am going to be hard pressed to even get my blog out on Saturday and Sunday, let alone spend any time on Faerie Tale Queen, and I seriously doubt I will have a blog post at all on Friday.

While I’m on the subject, there probably won’t be any writing challenges over the weekend either. I know they are only ten minutes long, but coming up with them takes considerably more time than I can afford those three days. This will be the first time since I started the blog where there may be three days without a challenge, but I am not going to feel guilty. If you look at other blogs where they do writing challenges, they usually only post one challenge a week. There are some that only post challenges once a month. You would have a hard time trying to find another blog that does almost daily challenges like mine does.

So, to my non-Facebook audience, did you see my last installment of Faerie Tale Queen yesterday? Since NaNoWriMo began, every even day, I have posted a chapter of Faerie Tale Queen. Yesterday’s post was supposed to be Chapter Eight, but when I posted chapter eight, I noticed it was one of the really short chapters, so as a bonus, I posted Chapter Nine as well.

I am still waiting for you to chime in with comments as to if you are enjoying the story, which errors you are finding, and most of all, if you think I should change the lead male character’s name. If I go on much longer, I am going to get attached to Caleb and then no other name will feel right, so time is running out. Speak now or forever hold you peace.

Just a reminder, there are only a few day’s left for you to enter Heidi Angell’s contest on my blog. Also, something I’m sure you don’t need to be reminded about, but I am going to anyway; the holidays are rapidly approaching. The first night of Chanukah is a week from tomorrow and Christmas is only 36 days away. As a suggestion, books make a wonderful gift for either holiday. They even make great Secret Santa gifts.

On my website under the “LINKS” tab, I have several direct links to some Indie books as well as to my own books. There are a few romance novels, some straight fiction, a horror novel and a couple of mysteries which might interest you or someone on your list.

Since time has been at a premium lately, I have not been able to spend any of it on my website, so I have not had the chance to add the following book. If you want a fun, silly, gift for someone, you may want to consider the newly released Tickle Me Funny by John Sweeney Jr. The book is so new, it won’t even be on Amazon.com for another few days, but you can get your copy now by clicking on the title if you’d like. You’ll laugh, you’ll groan, there are some spots where it is “udderly” ridiculous. If George Carlin was still alive, the book would make him chuckle. I’m thinking it may be a good stocking stuffers for my son and husband.

Off to Ireland… I hope you have a wonderful day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge:

 

You find yourself in a Groundhog Day loop…

 

(For those of you who might not know, Groundhog Day was a movie from 1993 Starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell. In the movie, Murray plays Phil Connors, a weatherman – and a bit of a jerk – who is unhappy he has to cover the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney, and he gets sucked into a time loop. He has to keep repeating the day until he gets it right.)

 

One more tick mark on the calendar, one more entry in my journal. Today was the 353^rd April Fool’s Day in a row. Two more weeks and I will have been stuck in this loop for an entire year.

One way I could look at it is, technically, today is my 400^th birthday, because this is my 401^st April Fool’s Day, but even that thought isn’t cheering me up. Birthdays tend to become a little mundane after you’ve celebrated so many.

After the first two weeks in this loop, I became tired of celebrating my birthday every day and started to try and find my way out. I alternated as many things as I could think of, different cake, different gifts, not asking for gifts, different venue, refusing a party all together. Nothing worked. I’d go to bed at night and when I woke up the next morning, it was my birthday all over again.

Since I wasn’t having any luck breaking the cycle, I spent the next ten April Fool’s Days trying to figure out how I ended up in the loop in the first place. I retraced my steps, mimicked everything, down to the last minute detail, of the first April Fool’s Day, but to no avail. I had no clue how I ended up in this mess and no clue how to get out.

Remembering the old movie Groundhog Day, and being the eternal optimist that I am, I took a page out of Phil Connors’ book and decided to spend my time more productively, to better myself. Like Phil, I had always regretted not learning how to play the piano, so, I began lessons at a local shop. I’m no Chopin, but I can now play well enough where I’m happy with my abilities. I have taken the time to read books I had always intended on reading, but never had the time.

I can honestly say, I am a much more rounded person now than I was a year ago. Yet, unlike in the movie where at this point the loop is broken for Phil, I still remain, adding one more tick mark to the calendar, and one more entry in my journal.

 

Your Next Challenge is:

 

What fictional character would you like to meet in real life and why?

 

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

November 8th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina – 

Happy Friday! To be honest, yesterday felt like Friday already because my daughter has a four day weekend. Yesterday and today are Teachers’ Convention, so schools are closed. I had forgotten all about it until my daughter came home from school on Wednesday and asked if she could sleep over a friend’s house. I said not on a school night and she said not to worry, she’d be home by Sunday. She’s such a brat. The child is incredibly quick-witted.

When she was four or five, which put her brother in the thirteen - fourteen range, was when we really started noticing this, often comical, sometimes annoying, trait. My son used to be a big guy – I’m talking 4’6” and 100 lbs going into kindergarten big. Anyway, my son was going through a phase, like many teenaged boys do, where he was growing his hair long. Normally I didn’t care about the kids’ hair (it can be short, long, purple, spiked, shaved – whatever, it was hair, no matter what they did, it wasn’t permanent), but we were coming up on a holiday.

We were sitting in the living room watching tv, when my son walked through. I asked him if he was going to cut his hair, and said he was starting to look like a hippie. That’s when my little one chimes in and says, “Yeah, a hippiepotomus.” For a second, the room went completely silent, then we all busted up laughing, even my son. He did go and get his hair cut. Not short, but he got it shaped so he no longer looked like a sheepdog, and that’s all I really wanted. However, because of the reaction my daughter got, she now felt free to release her one-liners at will.

Sorry for the detour into left field there, but I thought you’d get a kick out of the story. The reason I began to tell you all of this was, since my daughter spent Wednesday night into Thursday at a friend’s, I had the house to myself, so it was quiet and I was able to work on Faerie Tale Queen. (The next chapter will be posted on FB later today.) Today however, she’s home. Hopefully she’ll sleep until ten and I’ll get some writing accomplished. If not, it won’t be until Monday when I can get some serious words down, and I’m behind already. Yesterday I should have hit the 12.5K mark and I’m only at 10K.

Since my window for writing is going to be very small for these next three days, my blogs are going to be on the short and sweet side, so I can grab whatever quiet I’m allotted.

On that note, I hope you have a fabulous Friday and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge:

 

The countdown has begun…

 

Thirty days, a whole month, no problem, this will be a piece of cake. I’ll pace myself, do a little each day, and, who knows, maybe I’ll even finish early. Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work I go. I’m so excited.

Twenty seven days, I’m off to a good start, as expected, I’m ahead of the game. I think I’ve earned a break.

Twenty two days, I’ve been a little distracted and have fallen behind a bit, but it’s no big deal, there’s still plenty of time. I’m not worried.

Sixteen days, the laundry, the groceries, the house, a nasty cold, now I’m really behind. How am I ever going to finish? Don’t panic, don’t panic, you can still do this.

One week left! Maybe if I kick everyone out of the house and pull a couple of all nighters, I’ll still have a chance. Why do I do this to myself? Never again!

The last day. The final word is written. The end product is submitted. I finished with a few hours to spare. I knew I could. I can’t wait for next time!

The cycle of a NaNoWriMo participant.

 

Hey guys, don't forget today is the last day to enter Heidi Angell's contest for a signed copy of Angel's Dance. It's the top contest on the right of my page. Good luck!

 

Your Next Challenge is:

 

 

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

November 3rd Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina – 

Did you remember to turn your clocks back or did you internal clock wake you at your normal time? I guess if I go by my internal clock, I over slept by twenty minutes. Even though I am going to be exhausted later, I look at it as I have an extra half an hour to write today.

So what did you think of the blog yesterday? Did you see the comment from Heidi? I cracked up when I read she “double-dog-dared” folks to take my challenge.

Here’s a switch. I’m always telling folks who read my blog on Facebook and twitter they need to log onto my blog so they can see multiple photos or click on links. This time I am sending my blog readers to my Facebook page – http://www.facebook.com/christina.paul.author - if they would like to read excerpts from my NaNoWriMo Project Faerie Tale Queen.

Yesterday on Facebook I posted the entire prologue. Please keep in mind, what you’re getting is an UNEDITED first draft, so there will be mistakes in COT, there may be a lack of sentence variation, and it will be before I preform my thatectomy. I may even mess up a name, a place or a time, and I know I will have a few “he” where it should be “she” and visa versa.

The story is really different than the others I’ve written, plus I’m under the time constraints of NaNoWriMo so by posting a chapter every couple of days, I get instant feedback and it will keep me on track. I’m really not giving a book away for free here, for two reasons. One, the first draft usually varies dramatically from the final rewritten product; and two, there is no way this story will be finished by the end of NaNoWriMo, so if you want to know how the story ends…

Today I am headed back to Canterbury Tales Forever in Peddler’s Village. Unfortunately Linda Rawlins will not be joining me today. The mother of one of her employees passed away, and Linda needs to be with her. Keith Fritz will be there, and hopefully some of you will be as well. Although it is going to be rather chilly today, you should come out to experience the AppleFestival. It is a fun event for the whole family, and there is no admission fee.

Your biggest challenge will be the parking, which is why I’m getting there really early. So on that note, if I want to get anything done on Faerie Tale Queen, I had better get going.

I hope you have a wonderful day and happy writing!

 

Your Last Challenge:

 

There is a knock at your door and you answer it to find a lawyer. He tells you your great uncle has passed away and has left everything to you. One of the things he has left you was and island. Yes, you now own your very own island…

 

Did that really just happen? I didn’t even know I had an uncle Octavio. Octavio. Who the heck names their kid Octavio? What was he the eighth child and they ran out of ideas? Quit staring at the envelope and open it. It’s not going to bite you, you ninny! I can’t do it. This is too bizarre, even for me. I’ll call Kim. She’ll know how to handle this.

  

Kim stared at Donna in total disbelief. “So these attorneys just showed up at your door?”

Donna nodded.

“And you’re sure you have never heard of Uncle Octavio?”

Donna shook her head.

“Then how can you be sure you are really the heir any you are not being punked?”

Donna handed Kim a smaller envelope, “The attorney’s gave me the genealogy. I may not know who Octavio was, but I do know who Katrina, his oldest sister was. She was my great grandmother. Thirty years separated the two. She was already married with children of her own and living in another state when her youngest sibling was born. It’s no wonder we had never heard of him, she died shortly after he was born. She may not even have known he existed.”

Kim studied the family tree, “So you’re telling me, as the youngest of eight, the only living relative he had in the world, was the great granddaughter of a sister he never met? How can that be? He had seven siblings. Didn’t they have children, and their children have children?”

“Here look,” Donna took the papers from Kim and spread them on the table. “Of the eight, only five made it to adulthood, and these two, Dominick and Antonio, just barely. From the dates of their deaths, I’d say they were soldiers during World War I. That left Octavio, who never had any children, Porsche, who had three and my great grandmother who had two.

 

Just like Heidi, I ran out of time with an entire story playing out in my brain. I never even got to the part about the Island, but what else is new.

 

Your Next Challenge is:

 

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

November 2nd Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina – 

Okay folks, I know the look of the blog today is really different, but there is a good reason. I am participating in a blog hop for Heidi Angell and she is giving away prizes. You only have a few days to enter the first one, so you better click now. The other two giveaways will be going on for three weeks, so you have a little more time on them.

 

 

Here's what the items look like: 

Angel's Dance - only 6 days left on this one folks. Enter now.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Bookmarks:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Poster:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a really cool idea, and I’ve seen other authors do similar events. Both Heather Graham and Stephanie Laurens have done contests with other authors, and the readers needed to go to each of the author’s sites and do something (make a comment, hit the “like” button, count the pumpkins, whatever) to be entered into the contest. It was a fun way to introduce you to authors you may not know and see what was new with your favorite authors. I just wish I had the technological expertise to do something similar for my next book release.

Since I am a technological ditz, I’m going to keep it real simple. For my Facebook and Twitter followers, you need to log onto my blog - http://christinapaulbooks.blogspot.com/ - put “ENTERED” into the comments section, and then you can click on the contest giveaway buttons (yes you can enter all three) on the right hand side. For my blog followers, you still need to put “ENTERED” into the comments section, and then you can click on the contest giveaway buttons on the right hand side.

So, all this hubbub and rearranging is because Heidi Angell is releasing Angel’s Dance, her sequel to Elements of a Broken Mind, which I reviewed (and thoroughly enjoyed) a few months back.

Grant and Clear are back, and they’re better than ever. After several months with no contact, Grant shows up in Clear’s doorstep, in tears, looking like hell and begging for her help. His daughter had been kidnapped and the trail has gone cold. He has nowhere else to turn if he wants to get his get his daughter back. He just prays he’s not too late already.

Seeing Grant again is difficult for Clear, and what he is asking her to do could literally destroy her, but how could she refuse him when a child’s life was at stake?

You are thrown into the seedy underbelly of the dance world, the polar opposite to the grace and beauty seen by the public. And somewhere within that dance world lies a psychopath…

This psychological thriller sucks you in, thrashes you about, and won’t let you go. At the end, you are completely spent, yet somehow left craving for more. Heidi Angell has outdone herself on this one.

Elements of a Broken Mind is available on Amazon if you are interested in reading the first book in the series before Angel's Dance is released later this month.  

I hope you have a great day and happy writing!

 

Your Last Challenge:

 

You work at a restaurant – you witness a blind date that goes horrible wrong

 

“Morey, Morey, you are not going to believe what just happened at table twelve.” Tabatha exclaimed as she rushed into the kitchen through the swinging doors.

“How many time has I got to tell you, you dimwit use the door on the RIGHT, ALWAYS the door on the right!”

Tabatha cracked her gum in response, “Whatever. It ain’t like anyone else would be comin’ out the left doors anyways. You sure as heck ain’t gunna. So anyways, guess what happened.”

“I don’t give a dang what happened. Ain’t yous got tables to wait on? An iffin you don’t, you could always clean up… Yeah, like that’ll ever happen.”

“Quit bein’ a jerk and listen. You know that new English teacher who’s been comin’ in here.”

“The tall doofy guy?”

“Yeah, he’s the one. Anyways, Trixie started feelin’ sorry him. Sittin’ there all by himself, day after day, eatin’ alone. So, she fixed him up with her cousin Cassey.”

“Aw cripes, not Sassy Cassey!”

“The very one.”

“The poor shlub!”

“You said it. So anyways, Mr. Teacher man comes in dressed all professor like. He’s even got a bunch of flowers. Not ones he picked out of a garden neither, they had paper around them and everything. Then in walks Cassey.”

Your Next Challenge is:

 

There is a knock at your door and you answer it to find a lawyer. He tells you your great uncle has passed away and has left everything to you. One of the things he has left you was and island. Yes, you now own your very own island…

 

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.