Spooktoberfest Winner and Runner Up's

Happy Halloween!!!

Spooktoberfest is over, and it was amazing! You writers made this a terrific blog hop! Thank you so much for participating. Dani and I had fun organizing this, but had a difficult time choosing the winner and runner up's because you all had wonderful stories.You all were THAT good. 

Dani and I both loved what each other picked, but we wanted to spread the wealth so we picked different ones. Why? We have another little surprise... the Runner-Up's will be receiving a little something special as well, and we didn't want any duplicates. 

Okay, I will quit babbling...

My choices for Spooktoberfest 2013 Runner Up's (Click on the badges to read their entries):

My choice for Spooktoberfest 2013 Winner (Click on badge to read her entry):

To read Dani's choices for Winner and Runner-Up's... go HERE

We will email you with details on getting your prizes to you and all that good stuff. 
Thanks again to all of you for entering and sharing your wonderful talents with us. Dani and I are blessed to have you all as blogging buddies! 
We heart you!!!

Spooktoberfest bloghop and Celebrate the small things

Celebrate the Small Things is the fun weekly meme hosted by Viklit @ Scribblings of an Aspiring Author, where bloggers share things they wish to celebrate, and then hop around to other bloggers to rejoice in their celebrations, too. :) Go HERE to sign up and join the celebration!

• My 13 yr old made the basketball team!!! I'm so thrilled for him because he worked hard and never lost sight of his goal.
• Spooktoberfest 2013 starts today! YAY! The rules, and my story, are below.
• Dani and I are going shopping this weekend for the contest prizes. Girl time! Woot!

It's Spooktoberfest time, with my co-host Dani! Thanks goes to all of those who signed up! We heart you! 

Here are the basics of Spooktoberfest... 

• Write a flash fiction piece between 300-500 words. 
• Use 3 of the 6 mandatory words and highlight those 3 words in your story:  WRETCH(ED), IMPEDING, ALIEN(S), SKELETON(S), POTION(S), MASK(S) 
• Use one of the pics below as the location for your story. 

• Then, post your piece so we can read it, and hop around to the other participants and comment on their awesome stories. Dani and I will each post our winners on Halloween. Those two winners will receive a goodie box filled with Halloween stuff! 

CLICK HERE for the full, official deets on SPOOKTOBERFEST 2013.

And now, here's my flash fiction piece to get things started for Spooktoberfest. 

I jerk my head at the dark stairwell. “I can think of five different ideas that are better than going up there.”

The power’s been out for a week, and we’re on our last batch of batteries, so my sister won’t let me use any for flashlights. Heading upstairs in the dark isn’t my idea of safe.

“Up is our only way out, Sydney.” My sister grabs the back of my neck and forces my head toward the sliding glass door. "Take a look for yourself."

I stare at the creepy things as they pound on the glass and smear blood from their latest meal across it, like they’re erasing steam from a mirror. Some look like they have on Halloween masks, but the flesh slides off their bones and exposes their skeleton, proving this isn’t dress-up time.

“What if we leave through the garage?” I waggle my brows. “There’s a Mustang calling your name.”

“As soon as the door lifts, those things will spill in like girls at a One Direction concert.” Trish ushers me to the staircase again. “Up we go.”

“No.” I squirm away.

“Why can’t you ever do as you’re told?”

“Why do you always boss me around?”

“Because I’m the oldest.”

“By 11 months.”

"Stop this, right now." She clutches my shoulders. “What’s your deal?”

I peer up the stairwell. “I’m scared of what’s up there.”  I chew on my lip. “Promise you won’t get mad.”

“What did you do?” Her eyes squint into two slits. 

“Lance and I wanted to hang out, but when he came through my window earlier, he said he scratched himself on the trellis. It looked more like—”

“Bites?”

“Yeah. I came downstairs to get some bandages or peroxide or a potion.”

“A potion? Seriously? You're so immature.” She rolls her eyes. “We agreed to not let anyone in until the virus passed, didn’t we?”

I nod, hating when my sister is right.

“Now you’ve risked our lives, over what? A make-out session?”

“Sorry.”

Trish thrusts a knife in my hand while gripping a bat in her fist. “I’m always cleaning up your messes.”

We head upstairs, causing creaks with each step. At the top, Lance stomps toward us, groaning. He smells, not of his usual aftershave, but like he slept in a dumpster. He lunges at Trish, but I step in front and shove her back.

The knife in my hand slams into Lance’s chest. I push hard, and as I do, life still lurks in his eyes. It’s like his body’s in control of his brain instead of the other way around. Then, his eyes close. I fling his limp body off me and kick him to make sure he’s "dead-dead."

I turn toward Trish. “You okay?”

“I think so.” She sits on the fifth step and rubs her forearm.

“See?” I smile. “I can clean up my own messes.”

My sister’s eyes widen, and I cry out, as Lance’s teeth sink into my calf.

~THE END~

Now, it's your turn! Let us read your flash fiction Spooktoberfest piece! 

Express Yourself - Halloween goodies

Hello, Express Yourself-ers! It's EYM time ... the weekly meme that I co-host with Dani. We come up with a question/topic of some sort for other bloggers to share. The goal is for all of us to get to know one another better by expressing different things about ourselves.Also, I find that it helps me to blog more consistently. Sound fun? Join us in the linky below!



Topic for this week: Which Halloween candy were you most excited to see in your Trick-or-Treat bags and/or in your children's bags?

Hands down, as a kid, and now, I want to see Smarties in those Trick-or-Treat bags. So yummy! And my sons usually pass any dark chocolate my way because they don't care for it, but I love it. 

What candy did you want to see in your Halloween bag when you were younger and/or what candy do you hope to see in your kid's bags?

Celebrate the small things

Celebrate the Small Things is the fun weekly meme hosted by Viklit @ Scribblings of an Aspiring Author, where bloggers share things they wish to celebrate, and then hop around to other bloggers to rejoice in their celebrations, too. :) Go HERE to sign up and join the celebration!






*My oldest son's cross country team qualified at Sectionals and is headed to Regionals.  So proud of him, and the team as a whole. They've worked really hard to achieve this.

*My two middle sons finished their projects, both due on the same day, but from different time periods. One made an Egyptian death mask, while the other made a Miami Tribe village. We learned a lot about King Tut, how the Miami Indians lived, and about... "papier maché." :D

*My youngest son has a fish now. He chose a red betta and named him Mr. Fishy and Capt. Jack Sparrow, depending on the day. LOL

*I had a nice time at the craft get together with Dani. 
We made wreaths. I went with an Autumn one for my front door. We also ate yummy snacks and had girl talk. I think it's important to decompress and just hang out, which is great for ones spirit. :)








What are your celebrations for the week? 

Express Yourself

Hello, Express Yourself-ers! It's EYM time ... the weekly meme that I co-host with Dani. We come up with a question/topic of some sort for other bloggers to share. The goal is for all of us to get to know one another better by expressing different things about ourselves.Also, I find that it helps me to blog more consistently. Sound fun? Join us in the linky below!

Topic for this week: What's your fave costume ever?

For a Halloween costume party my junior year of high school, I wore a pink sweater with an even pinker poodle skirt. The guy I was dating dressed as a greaser. It was so much fun, especially seeing the other costumes. 

How about you? Any favorite Halloween costumes? Are you dressing up this year?

Express Yourself - 1st lines

It's Express Yourself  time ... a weekly meme that I co-host with Dani. We come up with a question/topic of some sort for other bloggers to share. The goal is for all of us to get to know one another better by expressing different things about ourselves.
Sound fun? Join us in the linky below!

This week's topic: Share some 1st line book openers that you adore. 

This was so hard for me so thank goodness we didn't make a limit! That first sentence sets the tone, and can make or break if a reader continues on. Here are several that did just that for me.

I've been collecting bugs since I was ten; it's the only way I can stop their whispers. (Splintered, A.G. Howard)

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. (1984, George Orwell)

T minus one day to departure for my cruise to Bermuda, I almost died on the way to work. (Triangles, Kimberly Ann Miller)

There's a big difference between death threats and love letters--even if the person writing the death threats still claims to actually love you. (Vampire Academy: Spirit Bound, Richelle Mead)

Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, J.K. Rowling)

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains. (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith)

How about you? Any first sentences that make you want to keep reading?

Character guest post from Christine Rains' The 13th Floor Collection

Lois King, a character from Christine Rains' 1303 - The Dragonslayer, stopped by my blog to talk about one of my favorite subjects... Xan. :)

The 13th Floor Collection blog tour guest post – Lois King
By Christine Rains

LOIS KING FROM 1303 – THE DRAGONSLAYER

Xan has organized the dresser drawers again. Seriously! Who folds and puts in color order their underwear? Real people just take whatever is on top of their laundry pile and be happy that they had time to clean their clothes.

I resist the urge to mess up the drawer and ignore Huff as she climbs onto the bed. The ferret isn't suppose to be in there, but it's not like Xan will know. Okay. Maybe he'll know. That man has an infuriating way of catching every detail. And it's so damn sexy.

He's been gone for a few days on a mission. One of my favorite pop singers is a dragon. Yeah, I know it sounds ridiculous, but I helped Xan gather the evidence. It's frightening to think that people, no, not people, creatures of legend still exist and have so much power over humans. So few of us left in the world know dragons still exist. And no matter what movies and books make of them, they're not friendly or waiting for the right woman to come along to tame them. They're just plain evil.

The front door creaks as it opens. Xan's back! He survived. Relief makes me giddy. I have to hold myself back from rushing into the other room and tackling him to the floor.

Smiling, I have a better idea. He just happened to leave my fire engine red negligee on top of his neat little pile. I slip it on over my head and lie on the bed. Shooing Huff from under the pillows, I crook a finger at Xan as he steps into the bedroom.

His shirt comes off in a blinding sweep of one muscled arm before his body covers mine. Oh yes!

Title: The 13th Floor Complete Collection
Author: Christine Rains
Genre: paranormal romance

Release date: October 13th, 2013

Blurb:
Six supernatural tenants
Living in a haunted apartment building
On a floor that doesn't exist.

Six novellas telling their tales.

A retired demon acquires a price on his head.
A werewolf is hunted by her pack.
A modern day dragonslayer misses his target.
A harpy challenges Zeus for the soul of the man she loves.
A vampire is obsessed with a young woman he can't find.
A banshee falls in love with someone who's death she has seen in a vision.
And a sweet ghost must battle a primal monster to save them all.

All the stories take place at the same time intertwining their lives together on the 13th Floor.

Includes “The Shadow,” a bonus short story.

Goodreads

Purchase links for this amazing series:
Amazon

B&N

Kobo

Smashwords

Author Bio:
Christine Rains is a writer, blogger, and geek mom. She has four degrees which help nothing with motherhood, but make her a great Jeopardy player. When she's not writing or reading, she having adventures with her son or watching cheesy movies on Syfy Channel. She's a member of Untethered Realms and S.C.I.F.I. The 13th Floor series is her first self-published series. She has eight novellas and twenty-one short stories published.

Places to find Christine Rains:
Website
Blog
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads: Christine Rains

Celebrate the small things

Celebrate the Small Things is the fun weekly meme hosted by Viklit @ Scribblings of an Aspiring Author, where we share things we wish to celebrate, and then hop around to other bloggers to rejoice in their celebrations, too. :) Go HERE to sign up and join the celebration!






My celebrations:

**My 7 yr old son and I went to "Take your mom to school night" this past week. We had so much fun! We played a trivia game, had dessert, and crafts... we made a "mom and me" hand print that I'm going to frame, and some bookmarks.

**As of last night, my current WIP is at 62k. Woot!


**I came up with an idea for a novel and the characters are talking away. I try to jot down what I can and have an outline ready to go.


How about you? What celebrations do you have for the week?

IWSG October 2013

It's Insecure Writer's Support Group time, hosted by Alex J. Cavanaugh!!!
IWSG is a place to share/write/vent/blog about writing or whatever we feel the need to. Then, hop around and visit other writers, offering support, help, ideas, and so on. It's an amazing group!


My current manuscript is going well. I'm at around the 60k mark and have a little more to go until I'm finished. But, a few days ago, an idea for another story snuck its way into my head and will NOT leave me alone.
I wrote the idea down, thinking that it will stay put until I'm done with my current MS.
Yeah, right. So, I decided to write out my outline for the new story, which I didn't want to do because that meant taking time away from the current WIP. Well, coming up with an outline didn't help either... in fact, it only made me want to continue on.
I really want to finish this current WIP before delving into another because I'd rather not work on two projects. I've tried it before, and while for some, it might work, for me, it's daunting. But maybe I should try it again.... anyone else deal with this? What do you do when this happens? I'm thinking of just going with the flow and see where it leads.

~Happy writing!

Happy 1 year birthday to Express Yourself!

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY TO EXPRESS YOURSELF! Dani and I created this meme a year ago and appreciate all the support we've received and continue to receive, from our fellow bloggers. You guys rock!

For those that don't know about Express Yourself ... it's a weekly meme that I co-host with Dani. We come up with a question/topic of some sort for other bloggers to share. The goal is for all of us to get to know one another better by expressing different things about ourselves.
Sound fun? Join us in the linky below!


The topic for this week:  What has been your favorite question(s) during the first year of EYM?

I love sharing and reading quotes so any of the EYM's that we asked for quotes were my faves.
I also enjoyed the times we asked about playlists. It was fun going around to other blogs and listening to music.
Some other topics that I enjoyed reading about and writing were:
Who is your favorite couple? Fictional, historical, or even present day.
Name a favorite love scene from a book.
Are there any writerly books or books in general you'd recommend to your fellow writers/readers?

Here's the EYM badge for the month of October 2013: