Tuesday, April 19, 2022

I Need Your Help!

Hey all, I need your help.

A Reckless Heart is up for a Rone Award (a prestigious award in the indie romance community, of which I am a part). The first round of judging* starts today and I would love it if all my friends would vote. 

  1. Go to https://indtale.com/user?current=node/1

2.     Create an account if you don't already have one (it's safe, I promise, and once you've voted you can unsubscribe to any emails you might get).

3.     Check your email and VERIFY the account.

4.     Click on https://indtale.com/2022-rone-award-reader-voting and scroll to WEEK 2.

5.     There are 3 categories. A Reckless Heart is in Contemporary: Steamy. Click on it. Then go to the bottom of the category and click VOTE.

6.     THAT'S IT, YOU'RE DONE!

*This first round is purely a popularity contest (which I hate) and so you don't have to have read the book. BUT, if I make it past this round, my book gets in front of editors, agents, and others in the industry and THAT will help my career. 




Wednesday, April 13, 2022

Support Ukraine!

I’m so thrilled to be a guest on this blog. Thank you so much for hosting me. My name is N. N. Light, otherwise known as Mrs. N. I write uplifting stories with my husband and better half, Mr. N. 


 

In late February of this year, Russia invaded Ukraine. My heart plummeted as I saw the brute force of Russia’s army attach a sovereign nation. Can this really be happening? After all we have been through as a people, can we just sit by and watch the elimination of a race of people? I knew I needed to find some way to help. I certainly didn’t have the resources to fly over there but what could I do? The answer came in an Instagram post about two weeks ago. My fellow author, Dania Voss, put out a message on Instagram asking for more romance stories for a charity anthology. I signed up right away and I’m so honored to be a part of the Love Wins anthology. 100% of the proceeds go to a charity with boots on the ground helping Ukrainians in need. 

We can’t stop the bombs from falling but we can do our part from this corner of our world. Please consider purchasing the anthology for $1.99. Not only will you be helping innocent people struggling to stay alive, but you’ll get fifteen romance novellas/short stories. These stories vary between sweet and contemporary. 


 

Series Title: 

Love Wins: A Ukraine Charity Anthology

 

Series Authors: 

Dania Voss, Maribelle McCrea, Marlene Cheng, K.M. Jenkins, Deborah King, Annie McEwen, Pamela Clayfield, Tiffany Carby, Aimee O’Brian, R.A. Clarke, N. N. Light, Judy Fisher, Robert Beech, E.J. Powell, Alex Grehy, Maris Parker

 

Genre: 

Contemporary Romance, Charity Anthology, Romance Short Stories

 


Book Blurb:

 

LOVE WINS—a Charity Anthology to support Ukrainian refugees

More than 15 contemporary romance authors have joined forces to create this unique collection of stories, covering an assortment of different sub-genres and tropes.

LOVE WINS is set to publish on April 21, 2022, with 100% of the proceeds going to World Vision’s Ukrainian Refugee Fund. This organization has people on the ground in the Ukraine and Romania, providing food, shelter, medical aid, and all necessary assistance for the needy, with the focus of making sure children are safe and provided for.

LOVE WINS is available for a limited time only. Make a difference for the people of Ukraine—buy your copy today!

 

Stories include:

 

ALL ROADS LEAD TO SHEPHERD GROVE--DANIA VOSS

PAST, PERFECT, POLO--MARIBELLE MCCREA

THE MADAM’S FRIEND--MARLENE F CHENG

THE SUNFLOWER MEADOW--K.M. JENKINS

DESTINED DREAMER--DEBORAH KING

THE SLEEPLESS CAFÉ--ANNIE MCEWEN

HAVEN OF SECRETS--PAMELA CLAYFIELD

GOLD MINE--TIFFANY CARBY

MISROUTED BY LOVE ~ A TALE OF MAYBE--AIMEE O’BRIAN

CLICKING--R.A. CLARKE

PLANTING THE SEEDS OF LOVE--N. N. LIGHT

THE POWER OF LOVE--JUDY FISHER

LOVE, ETERNAL--ROBERT BEECH

SHIFTER: A WERE-CAT’S TALE--E.J. POWELL

ON THE WINGS OF KITES--ALEX GREHY 

MOANA ACCOUNTANT--KERRY CARLISLE

TWO WEEKS IN THE TETONS--MARIS PARKER


Authors include Dania Voss, Maribelle McCrea, Marlene Cheng, K.M. Jenkins, Deborah King, Annie McEwen, Pamela Clayfield, Tiffany Carby, Aimee O’Brian, R.A. Clarke, N. N. Light, Judy Fisher, Robert Beech, E.J. Powell, Alex Grehy, Maris Parker

THANK YOU so much for supporting those in need.

 


Excerpt from Planting the Seeds of Love:

 

Jack took a step back letting go of her pinky. He crossed his arms; his eyes glittered angrily.

 

"You love me?" He snorted. "You don't even know I exist."

 

Sally's nostrils flared. Taking a step back, she crossed her arms.

 

"That's a fine thing to say to me after all we've been through." She turned to leave. "Maybe Trevor's right..."

 

"What?" Jack sat down on the cot, not looking at her. "What did Trevor tell you?"

 

"Trevor has a buyer for the farm. It's a friend of his father's and he loves the idea of a brewery out here in the country. He wants to add a restaurant and make it some sort of oasis for city folk." She ran her fingers through her blonde hair.

 

"A buyer?" He put his head in his hands and sighed. "It's too fast."

 

"What are you talking about?" She looked down at her watch, wishing she hadn't come. Her sister was right; men were nothing but trouble.

 

"Look, I know I've messed things up." He stood and walked towards her. "But you've got to give the farm and me a second chance." He extended his hand through the bars.

 

Sally's emotions shook her body. Guilt, love, pain, regret, anger and hope battled for supremacy in her heart. She eyed his outstretched hand warily. Could she trust him? Could he be depended upon?

 

"Why should I give you another chance, Jack?" She let her arms fall to her sides. A force not her own pulled her body closer to his. She whispered, "You hurt me." Tears welled up but she didn't care.

 

He reached up and wiped her tears away.

 

"Oh Sally," he whispered, his voice cracking with emotion. 

 

Her lower lip quivered.

 

"I'm so sorry. I'm a first-class jerk." He cupped her face with his hands. "Please don't cry."

 

Sally closed her eyes. She felt like a tiny dingy in the middle of the ocean, battered and torn in pieces. She leaned her head against the bars.

 

"Your opinion matters most, it always has. When you say things like you just did, it tears me apart." She lifted her head. "I needyou, Jack. I can't do this without you."

 

Jack exhaled slowly.

 

"That wasn't me; it was my jealousy rearing its ugly head."

 

"What do you mean? What do you have to be jealous of?" Her brows furrowed, she thought hard. 

 

“I’m jealous of how happy you seem to be with Trevor,” he replied. 

 

Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):

 

Preorder your e-copy for only $1.99. The price goes up to $4.99 after release week! 100% of the proceeds going to World Vision’s Ukrainian Refugee Fund.


 

Amazon US https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09WP6XHRF

 

Amazon CA https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B09WP6XHRF

 

Amazon UK https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09WP6XHRF

 

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60739931-love-wins

 

BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/books/love-wins-a-ukraine-charity-anthology-by-dania-voss-and-pamela-clayfield

 


Author Biography:

 

N. N. Light is the award-winning husband-wife writing team, commonly known as Mr. N and Mrs. N. Books are their addiction and lifeblood.

 

Life is meant to be lived; cherish the exciting moments, and relish in those all too brief moments of relaxation. They are here to live their own lives, read as many books as humanly possible and live it passionately. N. N. Light's Book Heaven serves as a vessel to project their passions, and clue in their loyal readers as to what inspires them in this crazy world. So, sit back, relax, and read on. One link to rule them all: https://bio.link/nnlightsbookheaven


 

Social Media Links:

 

One link to rule them all: https://bio.link/nnlightsbookheaven

Website http://www.nnlightsbookheaven.com/

Twitter https://twitter.com/NNP_W_Light

Instagram https://instagram.com/nnlightsbookheaven

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7873791.N_N_Light

BookBub https://www.bookbub.com/profile/n-n-light

Monday, April 11, 2022

The Passover Timeline

It’s the week before Passover and I totally messed up. Big time.

 

When I started hosting Passover, I didn’t exactly know what to do. I mean, I knew I had to clean and cook, but how and when and what? So I bought a book. The book was very helpful—it explained everything and provided a timeline for what to do when. I mean, what’s the point of cleaning your sink if you still need the same sink to clean the other things? I started following the instructions. And then we got to the blowtorch.

 

The book is written by and for Orthodox families. While I might observe some of the traditions a little more rigorously than some, I am not Orthodox. And if I have to clean my stove with a blowtorch in order to make it Kosher for Passover, then I’m going to have to buy a new house, because there is no way I’ll be able to use a blowtorch without setting my entire house on fire. Therefore, I adapted. Before long, I realized there were too many things in this book that didn’t apply to me or that I wasn’t comfortable with, and I needed something else.

 

Enter our friend, Lisa. A college friend of my husband’s, she was raised Reform but is now Orthodox, and she’s very helpful. She sent me the most amazing document ever. I mean, it has saved me numerous times. It’s a checklist and a timeline and I don’t even know what else. All I know is that I follow it every year and it is amazing.

 

This year, however, I messed up. Since Passover follows the lunar calendar, the date changes every year on the regular calendar. Each year I open the document in February, calculate when the holiday is, and adjust her timeline accordingly. For some reason, please don’t ask me why, I looked at the secular calendar to figure out when Passover was this year. 

 

Now, the secular calendar has always, always, ALWAYS gotten the date wrong. Or rather, labeled the first DAY of Passover. Jewish holidays actually start the night before. So I saw Passover on the secular calendar and made my adjustments based on when the first seder was supposed to me. 

 

It’s 2022. I should know better. Of course, THIS year, the secular calendar I followed decided it would be more appropriate to label the date of the first seder as Passover, which it is, but maybe they could give people like me a little warning? 

 

Anyway, I set up my entire timeline based on the wrong date. It wasn’t until I was coordinating with the Princess, finding out when she’d be home, that I realized all my prep was off by a day. After freaking out for a moment, and then being relieved that I was actually early rather than late, I tried to adjust the timeline. 

 

Apparently, I was still jetlagged. Or coffee deprived. Because once again, I adjusted the wrong way. Instead of one day early, I’m now three days early. Which honestly wouldn’t be a bad thing. It means I’ll be less tired at the actual seder—obviously, whomever decided we needed to finish the crazy amount of cleaning we have to do a couple of hours before making the biggest meal of the year was someone who didn’t have to do the actual cooking and cleaning. However, no one likes having to start eating the Passover food any earlier than necessary. And having to be extra careful where we put ingredients and utensils, watching out for crumbs, and generally being on high alert for an extra few days is not helpful.

 

So now I’m trying to re-readjust my timeline again, and figure out what I can push off until tomorrow, while battling my “fear of procrastinating” and my “really not in the mood to do anything.” 

 

Bottom line: once again, Passover is going to last more than eight days in this house. Sorry!

Wednesday, April 6, 2022

Welcome Back, Vicky Burkholder

I'm delighted to welcome back Vicky Burkholder to my blog.

What inspired the story: That’s probably the hardest question to answer. I was just “what iffing” and went through the “what if you were really rich (I wish!) and everyone thinks you have everything going for you. What if you don’t? What if there’s a madman who wants what you have and will do anything—including killing—to get it? What if this all happens on a spaceship so there’s no escape? What if…? Like that. I do a lot of that kind of thinking when I’m working on a book. 

 

In writing Lost Among the Stars, what was the most fun? I’ll admit it, I’m a nerd. So the research on what makes a planet livable for humans was the most fun for me. I have a master’s degree in library science and absolutely love doing research. So much so that I often get lost in the world building. But… how far does it have to be from a sun? What are the climates like? The land forms? The animals? And so on. I love that stuff. 

 

Are you working on other books in this series? Yes, definitely. I have two more books to come in this series: “Searching Among the Stars” and “Found Among the Stars”  



Tagline: How do you escape death when you are lost in space and a killer is aboard your ship?


Blurb/Synopsis: Amanda Ki's humanitarian trip to Xy-Three is fraught with assassins and saboteurs who are popping up faster than she can deal with them. Caught up in a web of intrigue, kidnapping, and terror, Mandy joins forces with the captain of the Phoenix, Declan Chalmers. Declan is tall, dark, handsome, and probably the most arrogant, dictatorial man she has ever met. He's also one of the few people she can trust. Declan doesn't know what to expect from the VIP who heads up a million-dollar enterprise, when she boards his ship. The tiny, exotic, and packed full of grit woman is not only drop dead gorgeous and smart, she's also deadly when it comes to martial arts. A skill he wants on his side when the space craft is sabotaged. Thrown together, the two form a tight bond, but if they aren't careful, they could end up dead.

 

Excerpt:


Declan took in the woman sitting in front of him, from the long, coal-black hair held back with a tie, to the expensive, but practical jumpsuit. She was everything Declan disliked—a bureaucrat of the worst type—stubborn, fiery, and determined. Revising his earlier thoughts, she was neither old, nor wrinkled, but Dec wasn’t sure about the coddling yet. “There’s no need to thank me. You handled the situation exceedingly well. However,” his voice changed from silky smooth to one of warning, “in the future, please don’t give my crew any orders without checking with me first.” 

 

Miss Ki stared at him. He could see the muscles in her jaw working. Fine, so she was angry. Dec wasn’t exactly happy with the way this trip was starting out either. 

 

“I wasn’t aware I needed your permission to do my job. These people are my responsibility.” 

 

“And this ship and her crew are mine. While you’re on my ship, you will follow my orders. Is that clear, Ms. Ki?” 

 

Mandy stood, bracing her hands on the desk. “Like hell I will. You may be in charge of this ship, but I am in charge of this mission. Is that clear, Captain?” Without waiting for an answer, she stalked from the room.


Book Links 

 

The Wild Rose Press: https://www.thewildrosepress.com/bookauthor/vicky-burkholder

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Among-Stars-Galactic-Danger-ebook/dp/B09QJJL8ZH

Barnes & Noble: Lost Among the Stars by Vicky Burkholder | NOOK Book (eBook) | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/ 

Google Books: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Vicky_Burkholder 


Bio


As her alter-ego, Vicky has multiple homes all over the universe. She looks human - for the most part - but when she starts writing about characters being able to move things or flicking fire from their fingertips, or changing the course of rivers, people tend to get a little freaked out. She found the one guy out there in the universe who loves her for who she is and they've been together forever and raised four wonderful (now) adults. Her career includes work as a technical writer/editor, a stringer for the local newspaper, and an editor and copy editor for various publishers. At various times in her life, she has been a teacher, a secretary, a short-order cook, a computer specialist, a DJ, and a librarian. When not editing or writing, she can be found in the kitchen creating gluten free goodies for her family.

 

Author Links 


Website:  http://www.vicky-burkholder.com

Amazon Author Pagehttps://www.amazon.com/Vicky-Burkholder

Goodreads Pagehttps://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1264928.Vicky_Burkholder

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Vicky-Burkholder-535739543163598/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/vickyburkholder

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/vicky-burkholder

Monday, April 4, 2022

Muscle Mania

Writing is like a muscle. You must use it, even when you don’t want to, in order to keep it supple and strong. With that in mind, I jumped into the 30K writing challenge sponsored by my local writing chapter during the month of February. Because I’m me (read anal, type A, etc), I divided the words by the number of days and made my goal 1072 words per day.

 

I’ve had a hard time writing ever since the pandemic began. My brain has been focused on keeping everyone I love alive and worrying over them, and even though things are much better, my brain has been slow to recover. Add in new working styles—my husband now works from home full time—and new studying styles, plus the normal stress of everyday life, and well, it’s been a struggle. So, I figured a challenge would be a great way to get that writing muscle into shape.

 

I’ve participated in the challenge in the past. Back then, I consistently hit that 1072 words daily. No matter what. This time around? Some days were better than others. Part of the challenge is that we report our word count daily. One person keeps track of everyone’s progress, and several people serve as cheerleaders. There is no “bad day.” Even if you get zero words on the page, you’re still cheered on and encouraged to try again tomorrow. So, I worked hard to report my word counts without any negativity. And I was one of the cheerleaders for the group—no pompoms, but I’m excellent at encouraging others (myself, not so much).

 

I succeeded, with about two or three days to spare. I made great headway on a new story I’m working on, thanks to my oldest daughter’s inspiration. More on that another time. Once the month was over, I took a deep breath and decided that I could continue the challenge on my own, at least until I finished this manuscript. Almost thirty days of practice should make it a habit, right?

 

Sort of. We took a two-week long vacation, where I didn’t write at all. Preparation for said trip, and jetlag afterwards made me miss a lot of the month of March. And now we have Passover preparation. But I’m determined to write daily and striving for approximately 1,000 words (or a scene) a day. I’m not keeping track on an excel spreadsheet, and I’m not receiving a cool pin for my achievement, but I’m plodding along (plotting along?  ). And ultimately, I’ll finish this manuscript—hopefully by this summer.

 

What muscle are you working?