Michelle McLean's Blog, page 19

Random Acts of Kindness GIVEAWAY w/ The Bookshelf Muse

I think today is a good day to give something away, don't you? :D

Becca and Angela at The Bookshelf Muse are doing something wonderful to celebrate the release of their book The Emotion Thesaurus (which, btw, I've had the pleasure of receiving and am THRILLED to have it on my shelf - check it out!!).

They have started an amazing fest of Random Acts of Kindness. You can go to their blog and enter for chances to win incredible prizes. We've got a little giveaway going on at OA as well.

And, I thought I'd do a little something fun here as well. You know, you always hear that writing is a solitary act...but I don't know if that's necessarily true. So so so many people have helped me along my journey. From the wonderful Jeannie Ruesch who was the first author to really take me under her wing when I was first starting out, to my amazing group of friends and critique partners, to my non-writer friends and family who are always there with their support and encouragement.

When I very first started trying to write "for real", I was mostly on my own. I hadn't met any other writers yet, my husband was traveling a lot for work, and we were living in a new area where I didn't know many people. I got a lot of work done, but A) it was bad lol and B) it was lonely.

This whole writing journey is so much easier with a support group behind me. I don't know what I'd do without my amazing circle of awesomeness :)

So! As my Random Act of Kindness, I think I'll giveaway a $15 gift card to the online book retailer of your choice - AND a pdf or ebook copy of Becca and Angela's Emotion Thesaurus :)
Just leave a comment below with your email addy so I contact you if you win. I'll announce the winner on Friday. :)

RAOK and The Bookshelf Muse

Becca and Angela at The Bookshelf Muse are doing something wonderful to celebrate the release of their book The Emotion Thesaurus (which, btw, I've had the pleasure of receiving and am THRILLED to have it on my shelf - check it out!!).

They have started an amazing fest of Random Acts of Kindness. You can go to their blog and enter for chances to win incredible prizes. We've got a little giveaway going on at OA as well.

And, I thought I'd do a little something fun here as well. You know, you always hear that writing is a solitary act...but I don't know if that's necessarily true. So so so many people have helped me along my journey. From the wonderful Jeannie Ruesch who was the first author to really take me under her wing when I was first starting out, to my amazing group of friends and critique partners, to my non-writer friends and family who are always there with their support and encouragement.

When I very first started trying to write "for real", I was mostly on my own. I hadn't met any other writers yet, my husband was traveling a lot for work, and we were living in a new area where I didn't know many people. I got a lot of work done, but A) it was bad lol and B) it was lonely.

This whole writing journey is so much easier with a support group behind me. I don't know what I'd do without my amazing circle of awesomeness :)

So! As my Random Act of Kindness, I think I'll giveaway a $15 gift card to the online book retailer of your choice - AND a pdf or ebook copy of Becca and Angela's Emotion Thesaurus :)
Just leave a comment below with your email addy so I contact you if you win. I'll announce the winner on Friday. :)

Friday Funnies - Owl Extravaganza

In honor of my fellow Operation Awesome author, Lindsay Scott, who had a birthday this week, this week's funnies are brought to you Oliver Awesome style :D

Pens for Paws Auction

There is some great stuff up for auction over at Pens for Paws, including a 20 page critique by all the OA ladies and some Amarok swag from our own Angie Townsend. Come bid on something! It's for a good cause and you might get something really awesome to boot :) I just bid on a beautiful necklace. They have signed books, crits, swag packs, t-shirts and TONS more.

Check it out! :)

Friday Funnies - Star Wars Style

Friday Funnies - Star Wars Style

Things I Didn't Know....

that are probably fairly obvious to everyone else #189 - Royalty free doesn't = totally free :D

I started working on my book trailer this past weekend (and was thankfully rescued from my weak attempts by the amazingly talented Lisa Amowitz) and in searching for images I learned something. Royalty-free does NOT mean free free.

I guess this should have been obvious. ROYALTY free means the images are free from royalties. Meaning you don't have to keep paying for the right to use them. However, it does NOT mean that you can use these images totally free of charge. You do have to pay a usage fee, which varies in price depending on how you want to use the image.

I did not know this. I feel kinda goofy for not knowing this. I am glad I NOW know this :D

There are luckily some really great sites with amazing images you can purchase at very reasonable prices. These were the sites I got my images from:

Morguefile.com (free images)
Stock.XCHNG (free images)
iStockphoto.com (royalty free)
123rf.com (royalty free)
Dreamstime.com (royalty free)
Fotolia.com (royalty free)

And I am lucky enough to be related to an incredibly talented musician, Bret Morrell, who let me use one of his songs. It's called Place of Dreams (you can hear a sample of it HERE and on Amazon. Check it out! It's GORGEOUS!)

By the end of it all, I found some gorgeous royalty free images, and several totally free images, and the wonderful Lisa combined them all to make a book trailer I am head-over-heels in love with :D Can't wait to share it with everyone! Someday ;-D

Do you have a favorite image site?

Cover and Trailer Reveal!! Lisa Amowitz's BREAKING GLASS

I know we usually have some Friday Funnies on Fridays, but today is a little special :) I am very pleased to take part in the cover and book trailer reveal for my dear friend Lisa Amowitz's upcoming debut novel, BREAKING GLASS. I had the pleasure of reading this book this weekend and it was AWESOME. Without further ado, here is the incredible cover and trailer :)

(and p.s. Lisa is not only an amazing author but a very talented artist as well. In fact, she creates covers for several publishers and was able to do her own cover. I've got to say - this is one of the best covers I've seen. Love it!)


Le Blurb:
On the night seventeen-year-old Jeremy Glass winds up in the hospital with a broken leg and a blood alcohol level well above the legal limit, his secret crush, Susannah, disappears. When he begins receiving messages from her from beyond the grave, he's not sure whether they're real or if he's losing his grip on reality. Clue by clue, he gets closer to unraveling the mystery, and soon realizes he must discover the truth or become the next
victim himself.


 

BREAKING GLASS is coming from Spencer Hill Press next spring! Congrats Lisa!!

Proud to be a Bookworm but...

I could use a maid LOL

I saw this cartoon this morning and just burst out laughing. This is SOOOO me :D

[image error]
My poor hubs cringes whenever I pick up a new book, especially if that book is the first in a series, because he knows nothing is going to get done until I'm finished :D I do try to do the "one more chapter" thing, but often I "one more chapter" myself into the wee hours of the morning, unable to do anything, including sleep, until I've read every last word :)

I guess as addictions go, it's not too bad. My starving and naked family might disagree though (as they kick a path through the destroyed house) :D

I've learned over the years that if I have anything I need to accomplish, I must do it before I start the book. I catch up on laundry, dishes, spruce up the living space, and do whatever else needs doing, and THEN I sit down and lose myself in the pages. I will take cooking breaks, but I'm usually stirring whatever's in the pot with one hand and holding the book with the other :D

How do you deal with your bookworm tendencies?

Friday Funnies

[image error]