I’m giving away the latest release by my favorite author, The Marshal’s Prize by Rebecca Winters. I’ve read it…twice already! Digital copy (kindle or nook, your choice.)

You have until June 11th to enter.

Enter by telling me about one of your favorite childhood books in the comments section below.

Don’t forget to visit the Hop Hosts:

CataRomance.com, SensualReads.com and SingleTitles.com

And hop on over to the next blog on the list:

So here it is.

Pet peeve: when a user sends me a one line email along the lines of “xyz doesn’t work.”

That’s it. No details. No error message. No “this is what I was doing when this happened.” No domain name. Nothing. No descriptive information whatsoever.

This is the most unhelpful sort of email I can think of. While I don’t expect you, the end user, to have a solution for the problem you’re pointing out, you could/should at the very least try to be helpful.

How can you be helpful?

1. Tell me where you are (what page, be specific!) when the issue occurred.
2. What were you doing? What were you attempting to do?
3. What happened? (Again, be specific. The screen went blank, the page freezes, links don’t work, etc.)
4. Do you get any sort of error message?

Why should you tell me this in the first place? Because these are the exact questions I or any other technical support person are going to ask you. Simply telling us “the website is acting funny” is not going to help us one little bit. What is “funny?” Seriously. We don’t know. And if we have multiple sites we oversee, we have no idea what website you’re even accessing.

Did you ever answer your parents by shaking your head? Did you parents tell you to speak up because they can’t hear your head rattle? Mine did.

So speak up. Be specific.

Take it away Susan.

I wasn’t given a choice of whether or not I wanted to make a change. Change was thrust upon me.

When the Silhouette Romance line closed, I was asked if I wanted to write for the Harlequin Romance line and after a little consideration (not too much because I had a mortgage to pay) I decided to take the opportunity.

I had to do some soul searching before I could say yes because of the emotion level of Harlequin Romances. I wrote short, fluffy books, very warm, slightly humorous, but the “emotion” didn’t come in until the end.

Harlequin Romances are emotional from page 1.

The first problem, obviously, was coming up with a story that fit. I had a lot of rejections because my inner “fluffy” still wanted to come out. J

But eventually I found a story that clicked and I wrote my first Romance.

And rewrote it. And rewrote it. And rewrote it.

I have to say I wasn’t thrilled with all the rewriting, but …

Man, I seriously wanted to learn how to write deeply emotional books. After so many books with Silhouette, stories that came naturally to me, I wanted to spread my wings. I wanted to test my abilities.

Could I, someone who was known for being goofy, be serious?

I wanted it so bad that I was willing to become a student. To read the line. To let go of what I held dear (humor and fluff) and learn not to rely on them but to dig deep for emotion. To open a vein, as they say!

Fifteen books later, an RT top pick and a nod for RT’s Reviewer’s Choice award, I guess we can say I did it.

If Silhouette Romance had hung around, I probably would have had much smoother sailing over the past few years…but looking back on things I’m glad I had the opportunity to stretch.

 photo By Rantz

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Isn’t that fun? Very happy to see the print proof of Tips for Authors.

I sincerely hope that all my years of knowledge help authors out there.

That’s the closest I ever came to hugging a tree.

One of my favorite things about Netflix is the diversity. It’s also sort of a curse. Once you’ve watched all the must see movies of the year and exhausted seven seasons of Gilmore Girls, there’s only so many B-movies you can stomach. Enter documentaries.

Eric and I recently saw a few that have made us think, or rethink, rather.

Did you know that fish, turtles, and whales around the world are dying at pretty alarming rates…due to all the plastic we use?

I sure didn’t.

I find that terribly saddening that plastics make my life so much easier and yet, they end up in the oceans, break down and become killer fish food. I love Dasani and the only way to get it is in a plastic bottle. Very sad.

That’s all I’ve got for now. If one thing isn’t trying to kill you or the planet, something else is, it seems.

Writers, are you a fan of checklists? I am. You can tell because every chapter of Tips for Authors ends with a handy-dandy checklist.

Anywho, I’m guesting blogging over at Wordplay today and I think you’ll like my post. As always, quick and easy reading.

That’s it. That’s my wisdom for the day.