Prizes, Prizes, Prizes! Last Day for Big LASR Nook Hunt

We all want an e-reader, right? Get moving then! Check out the authors participating in the Great Anniversary Celebration at Long and Short Reviews for a chance to win one of THREE Nook e-readers, each of which will come loaded with books from participating authors. Win, win. Mine is easy to find. Some are harder. Totally worth searching for, though--unless you already have an e-reader.

As they say on TV commercials, "But Wait! That's not all!" Right. Comment by tonight and I'll enter you in my weekly drawing for a book. Yeah, one book. Makes that LASR contest look better and better, doesn't it? (Okay, but my book, OUT OF THE BLUE, is a great one, really it is. You'll love it--all my friends and family did. LOL And Siren Reviews gave me 5 Siren Stones in their review! )

The winner of Aileen Harkwood's free download of WOLF'S DEN is Cienna. Aileen will be contacting you, Cienna, to email you your copy of her book. You're still in the running for the Big Prize Basket from our Wild Rose Authors Blog Tour. That winner will be announced on August 31st. Lisa Dawn, marketing director for The Wild Rose Press, will draw the winner's name from the list of all those who commented on the August blog tour.

Is that all there is on blogs--prizes? No, I have great content with author interviews, book reviews, research information, writing tips, and miscellaneous drivel, um, I mean great stuff going on in my life. Next week I'll be reviewing Margo Candela's new book, GOOD-BYE TO ALL THAT followed the next day with a blog post by Margo. Great book, so come back to learn more about the book and learn what she has to say about writing.

This week has been a mess for me. Darling 2's oldest dog, Findley, has had cancer, and surgery to remove the tumor has left his shoulder and leg a mess. With Darling 2 hydrating the wound and doing massage three times a day and twice weekly visits to our vet, Findley's leg has been saved and he is recovering. However, she is in education and couldn't get off to take him yesterday for his vet visit--rescheduled because the vet was going out of town. So, Hero and I took care of the little guy overnight and then took him in for his visit. It's harrowing---like keeping a sick child for someone. We are worried he'd hurt himself, or get worse, or something on our watch. Very traumatic. No, Findley was fine; we were the nervous ones.  That's not Findley above right. It's Webster, the black Shih Tzu to whom Hero and I belong. I didn't want to show poor poor little Findley's photo as he looks now. However, Findley is also a black Shih Tzu and his gentle, sweet nature is the reason Hero and I got Webster from a rescue agency. Webster's photos always make him look like a little black alien, but he is actually a sweet, loving, and handsome dog. But on with my story.

Because my glasses broke and I have to have them to do little things like see anything, I had to get my eyes checked. I had scheduled a chat at Coffee Time Romance's karenfindoutaboutbooks' yahoo loop for four. Or so I thought. Turns out it was on the erotic chat loop, karendevinkaren. I don't write erotic romance, just sensual and sweet. Can't figure out how I wound up on that erotic loop, but never mind. When I learned it was at 4 EST instead of CST, I was going to cancel my eye exam. Nope, the big chip in my unbreakable lens made it necessary I see the doctor ASAP. So, Darling 1 filled in for me for half an hour or so until I rushed home in a tizzy because I'd missed part of the chat.

Things were fine for a while and I enjoyed chatting a couple of hours with those who showed up. Time moved along pretty fast, that is--yep, until my server went down an hour before the chat was supposed to end. By this time, let me tell you, my nerves were frazzled--taut as bowstrings. Again, Darling 1 took over to tell the other chatters what happened and bid them adieu for me.

While I was waiting, hoping my server would somehow revive itself, I read an email that said I had messed up payment for a cover contest I'd entered. Yikes? What was wrong with me? Was I going nuts? I was in a deep purple funk. My mom used to say she was "blue" when she was loney or upset. A deep purple funk is even more upsetting than being blue. LOL This was just one of those days when I figured nothing I did was right and my life was NOT under my control!

Here's where Hero stepped in and took me out for Mexican food and a large margarita. See why I call him Hero? He always knows the perfect thing to help me recover from any situation. Not that I get myself into um, situations all that often. (Yeah, right. I'm sure you believe that. If so, would you like to buy this great bridge in Brooklyn?)

I hope you don't have days like mine was yesterday, or if you do that you handle it better than I did. I suspect everyone has days like that one occasionally. Seems life is either feast or famine--nothing happening OR way too much happening at once. You've probably heard that Chinese curse: "May you live in interestng times." Yep, sometimes boring would be nice.