Summer Splash Blog Hop!

BIG FUN is afoot at the Circle K. (Pardon the goofy Bill and Ted's reference.)

Consider this a jump-start to your fall reading list as well as a jump into the excitement for the release of my next book, Paige.

Truly, though. A boatload of writers are participating in a giant blog hop through the end of July. Each blog offers a chance to win prizes like books and other swag.

PLUS: The home blog for the hop will give out lots of GRAND PRIZES that you won't want to miss out on.

Grand Prizes Include: 

• TWO Kindle Fires
• $75 Amazon gift card
• $50 Amazon gift card
• A Kindle cover
• And signed paperbacks of something like TWENTY different novels (including a copy of PAIGE, which will be out right about the time the hop ends!)

To win one of the grand prizes, tweet about the hop.

Each tweet must have two things: (1) a link to the hop AND (2) the #SummerHop hash tag (both are needed to track the tweets to give you credit). Cool side note: The blog hop host blog post already has pre-written tweets, complete with links, for you to use. Copy, paste, and tweet. Easy peasy. (Use the link below to get there, or use the blog hop button in the sidebar.)

SO WHAT IS MY BLOG OFFERING?

I'll randomly select FIVE winners. Each will receive one of the following prizes:

• E-book of Lost Without You: Contemporary inspirational romance. A woman staring at her upcoming 30th birthday and biological clock, a widower with a young daughter, and an ex-boyfriend who decides if he can't have her, no one will.
• E-book of At the Water's Edge: Contemporary inspirational romance. A Finnish woman's decision to change her religion sets a chain of events into motion that change every aspect of her life. Work, family, home, and, possibly, her heart. 
• E-book of The Golden Cup of Kardak: Middle-grade fantasy. If there's any chance of winning the war, two siblings must find their father in the enemy's prison and bring him a magical goblet, a journey fraught with danger and adventures. 
• Paperback of Spires of Stone: Historical romance. A loose re-telling of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing set in 1860s Salt Lake City.
• Paperback of Paige (Get your hands on it before anyone else!) Contemporary women's fiction, part of The Newport Ladies Book Club. A new divorcee and mother of two young boys starts over and must discover who she is as a woman rather than a wife and whether she can ever learn to trust another man again.

HOW TO ENTER HERE

TWO ways to win on my blog:
(1) Spread the word about MY participation in the hop, leaving a link to my blog. Be sure to leave comments each time you tweet or Facebook about it. PLEASE add the links so I can track them. (This is in addition to general tweeting with the #SummerHop tag.)

AND

(2) Answer any or all of the trivia questions below, but NOT in a comment. (EMAIL the answers to me. See details below.)


(1) SPREAD THE WORD
Every day from July 23 through the end of the month, you can get an entry point for linking to THIS post on Facebook or Twitter. (Don't link to my blog's regular URL. Use this post's permalink). Do it every day, and that's NINE potential entries on FB and NINE more on Twitter, for EIGHTEEN total.

(2) ANSWER UP TO 5 TRIVIA QUESTIONS
E-mail me the answers to any of the following trivia questions about me. Each correct answer gives you TWO entries, for a possible total of TEN.

Find every answer with a simple blog search right here. HINT: Each question has a big-time hint in it. Just search this blog for the bolded and italicized words.

IMPORTANT NOTE: 
NO trivia answers in the comments will be accepted, or the answers will be ruined for everyone else. Comments with trivia answers will be deleted. Instead, e-mail your answers to ANNETTE (at) ANNETTE LYON (dot) com with "SUMMER HOP TRIVIA" in the subject line.



NOW FOR THE QUESTIONS:

(1) When I referred to racing stripes in a post, what was I referring to?

(2) If I'm NOT an Anne freak, who or what am I obsessed with?


(3) While blow drying my hair, I got a great idea for the story that became Tower of Strength (the creative juices were really flowing). What annual tradition kept me from working on that book for a week?

(4) In the company of weird, where was I? (A general answer is fine. No specific date or location required.)

(5) When my family decided to attack the grammar fascista, what word pair did my husband brilliantly drive me crazy with? (TIP: The answer to this question is part of Melissa Smith's scavenger hunt, which she's doing for the hop. Find the answer to this question, and you're ahead of the game when you hop over to her place!)



For the list of all of the participating blogs, and for further details about how the hop (and for a chance to win prizes!), head on over to the Summer Splash Blog itself.

Happy hopping!

Holiday Blog Hop Giveaway

Yippee for book giveaways, and an extra hooray for ones that coincide with Christmas!

I'm part of the Holiday Blog Hop, which runs from December 15 - December 25. Visit The Holiday Blog Hop to find the rest of the participating blogs (and so you can win more ebooks!).

Extra bonus: The winners from each participating blog will be put together, and one of them will be randomly chosen to win a Kindle Fire. (I recently got to see the Kindle my mother-in-law owns. Didn't get to use it, as my kids were all over it. It's very cool.)

SO: Enter any of the giveaways participating, including mine, and if you win, you'll have an extra shot at the grand prize.

Due to personal writing and editing deadlines (and thing like, oh, family and Christmas), this will be my last post until after the hop is over and I announce the winner.

My giveaway will be very simple:

The winner will receive a copy of all three of my e-novels:

Lost Without You

At the Water's Edge

The Golden Cup of Kardak

PLUS an e-copy of my grammar guide, There, Their, They're: A No-Tears Guide to Grammar from the Word Nerd. (The e-version is more comprehensive and up-to-date than the print version, so booyah.)

Note: The 3 novels are available in formats other than .mobi (Kindle), but to date, the grammar book is only in .mobi. Apologies if the winner doesn't use Kindle; they'll miss out on that book.

As I did during my last giveaway, I'm not going to make people jump through lots of hoops. I like doing giveaways to thank my followers.

So that's all you need to do:

1) Be a follower (either on my blog through Google Friend Connect) or on Twitter.

THEN

2) Leave a comment on this post telling me that you're a follower (and which way).

That's it!

The fine print:

Entrants must be 18 years old, and I must be able to contact the winner, either via an email address left in a comment, or via a Blogger profile link. If the winner does not contact me to claim their prize within 48 hours, it's forfeit.

Merry Christmas, and happy reading!

Getting Kids Psyched About Books

Today I'm making good on my promise (from, ahem, more than two months ago) to talk about some of the things I've done to help my kids love reading. So here goes:

I got lucky with my first child. When he started reading aloud billboards as we drove along the freeway, I had no idea that doing such things at age three wasn't normal. I'd like to take credit for his insane reading skillz (and I can take credit for the things I did to expose him to reading and words and books), but truly, he just came wired ready to soak it up.

He didn't learn much in kindergarten, as he was already reading at a fourth-grade level. Comprehension, inference, and some other accompanying reading skills weren't quite that high, but he could decode like a pro.

While I was pregnant with him, I was finishing my English degree, and I spent literally hours reading aloud as I paced our apartment so I could finish the assignments and not fall asleep from pregnancy fatigue. He literally heard volumes of classic literature in utero. I can't help but wonder if that helped form some brain connections or something.

(The other kids heard plenty of books read aloud in utero, but those were Dr. Seuss and other kids books. Link? We'll never know.)

Some things we did to expose him (and his siblings) to reading early:

• Read aloud. A lot. He got several books read to him before every nap, before bed, and at lots of other times.
• Point out easy words and have him learn them. I started with the classic sight words, although I didn't know that's what they were called. (A similar list is HERE.) As a toddler, he knew to expect Mom to point to about one word per page for him to read, whether a simple the, you, or car, or something a bit more complicated.
• Let them help with shopping. Kids love finding "apples" on the list and crossing it out.They enjoy searching for words on labels. Even little kids can learn to identify the signs for the bakery and deli and eventually figure out what the sounds in the letters mean. (The store is another great spot for practicing numbers and easy math.)
• Cook together and point out ingredients, labels, and instructions.

I had a couple of challenges getting him to actually read. One was that most books on his age level were too easy for him. The first books he really took to, thanks to their humor, were the Captain Underpants books. I know some parents cringe at those (potty humor, intentional misspellings, etc.), but to me, hey, he was reading. Those books hooked him. He read them all so much they fell apart. I got a few comb-bound, but eventually, we had to buy a new set.

Which led to my second challenge with him: He didn't like trying new books. Around 4th or 5th grade, he had two series he loved . . . and read them over and over. And read nothing else. Boys are particularly hard to find books for at that age; it seems like there are far more girl titles for the in-between reading ages than for boys.

Finding new books that sparked his interest took time and effort (including asking just about every mom of boys I could find what their kids liked and spending hours trolling the Internet for ideas), but it was worth it; eventually we broke through the block, and he discovered a bunch of other writers and books.

Child #2 learned to read well, and pretty early, if not as fast as her brother. She was always ahead of her grade on decoding, comprehension, and fluency.

But she hated reading.

Which about killed me. Getting the required 15 or 20 minutes of reading per day for school was pure torture (for both us), especially as she got older. By fourth grade, I could get her to read a stack of picture books, but she refused to try a novel, even an easy chapter book.

I was terrified that she'd never enjoy reading. Aside from the joy that reading can be, I was afraid she'd lose out on the skills literacy provides.

Two things finally solved the problem:

• We used audio books along with the hard-copy book. So she read the text as she listened to the book. I got this idea from my teacher-writer friend (and critique group member) Lu Ann Staheli. This technique helped take away some of the intimidation factor. After reading a few books this way, she was no longer afraid of chapter books.
• I noticed that she complained of headaches in her forehead after reading. I remembered that when my dad was young, reading always felt like work because of eye issues. When reading is physically painful, of course you don't enjoy it. A trip to the eye doctor with her confirmed it: while she had 20/20 vision for distance, she had significant astigmatism, which made her eye muscles work extra hard to keep the text in focus. That led to headaches from eye-muscle fatigue, right on her forehead, where her pain was centered. She got reading glasses, and a few days later, I found her curled up on her bed with a novel. I walked away with tears in my eyes.

Child #3 is a perfectionist. When she first started reading, if she couldn't sound out a word the first time around, she fell apart. "I'll never get it! Waaah!" Tears and meltdown.

No amount of explaining that everyone makes mistakes made any difference. We had to back up, go to easier levels that she'd already mastered, and let her have lots of success with those easier books. Then, when she felt ready, we worked up to harder ones.

She didn't like doing that, because she's also an over achiever, and she wanted to be on the higher levels, faster. She eventually managed to jump ahead, but I think it was because of the confidence she developed early on.

When she struggled with the transition to chapter books, I spent time reading aloud with her. I read one page, and she read the next. This helped her get through harder books with support at her side (and reading only half the text). But it also helped me hear what words and concepts she struggled with, so I could help her over some of those hurdles.

This year, her sixth-grade teacher required the students to read 35 books each, in a variety of genres. My daughter's goal is to double that number. With about 6 weeks left in the school year, she's going to make it pretty easily. (And these aren't small books; most are quite thick, in the 300-page range.)

Child #4 falls somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. She's been surrounded by reading all her life, so it was a natural thing to pick up and strive for. I admit that as the youngest, she got read to least of all the siblings (she got maybe one book at nap time instead of four like her brother), but she got something else: instead of only picture books for bedtime, she heard a lot of novels, since I began reading to everyone at night, and her siblings were past the picture-book stage.

So while I'd still read her picture books, at a pretty young age, she was also listening to much longer, more complex books. She didn't always follow the stories or understand them (and often spent that time on the floor next to us, doodling with paper and crayons), but I really think it's helped in her comprehension, vocabulary, prediction skills, and more.

In fact, I have friends who crack up at her vocabulary because it's so advanced for her age. I think her ability to think, speak, and process at a high level is a direct result of being the youngest and being surrounded by bigger words at a younger age.

Other things we've done:

Participate in library story times for toddlers and preschoolers.

Participate in library summer reading programs.

Have family reading parties.

Nearly always buy something from book orders and the school book fairs. The only rule is that it must be a BOOK, not a toy or game. (This rule is getting harder to keep as book orders veer away from books more and more. Drives me batty.)

The kids are guaranteed to get at least 3 books as gifts during the year: at Christmas, birthdays, and in their Easter baskets. One year, when #3 was a toddler, on seeing her Easter basket, she cried out, "Oh, cool! A book!" Not, "Oh, cool! Candy!" I cheered inside. They save their gift books and treasure them.

They see Mom reading and know that Dad listens to lots of books.

We often talk about books: what we like; what we don't like. Ideas. Recommendations. Predictions. And so much more.

Sometimes we read the same books (like last summer, with the Hunger Games series), which allows for great discussion.

I let them borrow my Kindle. I make this into a very big deal, so they know it's a treat.

Every child is different, and every child will have his or her own challenges (and I'm not touching the category of learning disabilities).

Bottom line:

• Never, ever give up.
• Find out what the underlying reason might be for not liking books.
• Search out the right book (because boredom might be the problem).
• Make reading FUN and something to look forward to.
• Make books and reading valuable, something kids can own.

Sample Sunday: There, Their, They're

Sample Sunday is for authors to share a bit of their Kindle-published titles. I'll post a sample of Lost Without You sometime soon, but today I thought I'd put up a piece from my grammar book, There, Their, They're: A No-Tears Guide to Grammar from the Word Nerd, which is now on Kindle for all of 99 cents.

Below is the section that discusses splitting infinitives: what does it mean to split an infinitive, and is it wrong to do so?

(Check out the #SampleSunday hash tag on Twitter to read other samples from Kindle authors.)

Splitting Infinitives

At some point in history, grammarians and teachers decided that Latin, a dead language, should be our guide. Why it made any sense to use another language to prescribe English grammar, I’ll never know, but Latin is the basis for the argument that we shouldn’t split infinitives (and a bunch of other silly grammar “rules”).

Here’s the crux of the old argument: In most languages, the infinitive or base form of a verb is a single word.

Since I know Finnish best, I’ll use it as our example.

Finnish: olla

English: to be

You can’t take the Finnish olla and split it up. It’s one word. The same holds true for the French être and the Spanish ser. The infinitive is one word. Of course you can’t split it up and have it make any sense.

But English has two words for the infinitive: to be. So, heck, let’s throw something between them: to happily be

That’s what is called a split infinitive. Frankly, unless you’re writing a paper for cranky Mrs. Robinson from eighth grade who insists on her students abiding by antiquated rules, split infinitives to your heart’s content. Although you shouldn’t overuse any construction, splitting an infinitive isn’t wrong.

Consider how utterly flat the classic tagline from Star Trek would be if it held to this “rule”:

To go boldly where no man has gone before.

Sorry, Mrs. Robinson. That lacks punch. It’s lame. We really need to split that infinitive:

To boldly go where no man has gone before.

Whether you like Vulcans or avoid them like a bad rash, you have to agree that the original tagline is the superior one.

From Chapter 2: Grammar Grapples, There, Their, They're: A No-Tears Guide to Grammar from the Word Nerd

Reader's Guide to How Publishing Works

At recent book signings, I've had a lot of people ask questions about publishing, stuff that as a writer, you almost forget you didn't know once upon a time and had to learn.

Here's a basic run-down on what publishers do (and don't do) and how a new writer goes about it.

You do not pay a publisher to put out your book.

A legitimate publisher considers your book to be their product, and they invest a lot of money into it to make it successful. That money includes editing (many rounds of editing and revisions), copy edits, proofing, typesetting, and things like graphic design, printing, shipping, and distribution. As a result of all that, they have a lot of overhead and keep most of the money.

But they do NOT ask the author for money. Companies who do are called Vanity (or, the nicer term, Subsidy) Publishers. If you go with one of them, you're essentially self-publishing. (See below.)

Vanity publishers have a very bad reputation, especially those who pretend they're legit and are doing YOU a favor. ("Just pay us $4,000, and we'll publish your amazing book!" Ha. Run. Run like the wind! An example of this type of deal: Publish America.)

(Check the Predators and Editors site to check for shady agents, editors, and publishers before signing anywhere.)

The Writer Is Paid Royalties.

Royalties are based on book sales. Statements (and checks!) usually arrive twice a year. (If you ask me how my book is doing, I can't tell you until I get my next statement.)

Royalties are based on a percentage of the book price, usually retail, although sometimes it's wholesale, with royalty percentages ranging from 6.25% to 15% (lots of factors go into the number, which I won't get into now).

Larger publishers often offer advances. An advance isn't just free money. It's money that the publisher is gambling will pay off. If Joe Author gets a $5,000 advance, he gets no more money in royalties, EVER, unless royalties he would have earned from books sold exceed $5,000. When that happens (which doesn't always), he's "earned out" his advance and will then receive royalty checks.

Advances are pretty rare in the LDS market (unless your name is big enough that the publisher knows that a book by you is a guaranteed check in the bank, and I can think of maybe four names like that). I know a few authors who've managed to get advances, but they're very few and far between.

Some math: You can end up waiting years before seeing a dime on your work. I began work on Chocolate Never Faileth May 1, 2009. I'll see my first dime from it February 2011. And that's a FAST turnaround.

More math: There's not much chance of making really good money from publishing a book, especially fiction. (Non-fiction, with someone who has a big platform, is another animal.) A novelist could very well get about sixty-five cents per copy sold. (So pop that dream of a mansion and a Mercedes. Ain't happening.) The rich novelist, especially of a single book, is a serious myth. (It happens, sure, but you have a better chance of being struck by lightning.)

Return Reserve

Another issue is returns. The writer is paid on books ordered by and shipped to stores, not on books that actually walk out of the store in a customer's hand.

So your royalty check may not reflect actual sales. This can come back to bite you when a bunch of stores (especially ones who buy in bulk, say WalMart or Costco) return cases of unsold books.

What happens: your royalties account goes into the red. You were already paid on those books. While you don't need to cough up money to pay your publisher back, you ARE in the red until future royalties add up to be enough to get you into the black again.

This is why return reserve is so common. For example, my publisher withholds 10% of my royalties earned in every check to cover any possible returns. (And then we both cross fingers, hoping that returns don't exceed 10%.) If, after the next 6 months, we don't end up with lots of returns and I'm in the black, I get that 10% paid in my next check.

What's a pain is when you're in the black from other books but a different book gets lots of returns. Your royalties for your new book are then cannibalized to pay for the returns of a past one. (Not that I'm speaking from experience or anything . . .)

Agent or No Agent? (And What Does an Agent DO?)

Whether you'll need an agent depends on the market you're trying to break into. The LDS market, for example, is small enough that agents simply couldn't making a living in it. It's rare that an agent negotiates a deal here. (It's happened, usually with authors who already had an agent for another project. I could list a few examples, but it's pretty rare.)

Even authors who have agents for national project often negotiate their own LDS publisher contracts. One fun example was Dean Hughes, who was working on his Children of the Promise series, unbeknownst to his national agent, who thought he wasn't doing much work (ha!) and surprised him when she sold a nine-book series for him to write.

For most national houses (versus regional or niche publishers) you will need an agent just to get in the door to be considered. Agents are the gatekeepers who pass along manuscripts to editors that they feel have promise so editors aren't wading through what's called the "slush pile."

Agents have relationships, connections to the publishing world. They're the ones with the Rolodex. You don't. They can sell your book to the best house. You can't. They negotiate the contract. After a book is sold, they can go on to sell foreign rights (which can be a pretty hefty amount of money, if you sell rights in lots of countries), movie rights, and so on.

Agents take 15% of what you earn, WHEN you earn it. That may sound like a lot, but getting 85% of, say $90,000 is a whole lot for more than 100% of $5,000. Agents earn their money.

One big caveat: NEVER pay an agent anything upfront. Run from an agent who asks for reading or other fees. If they have costs to be reimbursed for (copies, postage), that'll come out of a royalty check. You should never be paying them anything directly. They get paid when you do.

How Do You Approach Publishers/Agents?

When I started, we didn't have Professor Google to help. I had to rely on the book edition of Writer's Market. Now they have an online version, and you can find a multitude of blogs out there written by agents and editors on how to write a query and how to approach publishers. (So much is out there, you really have no excuse for not educating yourself.)

Publishers Take so Much Money; Why Not Self-Publish?

A couple of reasons: first, the chances of your book being professionally edited, typeset, and having a great cover are pretty sad. (Self-published books usually LOOK self-published.) That means fewer sales. (People really do judge books by their covers.)

A second, and possibly bigger, factor is that publishers already have distribution arms, relationships and histories with bookstores. Indie writers don't. Bookstores are generally wary about taking on books that don't come from a reputable publisher, especially because they usually can't return unsold books to the author the way they can to a publisher. (This is especially true if the writer used a print-on-demand company.)

It doesn't do a writer much good if they have flat of 4,000 copies of a book in their basement and they can't sell them. Sure, you'll make several bucks per book, but if you're selling under 100 copies, where's that getting you?

E-books

They're changing the face of publishing. How far and in what ways remains to be seen.

One issue is that there are SO MANY e-books out there, so readers still need a way to vet the good from the bad. Publishers still provide that service.

That said, a lot of self-published e-book writers are making pretty good money. But they market as much as they write. They get professionally designed covers, get their books edited, interact with e-book readers, usually have multiple books for sale, and more. It's not an easy route. It's work either way.

I have one Kindle book so far (soon to be three). My first novel, Lost Without You, went out of print some time ago, and after the rights reverted back to me (and after a minor rewrite), I got it onto the Kindle last summer (it's also available on other e-reader formats through Smashwords, which includes Apple, Kobo, Sony, and more).

Sales were slow at first, but they're picking up. And while I'm not going to get rich off it, having the book there is getting me more readers all the time. And here's one great thing: the book won't go out of print again. Ever. I can get more sales as the months go by, not fewer.

For more on this, I was interviewed by the Kindle Author blog today. Check that out for more on my experience with Lost Without You and e-books.

I'm hoping that by February, my grammar guide and my second novel, At the Water's Edge (also out of print), will be available on the Kindle and other e-book formats.

Those are the most common questions I get about publishing. If you have more, throw 'em at me, and I'll add them to a future post!

4-Year Extravaganza!!!

Yippee! Today marks FOUR YEARS since my very first post here at The Lyon' s Tale, wherein I celebrated my writerly weirdness.

IT'S PARTY TIME!!!

(PRIZES BELOW!)

But first . . .

A lot much has happened in four years. A smattering:

• Four of my seven novels were published.
• I got two teenagers. (And an ulcer. Connected? You decide.)
• I got my own gorgeous office with built-in bookcases made by my husband.
• I won Utah's Best of State medal for fiction.
• The Whitney Awards were created. My suggestion for naming the award was picked. ("Whitney" in honor of apostle Orson F. Whitney, who envisioned an amazing future for LDS literature).
• I was a Whitney finalist, then a member of the committee, and this year got to present a Lifetime Achievement Award to Gerald Lund.
• (Speaking of which, be sure to nominate your favorite books by LDS writers . . . and that includes national books. A title needs five nominations to be official. Get nominating!)
• The Teen Writers Conference was born, which I've been part of since its inception.
• I broke my nose.
• I used elements from that experience in my next two books.
• Two daughters hurt their wrists w/in about 48 hours of one another: one sprained, the other broken. With their red hair, I was immediately identified by the Urgent Care NP. "Weren't you just here with another daughter with a similar injury?"(I am a fit mother. I SWEAR.)
• Husband and I took a trip to visit my parents in my other homeland, Finland, where they were presiding over the temple. You can read all about the trip HERE.
• I was asked to write a COOKBOOK, of all things. Lesson: You never know where writing opportunities will come from. Keep doors open. (And watch shelves in October!)
• I joined Facebook (with both a personal page and an author page).
• I joined Twitter (@Lyonstale).
• At the pestering request of many, many people, I created my grammar book.
• Most recently, I got my very first book available for readers once again, currently on the Kindle. (Can I hear a woot, woot?!)

Now for the celebration, in THREE parts (each part will have MULTIPLE winners!):

1) A random drawing for prizes.

2) An easy trivia contest. (I give obvious hints, so there's no excuse to NOT find the answers.)

3) A mini writing contest.

THE PRIZES, THE PRIZES!!!

1) CHOCOLATE!

Kim is generously donating a delicious Canadian chocolate pack to one winner. (That alone is worth entering, no? Oh, yeah.)

2) Eyes Like Mine

A signed copy of Julie Wright's latest novel, a recent Whitney Award finalist.

3) All the Stars in Heaven

A signed copy of Michele Paige Holmes's latest, also a Whitney finalist this year. (Her previous book won the Whitney for Best Romance. She has yet to publish a book that isn't at least a

finalist.)

4) Alma the Younger

A signed copy of the newest release by 2-time Whitney winner H. B. Moore.

5) A Spiral-bound Notebook and a Pen

The notebook has a totally cool cover (a blueish/grayish door with a brass doorknob and lock). Quote on the front says: Unlock your mind: read. Winner also gets a pen to go with the notebook. It has cute polka dots and the words: Don't bug me; I'm writing.

6) A Mouse Pad

Features a stack of books and the famous Groucho Marx quote: "Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read."

7) A T-shirt

White, with a row of cute houses on it and a quote below them: "A house without books is like a room without windows."

8) A custom piece of jewelry from Bangles, Beads, N' Bobbles.

Visit their Facebook page or Etsy shop to get an idea of the fun stuff to choose from. Since the winner's prize will be created custom-made, they'll have to plan on about 2 weeks so Sandra, the brain behind the magic, can make the piece and ship it.

9) Finding Rose

A signed copy of Stephanie Humphrey's debut romance novel from Walnut Springs.

Enter THREE ways:

1) Comment, then spread the word, if you want to. (THREE RANDOM WINNERS.)

One comment will enter you. Get additional entries by spreading the word. (You know the drill: tweet it, blog about it, put it in your FB status, yada yada. Then let me know what you've done, and you'll get extra entries for each item. Blog posts linking back to this one are worth two entries, all the other fun stuff is worth one extra each.)

2) Answer the five trivia questions below. (THREE RANDOM WINNERS.)

Send your answers to ANNETTE at ANNETTELYON dot COM. DO NOT put your answers in the comments. I promise, they're EASY:

Five Trivia Questions (all answers can be found here on my blog):

1) What month of the year did I begin Word Nerd Wednesday? (Hint: Look for the "Word Nerdiversary" post.)

2) When (month and year) was Lost Without You first published? (Hint: Look at a recent post.)

3) What was the title of the first book I began to write (but never finished)? (Hint: The VERY FIRST post with from the Writing Journey series. They're labeled.)

4) What cosmetic do I almost never leave the house without? (Hint: #76.)

5) List the other SIX members of my critique group There are seven of us, but don't list me. (Hint: Sidebar)

AGAIN: DO NOT put the answers into the comments. E-mail them to me.

3) Enter my mini writing contest. THREE winners will be awarded from the entries, which will be judged by a super-secret but totally awesome panel.

The rules: write a short-short story of 250 words or fewer (word count will be enforced), with either the opening or closing sentence being:

In hindsight, it wasn't such a good idea.

Send your story (fiction or non-fiction) via e-mail: ANNETTE at ANNETTELYON dot com with the story IN THE BODY OF THE MESSAGE. (No attachments. Maximum of two stories per person.)

Winning stories will be posted here, so by entering, you're granting The Lyon's Tale that right.

DEADLINE for stories: Wednesday, July 28.

(That's a week from the date of this post.)

TO SUM UP:

-THREE PRIZES for comments and spreading the love.

-THREE PRIZES for those who correctly answer ridiculously easy trivia questions.

-THREE PRIZES for mini story winners.

That's NINE awesome prizes you have a shot at winning!

Winners will be announced Friday, July 30.

Ready, set, go!

It's Baaaack!

Happy, happy day, one that's been about two years in the making (something I didn't realize until I checked some old e-mails), but it's finally here!

Lost Without You, which has been out of print for several years, is back, baby! Digitally, that is. E-readers can now download it from Amazon and read it on the Kindle or any device that supports Kindle software (they have apps for PC, iPhone, Blackberry, iPad, and more).

If there's a need for it, I'll pull some strings with my technology department (read: husband who loves me) to get it onto other platforms.

You'll find a badge on my sidebar to buy it from and another link on my website. Or search Amazon for it (be sure to search for the KINDLE edition, because the Kindle version isn't listed on the print edition's page).

In the process of getting the book ready, I decided to go back and do some editing on it. I hadn't looked the book at all in years. (I don't read my books after they're published; I can't do it.)

I found myself noticing repetitive wording, awkward sentences, and even a random point of view shift or two. And then I started having fun . . .

Oooh, having Pat say another line here would be funny. So I added dialogue. I changed parts that leaned toward telling and made them more showing. I caught a couple of inconsistencies (thanks to Lara, I fixed the part where Greg's dimple switches cheeks).

It was fun to see sections that are somewhat outdated (Brooke listens to cassette tapes in her car and ABBA isn't a commonly known music group because Mama Mia hadn't come out yet). But I didn't change the plot. For that matter, it was awesome to find out that I still liked the story after all these years, while at the same time being able to see that I've grown as a writer and know how to make it better.

The final version turned out to be some 9,000 words longer than the original. Ahem. So the "edit" morphed into an expansion/rewrite. I think the extra words improved the whole, and I'm thrilled with the final result.

The timing wasn't intentional, but I find it rather cool:

Exactly eight years to the month after the original release of Lost Without You in July of 2002, the e-reader version is here. (HERE!)

(You can even download a FREE sample.)