Holiday Idea - Donate Blood to the American Red Cross #‎blooddonation‬ #free #gift

I'm a proud Blood Donor for the American Red Cross 

I hate needles
They scare the crap out of me
But I do it anyways.
Nobody is a bigger baby than I am

I'm throwing out the gauntlet to my fellow authors!

Find your local Blood Drive right HERE

#Paranormal Wednesday-My #Giveabook Picks

I was lucky enough to receive books for Christmas. Books make excellent gifts year-round. The next holiday is Valentine's Day and personally, I'd rather a book than chocolate, flowers or any of the other "standard" gifts. Here are a few books/authors on my shelf that I've enjoyed and would recommend. 

Horror-Mythology

Krampus: The Yule Lord

&

The Child Thief: A Novel

by BROM

Fantasy Horror

The Boy Who Drew Monsters: A Novel

&

The Stolen Child

by Keith Donohue

Gothic Horror-Romance

The Haunting of Maddy Clare

&
An Inquiry Into Love and Death

&

Silence for the Dead

by Simone St. James

Dark Fantasy 

The Tooth Fairy

by Graham Joyce

Thriller-Suspense

Before I Go to Sleep

by S.J Watson

Fantasy-Mythology

Mythago Wood

by Robert Holdstock

Paranormal-Suspense-Dark Fantasy

Graveminder

by Melissa Marr

Paranormal-Suspense-Romance 

The Restorer: Graveyard Queen Series

by Amanda Stevens

*Four books in this series

And don't forget mine!

Paranormal-Gothic Horror

Musa Publishing

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

*Indie Book of the Day 2014





Paranormal

Musa Publishing
Amazon
Barnes and Noble

*Second place in the Preditors & Editors Readers Poll 2012

Frightening Friday-10 Facts About Black Friday

Black Friday. Words that strike terror into any sane person's heart. Aside from the ridiculousness of giving thanks one day and then overdosing in materialism the next, Black Friday has a reputation of being downright dangerous for shoppers.

Retailers traditionally operate at a financial loss or "in the red" from January through November. Black Friday indicates the point at which retailers begin to turn a profit, or  operate "in the black."

Here are 10 interesting facts about Black Friday.

1) It is estimated that 55% of Americans plan to skip the crowds on Black Friday and spend it at home.

2) Many Black Friday shoppers confess to shopping on very little sleep (36%), or under the influence of alcohol (12%). It that's not a good reason to stay off the roads, I don't know what is.

3) More "deals" are found online than in the stores.

4) Many products advertised as deep-discounts on Black Friday are “derivative products” — items that are similar to the standard model, but made with cheaper components and may not have the same features.

5) Some products during the last few days of the holiday shopping season sell for 10-15% less than they do on Black Friday

6) Many Black Friday doorbusters are either matched or beaten later in the season.

7) In the past several years, retailers have been caught jacking up prices before Black Friday, then lowering them with supposed "discounts" that leave the price higher than it was before.

8) Black Friday also gave birth to "Buy Nothing Day" by social activists against consumerism. It was promoted by Canadian magazine Adbusters to mark a day to examine the issue of over-consumption. When they tried to spread the trend in America, Adbusters was denied advertising time by all television networks except CNN. 

9) Up to 70% of in-store Black Friday deals are also available online for the same price or less.

10) Amazon will price match even the hottest in-store offers from retailers like Best Buy, Target, and Walmart.

Enjoy your day — however you plan to "spend" it. 

#Paranormal Wednesday-Giving

Today's post isn't paranormal in nature, at least not the way you're thinking. But technically, it is. One definition of paranormal is, "out of the realm of normal" which means this applies.

My daughter's high school requires students to volunteer 20 hours per year towards an organization or project of their choice. We've just learned this—half-way into the school year. And yes, it's because I haven't quite gotten my, "I have a child teenager in high school" sh%t together. But I'm all about philanthropy. The fact that the time commitment (which isn't much) caught me off-guard forced me to do some soul searching. Are my kids aware of community needs? (and) We volunteer from time-to-time, but do we need to make more of an effort?

Sort of, and yes.

So, we're starting a new tradition in my household. Each month, we're going to volunteer for something. We'll rotate who gets to choose what. It sounds easy but in the teen world of, "I'm too busy" it may be a bigger challenge than I anticipate.  But I want to make the effort. I want to raise my children teens to look beyond themselves—which means I lead by example. It should be an eye-opening year.

Have a great holiday weekend everyone!

Destiny

I've been away from my blog for awhile now. The holidays were quite busy, not to mention my kiddos were sick the whole time! I've also been working hard at finishing my edits for STRUCK and finishing up my next book VOICES so it can be submitted by the end of January. In other words, juggling life and work.
One major event that happened over the holidays, was that our dog started to have accidents in the house at night. That would be "major" for me since I'm usually the first one up--which meant I got to clean up! Thank goodness for wood floors. We've had Jasmine for ten years and this has never happened before. So, between kiddo trips to the doctor and the ER, getting my edits in on time, and trying to enjoy Christmas...Jasmine had to go to the vet. Fa-la-la.
I was crossing my fingers, hoping it wasn't her kidneys, which veterinarians really can't fix. We lucked out in a way, it turns out she is diabetic. Aside from an change in diet, we now poke her twice a day with insulin. Not a happy task, but it's made a world of difference in her quality of life (and the quality of my wood floors, haha).
So, I got to thinking. What would have happened if some other family would have adopted Jasmine? Would they have managed her diabetes? The insulin is quite expensive, as is the food. I can't imagine not going the distance on a pet, but I know that 20 years ago, there's no way I would have been able to afford to. Ten years ago, my husband "just happened" to hit the animal shelter minutes before Jasmine and her sister were scheduled for euthanasia. The sister ran away from him, but Jasmine...she gave my husband the benefit of the doubt. The shelter workers basically dumped her in my husband's arms--free of charge.

Doggie destiny. We got an awesome dog, Jasmine gets a family that can afford her insulin. Right place at the right time.

The Holidays Are Coming...

Yes, they are. In six more days,Yule will be here and everyone can calm down and enjoy it.

I caught myself this week spending far too much time promoting BETWEEN and missing out on all the pre-holiday fun. I've been blogging my fingers off, setting up book tours, sending out press releases, and making sure all my free and review ecopies of BETWEEN are sent off to whomever they were promised.

This morning, however, I didn't feel like doing any of these things...and I didn't feel very festive.
Most of my shopping was done, the tree was up and decorated, the fireplace lights were twinkling, the stockings (all 14 of them, which included the dogs, cats, gerbils, rats, turtles and fish) were hung on the stairwell banister. Everything that screamed "Yule is coming!!" had been done.
But, I still woke feeling kind of burned out and empty.

So today, I took a day off from what it takes to make a book successful--the promoting craziness.
And you know what?
I had fun.
I'm starting to feel the growing excitement that Yule is only six...days...away!

Tomorrow, I shall take off another day. I'm going to do some baking, stop by World Market for last minute stocking stuffers, and then, I'm picking my daughters up from school and taking them out for a Starbucks. It's their last day before they track-out for the holidays. They both have a penchant for Peppermint Mochas and I have every intention of leading them down a tawdry path of caffeinated, chocolate bliss.

To all my friends who take the time to stop by and read this post, enjoy your holidays.

Unless I have something really exciting to share, I'll see you on 1/04/13 on Laura Hardgrave's blog; Stars Dive Into Sunlight

BETWEEN
Available from Amazon.com
and Musa Publishing