Scavenger Hunt, SMP new releases, and News

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Once I settle on the days I plan on posting and what will be scheduled for those days, I'll let you know. The plan is to have this schedule solidified by this weekend (fingers and toes crossed).

In the meantime, I'm over at Night Owl Reviews for their Halloween Scavenger Hunt. I can't play as I'm a participating sponsor, so please play for me :) Besides, you'll find some great new authors and new books to read. Here's how it works:

From now until October 31st, you enter the hunt by reading book blurbs and doing some fill in the blanks. It's real easy (so be sure to have a pen and paper handy as the list of fill ins is long). Along the way, you also get entered for great prizes which range from Kindles and $100 gift cards to eBooks and signed copies.

And beginning in November The Romance Reviews will be having their End of the Year Splash (YES!) Party. It runs from November 15th through December 15th. And I'm participating in this one also. Secrets of Jenkins Bridge book cover will be one of the book covers featured in the book cover matching game :) I've decided also to give away one copy of Secrets of Jenkins Bridge during this time. They are also doing Q&A games where you have to read book blurbs or excerpts depending on each author's Q&A by hopping to their links (mine too!). There are some great prizes with the grand prize being $100 gift card. More details coming soon as the time draws closer.

And some shout outs to my fellow SMP sisters. Last week's releases are:

 


To Dance In Liradon by Adrienne Clarke
http://soulmatepublishing.com/to-dance-with-liradon

A Pirate's Ransom by Gerri Brousseau
http://soulmatepublishing.com/a-pirates-ransom

Unsafe Haven by Char Chaffin
http;//soulmatepublishing.com/unsafe-haven 

And this week's new releases:

Broken Prophecy by Raven Raye
http://soulmatepublishing.com/broken-prophecy 

Karma and Mayhem by Catherine E. McLean
http://soulmatepublishing.com/karma-and-mayhem 

Rescuing Lacey by Rebecca Heflin
http://soulmatepublishing.com/rescuing-lacey








And I'm working on signing myself up for hosting guests here for their blog tours. So, if you'd like to be a guest blogger here, feel free to drop me a line. I plan on doing guest blogs on Fridays.

Genre Favorites Blog Fest

Good Monday Morning to all :)

It's time for Alex J. Cavanaugh's Genre Favorites Blog Fest.

One blogfest, four favorites!

List your favorite genre of:

Movie

Music

Books

And a guilty pleasure genre from any of the three categories! 

 

If you'd like to join in, just click on my title for this blog and it will take you over to Alex's blog where you can sign up :)

 

Here are mine:

 

My favorite movie genre: Romance   

I'm a sucker for a good romance and this one had not only me in tears, but also my husband. That's how I rate a good romance. If it'll make him cry, it's a winner! I love the emotional roller coaster that romance movies bring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 My favorite music genre:

Yup, good old country music. Bet my school years friends would have never guessed that in a million years. I was Pop and Rock through and through growing up. Swore I'd never listen to Country Music as that's all my parents listened to. Now, I love it. Even the old Country Music. There's nothing like it :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My favorite books genre:

Had to have seen this one coming. I love Romance books. As far as a sub-genre goes, I like them all from crazy space ones to the contemporary and all in between. I just love my HEAs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And now my guilty pleasure genre for movies:

Right up my alley. Horror movies. I love the whole 'hide my face but peek through my fingers and jumping a mile high' thing. Even now, if I watch a real good one, I'm afraid to get out of my bed after. Lol. Go ahead and laugh. It's okay. I love it :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, there are mine :) Going to go visit everyone else's! Have a great Monday.

Woman's Right To Vote

I didn't know what I was going to blog about today. In fact, on another writer's blog I told her I probably wouldn't have time today to blog.

Then, I found an email from a very close friend of mine, and I think we need a little reminder of how important it is to vote in November no matter what side you take. The following is the story of some women who sacrificed their lives for all women and our right to vote.

I'm no political genius and only debate issues with my hubby (lol, that's tons of fun). Just a gentle reminder that our vote does count.

This is the story of our Mothers and Grandmothers who lived only 90 years ago.

Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.

 
The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote.

 
Lucy Burns

And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'
They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head, and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.
 
Dora Lewis
They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed, and knocked her out cold. Her cell mate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting, and kicking the women.

Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote. For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms.
 
Alice Paul
When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat, and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.

 
Mrs. Pauline Adams in the prison garb she wore while serving a 60 day sentence.
Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's movie 'Iron Jawed Angels.' It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder.

Miss Edith Ainge of Jamestown, New York
All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote. Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient.

Berthe Arnold, CSU graduate
My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry. She was--with herself. 'One thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,' she said. 'What would those women think of the way I use, or don't use, my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn.' The right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her 'all over again.'

HBO released the movie on video and DVD. I wish all history, social studies, and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum I want it shown on Bunco/Bingo night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers we should, and I think a little shock therapy is in order.

Conferring over ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution at National Woman's Party headquarters, Kackson Place, Washington, D.C. Left to right: Mrs. Lawrence Lewis, Mrs. Abby Scott Baker, Anita Pollitzer, Alice Paul, Florence Boeckel, Mabel Vernon (standing, right).

It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy.

The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.'

Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know. We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote democrat, republican, or independent party - remember to vote.
 
Helena Hill Weed, Norwalk, Conn. Serving 3-day sentence in D.C. prison for carrying banner, 'Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.'

So, refresh MY memory. Some women won't vote this year because - why, exactly?

• We have carpool duties?
• We have to get to work?
• Our vote doesn't matter?
• It's raining?
• I'm so busy...I've got so much on my plate!

Six Sentence Sunday

Welcome to another Six Sentence Sunday.

I haven't done it in a couple of weeks. Sorry.

I'm pulling these six from Boneknapper. Ciarra is at Moonstarz, her best friend's metaphysical store. And a gorgeous man just walked in. Her friend is attempting to get her to focus back on their conversation about the grave digging.

   There was no way this man could be single.
   "Earth to Ciarra. Back to the finger," Tiesha redirected.
   "Can't I drool for one second?" And then the all too familiar image of her dead husband, Jack, appeared in
   her mind, cooling all wicked thoughts toward Mr. Gorgeous. "Alright."



Hope y'all have a great rest to your weekend ;)

Lots of News

I have all kinds of news for this week as I kick off my Friday News Blog.

For starters, my daughter, Amber, has officially signed and taken her oath for the United States Air Force. I'm one very proud Mommy. Her ship date is February 5th and she's super excited!

I am going to be a Grammy again. My stepdaughter is 2 months along, so you know I'll be going nuts over the next 7 months anticipating this little one while enjoying my other two grandbabies.


Sept 10th over at The Romance Reviews I will be giving away one copy of Secrets of Jenkins Bridge, so be sure to stop by to enter!

Also beginning Sept 10th (must be a special day, huh?), Casey Wyatt kicks off her blog tour for her new book The Undead Space Initiative. Check her blog for more details. At the end of the tour, she'll be awarding one lucky commenter a $25 gift certificate for Amazon and a copy of Mystic Ink!

And, I'm still plunging through edits on Boneknapper, but I'm loving it. Strange huh? I'm working on a couple of new stories too. One of which I'm collaborating with another author friend. I'm definitely staying busy.

So, any great news from you?