"Raveled" FREE on June 12 & 13!

Just a quick post to let everyone know that the ebook version of RAVELED, my well-reviewed mystery thriller, will be FREE on June 12 & 13!! That's right -- FREE. If you haven't downloaded it yet, this is your chance :-).

Going free on Amazon for a short time will help boost Raveled's placement in the future and will allow more people to discover the book that Literary Aficionado describes as: "A solidly entertaining story with as many unique aspects as the inside of a Faberge egg."

Here's what Jonel Boyko of Pure Jonel thought: "This author uses a very light and flowing writing style that makes you want to keep reading. It contrasts with the content of the novel, giving the aura of greater intrigue. The very solid and well laid out storyline of this novel also melds intrigue and mystery with friendship and family to draw the reader into a very difficult and heart wrenching world that keeps you guessing and wanting more."

There are currently 23 reviews on Amazon for RAVELED, all of them 4 Stars or better!

Anything you can do to help me spread the word about this 2-Day Promotion will be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your readership and your loyalty! I hope to be able to entertain you soon with my next story (and a less selfish blog post!)

One Word

By age five, cereal slogans and cartoon theme songs hog up plenty of real estate in our developing brains. By age eight, we can lip-sync any commercial that comes on during SpongeBob. By twenty, we can rattle off the pithy sayings our parents branded into our brains (Oh what a tangled web we weave…). And by adulthood, we’ve heard all the sage advice, words of wisdom, and catchy slogans that will ever make a difference in our lives, right?

Not so! I’m well into adulthood and I recently got advice that changed my life. Amazingly, it differed by a mere word from the famous Nike Slogan, Just Do It.

Somehow, the “just” never did it for me. It implied a form of drudgery to the task at hand and intoned the whining I heard in my own voice at times:

My kid:  Gross! I don’t wanna do that. It wasn’t me who clogged it.

Me:  (sigh) Just do it.

Then along came Amy Collins at New Shelves Distribution. During a phone call, I lamented some balls-needed task required to promote my book. She let out the requisite sigh but didn’t go all Nike on me. Instead, she said, “I’m gonna tell you something that changed my life.”

Trust me, not many phrases seize your attention like that one. I pressed the phone to my ear.

She said, “You have to do a lot of things in self-promotion that make you uncomfortable. I know because I have my own stuff out there. So you know what?”

“WHAT?” I said, my ear cartilage now leaving an imprint in my hair.

“Do it anyway.”

I wrote it down because I’m a nerd—but I didn’t need to. The phrase’s brilliant simplicity, and the magnificent addendum of anyway, tattooed itself onto my brain as surely as the well-worn Don’t take rides from strangers.

The “anyway” implied that I could embrace my discomfort with the task. I could reach out and shake discomfort’s hand before looking it in the eye and slapping its grinning face. And for good measure, I’d add in a quick, “Screw you, discomfort. I’m doing it anyway.”

And since that day, I have—on several occasions and in far more capacities than as a book bum. In real life, where there are precious few murders, red herrings, and clever poisonings, there are mundane things like dreaded phone calls, sidestepped tasks, and avoided battles. I now acknowledge the dread, surprise it with a quick right hook … and DO IT ANYWAY.

Try it. It’s simple. It’s inspirational. And best of all, it works!

If you’re not sure you want to take a chance on Anne’s new mystery thriller, RAVELED, do it anyway! It’s getting great reviews: Raveled on Amazon. And if you’re looking for Inspirational Amy at New Shelves Distribution, you can find her here: New Shelves Distribution. Happy Reading!

AHHHH! and ahhhh

A friend is writing a horror flick so he asked about movies that scared me. Despite racking my brain, I couldn’t come up with anything recent, but the goose bumps went on high alert for some older stories—the ones that seared fear into my being and remain an indelible part of my AHHHH! reflex today.

Since the brain develops in weird chunks, I think we’re all programmed to be frightened of the images that scared the daylights out of us when we were teens. If a thin-faced, hatted man in dark sunglasses drives by, I’m right back to BURNT OFFERINGS and the emaciated chauffeur. Let’s just say that if such a man stops to ask me for directions, his answer will be the sight of my butt hightailing it down the road, a shriek left in my wake.

Meanwhile, THE SHINING has ruined me for Big Wheels, let alone long hallways and messages scrawled in blood. And forget about Victorian houses with lonely windows, especially those dressed in deceptive, lacy curtains. I see you, “Mrs. Bates.”

Just as the times we got in trouble as children are recalled more vividly than the weekly Sunday trips to the park, the brain etches its sharpest impressions with jagged fingernails that scrape messages deep into the soul. Those memories flash like black neon lights whenever the dreaded stimuli present themselves. By the time we’re adults, most of us have our triggers in place—and they’re there to stay.

But isn’t it fun to be scared? There’s nothing like living vicariously through another’s extreme emotions when you know you’re safe. You can experience the character’s dilemma purely, by sharp hook or armed crook, all the while ensconced in the comfort of your favorite chair or theater seat. Even if the unimaginable happens, you can close the book, click the remote, or suddenly find that trough of popcorn infinitely interesting, but you can live it for as long as you choose.

Yes, it’s springtime, but it’s never a bad season for thrills and chills. It all comes back to the power of story, the ecstasy of the AHHH! and the relief of the ahhhh…

May you lose yourself in a good story tonight. But leave a light on...

Enjoy a few AHHHH! moments yourself in Anne’s new mystery thriller, Raveled . It’s racking up some great reviews on Amazon. Check it out here!

Missed Drops

My husband and I started our marriage with the usual seat-up/seat-down bathroom debate. He gave in, following the well-worn advice, “Happy wife, happy life.” Little did I know I’d soon be outnumbered four-to-one in the toilet seat debate, and that my standard would become: “As long as I don’t sit on the yellow drops, it’s a good day."

 

A few years in, we discovered the oft-used but underappreciated U-Seat. Who knew that those U-shaped toilet seats (with the opening on the end) were designed so that men didn’t have to lift the seat? The theory is that the male aims over the cut-out section of the seat so that if any drops follow gravity’s path, they land on the rim where a sleep-deprived mom will not sit on them.

Theory Schmeory.

It took no time at all to realize that our boys shared the aim of blindfolded, drunk, college frat boys stepping off a rollercoaster. Seriously, what did they do in there—pretend to be human roulette wheels? Pretend to be compass needles in a magnetic forest? From the spatter patterns, a CSI would conclude that a bee had buzzed into the bathroom and the boys had felt the urgent need to anoint it with their holy water. We could have installed a V, W or X-shaped toilet seat and it wouldn’t have mattered.

What did matter was the yellow matter, and it was pervasive.

Ah well, it’s been years now and I’ve developed coping mechanisms—high-tech things like seat-wiping and visual inspections. Soon enough, it will be just my husband and me again, with him lifting the seat or using the inspired U-shaped apparatus properly. The boys will be out fighting their own battles and maybe even dealing with daughters! While the thought brings a small, delighted smile to my face, it does make me wonder… what if those missed drops one day become missed drops?

Perspective can make you appreciate the strangest things…

Anne’s new mystery-thriller, RAVELED, has absolutely no yellow drops in it, but it does have some great reviews on Amazon. Check it out here:  RAVELED on Amazon

You Had Me at E! (Comment to win!!)

In honor of Read an Ebook Week:

I love books. Have since I was a kid. Won a pair of earrings in 5^th grade for reading fifty of them. So I’m right there with all of you who love the feel of the book, the sensation of holding that potential in your hand, and the way you can pass one on to others like a priceless treasure. I love how a book can stimulate conversation or just look beautiful on a coffee table. 

But I’m also selfish, and my shoulders hurt a lot.

You see, I read in bed every night, falling asleep with the author’s voice fusing into my dreams, and I detest holding the book in bed. Paperbacks are tough enough while lying on my side. I crunch the book in disrespectful ways while trying to prevent the mountain of upcoming pages from flopping forward.

Hardcover? Forget about it. Shoulders stiffen and fingers moan.

As a child, I asked the librarian why they couldn’t print one-sided books—left and right shoulder versions, of course. She just sighed and stamped the pile of novels I’d plopped on her desk. (I also asked why record companies couldn’t sell one song at a time. That librarian could have been awfully rich by now.)

I still borrow library books. They’re a gift to me! But is there anything grosser than finding a chocolate fingerprint on a page that—in your mind—was virginal until you flipped to it? Don’t get me started on other things mashed between the pages. And what about previous readers’ penciled underlines or folded page corners? Those discoveries lead to endless distraction. Why did they find that phrase interesting? Is that a clue? Why did they stop reading there?  By the time I formulate answers, I’ve lost the thread of the story—and realized I need ADD medication.

And then came EBOOKS.

To me, the E stands for Ecstasy. Talk about personalization. You can choose fonts, brightness, large print or small, and even white print on black. It’s a big library in your small hand. It’s freedom, choice, and wonderment all wrapped up in a really cool package. Ebooks are beautiful, one-sided, and easily accessible. Hundreds of them fit in a purse and you can buy them from anywhere. They’re little bundles of joy “printed” just for you and they weigh about as much as this blog post.

No, you can’t smell e-books or scribble in their margins or place them just so on the coffee table, but there are no unwanted surprises on page 89, either, and they’re awfully easy on the shoulders.

And so I say... Ebooks, I love ya! There’s room for you on my life’s bookshelf, and I’m sure not gonna kick you out of bed. 
Anne is celebrating Read An Ebook Week (March 3 – 9^th) by giving away 3 e-copies of her new mystery-thriller, RAVELED. Just comment on this post and you’re entered to win! For other opportunities to win free ebooks, go to http://www.ebookweek.com