Post Nominations for King and Queen of Romance in Literature HERE!!!

**NEW UPDATE: I have decided to keep the nominations open until Friday (30th) at midnight (EST) The voting will begin Monday morning. Post on voting rules coming soon!**

Okay, now is the time!

POST YOUR NOMINATIONS ON THIS POST!!! AND THIS POST ONLY!!! (comments section)

Earlier posts on this competition here and here.

Please follow these guidelines:

1. Anyone can participate. If you must comment under anonymous please PLEASE leave your name and a way for me to contact you (email, FB, Twitter...) in case there is a problem or you win.

2. Post the NAMES of your couple and the TITLE of the work they're from. In CAPS please. Make it easy to spot. After that, feel free to say any comments you'd like about why or whatev.

3. Couples must be from literature. No movies or TV couples. But remember some of these are based on literature. Also remember the possibility of operas, plays... I don't care if the couple is hundreds or thousands of years old or from a novel that was released last week. It's up to you.

4. Remember a couple can only be nominated ONCE. And you can only nominate once. **More on who can be nominated below, for those who missed Tuesday's post.

5. Nominations will stay open for at least a week (depending on traffic) or until there are at least 25 couples. So please, SPREAD THE WORD. (Blog, Twitter, Facebook, anything) The more we have the more fun the voting and accurate (I use that term loosely) the outcome will be.

6. LoveVote Extravaganza will NOT start until nominations are closed! (More on that then.)

REMEMBER:

The prize for the person who's couple is nominated as King and Queen will win a book of their choice from Amazon. ($20 limit). I will order and send it to this person.

Being a "FOLLOWER" of this blog is not required but much appreciated. :)

**Any couple can be nominated. Even if one of the members of your couple has already been nominated with someone else (love triangles and such). It doesn't have to be the couple that ends up together in the end. AND your couple doesn't have to be the main couple of the story.

Okay, I think that handles it. NOW GET NOMINATING! Fast, before someone steals your favorite couple.

Oh, and THANKS for participating. :)

(No worries. The blog will revert back to its much less cheesy look after the competition is over.)

Housekeeping Info for King and Queen Nominations

No nominations until THURSDAY please. :)

Okay, if you don't know what I'm talking about click here and read about the contest coming up.

There are a few things I want to straighten out before Thursday comes...

First, the TIME. I will open the post accepting nominations on Thursday (Sept. 22nd) at noon, 12pm EST (9am PST). I hope that works for most.

A few other things to make note of...

A couple can only be nominated once BUT you can nominate one of the members of the couple with someone else. Like if there is a love triangle or something. Also feel free to nominate any couple, it DOESN'T have to be the main couple in the story

Also, while you can't nominate couples from TV or movies, REMEMBER that many movies are based on literature. Also, keep in mind the possibility of operas, plays...

I'm not closing nominations for at least a week and will not close before there are at least 25 couples, so SPREAD THE WORD! Blog it, Facebook it, Twitter it. Heck, get on a landline phone and call your BFF if you like. :)

EVERYONE and ANYONE can nominate and vote. Following the blog isn't required but much appreciated.

Seriously, so anxious to see your entries and who people vote for. Will it be one of the all time favorites? Or a surprise couple that we all forgot we loved?

We shall see!

Romance is in the air...

Man it feels like February!

While thinking of your favorite couples hop on over to the Ebysswriter blog and read up on some great entries worthy of making your toes curl. (Mine are 4 and 14 BTW but PLEASE vote for your favorites. I believe anyone can vote and up to three times.)

Have a great week everyone and hope to catch you here on THURSDAY!

*photo courtesy acobox.

No, I can't do THAT!

Have you ever heard a tiny voice in your head say those words while working on your manuscript? I know I have. But guess what. Whenever I think that, I smile and then do just exactly THAT. Because, really, torturing my characters is what I do best.

Of course, my poor little helpless characters have no choice. That's the power of being the one at the keyboard. I decide what happens. And while I put my characters through all sorts of pain, I do feel bad. Like when I made my character eat an Oregon-sized slug (similar to picture but BIGGER), I was totally writhing in my seat. (Are ya feelin' the empathy yet?) :)

But guess what, I also give my characters some pretty rockin times too. Like the kiss between MC and the smokin' genius boy she secretly crushes on. Ya, that was me too. So, I like to think my characters forgive me.

So you tell me. What's the worst thing you've ever done to one of your characters? And do you ever question if you can go through with it? Do you hear the voice inside saying, "No, I can't do THAT!"

If you do, just ignore it, and GO. RIGHT. AHEAD. (They'll forgive you)

*Photo courtesy acobox*

**BTW more info on the King and Queen of Romance competition coming soon, so stay posted! If you haven't heard about it yet click that link because you're not gonna want to be left out in the rain, no matter how romantic rain can be.**

Search for the King and Queen of Romance in Literature (info post)

Do NOT post nominations on this post please!
<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

What this post entails, in this order:
1. My weirdness
2. How the Search for the King and Queen of Romance in Literature will work
3. When to post your nominations
4. A bit on the voting
5. The prize

So, I'm laying awake in bed early this morning (okay, early for me is like 7:30, but hey, I stay up late, okay?) after putting baby bear cub #2 back to sleep. Of course, I can't get back to sleep, so I'm thinking about the characters in my WIP, as I usually do when I have nothing better to think about, which is often. Anyway, I decided to come up with something super fun to do on the blog, hence, here I am writing this while everyone else is asleep.

So, I tend to be a romantic at heart, hip, arm, foot...you get it. My family makes fun of me because once I told them how fun I thought it would be if all the wives put on corsets and fancy dresses while our husbands chased after us (in the rain, of course). They tease me about it to this day.

It still hasn't happened. Lame, I know.

But I'm sure all of you are exactly the same way, right? Definitely. So let's have some fun. Ready? Here we go...

Between now and when I open the nomination post next Thursday, be thinking of which couple in literature is your favorite. Yes, this couple needs to be from literature, not movies or TV please. This is a writing blog after all.

Once you've thought of your favorite couple, you will want to be quick when nominations open so you get it in before someone else does. Again, the post for nominations will open next Thursday (Sept. 22nd)! Only one person can nominate each couple. Once that couple is nominated they cannot be nominated again, and you can only nominate one couple.

The posting for nominations will be open at least a week.

Once the nomination period has ended, we will start the LOVEVOTE EXTRAVAGANZA! Here, everyone and anyone has one chance to vote for one of the nominated couples and over the span of a couple weeks (or so) we will get it narrowed down to one last WINNING couple, who will be deemed the King and Queen of romance in all of literature. (Per this blog, anyway. Which is pretty much all that matters, really.)

Now there's got to be a PRIZE right? If the couple you nominate wins, you get to choose any book of your choice from Amazon.com ($20 limit), and I will order and send it to you. Awesome right? Oh yeah!

So start thinking of your favorite romantic couple and be ready to put in your nomination before someone else can next Thursday (Sept. 22nd) when I open the post for entries!

Okay, lets have some fun! (Post questions, concerns below please)

Giveaways Galore

Just wanted to post this for ya...

Tons of cool giveaways at the YA Confidential Blog!
Go check it out!

Good luck!

Well, it's time for Word of the Week Wednesday

Well, first of all, I need to apologize for being absent and even missing last Wednesday's word. Well, we got a new computer last Wednesday and made the switch from PC to Mac. So it's been a little crazy getting it switched over, and we also bought a new Canon camera that we are learning how to use. Well, as a result, I haven't had as much time or my regular set up for computer usage, but hopefully now I can get going again. It doesn't help any that my hubby has totally been hogging the new computer. Yes, I am actually typing this post on our old PC, which is on the floor. Not comfy, but what can you do?

Well, the word I've chosen is probably a word you've already gotten sick of during this post...WELL. Yes, well.

I major time overuse this word when I'm typing dialog. All of my characters are well-ing it up, all of the time. It makes me crazy! I wish they'd knock it off. :)

Ya, I don't know what my dealio is, but I need to stop making my characters say this word! It haunts me. It haunts them. Fortunately, most of them get D-leeeeted before anyone else sees them.

Of course, this is only one of several words I have to give a swift kick in the butt to during revisions and editing.

Now you tell me about the obnoxious word(s) that plague your manuscripts...