Updates, Thank You, and an End of Year Blow-Out Giveaway

Well, it has been a hell of a year, hasn't it?

Raise your hand if you're glad it's almost over...

I won't kid you--this was a tough one for me. I lost Magic the Cat and her brother Mystic in early January, then my friend (and stepdaughter's mom) Jo in February, my friend Bethany in October, and one of my favorite artists, Gail, last month. And a friend lost his 10 year old son. Plus I had some unexpected health issues, and frustrations with my writing career, and you know, stuff.

But don't get me wrong. There were a lot of good things too. Time spent with family and friends, including a fun trip to Coastal Magic in February and to Stuart, Florida in September to hang out with my friend Terry (and do research for a book). And I got three new kitties!

On the writing front, I've had a blast working on the upcoming Everyday Witch Oracle Card deck with illustrator Elisabeth Alba, and of course, just signed a contract with St. Martin's Press for a goddess empowerment book for women that I will be starting work on in the new year. I'm hoping to write and self-publish another Baba Yaga book in 2019, too.

I am blessed with great friends, and readers who support me here, and on Facebook and Twitter, and over on my PATREON. I can't even begin to express my gratitude to you all. Authors are nothing without their readers. (Speaking of which, if you've read one of my books this year and liked it, I would be REALLY GRATEFUL if you could zip over to Amazon, Goodreads, or B&N and leave a brief review. Especially for the Little Book of Cat Magic, which only ended up with nine sad little reviews, probably because of the mess that occurred when it came out in October, and for Dangerously Driven, my most recent Riders novella. Pretty please? Thanks in advance!)

As a thank you, I'm going to do one more big blow-out giveaway to end 2018 on a positive note! There are going to be not one, not two, but FIVE prizes, so more people will have a chance to win. Check out this pile of goodies.

All the prizes!

The grand prize is a Fire Tablet! (You know, so you have something to read my books on...). There is also a $10 Amazon gift card (so you can buy more books), and signed copies of A Year and a Day of Everyday Witchcraft (to start your year off right), Circle, Coven & Grove (my first book), and Reinventing Ruby (my contemporary foodie romance). Plus some fun bookmarks and things.

But wait, you might say, two of those covers look different! Good eye. Thanks to my assistant Sierra, we've finally got Circle, Coven & Grove out in PRINT (I got my rights back from Llewellyn when it went out of print, but we hadn't gotten around to putting out a print version with the new cover by Mickie Mueller until now), and changed the cover of REINVENTING RUBY to something we thought better reflected it's romance themes. Don't they look great?

Ta da!

What do you think?

Tell me what the best part of 2018 was for you--and I hope to see you in 2019. Thanks again!

(To enter, simply fill in the Rafflecopter form. No purchase necessary.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Reader's Broom

No, this is not a special broom covered with books. (Although, HEY!)

One of my readers sent me a note last week, telling me that she was enjoying her copy of The Witch's Broom but...

I've been reading your wonderful book about broom lore, but I suddenly came across something that is disturbing to me. "Never carry a broom across running water." Why??? The reason I ask is because I live on a sailboat for 6 months each year and traverse the coast of Maine and the Canadian Maritimes. The water runs fast in the ocean. I was going to make myself a small besom for the boat, but then I read this broom lore in your book and now I don't know if I should?

 I wrote Sharon back and told her not to worry--all those bits of old lore are just that, old lore--many of which contradict themselves. I certainly didn't see any reason why she couldn't have a special besom for her boat. I also added that I'd love to see pictures of the broom when it was finished, and she kindly sent me pictures of the entire process, along with permission to share. Thanks, Sharon!

Here's what Sharon said about making the broom:

 I will be making my new boat besom from aged Sable Palm leaves (I live in Florida when I'm not sailing) on a piece of bittersweet vine (collected on my sister in law's 200 year old Mass farm).  I love the twist of the vine and it's a very dense, hard wood.

I just LOVE the fact that my book inspired Sharon to make her own broom (since that was one of my goals, to inspire people) and that she made it out of materials and based on a theme that suited her own particular needs. Thanks for sharing, Sharon!

Has anyone else been inspired to make a broom? If you haven't made one yet, are you planning to? If so, I'd love to see it what it is done!

In fact...maybe I should have a contest. People could send me pictures of brooms they make, and the one I like best could win something cool...what do you think?

A Fabulosity of Fans

I have, of late, made the rather startling discovery that I have fans. No, really.

It’s not as though I didn’t know people read my books (I’m pretty sure Llewellyn wouldn’t keep buying them if SOMEONE didn’t occasionally purchase one), and every once in a while I’ll go to a Pagan conference where people have heard of me. But as I got ready for the release of book 7, The Witch’s Broom, it suddenly became clear that a lot of people were excited to have the book come out—not just because it is a cool book (which it is, of course), but because it was a book by me.

I have fans. Wow.

And not just fans, but GREAT fans. In fact, a fabulosity of fans. Yes, I just made up that word. I can do that. I’m an author.

There was so much enthusiasm, in fact, that I decided to reward everyone by having a Big, Huge, Mega Giveaway Contest. Which attracted so many people, many of whom spread the word far and wide, and generated even more enthusiasm, that I had to come to the undeniable conclusion that I had fans. A bunch of fans, even. I already knew I had friends who followed what I was up to, and readers, and such, but…fans. Wow.

Here’s the thing about writers. We mostly spend our time sitting in a corner, by ourselves, writing. Some folks occasionally go out and do a book signing, but unless you are Nora Roberts or J.K. Rowling, or Stephen King, you are pretty happy if ten people show up. For most of us, our interactions with the people who read our books are limited to the occasional comment on Facebook or that rare, lovely email from someone telling you how much they loved your book. I can’t speak for all authors, but most of the ones I know don’t feel any different from anyone else.

Which is why it is pretty cool to discover you have fans. As I’ve spent the last couple of months talking (and talking and talking) about the upcoming book release, I have had so many people say truly lovely things about how excited they were about the book, and how much they loved my previous books, and sometimes even that what I’d written had changed their lives.

It is a pretty good feeling for someone who spends most of her time sitting in a living room full of cats with a laptop on her lap, I’ll tell you. What’s more, I already knew that my readers were the nicest, coolest, best looking (yes, of course you are) people in the world, but I have been truly amazed by just HOW fabulous y’all have been about the book, the contests, and everything else. I feel very blessed.

So this is a thank you love letter to my fabulosity of fans. Thanks for your enthusiasm for my writing, your willingness to spread the word, for buying my books, for generally supporting and cheering on everything I do. You people make my life a better place And I just wanted to make sure you knew that I appreciated it.

So I have one more surprise up my sleeve. A gift, to all of you, to give back something of what you have given to me. I’m not quite ready to announce it, though, so for today, you’ll have to take this love letter instead. Thank you, thank you, thank you for being my fans. Y’all rock.

 *smooch*

Big Huge Contest--Last Day Push and SURPRISE

As most of you know, I have been holding a Big, Huge, Mega Giveaway CONTEST POST for the upcoming THE WITCH'S BROOM book here for almost a week. We're in the end stretch now (1 day 12 hours as I write this, ending at Friday morning 12:00 AM EST), and I have to tell you that this contest has exceeded my wildest dreams. Seriously. I can't believe how much enthusiasm and participation we've had. I've been happy dancing so much I have scared the cats :-)

Here's where we're at right now:
3,037 entries (yes, that's right--OVER 3,000!) Of course, remember that people can earn up to 32, if they actually use all the options.
2,951 page views (holy crap!)
A few fabulous people put up reviews and/or pre-ordered the book (BIG thanks to you folks) and many people spread the word. The book is actually up to #39 in its category, and it isn't even out yet. You people ROCK.

So, now that we're in the end stretch, I've got one more push...

Look what I just got!

Yes, that's the first of the swag for my novel, Wickedly Dangerous. *bounce bounce bounce* That's a fridge magnet, a card, and a postcard. So here's what we're going to do.
IF we can get the contest entries up to 3,500 by the end of the contest, I'll send all the winners (that's right, all TWENTY of them) their very own threesome of Wickedly Dangerous swag too. You will literally be the first people it goes to. Excited yet?

So, what if you already entered? Don't forget that three of the options (tweet about it, share the news, and put up a review for an existing book) can be done every day. Which technically means you could do each of them today AND tomorrow, before midnight EST. And the "put up a review" and "pre-order the book" options are worth 10 entries each, so if a bunch of people do those, the numbers could go up fast. [Already ordered the book? Consider ordering one for a friend!]

Impossible, you say? There's no way we can get to 3,500 entries. Maybe so... On the other hand, I would never have in a million years guessed that we would get to 3,037. Let's see if we can pull off the impossible. Ready, set, GO!!!!