Danica Winters's Blog, page 2

New Release and a Little Nerd Humor Just for You!

Call me a nerd, but I have to start this new release post [image error]out with my favorite SUPER cheesy joke. I can’t help myself, so here goes:

Q: How do you make a napkin dance?

A: You put a little boogie in it!

Okay, one more… LOL

Q: Who did Frankenstein take to the prom?

A: His ghoul friend.

All right, I can hear the groans from here. No more jokes, but hopefully they at least put a little smile on your face and got you prepared for Halloween!

Around my house, I have the zombie in the window, the blood moon paintings on the walls, and the bowl of half-eaten candy by the door. (I made the terrible, terrible mistake of opening candy two weeks before. The only thing I really fear this Halloween is stepping on the scale.) Aside from the dirty scale monster, I LOVE this holiday. It is a great time to get out of the house and breath in the crisp Fall air and scare the living daylights out of my kids. (Hand coming out from under the bed, anyone?)

In addition to the upcoming holiday, I have some great things happening as well. As many of you know, my latest Harlequin Intrigue Dust Up with the Detective hit bookstore shelves in October. Dust Up with the Detective has been on Nielsen Bookscan’s Top 100 books for four weeks and readers are flooding my inbox with letters letting me know how much they have enjoyed Jeremy Lawrence and Blake West![image error]

Now, I’m gearing up for my new release which will be hitting bookstore shelves on November 1st (my first paranormal romance in a year) Once a Gypsy.

Once a Gypsy is definitely a book of the heart. I wrote this book after doing years of research into the lives and culture of Irish Travellers. Some of my research even included exchanging letters and chatting with people from within the Pavee and Romany communities. It was truly an eye-opening experience and is one that has changed my life.

Here is the blurb:

I can’t tell you how fun this book was to write. I had the opportunity to mix one of the most picturesque settings in Ireland, an ancient culture, and twist in just a bit of magic—enough that what happens can’t be real… or can it?

Before you run off to read the books, I want to let you know that I will be doing my last couple of signings for the year.

Dust Up with the Detective Signing: October 29, 2016: Fact & Fiction, Missoula, Montana 5-7 p.m. Wine included and Halloween costumes welcome!  This event is being sponsored by Kohl’s who will be donating $1500 to the local YWCA to raise awareness of domestic violence and racial equality. Also, Debra Ricci will be speaking about her work with CASA (a women and children’s advocacy program). I’m ridiculously proud to be able to help raise awareness and advocate for women’s rights.

Once a Gypsy Signing for New Release: November 5, 2016: Barnes & Noble, Missoula, Montana 2-4 p.m.

For those of you who I have had the chance to chat with throughout the year and to those I have met at the many signings this year, I want to give you all a shout out—Thank you! Also, to those who have read and reviewed my books, I couldn’t do this without you. You rock!

If you get the chance to read the books, let me know what you think! You can dramatically influence what projects I will be working on next. Like paranormal, but love suspense? Tell me on Twitter @DanicaWinters Or, if you just love books and don’t care what genre they are if they are well written, you can let me know what you are dressing up like for Halloween! I want to see at least one picture of you dressed like a book! I’m really feeling a Jane Austen title!

To purchase the new release Once a Gypsy (available November 1, 2016)

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Kobo | Google Play | Walmart

 To purchase Dust Up with the Detective

Harlequin | Amazon | iTunes | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Google Play | All Romance | Walmart

Hope to chat soon. Happy Halloween!

Danica Winters

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New Release: Dust Up with the Detective

I’m so very excited to announce Dust Up with the Detective has landed on bookstore shelves!

About Dust Up with the Detective: 

[image error]Murder in Montana is never simple 

Every dead body in Butte is someone’s kin. Detective Jeremy Lawrence has investigated so many wrongdoings, but he still never imagined how it’d feel to be standing over his own brother. Until now. Thankfully, he has the help of Deputy Blake West, a woman he’s known his entire life—and wanted for as long as he can remember.

It’s been forever since Blake has seen Jeremy, and she has questions for the hot-as-sin lawman. But her interrogation must wait once she learns the killer has set his sights on Blake’s daughter. They promise to put family first, but time is running out to uncover the Lawrence family’s secrets—and rebuild what Jeremy and Blake thought they’d broken long ago…

I LOVED writing this book and it is definitely one of my very favorites (though picking my favorite would be exactly like picking a favorite child–completely impossible). I still have a major crush on Jeremy Lawrence and I wouldn’t be surprised if he makes an appearance or two in upcoming releases![image error]

In preparation for Dust Up with the Detective’s release, I hit the road and visited Butte, Montana.

Butte is an incredible city with an even more interesting history that centers around the grueling reality of mining and the lives it impacts, lives I tried to capture in the pages of the book. The city was coined ‘The Richest Hill on Earth’ as it provided the United States with a hefty supply of copper, silver, gold, and other heavy metals. However, due to the nature of mining and a blind eye to environmental issues, Butte and the Berkeley Pit (an open-pit mine) are now home to one of the most toxic man-made environments in the United States. New environmental laws and protections have been come into play, yet the damage of generations past can still be witnessed firsthand in this one-time boom town. [image error]

One of the iconic images of Butte, Montana are the headframes that are scattered around the city. Each has its own name, but my favorite was the headframe named Orphan Girl.

A headframe is used in underground mining, and in Butte some are illuminated with LED lights to commemorate Butte’s history in copper mining.

I bet you can guess why, but the picture of the Berkeley Pit was my absolute favorite! If you look closely, there is another headframe in the background.[image error]

If you have been to Butte–feel free to share you stories! Also, I hope you get a chance to check out Dust Up with the Detective! I can promise this book is just as enchanting and full of intrigue as the city in which it is set!

You can get your copy of the book anywhere books are sold or you can visit these online retailers (please note it is also available in large print):

Harlequin | Amazon | iTunes | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Google Play | All Romance

As always, I want to take a moment to thank my readers. I can’t wait to hear what you think about this book! I love getting feedback! And, if you get your hands on a copy, please make sure to send me a picture! You can send it to me on Twitter (@DanicaWinters) or Facebook!![image error]

If you post a review on Amazon or send me a picture of you (or your furry kids) with Dust Up with the Detective, you will be entered to win a set of Headframe Distillery pint glasses (and some other goodies may be thrown into the box as well–mugs, signed books, tote bags, and pens)! So send those pictures and post those reviews (don’t forget to tag/email me)! You can enter more than once. Contest ends October 5, 2016 and winner will be notified via social media or email. *U.S. Residents only.

Wishing you the happiest of reading,

Danica Winters

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Cover Reveal: Dust Up with the Detective

I’m so excited! The day has finally come in which I can share the cover for Dust Up with the Detective! This book is available for pre-order, but it will hit physical bookshelves September 20, 2016!

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Murder in Montana is never simple…

Murder in Montana is never simple  

Every dead body in Butte is someone’s kin. Detective Jeremy Lawrence has investigated so many wrongdoings, but he still never imagined how it’d feel to be standing over his own brother. Until now. Thankfully, he has the help of Deputy Blake West, a woman he’s known his entire life—and wanted for as long as he can remember.

It’s been forever since Blake has seen Jeremy, and she has questions for the hot-as-sin lawman. But her interrogation must wait once she learns the killer has set his sights on Blake’s daughter. They promise to put family first, but time is running out to uncover the Lawrence family’s secrets—and rebuild what Jeremy and Blake thought they’d broken long ago…

What do you like best about the cover??? (I have to say that anytime I see a Timothy Olyphant-looking man holding a gun… well, it’s hard to look away!) Any fellow Justified fans out there??

Just Keep Swimming: Finding Passion and Motivation

Along with the release of Smoke and Ashes my life has been humming along in the background, busier than ever. In the many events, signings, travels, and interviews I’ve been involved with lately, I had loads of wonderful questions, but one really great one… a question about my that has stuck with me over the weeks and helped me to objectively evaluate all life’s exquisite motion.

The question was simple: What motivates you to keep pushing forward?

At the time it was just a question about writing and in that case the answer was simple. I write because I’m drawn to it. It is my passion. It is just as [image error]much a part of me as the air I breathe. There are days in which I don’t write, in which life steps into the way and blocks me from my passion. Those are the days I feel lost, adrift in a world that is moving fast, changing, and evolving under my fingertips. In a way, writing is the way to experience the changes, the evolution of life and feelings, and the way to process all the information that barrages my thoughts and actions.

I’ve been writing forever. Since I was a child. I didn’t know I was destined to be a writer. I had MANY moments in time in which people pushed me away from writing, even though I had a strength for it (ask me about being falsely accused of plagiarism in high school, but be ready for an earful). So when it came time to decide where I wanted to focus my attention in adulthood, writing wasn’t an option. In my very sheltered and rural world I felt I had only two viable options: 1) Teaching (which would have been great, but I have the patience of a lion trying to peel a banana—a HUGE thank you to all of you out there who have become teachers. NO seriously. Thank you.) or 2) Going into the health care field (this I tried, turns out I also have terrible patience for undeserved whining—yes, please tell me how bad that sliver feels while I’m sitting with a sick child or an elderly woman with two broken hips who is so tough that she refuses her pain meds… please, I dare you).

Eventually I became a mom, focusing on the family and the needs that went along with being an island. I was a safe haven. I supported others around me as they followed their passions and found their callings in life. And I looked at my own, I reflected, I thought of the toughest moments of my short-ish life and analyzed my soul.

I’m adventurous by nature, one of those people who will try anything once—even when fear tries to hold me hostage. Writing was like that. I knew I liked it. It made me feel something beyond being an island. It made me dig at those sore spots, the ones that everyone has—those moments in time that you make the wrong choice, or embarrassed yourself, or made yourself act in a way that was for the sake of others rather than for yourself… there are a thousand of them. And I drew off them. I drew off my fears. I drew off my past failures. And I set pen to paper. Literally. The first novel I tried to write was five pages on a yellow legal pad. I gave up. I was afraid. I was afraid I didn’t have talent. Heck, I hadn’t taken a creative writing course since high school. I was too old and too young to have such frivolous ideas of writing a book. I mean do you know the odds of being published? (That was before I knew anything about the world of Amazon.) No one I knew had the freedom to be a writer—except journalists. And well, frankly I didn’t know any of them either.[image error]

All I knew was that I needed to keep pushing. So I started out small. Writing little, unpaid pieces for a small, local startup magazine (which is now not a small magazine, rather a magazine with world-wide circulation and one heck of an editor).

These little things empowered me to finally start and finish my first real novel. It was terrible. (I looked at it the other day and saw some redeemable qualities… a few random gems in a dump of words.)  I sent it in to publishers and received the almost obligatory rejections that all first-time writers get.  After a few months. I saw it for the massive sinkhole it was. I cried. I picked myself up. I joined a writers group. I finally recognized that I had an obsession a passion for the creative process, and I was going to dive in head first.

Fast forward a few years… There has been ample struggle. There is always the fear of rejection. There is always the fear of being judged for your passion (someone refused to come to an event I was hosting recently because as a ‘romance’ author I wasn’t a good example for their child).  Needless to say, there continues to be struggles. The battles change from where they started at the beginning, but day-to-day you must fight. You must dig deep and often sacrifice for your calling. When people try to strip you of your passion, or marginalize it, you must have the strength to carry your head high and let their acidic words drip from you without letting them leave you with too much of a scar (I’d love to tell you to simply let them roll off, but the truth is that we’re human. No matter how old you are, male or female, rich or poor, words will always carry the vitriolic power to leave a mark.)

When you look back and are asked what motivates you the answer must always be simple: it must be the power inside you. It must be the passionate fire that burns away the negative and even in the darkest moments lights your path.

Wherever your passion lies, hold on to it with both hands. Passion is power. And power will always lead to success (often not the kind that you were seeking, but the kind of success that rests in the heart).

The post Just Keep Swimming: Finding Passion and Motivation appeared first on Danica Winters.

Smoke and Ashes Launch & Benefit Raffle

I’m thrilled to announce that I will be hosting a benefit for the Missoula YWCA through the Smoke and Ashes Launch & Benefit Raffle. My novel, Smoke and Ashes, delves into a relationship in which the heroine feels trapped in an unhealthy and abusive relationship. I felt a special need to raise awareness and funds for this organization because not only have my character’s lives been affected by domestic violence but mine has as well. This is my chance to make a difference in the lives that are still in jeopardy.[image error]

Many of my friends and family members have also benefited from the YWCA—finding housing, jobs, and the support they needed to leave abusive relationships…and make sure they and their children are safe.

All money raised will go directly to the Missoula YWCA. YWCA Missoula is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all.

They will provide services that will change lives (including transitional housing, emergency housing, and rapid re-housing), services that will help end domestic and sexual violence (through emergency shelter, services for children, support groups, and sexual assault services), and transform our community (through GUTS—Girls Using Their Strengths), summer outdoor adventure camps, after-school groups, and community action projects).

Domestic violence is a silent epidemic. Women all over the United States, in all socioeconomic brackets, are suffering.

By donating today, you will be helping women break the cycle of abuse and find a place where they, along with their children, can start fresh.

You can change a life. To donate to the YWCA directly, click: Missoula YWCA.

[image error]Smoke and Ashes will land on store shelves on April 19, 2016! It will be available at all booksellers.

I’ve started to receive donations for the Smoke and Ashes Launch & Benefit Raffle. The raffle tickets will be offered at all Missoula book signing events: April 23 @Barnes and Noble from 1-3 p.m., April 30 @Hastings from 1-3 p.m., and the final day (in which I shall pick winners) is May 7 @Fact and Fiction from 11-1 p.m. I would love to see you there! (I will also be signing at several RT events in Las Vegas.)

Feel free to check out the event’s page on Facebook!

Raffle items include books, promotional materials, wine and spirits, household goods, Baskin Robbins gift cards, a variety of awesome prizes! Thanks to Janie Crouch (a Harlequin author from Germany) we even have donations coming from across the world! J Cash donations have started to arrive including Rocky Mountain Dental Lab and Kohl’s of Missoula (who has stepped up and donated $500 for the event—thank you Kohl’s)!

If you’d like to donate items to the raffle, you can contact me directly: DanicaWinters (AT sign) DanicaWinters (Dot) net.  (Sorry for the wonky spelling of the email address, but I get A LOT of spammers.) You can also get directly to me by tweeting me @DanicaWinters.

ALL donations are welcome.

This is your chance to make a difference.

*If you or someone you know needs help escaping domestic violence, you can call the Domestic Violence hotline (1-800-799-7233) or check out the DV website: http://www.thehotline.org/blog/get-help-today/

 

Our Boys in Blue (and Bunker Boots)

This has been a wonderful couple of weeks. Just when I thought things couldn’t get better (or crazier, depending on the angle you looked at it), I received the advanced review copies (ARCs) for Smoke and Ashes. [image error]

Hands down–not including the birth of my children–this was one of the most amazing moments of my life. For nearly a year, I have known the day would come in which I could hold the book in my hands, smell the mass market paper and ink, stroke the cover, and drool over the artwork. It was surreal when that day finally arrived.

I’m not one who cries (and I’m not really a hugger–though I make exceptions), yet this week I have been spontaneously bursting into tears and hugging strangers.

I can’t express how much it means to me that I get to hold my literary baby in my hands. I have sacrificed more than most know to make this dream a reality–friends have come and gone, my social life has its own headstone, and my family members knows that whatever “vacation” we take will likely revolve around a conference, book signing, or convention. And, just like any small business, I really don’t have days off. There is always something that needs my attention, or word counts that are breathing down my neck.

Yet, it always has been a labor of love.

Through it all, the sacrifice, the writing time, the exclusion and tedious schedules, it all comes back to the reason I will always write–I want to make a difference. I want my readers to put my books down and feel uplifted–and to walk away with a feeling of hope.

In writing Smoke and Ashes, I spent a great deal of my time researching the events that transpired between the pages. Want to know about chemical oxidizers and arson? How about how fires affect fingerprints? Ask this girl. Or, more accurately, ask me because I spent many an hour talking to firefighters and police officers within my community.

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Thanks to our men (and women) in bunker boots!

This book (really all of my books, but this one in particular), wouldn’t have been possible without their support.

As a thank you to my local fire department, as soon as I received my ARCs (and a bunch of swag), I bought a cake and a thank you card and made my way to their doorstep once again. I was given a gracious welcome and “How did the book turn out?”

I have never had a bigger smile on my face as the moment I handed them the book that they helped to create. Up until that moment I had kept the secret… a secret a year in the making… a secret that I had been dying to tell them–They had helped to make my dreams of becoming a Harlequin author a reality.

I cannot express my thanks enough to the men and women who serve our community. Not only do they put their lives at risk, but they open their hearts and their doors in doing community outreach–like helping crazy blond writers who have nothing more than a dream and a pen.

These amazing men and women risk their lives to help others, and my sacrifices pale in comparison. I have no room to complain. I don’t have to hold the hands of the dying or run through a burning building. I simply get to mark down the stories of those who do. They are the men and women who live through real life danger… they are (the often unsung) everyday heroes.

I tip my hat to those who serve. Thank you.

DIY and Losing Your Mind

The other day I sat down and wrote the best little blog about how writing is just like renovating a house… and I promptly lost it.

I keep asking myself how… How could I do something so dumb?

I write for a living. How can I, a person who lives in neatly categorized files and spreadsheets, lose something I spent hours conceptualizing, writing, and editing?

The answer is simple. I’m losing my mind.

Instead of trying to recreate what I doubt was a masterpiece rich in allegorical wealth, I am going to give you a quick snippet into the how and why I lost my stuff.[image error]

The truth is, I’m elbows deep in renovating my house. (Like the prison bars?)

Last summer, my husband convinced me that we should move into a house with a shop (that included a car lift… We bought a house because of a car lift… *Shaking head* I am still confused at how he convinced me this was a good idea).

He’ll be the first to admit the house needed entirely too much work for our own good (but, on a side note, our kids are learning how to remove trim and spackle). Or, maybe it is for our own good—we have come together as a family through this journey. We regularly have painting dance parties–last night it was to the song “Get Low.” Regardless, when I’m not writing, I’m renovating… and sometimes one thing just bleeds into the other. Things aren’t saved (like blog posts) and paint makes its way onto things (my computer has a nice new speckled pattern).[image error]For your viewing pleasure, here’s another pre-reno picture of our house so you can see it in its full glory. This puppy hasn’t been touched since 1979.

I wish I could kid around about loving the orange carpet, but I hate it so much that even the thought of saying I love it makes me want to rip it out. It’s end is near, my friends, its end is near…

[image error]On a positive note, the orange-beast carpet does work well for a painting drop cloth. So far we’ve gone through twenty-five gallons of paint. I’m not kidding. Twenty-five. And I’m not done.

I went out of my house this week for McDonalds, while there I had a conversation with one of my friends about how my nails are whatever color I’m painting in my house. I love getting my nails done, but I am living in a reality in which that kind of frivolity would last about ten minutes. I long for the days in which my fingernails were a nice pink color, or better yet, red… I love red.

The only place that isn’t covered with paint are my fingertips… I have been rubbing that paint off thanks to the hours I’ve been spending on the keyboard working on the books—but that’s another blog post (needless to say, I’m LOVING the upcoming releases).

Okay, I’m rambling. See what I mean? I’m so losing it. I feel like the dog from Up when it sees the squirrel. My mind is awash with long to-do lists and the desire to be done with all things orange and smothered in paint.

So… What do you recommend I do to come back to center (i.e. my spreadsheets and calendars)? What about you? What do you do when life is pulling you in a million directions? What do you do to escape? I can’t wait to hear!!

**Oh, don’t forget to stop by my contest page… There’s always something fun happening there! [image error]

Happy Holidays!

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Thank you for another wonderful year. I hope that you have a wonderful holiday season, spent with the people you love and cherish and may you receive the gift of a wonderful book!

I know I’ve said it before, but thank you for all of your ongoing love and support. You are the reason I write.

May you be blessed this season and in the year to come!

-Danica Winters

Reader’s Choice!

Exciting things are on the horizon and this is your chance to be involved.

You may already know, but earlier this year I signed a three book contract with Harlequin Intrigue. (So cool, right?!) This awesome sauce would not have been possible without the support of you, my fans! After wracking my brain to find a way to thank you for all of your support and kind words, I decided to give back in a way that would give you the chance for your vote to be counted, and your voice to make it onto the page.

If you couldn’t tell, I’m super stinkin’ excited about this, and I hope you are too.

So, here’s the deal. Over the last few weeks I’ve been hitting my Facebook fan page and asking you guys to come up with the next heroine’s name (for book 3 in the Montana Heroes Series). I have picked the top names and now it’s your chance to pick the final name! Pretty cool, huh?

So, here’s your chance to make your mark in the world of romantic literature! Feel free to cast your vote!

Loading…*If you are having trouble seeing the form you can click on the link to the Google form and submit your vote : http://goo.gl/forms/Nv9TBJUxos

A Little Extra Awesomeness

The first book in the Montana Heroes Series, Smoke and Ashes, is already available for pre-order on Amazon (to be released May 2016). Don’t forget to snag your copy!

Also, for those of you who will be attending the RT Convention in Las Vegas in 2016, I will be there and will be signing books. Hope to meet you there!

 

Hot Summer News!

I hope you are off to a great summer! Here in Montana, the heat is climbing and breaking long-standing records. I hope wherever you are, you have air conditioning and a steady supply of Mai Tais (or at least a cabana boy named Sven to bring you a cold drink)!

I find myself stuck inside and dreaming of cooler days and maybe a few hotter nights… (With said cabana boy, maybe?) To help you get through these hot days, I have worked together with my publisher to offer a once in a lifetime sale! Together, we have put ALL of my Nymph Series novels into one HOT collection, for one COOL price of only $0.76 for Kindle (or $0.99 for Nook)!!!

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That’s so awesome, I’m beading up with excitement! Holy buckets, Sven, bring me a towel![image error]

OMG, can someone say #HottieMcButterpants!

If you are interested, you can also find The Nymph’s Curse in the following locations:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

iTunes

And all other major retailers

Hope you have a great summer and may you have many hot nights while reading The Nymph’s Curse collection!

-Danica Winters