Bev Pettersen's Blog, page 58

Last Chance to Join the Cookie Exchange Hop!!

Have you done the Ruby Holiday Cookie Exchange Hop? Today’s the final day!! Sixteen Ruby Sisters are sharing their fabulous, homemade cookie recipes with you. Try some out and become the star of the next neighborhood cookie exchange, holiday open house or festive party. You’ll find free books and gift card prizes along the way…and one lucky hopper will win a $150 gift card to Amazon! Just in time for last minute holiday shopping. Follow these easy steps: 1. Hop to each link below, which will...

People at Walmart – They Need an Editor (Your Book May Need One Too!)

After nearly fourteen years working at Walmart, there are a great many reasons I am grateful I no longer work there! One reason – I am no longer bombarded with live versions of those People at Walmart memes you see on Facebook. Trust me, it is far more frightening live. The nightmares are recurring less often the longer I am away. I am certain they’ll go away completely. Eventually. SHUDDER

I have often thought those people were in need of some help. Some of them simply needed a mirror. I am...

Ruby Cookie Exchange Hop

Happy Holidays Everyone! Thank you so much for joining us for our Ruby Cookie Exchange. Sixteen Ruby Sisters are sharing their fabulous, homemade cookie recipes with you. Try some out and become the star of the next neighborhood cookie exchange, holiday open house or festive party. And while you are having fun with the cookies, one lucky hopper will win a $150 gift card to Amazon! Just in time for last minute holiday shopping. Follow these four easy steps: 1. Hop to each link below, which wi...

Writing Through the Suck

There are times in every writer’s life when life gets in the way. (Like when you have seven million obligations during the holidays.) Then there are the times when the stars are perfectly aligned–you have a writers’ retreat or you’ve carved out an entire week just for writing or the husband has taken the kids to see your in-laws for three days to give you time to finish your book–those times when you SHOULD be writing.

But what happens when you have no obstacles and your writing STILL isn’t c...

Announcing the Ruby Holiday Cookie Exchange Hop, Starting December 8!

Join us this coming Thursday through Monday for the Cookie Exchange Hop!! Rubies will be posting cookie recipes (plus some secret bonus giveaways!) on their websites and Facebook pages. Play along, and have a chance to win the Grand Prize: a $150 Gift Card!!

Don’t Be A Professional Holiday Victim.

Not a post on craft or writing advice. This is a reminder to be safe during the holidays.

To find out if you are a professional victim answer these questions.

Do you:

Leave your car unlocked in the driveway or in parking lots. Carry every credit card known to man when you shop. Leave your open purse in the grocery cart and walk away from it. Park in an unlit area of the mall and walk to your car by yourself. Walk around with ear buds in and the music blaring. Leave packages in your car wher...

8 Handmade Gifts for Writers and other Book Lovers

Wondering what to giftthe book-loving personin your life this holiday season? Tired of giving all your money to Amazon? Search no more! Here isa carefully curated list ofhandmade goods hatwoulddelight anynovelist / reporter / memoirist / poet / professor / librarian / teacher / essayist / reader. And since I spent a boatloadof time ensuring that each gift comes from a small business, you can feel good about forking over your hard-earned dollars!

1. Wearable booksfrom Litographs.

This smallBos...

What’s next for the Golden Heart?

In November, RWA released the new schedule for the 2017 RWA Nationals Conference in Orlando. The biggest and most-talked-about change is the separation of the Awards ceremony into two events. The Golden Heart Awards ceremony will be held on Thursday (July 26) during the luncheon, with the RITA Awards ceremony being held that evening.

There has been a lot of discussion around cyberspace since the news released. The Rubies have talked about it too, and since we’re the GH class of 2009, we have...

Keep Calm and… Oh, Hell, Go Ahead and Panic !

The British are well known for their stoicism in the face of adversity. That’s what they called German bombs dropping all hours of the night whilst they huddled in bomb shelters or in their cellars and hoped for the best – adversity. When we were stationed there in the late sixties (I was a child. I’m not that old! Yet!) my mother’s best friend was the lady who lived next door. She told the story of sitting at the dinner table one evening and hearing the roar of airplanes overhead and the sou...

Last Minute Tips for Finishing NaNo, a.k.a., YOU CAN STILL DO IT!!

If you hit a few speed bumps on your NaNo road this year, and you’re down more words than you reasonably think you can make up before Wednesday at midnight, I’m here to tell you: YES YOU CAN write 10,000 or 12,000 or 15,000 words or maybe even 20,000 words over the course of the next 72 hours.

Here are some tips–mostly the same ones I gave a couple years ago when I blazed through to a nail-biter NaNo win–for racking up major word counts in the next couple days:

1.Utter crap is fine! Victories...