Shifting Pride Review

 

I was thoroughly surprised and flattered by a lovely review of Shifting Pride by Ashley Torbeck and wanted to share it with you.

Click HERE if you’d like to check it out.

Here’s how to find Ashley on the interwebz:

www.ashleytorbeck.webs.com

www.drunkenspacepenguin.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/ash.torbeck

www.twitter.com/ash_torbeck

www.amazon.com/author/ash.torbeck

 

 

 

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Witch Way To Turn by Karen Y. Bynum AND Coffee Chat

Author Ally Shields is hosting me at Coffee Chat today. We’re sharing a lovely pot of French Vanilla–YUM!!–and I’m sharing info about Shifting Pride,my writing goals, and highlights of 2012.

* * * * * * * * * *

For me, Twitter is where it’s at to find fun, Indie, authors, with adventurous books. And that’s how I stumbled upon Karen Y. Bynum. The cover of her novel, Witch Way To Turn, is stunning. The expression on the girl’s face is, wow, it just draws me in.

Now, I love action. Like, LOVE it. Nothing gets my heart pumping and my gaze skittering across the pages like a good action story. And Karen delivers.

Add to that two totally HOT guys with dark, wild sides that would make any girl swoon, and we’ve got a winning combination. Honestly, I couldn’t decide who I wanted to root for more…actually, it would be totally cool for both guys to “win,” LOL!

The main character is a witch who’s growing into her powers and finding out about her heritage. There’s bad peeps who are after her and her main concern is keeping her younger sister safe. The tension and danger in that conflict really made this story special.

I’d recommend it to anyone who likes paranormal, romance, action, supernatural beings, kick-ass heroines, and hot guys.

I’d give this story 5 out of 5 stars. Great job, Karen! Now, where’s the sequel?!?!?! ;p

Witch Way To Turn on Amazon

Witch Way To Turn on Goodreads

Karen’s blog

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Writer Wednesday–Crutch Words

I’m in the midst of the second round of edits for my debut novel, SHIFTING PRIDE. I’m loving how the story and writing is shaping up with each pass. This round, not only am I focusing on smoothing more details, I’m also working on nixing “crutch words” (words I use repeatedly in my writing).

(Thanks, Stephanie McGee, for giving me a term to use!)

In this MS, big crutch words for me include PULLED and PRESSED. Who knew?

Anyway, how does one tackle the crutch word?

I’ve been using the “find” function to identify where in the MS each occurrence of PRESSED is located. Then I work on reworking the sentence to eliminate it or substitute it with another word.

Gotta say, my thesaurus is coming in handy too, LOL!

How about youse guys? How to you search and destroy crutch words? Do you try to nix them while you’re drafting or do you catch them during edits?

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Winner Wednesday

With great excitement, I’d like to announce the WINNERS from my Announcement post and from my Author Shout Out post.

*drum roll please*

Winners of a book of your choice PLUS a three chapter critique:

Jamie Ayres

Elizabeth Arroyo

Donna Hole

Winner of CREATING FATE by Rachel Firasek:

LYNN RUSH!!!!

**********

CONGRATS!!!!!

To claim your prize, please email me at: laurabdiamond@yahoo.com

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Flake-out Friday–Poor Man’s MacGyver

Trolling the interwebz last weekend, I spied a website whitetrashrepairs.com. Not the most PC term, but the site catalogues pics of cob-job masters that’d put MacGyver to shame. Here are a few of my fav pics!

 

EDIT: PICTURES REMOVED TO AVOID COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT. CLICK ON LINK ABOVE TO SEARCH SITE FOR PICS.

Anything catch your eye?

…

Don’t forget to check out my GIVEAWAY posts. There’s a week left to enter!

Click HERE to see my announcement and book + 3 chapter crit giveaway (just leave a comment to enter)

Click HERE to check out Rachel Firasek’s new novella and get a chance to win it (just leave a comment)

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Writer Wednesday–Sirens Call Publications

I’m so happy that my short story, BEGGING  DEATH, was accepted in the Carnage: After the End anthology by Sirens Call Publications!

Here’s a mini-blurb of what the anthology entails:

It’s the beginning of the end. The Apocalypse has come; and left in its wake no more than small pockets of survivors battling to stay alive.

Eep!

I’m so excited to work with the Sirens Call team–what a talented group of peeps! Click HERE for more info about the WHO behind Sirens Call Publications.

Here’s a blurb of my story:

Peter Mack experiences The Disappearing first hand–in an instant, most of the world’s population disappears and with it, Death abandons humankind. Illness and suffering remain, leaving Peter to protect and provide for the only person he knows that’s still alive, Lucas. It starts with Peter accepting The Mark of Triple Six, the militia promising safety and rations in exchange for allegiance.

Despite the illusion of security, survival is not guaranteed. A rival faction, Serpentine, invades Triple Six and kidnaps Peter and Lucas. They are separated. Unable to shelter Lucas, Peter confronts his promise to protect Lucas no matter what. Turns out, Peter must consider sacrificing everything, even eternity, for Lucas’ freedom.

Right now, I’m reading another short story anthology of theirs titled Twisted Realities: Of Myth and Monstrosity. It’s FAB!!!!! Scary, spine-tingling, and creepy, each author’s story creates a taunting tale of horror and myth turned reality. Check it out!

Don’t forget to check out my GIVEAWAY posts. There’s a week left to enter!

Click HERE to see my announcement and book + 3 chapter crit giveaway (just leave a comment to enter)

Click HERE to check out Rachel Firasek’s new novella and get a chance to win it (just leave a comment)

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Mental Health Monday–A Better Pain Chart

When patients are admitted to the hospital, their vital signs are checked at regular intervals. Vital signs include blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, and percent oxygenation of the blood. A fifth vital sign includes rating pain on a scale of 0-10. Since pain is such a subjective thing, the scale includes pictures to help the rater identify where they lie on the scale.

Pain Measurement Scale (CLICK THE LINK TO SEE PIC)

 

A better pain chart has been made and it’s circling around the interwebz like crazy. So I thought I’d share it with all y’all.

A Better Pain Chart (CLICK LINK TO SEE PIC)

 

I deleted the pic to avoid copyright infringement, so I’ll paraphrase the scale…

0: No pain

1: Not sure if I’m in pain

2: Just need a band-aid

3: Distressed; don’t like what’s happening

4: Pain is not effing around

5: Why is this happening to me???

6: Ow. Pain is super legit right now

7: I see Jesus coming for me and I’m scared

8: Pain is disturbing. I may be dying

9: I am almost definitely dying

10: I am actually being mauled by a bear

11: Blood will explode out my face any moment

Too Serious for Numbers: You probably have ebola. It appears you may also be suffering from stigmata and/or pinkeye

Quite useful, isn’t it?

Don’t forget to check out my GIVEAWAY posts. There’s a week left to enter!

Click HERE to see my announcement and book + 3 chapter crit giveaway (just leave a comment to enter)

Click HERE to check out Rachel Firasek’s new novella and get a chance to win it (just leave a comment)

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I’m SO Excited SQUEE!!!!

Hey gang,

Guess what?

My Young Adult Paranormal Romance, SHIFTING PRIDE, is going to be PUBLISHED!!!!!!!

That’s right, the wonderful folks at Etopia Press are making this happen.

I just signed the contract a few days ago. Right now, I’m working on blurbs, taglines, and gearing up for edits.

***SQUEE!!!!!***

Here’s my initial pitch for SHIFTING PRIDE (to give you an idea of what it’s about):

Sixteen-year-old Nickie Leone has proof that her missing (presumed dead) father is still alive. Receiving his watch in the mail is the first in a line of clues bringing her closer to discovering his whereabouts. But clues aren’t the only new thing in Nickie’s life. There’s the Memorial Banquet her mother insists she help prepare for, there’s the new kid/hottie, Xavian, and…well, the growth of whiskers and a tail!

Filled with secrets and a new love of tuna fish, Nickie must partner up with Xavian (don’t you know he’s a shapeshifter too?) to rescue her dad before she loses him forever. Oh, and she needs to figure out how to be a cat, too.

To spread the joy, I’d like to host a giveaway.

All you have to do is leave a comment–AND I’ll count your name TWICE if you help spread the word (by Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, etc) (just let me know if you’ve done it).

How about I announce WINNERS in TWO WEEKS to give peeps time to stop by.

WINNERS will be chosen at random. THREE lucky commenters will receive a book of their choice AND a three chapter crit from ME!

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