February E-muse winner: Amazon 50.00
Congratulations to Jane McIntosh with winner of the February draw for a 50.00 Amazon gift certificate. I e-mail a monthly newsletter called E-Muse with updates on SHADOW events, writing tips and author interviews I conduct on another blog. (E-muse archives are posted on this site if you want to take a peek). Everyone who subscribes has their name entered into the monthly draw for a 50.00 Amazon gift certificate. Why? Because one of my favorite things is getting a windfall that allows me to order new books. I enjoy sending out that e-mail to the winners; but also encouraging the publishing, reading and buying of books–they’re my best friends.
Having watched Dr. Phil’s program yesterday on Internet Scams, I can assure you that when Amazon e-mails you a gift card, you do not have to provide any personal credit information to redeem it (unless your order goes over 50.00 and you have to pay out of pocket). I’ve been ordering from Amazon for years and have never had any complications. If you would like to subcribe, contact shadowsfall@kathy-dianeleveille.com
All addresses remain private and unsubcribing is painless (simply type UNSUBCRIBE in the subject line of an e-mail to the above address).
Winner of November’s E-muse newletter contest: $50 Amazon
Congratulations to Phyllis Hart, the winner of November’s 50.00 gift certificate from Amazon. Everyone who subscribes to my E-muse letter is eligible to win. Last month’s contest asked: What is your favorite opening line of a novel? I twittered the entries so will only post the top three:
“The whole room smelled of men.”
It really evokes some imagery!
Barbara Phinney
Suspenseful, inspiring stories you’ll love!
www.barbaraphinney.com
www.loveinspiredauthors.com
From the May Queen by Kate Evans
“Sitting cross legged on the orange industrial carpet, I pulled my blouse over my head.”
http://chellecordero.blogspot.com/ Chelle Cordero, Author
http://chellecordero.com/ Chelle Cordero Website
http://www.geocities.com/bylines333/res_chelle.html Chelle’s Online Portfolio
From Beautiful Lies by Lisa Unger: It’s dark in that awful way that allows you to make out objects but not the
black spaces behind them. gratefulgirl
December’s contest question: What is your favorite thing about Christmas?
To enter simply subscribe to E-muse by contacting me at:
shadowsfall@kathy-dianeleveille.com
Unsubcribing is painless. All information remains private. I hate spam too!
What is my favorite thing about Christmas? I’ll text that on Twitter tommorrow. Just look for the Twitter icon on Myspace profile page. It’s coming a lot sooner than you think…Christmas that is.
Review for Roads Unravelling
How nice to read reviews for “Roads Unravelling” on Chelle Cordero’s blog for the Friday book offering:
http://weblog.xanga.com/cce613/680780330/book-review-roads-unravelling-by-kathy-diane-leveille.html
Drop by and leave a comment for Chelle. She’s amazing.
Kathy-Diane
Author James Patterson and irony
I had to chuckle when I read the recent issue of “People Magazine” and discovered that author James Patterson, who has published 150 million copies of his thrillers, had trouble getting his son to read. Apparently young Jack was total uninterested in picking up a book. Is this ironic or what?
James started a web site http://readkiddoread.com to help parents develop a user friendly lbrary for thier kids. It’s a great site and I applaud anything that will turn kids to reading. I’ve gotten so much pleasure from books.
I also learned that Patterson has a dozen outlines of his novels going at once, and that he farms them out to collaborators. He says, “I wake up every morning wanting to write. It’s not a job.” I know exactly what he’s talking about. My editor and I are editing “Let the Shadows Fall Behind You” and I’m so energized; shaping, refining, playing with words.
You can read more about James Patterson in this People Magazine article:
http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20105322,00.html
Margaret Atwood an elitist whiner?
Recently Canada’s Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, called the arts a bunch of rich people gathering at galas and whining about grants. (Yeah, the big bucks are just pouring in for yours truly. I’ll be retiring in Monocco soon.) Hurray for literary icon Margaret Atwood! I love how she grabbed the proverbial bull by the horns and set the record straight in this article recently published in the Globe and Mail:
What sort of country do we want to live in? What sort of country do we already live in? What do we like? Who are we?
At present, we are a very creative country. For decades, we’ve been punching above our weight on the world stage – in writing, in popular music and in many other fields. Canada was once a cultural void on the world map, now it’s a force. In addition, the arts are a large segment of our economy: The Conference Board estimates Canada’s cultural sector generated $46-billion, or 3.8 per cent of Canada’s GDP, in 2007. And, according to the Canada Council, in 2003-2004, the sector accounted for an “estimated 600,000 jobs (roughly the same as agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, oil & gas and utilities combined).”
But we’ve just been sent a signal by Prime Minister Stephen Harper that he gives not a toss for these facts. Tuesday, he told us that some group called “ordinary people” didn’t care about something called “the arts.”
His idea of “the arts” is a bunch of rich people gathering at galas whining about their grants. Well, I can count the number of moderately rich writers who live in Canada on the fingers of one hand: I’m one of them, and I’m no Warren Buffett. I don’t whine about my grants because I don’t get any grants. I whine about other grants – grants for young people, that may help them to turn into me, and thus pay to the federal and provincial governments the kinds of taxes I pay, and cover off the salaries of such as Mr. Harper. In fact, less than 10 per cent of writers actually make a living by their writing, however modest that living may be. They have other jobs. But people write, and want to write, and pack into creative writing classes, because they love this activity – not because they think they’ll be millionaires.
For the full article see:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080924.wcoarts25/BNStory/politics/home
