November 29, 2009

Pet Contest Winners

Since the heroine in BEGUILED is a dogwalker, Mark (my co-author) and I thought it would be fun to feature some of ya'll's pets in the novel. So way back in the fall of 2008 we held a Pet Contest. You submitted your pets' names, photos and an anecdote. Every entry was simply wonderful!

One of the things we discovered as we wrote the book was that sometimes we had to make up pets whose names were easy to remember. (One of the heroine's clients has four cats. We named them Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion. That way it would be easy for the reader to keep up with them all.)

Other times, we needed names that evoked a particular mode. For example, we needed a big, scary looking dog. So, we made him an Argentino Mastiff with the name of Toro.

All that to say: We didn't get to use as many of your entries as we'd hoped. But it was not because your beloved animals weren't worthy, it was simply a matter of which pets fit what we needed to accomplish in the book.

Also I feel I should mention that some pets don't make an actual appearance, but are mentioned in passing.

Anyhoo, pictures of our winning entries are in my scrapbook (click on the scrapbook in the COF section). There, you can see more about the pets and what scene they are in and a little bit about them. Here is a list of them in order of appearance:

1. Harley is a mutt who belongs to Patricia E. of Texas (Harley---pictured on the right--is renamed Romeo in the book because I had a rather prominent secondary character in my TROUBLE books whose name was Harley.)
2. Tippy is a Pomchi who belongs to Linda K. of Nebraska
3. Tiffany is a German Shepard/Lab who belongs to Deb B. of California
4. Cocoa is a Chocolate Lab who belongs to Ashlee D. of Alabama
5. Sahsha is a Shih-Tzu mix who belongs to Aveina P. of Texas
6. Shamrock is a Tree Frog who belongs to Evelyn O. of California
7. Steve Rogers is a mutt who belongs to my son of California

Thanks to all who entered! I enjoyed reading about your pets and seeing their adorable pictures.

***

We've chosen a winner for last week and will let you know who it is as soon as we hear from her.

Meanwhile, if you would like a chance to WIN a free advance copy of BEGUILED, the new romantic suspense I co-authored with J. Mark Bertrand, leave a comment here on my blog between now (November 29) and Saturday (December 5).  We will pick a winner at that time, then start all over again on Sunday.

posted by Deeanne on 11/29/2009 - 32 comments - Post a Comment    RSS FEED

November 24, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving

We're having Thanksgiving at our house again this year. All the kids are coming home from the four corners--the married son & his wife from CA and the youngest son from school up in NY and the daughter at college here in Texas and the daughter who just graduated.  In addition to them, we will have friends and aunts and uncles and grandparents.  Can't wait!  What are you doing for Thanksgiving?

***

Our beloved Evelyn from California won last week's ARC! Congrats, girl!

If you would like a chance to WIN a free advance copy of my new romantic suspense, BEGUILED, leave a comment here on my blog between now (November 24) and Saturday (November 28).  We will pick a winner at that time, then start all over again on Sunday.

posted by Deeanne on 11/24/2009 - 31 comments - Post a Comment    RSS FEED

November 16, 2009

Win An ARC

The ARCs (Advanced Reading Copies) of BEGUILED--the new romantic suspense I co-wrote with J. Mark Bertrand--have arrived and from now until the official book hits the shelves, we'll be giving away one per week!

For those of you who are new to ARCs, it is basically my new book in Word format.  No frills, no pretty chapter headings, just an unedited Word document bound in a white cover. Here's a glimpse of what it's about:

Rylee Monroe, a dogwalker in Charleston's wealthiest neighborhood, never feared the streets at night. But now a thief is terrorizing the area and worse, someone seems to be targeting her.

Reporter Logan Woods is covering the break-ins with the hope of publishing them as a true-crime book. The more he digs, the more he realizes this beguiling dogwalker seems to be at the center of everything.

As danger draws ever closer, Logan must choose: Chase the girl, the story, or plunge into the shadows after the villain who threatens everything?

If you would like a chance to WIN a free advance copy of my new release, leave a comment here on my blog between now (November 16) and Sunday (November 22).  We will pick a winner at that time, then start all over again next Monday. 

Also, this is the book that I ran a PET CONTEST for last year (November 2008). Next week I'll be revealing whose pets make an appearance in BEGUILED. Until then, you can preorder BEGUILED at CBD, amazon, Bethany House or where ever you like to shop best!

posted by Deeanne on 11/16/2009 - 48 comments - Post a Comment    RSS FEED

November 09, 2009

Recycled Costumes

My family loves to dress up. Give us an excuse and we're there. (All except my husband. He's way too cool.) This year for Halloween, the girls went with a recycled theme. Now by "recycled costumes" I don't mean the girls used costumes from previous years, I mean they used recycled newspapers and grocery sacks to make their costumes!! (To see larger images, right click and open in a new window.)

Our 20yo went to a Halloween party as a newspaper and her friend as a paper-boy! (Note she's also black-and-white-and-read-all-over.)

Our 22yo went as ... a recycler? I don't know. All I know is her entire costume was made out of garbage bags and plastic shopping bags (like you get at the grocery store).

What did your kids dress up as? 

posted by Deeanne on 11/09/2009 - 3 comments - Post a Comment    RSS FEED

November 02, 2009

It's Done

My deadline for Maid To Match was Nov. 1st. I mailed the manuscript in today. Boy, does it feel good to have that puppy in the mail!!  It was supposed to be finished Sept 1st, but writing two books in one year threw my schedule all out of whack, so BHP let me have a couple of extra months to finish up.

I was still so concerned about being on time that I got myself a PIT Crew. This is a Personal Intercessary Team that commited to pray for me every single day until the manuscript was finished. I cannot tell you what a tremendous difference they made!

It was made up of six people. My aunt and uncle, Larry & Donna Drake. Two women from my hometown church who have known me since I was little ... Pat Kane and Linda Wiltze.  And a couple from BHP who I have become particularly close to ... Gary & Carol Johnson.

There were also countless others praying for me: my women's Bible study group, my family, my daughters and daughter-in-law, some friends and even my hairdresser!!

My sister, Gayle Evers, was also very involved in this manuscript. She's my plotting partner, but this time she actually went with me on the research trip to Biltmore. She helped me find resources, we plotted the book together and then she sent me off to write it. But if the characters did something unexpected, it was so great to be able to pick up the phone and discuss it with her. The two of us would decide if I should let the character do what they were wanting or if I should rein them in.

My critique partner, Meg Moseley, read each chapter as I wrote it and emailed it right back with an ongoing critique.

When the draft was completed, she read it, as did my mom & dad. The three of them gave me excellent feedback on how I could make it better and at what points I might want to clarify a few things.

All of which led me to today ... the mailing of the manuscript to BHP. And now, even more team work begins as editorial, marketing, sales, art and production all catch the ball and take it to the endzone. Whew! Now that's what I call a TEAM effort!!!

posted by Deeanne on 11/02/2009 - 15 comments - Post a Comment    RSS FEED

Back to Previous Page