Bev Pettersen's Blog, page 80

Announcing the Finalists for the 2015 Make It Golden Contest!

It’s time to announce the Top Ten Finalists for the 2015 Make It Golden Contest!! Finalists: be sure to post your EXPANDED entries in the comments below (a maximum total of 250 words, starting with the exact opening lines you showed us already, plus what immediately follows) by 12:01 a.m. September 29 to stay in contention for the final round. In other words, you’ll have 24 hours from the time this post appears. Please put the word ENTRY in all caps at the top again (and, no, that doesn’t cou...

Fangirl Friday

The Rubies are proud to share some awesome discounted books as well as some upcoming new ones (now available for preorder):

I WISH(I Wish #1)

by Elizabeth Langston

Discounted to 2.99!

What she needs is a miracle. What she gets is a genie with rules.

Lacey Linden is hiding the truth of her life—a depressed mom, a crumbling house, and bills too big to pay. While her high school classmates see a girl with a ready smile and good grades, Lacey spends her evenings seeking ways to save her family....

WRITING/SUBMITTING/HOPING

The letters started coming across the internet. Someonein one of my writer’s loops was depressed. After almost a year of waiting to hear back from an editor who had her manuscript, she received the package in the mail with a form letter rejection. “But I spoke to her,” this writer said. “She said I had passed the first level and it looked good. Now they won’t even tell me why I was rejected.”

She wasn’talone. For days the letters arrived in my mailbox. Someone else had a manuscript sitting...

Show and Tell Wednesday: Choose Your Own Adventures

Remember these?

I used to go through them like candy. I recently learned that they’re now printing new ones and of course had to grab the Tang Dynasty set CYOA: Chinese Dragons.

Choose Your Own Adventures are not just for kids. There’s quite a glut of romance and erotic adventures. Don’t you love the alliterative titles?

Now this isn’t romance, but you know a phenomenon is part of the zeitgeist when Neil Patrick Harris jumps on it.

And the newest incarnation? Interactive romance ga...

Entry Day for the Make It Golden Contest 2015

Welcome to the SIXTH Annual MAKE IT GOLDEN Contest!! The MAKE IT GOLDEN contest is designed for unpublished authors who are polishing up their entries for RWA’s Golden Heart Contest. We all know how important a strong opening is in grabbing the attention of Golden Heart judges, and this contest is a great chance to test yours out!

Check out the finalists from 2014’s contest, 2013’s contest , 2012’s contest here, 2011 here, and 2010 here.

Between now and 11:59 today, just post your romance man...

Happy Sixth Birthday to the Ruby Blog!!

It’s Our Birthday!!! Believe it or not, the Ruby Slippered Sisterhood Blog has been around for SIX WONDERFUL YEARS!!
We’ve been here with daily posts (1,989 so far!!), the Winter Writing Festival, the Make It Golden Contest, our annual Rita / Golden Heart Announcement Day Party, the September Hour-a-Day Challenge, interviews with each new class of Golden Heart Finalists, and much, much more. We’re thrilled to have created an online community for writers and readers–with nearly 77,000 comme...

Fangirl Friday

With summer coming to a close (yikes!), some of us are already looking ahead to the holidays (double yikes!). Here’s a Ruby release that’s up for preorder that’s sure to warm your bed on those cold nights…

A WRONG BEDCHRISTMAS(Featuring 2 great Harlequin Blaze stories in one book!)

Releases November 1, 2015!

The Wrong Bed—But the Right Guy!

IGNITEDby Kimberly Van Meter

What do you do when a sexy, naked fireman gets into your bed? If you’re Alexis Matheson, you freak out. But now she’s snowed...

Release Party: Lara Archer’s Wild at Heart!

Hey there, lovely Readers! Lara Archer here….the just-a-bit-more-scarlet secret identity of one of the Ruby Sisters. A little less than three months ago, I launched my first book, the historical erotic romance BARED TO THE VISCOUNT, and now I’m back for more: this time with a contemporary erotic romance, WILD AT HEART, which launches today!!!!

Aside from the super-smokin’ heat level, the two books share a “Friends to Lovers” theme, with a passionate romance at the core. (But sex…lots and lots...

Show & Tell – Cover Similarities

In this era of stock art, cover similarities seem to be popping up more and more often. You want your cover to have a certain feel… and so do authors of similar books, so there are bound to be some accidental crossovers. In some cases, it might actually be a good thing (your cover will automatically seem more familiar to readers and perhaps they will trick themselves into thinking they’ve been waiting to buy you), but it can also have drawbacks (people not buying your book because they think...

We’re Halfway Through the September Hour-a-Day Writing Challenge: Want to Join?

At the start of September, I got on the blog to challenge myself publicly: to write for one hour every day this month, no excuses (see the post and my reasons here). I also asked if anyone else wanted to join me. This is a super-fast drive-by check-in, and an invitation to anyone who wants to jump in to join for the next two weeks.

At the moment, a hearty band of about three dozen of us has taken on the challenge. I’m not sure if everybody’s stayed on course, but quite a few of us are checkin...