Books, Books, Booooks! And a Celebration!

Looking at my calendar, I was slightly stunned to see that the paperback version of The Hating Game launches two weeks from this Wednesday (March 9th)! Eep!

Lots of people have asked me what I'm going to do to launch the paperback. Well, the short answer is... not as much as the ebook launch. Publicity is rolling along thanks to everyone's support of the ebook, reviews are still coming in, and everything's going quite nicely! Some wonderful people will be posting interviews with me on their blog, too -- I'll keep you posted on that.

I want to use my launch week, from March 7-11, to say thank you to everyone who has tweeted, Facebooked, blogged, liked or had anything to do with The Hating Game... basically, anyone who reads this blog!

Each day during the week of my launch, I'll be giving away a minimum of two books -- possibly more! Since I am the Queen of Rubbishiosity when it comes to remembering other people's contests and such, all you need to do to enter this one is just be a follower! Let's make it easy, shall we? :)

I've read and enjoyed each of the following books, and I'm sure you will, too!

The Dating Detox, by Gemma Burgess
eSquared, by Matt Beaumont
Over You, by Lucy Diamond
Like Bees to Honey, by Caroline Smailes
Wasted, by Nicola Morgan
The Dresskeeper, by Mary Naylus
Without Alice, by DJ Kirkby
From Notting Hill with Love... Actually, by Ali McNamara
Naked in Knightsbridge, by Nicky Schmidt
50 Ways to Find Lover, by Lucy-Anne Holmes

If any authors would like to donate ebooks/ books as prizes, drop me a line or a comment! I will add a little blurb about your book and a link to your blog/ site to the bottom of a future blog post before the giveaway.

Happy Monday! Hope you drop by two weeks from today to see who has won some wonderful books.

Name That Character!

Thanks to everyone who came by yesterday to see my entry for Nicole's blogfest!

If you have 'liked' my Facebook page, you may have seen that I'm holding a contest to name one of the characters in my upcoming novel, Watching Willow Watts. I've had some fantastic suggestions so far and I thought I'd give my blogging buds a chance to get involved! If your suggestion is chosen, you'll get a signed copy of The Hating Game and my undying gratitude!

The character: an old, rather crotchety woman who is a former UK film star. She fled the industry years ago to live in the peace of the countryside, and she's now a recluse.

Any and all suggestions welcome! Have a great Thursday, everyone.

The Cap'n and Ali G

Big thanks to everyone for the wonderful comments yesterday! Wishing all a productive year ahead.

Today, I'm over on Joanna St James's blog, expounding on Cap'n Crunch, Ali G and more. Check it out if you have a second.

And there are lots of great contests going on these days! The lovely Jen Daiker's almost at 1000 -- if you're not already following, get over there and read all about her contest.

Everyone's favourite Alliterative Allomorph is also holding a 400 followers contest.

And over at Candyland, you can donate to help the women and children of Ghana.


Any more contests? Feel free to post about it in the comments! Have a fantastic weekend, everyone!

Lucky 13

Happy Friday the Thirteenth!

Things are a bit topsy-turvy here at the moment with house-guests encamped in my office and a fresh batch arriving next week, so I'll keep this short and sweet! Just a heads-up on some happenings here and elsewhere:

On Monday, I'll be hosting author DJ Kirkby who's currently making the rounds on her Without Alice blog tour. We'll have wine and cake (of course) and talk about her debut novel!

Jen Daiker's Guess that Character blogfest is next Thursday and Friday. If you want to join along, click here for more details.

Want to win fifteen books (including a travel book by moi)? If you're a UK resident, head over to author Keris' blog and leave a comment to win.

Author Nicola Morgan is experimenting with Facebook ahead of her social media talk at the Edinburgh Book Fest. To 'like' her page, click here. And... I'm proud and excited to say she'll be showcasing this blog during her presentation on August 22 -- thanks to all the wonderful comments you leave here on a daily basis. I can't always respond on my blog as many of the comments come in at night (my time), but I read them all and I can't tell you how much I appreciate it! A big thank you! I'll be putting up a special post on blogging that day and I hope everyone will drop by to leave their two cents' worth on why blogging is such a powerful and useful tool for authors.

Author Gemma Burgess has now reached 13,000 hits on her Dating Detox book trailer! It's a great example of a book trailer that really works, so if you haven't seen it head on over!

And finally, it hasn't escaped my notice that I'm almost at 400 followers! Woohoo! Come September 1, I'll be doing... something I haven't yet thought of to celebrate. Watch this space.

Got any news or contests to share? Feel free to put it in the comments! Have a great weekend!

The Great 1-1-2 Mate Giveaway!

I can hardly believe I'm almost at 100 followers! A giant thank you to everyone who's hopped on board my relatively new blog and made me feel so, so welcome.

To express a bit of my thanks, I'm super thrilled to be holding a contest. Just to be different -- and 'cause I like to be ornery and optimistic at the same time -- I'm going to call it the Great 1-1-2 Mate Giveaway. Prizes will be awarded once I exceed 112 followers -- entries will close one week from today if I do manage to top that number in the next few days (just to give everyone a chance to enter... yes, I'm being optimistic again!).

And without further ado, the prizes are:

1. Your choice of a grab bag full of unique paraphernalia purchased from the infamous Portobello Market, worth around £10 OR an Amazon gift certificate worth £10 (or approx $20 US/ Cdn).

2. Whatever gift the first winner didn't choose OR a copy of the wonderfully funny chick-lit romp Naked in Knightsbridge by Nicky Schmidt, generously donated by Prospera Publishing.

3. Whatever prize is left! :)

To enter:

All you need to do is be a follower! Once I exceed 112, I'll enter all your names in a cupcake box, then draw. The first name I pick gets Prize 1 and so on. Easy peasy!

And another contest for you to enter: Susan Fields is holding one to celebrate reaching 100 Followers. Click the link to enter. Congratulations, Susan!

Awards and Contests, Oh My!

It's Saturday (and not raining - that's for you, Tamara, because really you are dying to know!) and time for some awards! Thank you so much to everyone who's given me an award this week. I really appreciate it! I'm sorry that some of award photos are missing; my computer kept crashing when I tried to upload them. I'm going to stir its noodle in a second, grr!


I won the Silver Lining Award from the lovely Ann Elle. This goes out to:

Straight From Hel - love her great advice.

The Alliterative Allomorph - new to me but I can't wait to read more!

Craziness, College, and a Little Creativity - really enjoyed her recent poem.

Michelle Teacress - another new one to me.



Thanks so much to Christine for the Blog Buddie Award! She's recently reached 100 followers and I think she's now over 120! Yay Christine.

Thanks, too, to Nicole at One Significant Moment at a Time, who also gave me the Blog Buddie Award. I love the very title of Nicole's blog, and her posts are filled with great tips and advice.

This one goes out to:

Just Jemi - She seems so lovely and friendly.

Pink Tea and Paper - I love the title of her blog - it just makes me feel good - as do her comments and posts!

Coming Down the Mountain: From Reclusive Writer to Published Author - Karen's generous with her comments and I really looking forward to her posts.

...And This Time, Concentrate! - Because I don't like looking at saggy body parts at Wal-Mart either!

Unedited - Jen's friendliness and enthusiasm just leaps off the page. And she just finished her first draft! Yay!


The hilarious Lindsey at Dangerous with a Pen recently gave me the Soulmates award. The rules:1. Choose five followers/commenters that 'get' you. 2. Write something fake (preferably not too mean) about them. 3. Link to them, and link back to this post to comment your receipt of the award.


This one goes to:
Aubrie at Flutey Words, who really wanted to play the tuba but didn't have enough wind.
Patricia Stoltey, who is secretly Alfred Hitchcock's long-lost daughter.
Anne of Piedmont Writer, who lives solely on pine nuts and Tang.
Tamara Hart Heiner, whose coming baby will be the next president of the US.
Kim Franklin, who wants to move to Fiji and live in a beach hut with her pet chicken (sorry Kim, my brain is in slow-gear today!).


Giant thanks to Aching Hope who gave me the Creative Writer award. You must tell six lies about you, and one truth. This is a great one to do and since I've already had the pleasure, I'm going to toss it out to anyone who fancies giving it a go! Go on, you know you want to.









The lovely Mia at Literary Jam and Toast gave me the sunshine award (much needed; thank you!). And speaking of sunshine, I got a very nice sunshine award for supportive comments from Tara of Feel of Something New. Thanks, Tara!


I'm going to take a short-cut here and pass these both on to the following bloggers, because supportive comments give me sunshine inside! So these go to:

Old Kitty

E Elle

Joanne - click to see the cutest photo of Easter chicks!



Last week I also got the Prolific Blogger Award from the wonderful Sarah Jayne Smythe. I just love her pithy comments and her posts! Thank you!





This goes to:

Patrick Tillett
Crazy Jane
musings of amber murphy
Inkpots n’Quills
Southern Princess

Phew! Thank you SO much for all the awards this week; I am loving it!

And a quick recap and shout-out to for the following amazing contests:

Roxy at A Woman's Write is celebrating 200 followers. Head over to enter the Blogging Buddies Give-Away Contest. Way to go, Roxy!

Christine Danek at Christine's Journey has reached 100 followers - enter her contest to help her celebrate!

Laurel at Laurels Leaves is holding an eleventy one contest (writing contest), ending soon!