Break Out the Bubbly! Romance Giveaway

Let's start the New Year off with an All-Genres Romance Giveaway aptly entitled: Break Out the Bubbly.

The Break Out the Bubbly event runs from January 1through 21.

Awesome prizes are offered in the Break Out the Bubbly Giveaway.

Wouldn't you just love to win one of these: a Kindle Fire 7 Tablet * an Ebook Prize Pack * Amazon Gift Cards * a Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice Tote?

Great Authors and Books to Start the New Year

It’s a new year, romance lovers! We’re breaking out the virtual champagne to celebrate the 365 reading days ahead with a giveaway. Enter now for your chance to win.

But Wait, There's More

If you have a New Year’s resolution to read more books, we're here to get you started.

We have more than 50 awesome romance ebooks all priced at 2.99 or less in a Book Fair which has a bonus giveaway.

Be sure to enter the Book Fair Bonus Giveaway when you visit the Fair.

Author Sponsors of Break Out the Bubbly

Anne McClane • Ashlee Price • Aubrey Wynne • Blake Andrews • Brenda Whiteside • Brooklyn Knight • Candace Sams • Chloe Flowers • Christine Grabowski • CJ Zahner • Clarissa Lake • Claudia Burgoa • Crystal Dawn • D. Lieber • Donna Fasano • Elena Gray • Eliza Watson • Elizabeth Rose • Honey Phillips • Jacqueline Diamond • Jacquie Biggar • Jan O'Hara • Jennifer Wilck • Joan Reeves • Joanne Dannon • Jordyn White • Josie Riviera • JS Bright • Lucy Lakestone • Karen Michelle Nutt • Kat Drennan • Katherine Gilbert • Kelli McCracken • Kerry Blaisdell • Liza Street • M.C. Cerny • Meg Ripley • Maria Geraci • Mona Sedrak • Natalie Ann • Nicole Casey • Nina Crespo • Rachel Everly • Rose Pearson • Sarah Williams • Skyler Andra • Soraya Naomi • Stacy Gold • Stephanie Queen • Sydney Aaliyah Michelle • Theresa Paolo • Victoria Grant

Takeaway Truth

Someone's going to win these great prizes. Everyone can take advantage of the bargain books.

Add some romance and spice to this cold, wet January. Enter the Break Out the Bubbly Giveaway and visit the Book Fair and enter that giveaway too.

Wisdom for the New Year

The countdown is over, and 2019 has just arrived.

I've always considered a New Year as a blank page on which to write what's in your heart and soul.

Right now, look within and ask yourself what you want this year for yourself and for those you love.

Make a plan to be the kind of person who makes that happen.

Be bold. Dream big.

Be brave. Take action.

Be persistent. Never take no for an answer.

Be happy. Love what you do.

Be satisfied. Believe what you do matters.

Be true to yourself and your ideals.

Believe. In yourself. In your family. In your friends. In your faith.

Takeaway Truth

Always do the right thing for the right reasons. Happy New Year.

5 Rules for Happiness in 2019

Got your bubbly ready? Toast your friends and loved ones then share this with them.

5 Rules for Happiness in 2019

1. Never take advice from anyone who's more screwed up than you.

Always ask yourself if the person dishing out the advice is living life more effectively than you. If not, smile, nod, and ignore what they say. Unless what they tell you is based upon their own bad experience from which they've learned a better way

2. Learn from others who have been where you want to go.

Model their behavior. Find out how they did it and adapt their method to your efforts. Unless the way they achieved it was dishonest. You can't model negative behavior without far-reaching consequences.

3. Stop working hard--learn to work effectively instead.

Unless you assess your efforts and realize you really aren't working hard--you're just giving lip service to the idea of working hard.

4. Enjoy yourself more.

Unless you're already spending way too much time in the pursuit of pleasure. You have to have a good balance between hard, effective work and play. Too much of either will upset your happiness quotient.

5. Change your attitude about work.

The more you see work as something exciting and fun, the less your brain links work to unpleasantness.

Good: Work = Fun.

Bad: Work = Pain.

Those who love what they're doing have an easier time succeeding because the more you enjoy something; the less it seems like work. This formula is a winner: Love + Work = Happiness.

Takeaway Truth

Invest time, energy, and brain power in a worthwhile goal. Happy New Year! Pass me a glass of champagne.

Learn Words to Auld Lang Syne

The time is ticking away to New Year's Day. It's time for you to learn the lyrics to Auld Lang Syne, the song just about everyone on the planet sings at midnight on New Year's Eve.

Here's the song with 5 of its many verses and the chorus to be sung between verses.

Now you'll know more than the first few words when you lift your glass of bubbly.

This is the modernized version, not the Scots version with words you may not understand, like my jo which means my dear.

Click to read the Scots version and the history of the song.

Click here to read Robert Burns's original Scots verses, the English translation, the Scots pronunciation guide, and the pronunciation guide using the poet's own Ayrshire dialect.

AULD LANG SYNE: New Year's Anthem

Verse 1

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old lang syne?

Chorus

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

Verse 2

And surely you'll buy your pint cup!
and surely I'll buy mine!
And we'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

Chorus

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

Verse 3

We two have run about the slopes,
and picked the daisies fine;
But we've wandered many a weary foot,
since auld lang syne.


Chorus

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

Verse 4

We two have paddled in the stream,
from morning sun till dine†;
But seas between us broad have roared
since auld lang syne.

Chorus

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

Verse 5

And there's a hand my trusty friend!
And give me a hand o' thine!
And we'll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne.

Chorus

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

Takeaway Truth

Can't wait for New Year's Eve. How about you?

7 Pieces of Wisdom Writers Need to Heed

A lot of writers bewail the fact that they aren't selling enough books. Hey, I've been known to feel that way and say that too.

It's natural to bewail the sales numbers when we compare what we're selling now to what we sold a few years ago.

7 Pieces of Wisdom for Writers

1. Learn everything you can about marketing and pick what you can do in that arena without sacrificing the writing. Yes, we must market and promote, but find an ad venue that offers results. Do your homework rather than shotgun it--scattering your dollars around thoughtlessly. Pick one or two social media sites you enjoy rather than trying to be on all of them. That way lies insanity.

2. Write and keep improving. Never let a day pass that you didn't write something--even if it's just a few sentences. I come from the old school of calculating how many days it takes to write X number of pages.

What is a novel? 4 pages a day for 3 months, or roughly 90 days which is 360 pages.  At 250 words/page (which is how publishers always computed it), that's a 90,000 word novel. (4 X 90 = 360 X 250 = 90,000)

Nothing you write is wasted. Even if you cut it from a manuscript, you learned something by writing it--and then editing it out.

3. Discipline yourself to write a manuscript from beginning to end without going back to edit, polish, etc. That's the secret of producing more. When you get to the end, that's when you edit, proof, and polish.

4. Strive to publish at least 2 books a year to keep growing your audience. In today's highly competitive publishing environment, those who produce often do have an edge.

5. Learn to ignore bad reviews because you will ALWAYS get them.  There's no avoiding them. Just read some of the scathing reviews the biggest names in your genre, and you'll realize that there are a ton of people who don't like the most popular names in your genre!

6. Focus on the good--making sales even if they're few and the good reviews you do get.

7. Adopt the attitude that you're in a marathon, not a sprint. Tomorrow will be better and brighter.

Takeaway Truth

Write--often. Write--a lot. All writing is practice.

I'm sure your parents told you the same thing mine told me. Practice makes perfect.

Writing, writing, writing. That's the practice that will make you a better writer--and produce a big inventory. Then all you have to do is edit, polish, and proof. *g*

Joy to the World

Christmas Greetings to everyone.

Hope your day is full of joy.

Takeaway Truth

Peace on Earth. Please.

Christmas Eve: Texas Family Style

Are the kids on Santa watch?

In our home, we go to Christmas Eve services at church.

Afterwards, we come home to a meal with lots of food and laughter and noise.

We play games usually with either a Christmas music in the background or a Christmas movie as background sound for everything going on.

We're a musical family in that several of us play or played instruments, most of us sing, and all of us love music. As you can see by the YouTube video that follows, our taste in music is very eclectic.

One song I haven't heard this year is one of my all-time favorites. So here's a little video for you. This one was made in the 1990's.



If you want to see the classic Gene Autry version, click HERE because it can be viewed only on YouTube.

Takeaway Truth

Merry Texas Christmas, You All!