by Christine | Observations
My first publisher, Crescent Moon Press, is having a Huge Black Friday .99 Kindle SALE! Check out some of these great authors below and don’t forget to enter the rafflecopter for your chance to win lots of fun stuff!
The sale runs from Black Friday to New Years, so there’s lots of time to buy LOTS AND LOTS OF FABULOUS BOOKS published by Crescent Moon Press!

Caden’s Fate, by Kate McKeever
Fairyproof, by Constance Phillips
Resurrecting Harry, by Constance Phillips
Speak of the Devil, by Shawna Romkey
The Devil Made Me Do It, by Shawna Romkey
What Gifts She Carried, by Lindsey Loucks
The Grave Winner, by Lindsey Loucks
Violet Midnight, by Lynn Rush
Violet Dawn, by Lynn Rush
Violet Storm, by Lynn Rush
Wasteland, by Lynn Rush
Awaited, by Lynn Rush
Tainted, by Lynn Rush
Prelude to Darkness, by Lynn Rush
Son of a Mermaid, by Katie O’Sullivan
Blood of a Mermaid, by Katie O’Sullivan
Wanted: One Ghost, by Loni Lynne
Ruined, by Kinley Baker
Denied, by Kinley Baker
Endured, by Kinley Baker
Gemini Rising, by Louann Carroll
A Shadow of Time, by Louann Carroll
Dakota Capitve, by Alythia Brown
Sorrow’s Point, by Danielle DeVor
Sorrow’s Edge, by Danielle DeVor
Red, by Reese Reed
The Memory Witch, by Heather Topham Wood
Not Your Average Fairy Tale, by Chantele Sedgwick
Not Your Average Happy Ending, Chantele Sedgwick
A Stiff Kiss, by Avery Olive
Won’t Let Go, by Avery Olive
Idyllic Avenue, by Chad Ganske
Rift Healer, by Diane M Haynes
Still Hunt, by Diane M Haynes
First Contact, by Kat Green
Citizens of Logan Pond: Life, by Rebecca Belliston
Irons in the Fire, by Penelope Marzec
The Company You Keep, by Penelope Marzec
Kiss of Blarney, by Penelope Marzec
a Rafflecopter giveaway <– Seriously, check this out!
Happy Black Friday, a day late!
)O(
by Christine | Writing
Hey everyone! Black Friday should be about more than just spending money so retailers end the year “in the black”. Let’s call it “Support Your Local Author” day! (“Local” being nebulous on the interwebs.) Or even, “Read A Book, Love An Author” day!
I’m participating in a Black Friday Blog Hop with nine other fantastic authors. All of us are giving goodies away, and in many cases those goodies include copies of our books. All you have to do is comment, and you’ll be included to win! I’m giving away a $15 Amazon gift card and an e-copy of DEMON SOUL to one lucky winner! (Click on the link, which will take you to reviews.) And hopefully, if you don’t win, you’ll be intrigued enough to buy a copy of our books anyway!)
Black Friday. All my hubby wants this year is a new refrigerator. Not that ours is old; but it’s a side-by-side, with water and ice dispenser. Nifty and all and what all the cool kids wanted (about 10 years ago), but for our family it just doesn’t work. You can’t, for instance, put a regular sized frozen pizza in either the refrigerator OR the freezer.
He’s been wailing and gnashing his teeth for months now. He picked the fridge; he’s allowed to hate it. But this year he really wanted to pitch it. In the spirit of the upcoming fridge-centric holidays, and peace of mind, he even went online to look for Black Friday deals on refrigerators.
No go. So our refrigerator continues to run…and if it really did pick up legs and bolt, we’d not only wave as it ran down the street, but we’d lock the front door and not allow it back in.
BLOG HOP DETAILS: Simple, really. Not many rules. Just click on each blog address below, leave a comment, and hopefully win prizes! Here’s hoping your Black Weekend is a bright, happy and uneventful one.
Stop One: Chris Redding http://chrisredddingauthor.blogspot.com Chris is giving away – OMG – an iPOD!!!
Stop Two: W. Lynn Chantale http://wlynnchantale-decadentdecisions.blogspot.com/ This lovely author is giving away a $15 gift card and a mug full of goodies!
Stop Three: ME! And you’re here, so just relax and look around, lol!
Stop Four: Chelle Cordero http://chellecordero.blogspot.com/ Chelle is giving away a book and a tee shirt – go check it out!
Stop Five: Tammy Dennings Maggy http://tammydenningsmaggy.blogspot.com/ Tammy is giving away some beautiful framed poetry.
Stop Six: Shelley Munro http://www.shelleymunro.com/blog/ Shelley is giving away an ebook download of your choice from her backlist!
Stop Seven: Jane Wakely http://www.janewakely.blogspot.com Jane is giving away a journal, a pen, and a bookmark – all terrific start-the-New-Year items!
Stop Eight: Debra Holland http://drdebraholland.blogspot.com/ Debra’s giving away a copy of her fantasy romance, Sower of Dreams!
Stop Nine: Smoky Zeidel http://www.SmokyZeidel.wordpress.com Smoky is giving away a pdf copy of the second edition of The Cabin!
Stop Ten: R. Ann Siracusa http://backmybook.com/authors/r-ann-siracusa/blog Ann is giving away a copy of her ebook, All For A Dead Man’s Leg!
So hop on over to the others and comment – and remember to always SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL AUTHORS!!!
Cheers – and remember to Shop Responsibly!
by Christine | Life, Observations
It’s begun. The rush to the holiday season is upon us. Madness in the form of turkey recipes, shopping lines, or the perfect gift for the frenemy in the office is descending upon everyone who has enough money in their pockets to be concerned about such things.

Holiday decorations. Pies. Uncle Jack’s drinking problem and Aunt Sally’s really bad wig. Underdone turkey and burned dinner rolls. One half of the family not talking to the other half, but both halves coming to YOUR house. Working too hard at work. Not having a job to go to. Battling your own sense of entitlement while trying to curb your kids’ “gimme” attitude. Battling your sense of despair while wondering how to provide a special, memorable time for your kids when the cash isn’t there. There’s a reason the holiday season accounts for more cases of depression than any other time of year, and strangely enough a lot of it seems to revolve around the having, or the lack, of money.
I’ve got the beginning of a solution. It doesn’t matter how much money you have in your pocket; it’s not a complete solution, either, and I’m pretty sure I’ve stolen this from someone else. But it’s a start. Ready?
Breathe. Take a few deep breaths. Stop your kitchen/shopping/bill-worrying madness. Go outside, spread your arms wide, breathe deeply. Feel the sun (or, if it’s night, the chill) on your face, and give thanks for being able to breathe. If you can, get your hands into the dirt. Plant something, or pull weeds. If there’s snow where you are, burn some frustrations off by building a snowman of any size (NOT as easy as it seems). Remember, you are not your bank balance. Remember to laugh!
Next, understand your place in the world – not in “bank account” terms, but in geologic terms. The mountain you can see outside your window (or the ocean, the plain, the forest, the desert) doesn’t give a rat’s ass about your Aunt Fanny’s tendency to blurt out uncomfortable truths at the dinner table. In fifty years, will anyone still be alive to remember the upside-down pumpkin pie on the kitchen floor, or that your child dumped hot gravy down your mom’s silk dress? Um, probably not. In the grand scheme of things, and whether you’re religious or not, as the decades pass the stuff that has your guts tied up in knots today won’t matter. They just won’t.
Does that mean that what you do doesn’t matter? Of course not. Kindness wins over selfishness. Happy memories win over mere things. Love – shared, expressed, and heartfelt, wins over all the pettiness that this time of year can call out in people.
I worry. Don’t for a minute think I’m immune. I worry about what to give my family this Christmas – my boys are grown, so the toys of previous years aren’t appropriate. My hubby and I have everything we need, really. How to make this year special? I don’t know, but I’m determined to figure it out. I will never say I’m not a worrier.
But… the old adage “you can’t change the things that happen – you can only change your attitude toward them” is true. So I worry, then I put it away. Nothing I can do about it, so I look to the bright side of things. I know “the papers will show up in the mail”. I know “you’ll get the job”. I know, deep in my heart, that what I TRULY desire, as long as I focus on having it, will come about. It may not be in the package I think it should be, but it’ll be there. All I have to do is accept it.
So what it comes down to is, you have a choice. You can handle the holidays the way you’ve always handled them – spend too much, eat too much, bicker too much, worry too much, get pulled in a dozen different directions and battered by everyone else’s opinion on how you should live your life – OR…
You can Breathe. Resolve to put worry away, even if it’s just for a few hours at a time. Share your love. Let your family, friends, heck even your boss (if it’s appropriate) know how much you appreciate them. Change your attitude about things that normally get you tense or upset (in 100 years, will this matter?!). Let loose your inner Pollyanna. If ever there’s a time to play the Glad Game, it’s now. Go around the dinner table. What are you Glad about this year? If (or when) it degenerates into a bitter-fest, sit back and laugh, because heck – why not?
Wishing you love, and joy, and peace. Wishing you the perfect memories of the upcoming, imperfect, holidays. Wishing for you the gift of laughter, good health, and good friends. Sending hugs out into the world to all my friends, old, new, and not-yet-met.