Chantel found part of the Help the Elf nice list!

Hi everyone! As you may remember, a few weeks ago PETE the Elf had a touch too much Eggnog at the Holiday Christmas Party and as he stumbled home, he lost Santa's NICE LIST.

The North Wind scattered the papers to all four corners of the world, and The Bookshelf Muse put out a call to help find them in order to SAVE CHRISTMAS.

Ever since I read about it, I've been on the lookout. And then today, EUREKA!

Yes that's right...I found part of Santa's missing NICE LIST. There it was, fluttering in the wind, half caught under the corner of my welcome mat. And shock of all shocks, I recognized the names on this portion of list, and I bet you will too.

NAME: Rachelle Ayala

LOCATION: www.rachelleayala.com

NICE LEVEL: 91%

NAUGHTY LEVEL: 9%

OBSERVATIONS: Rachelle is a fantastic critique partner, awesome e-book formatter, always looks to help out Indie Authors, and is a great person in general. She could lay off those bad boy, alpha males, just a tad. We hear she is working on this problem currently and a certain man named Lucas is making things sweet. Rachelle has so much writing talent, we think we can overlook her naughty streak.

RECOMMENDATION:     a) Coal                   b) Gift

~ ~ * ~ ~

NAME: Michele Shriver

LOCATION: http://micheleshriver.com/

NICE LEVEL: 86%

NAUGHTY LEVEL: 14%

OBSERVATIONS: Michele is an awesome critique partner, a wonderful lawyer who is giving of her time, and is always quick with a funny/snarky comment to make someone's day brighter. Another great person. However, we hear she is evil to her characters, and a few of them have been begging her to just leave them alone and give them their happily ever after. On the other hand, they all admit she is awesomely talented, so this comes out more on the naughty-but-nice side of the equation. 

RECOMMENDATION:     a) Coal                   b) Gift

~ ~ * ~ ~

Because poor Pete is dashing all over the place trying to hunt down the rest of Santa's missing Nice List, I decided to take care of this one myself. Rachelle and Michele, I feel so blessed to know you! You are awesome writing friends and I'm so fortunate to know you! Enjoy the gift I sent to your inbox and have a wonderful Christmas!

Photo credit: assorted gold baubles (christmasstockimages.com) / CC BY 3.0

Visit The Bookshelf Muse at http://thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.com/ and see who else found a name on the list! 

I would like to take a moment to point out a few other fellow writers who deserve some recognition for all the help they've given me in the past year - check out their websites:

Travis Casey

Melinda Dozier

Kimberly Sullivan

And though these ladies do not have a website, I'd also like to thank Monterey Sirak (link is to her poetry books on Amazon) and budding author, Judester. Thank you all!

Enjoy these holiday lights and music! I really like this one! 

I hope you are all having a great holiday week with loved ones!
eeeChantelfff

Wonderful Descriptions ~ #Spotlight on Author Kimberly Sullivan

My next critique partner from www.critiquecircle.com to introduce is the fabulous, Kimberly Sullivan. Kimberly writes both novels and short stories (I always admire the ability to write short stories - I'm too long winded J).

Kimberly writes women's fiction, both first and third person, and her descriptions of the places her characters live is nothing short of amazing. You feel like you are in the remote town settled in the mountains of Italy. You see the way the people are dressed - even enjoy their food with them. She's fantastic!

Here is a link to her short-story, Caves: http://www.snovalleywrites.org/?page_id=518. She won the SnoValley Writes 2012 Writing Contest for the category of writer age 18 and older with this story. Talk about impressive! I'm in awe of her skill.

I'm not sure how long the following link will be good, but Kimberly also had a different short story, Holiday Bliss, accepted for publication in the WriteFrance Anthology. They are offering a free peak for a limited time. Kimberly's story appears on page 47. WriteFrance.com 

I've learned a lot from Kimberly about singular/singular agreement, awkward phrasing, and just overall everything. She is a great help and a wonderful inspiration to me as I work through my projects, and she spots my problems and offers up encouragement. I just finished critiquing a novel for her, In the shadow of the Apennines, and I'm excited that she is starting a new book. Soon, I hope she is able to publish a novel in the near future, and  I can share that happy news with all of you.

In the meantime, visit Kimberly's blog and follow her journey: http://kimberlysullivan.wordpress.com/ She does both a travel blog type post on Tuesdays (putting up beautiful pictures of places she's been and letting us armchair explore wonderful vacation spots) and also writing posts on Fridays. 

Thanks for reading! Have a great weekend!

eeeChantelfff

P.S. Don't forget about my blog tour starting today - hop on over to Christina McKnight's blog and see her New Release post for Always & Forever - http://christina-mcknight.blogspot.com/

Kreativ Blogger Award Nominee

I'm so honored! I was nominated for the Kreativ Blogger Award from some awesome bloggers, and I truly do thank them for thinking of me.  I was nominated by both Kimberly Sullivan and Melinda Dozier.  Thanks so much ladies!  Please check out their blogs.  Kimberly has a writing/travel blog, and she posts fabulous pictures of all of her travels.  She writes Women's Literature.  Melinda posts writing-related material and funnies and books she is reading.  She writes Harlequin-type romance. 

According to the rules for those nominated, I have to:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated me for the award and provide a link.
2. List 7 things about myself that readers might find interesting.
3. Nominate 7 other bloggers, provide links and let them know

7 things about me:

• My favorite vacation spot is the beach.  Also, I love exploring lighthouses and I have been whale watching on a little ship! 
• In high school I played the flute, and I was first chair all through my senior year.  Sophomore and junior year I teetered between second and third chair depending on chair challenges, but we won't talk about that :-) I loved being first chair because I got to play all the solos at concerts and festivals. 
• I love bowling.  It is a sport my entire family enjoys.  My daughter bowls on a youth league and is one of the top girl bowlers in our city.
• I love to ride horses, though on my 15th birthday my horse bolted on me, throwing me off, and giving me a concussion as my birthday present.  I lost my memory for the rest of that day!
• My favorite animal is the dolphin because they are so smart and friendly.  My greatest wish is to one day swim with dolphins.  I did feed them once at Sea World and pet them on the nose. 
• I don't really like to watch TV all that much, but I love the show House.   Besides loving the medical mysteries, I think Hugh Laurie, the actor who plays House, is a very good looking man. ;-) 
• I have a terrific son who is going to be a police officer, and a beautiful daughter who is going to be a forensic scientist. 

7 other bloggers I’d like to nominate:

• Rachelle's Window ~ Rachelle posts a lot of book reviews, helping readers find great new books by Indie authors.  She also posts a lot of helpful information for the author exploring the world of self-publishing. 
• Travis' Trail of the Tale ~ Travis writes hilarious stories about his life and his writing journey.  He posts for both entertainment and some writing tips. 
• Author Tonya Kappes ~ Tonya is a cozy mystery writer.  Her blog is great, including writing tips and reviews/interviews.  She often has funny things posted as well. 
• MOODY WRITING ~ Moody posts a lot of interesting tips on writing, from character creation and plot line all the way up to publishing.  Always great information here. 
• J. A. Beard's Unnecessary Musings ~ J.A. Beard does a lot of author interviews.  If you are looking for a new author, this is the place to go. 
• Angela Quarles ~ Angela participates in Six Sentence Sunday.  She also does one of my favorite blog spots... Monday Hunks Who Read! Nice pictures here!
• Lorraine Paton ~ Lorraine participates in Six Sentence Sunday.  She posts other blogs about different aspects of her writing journey. 

I've been tagged by The Lucky 7 Meme

I was tagged by Angela Quarles this week to participate in the Lucky 7 meme.  Although I can't 100% follow the rules, as I don't have seven writing friends with blogs, I thought I would participate and tag my friends that I could.  Here are the rules:

• Go to p. 77 of current WIP
• go to line 7
• copy down next 7 lines/sentences & post them as they’re written
• Tag 7 other authors
• Let them know

Zach’s free hand balled into a fist and he forced down a little sip of water.  “You’re mad about school?  Hell, I’m the one who got you in all the right social circles.”  He clung to the promise he made his mother.  It might take all his control, but he would not throw Crandall overboard.  “You slept with my wife, damn you.  And when I caught you, you didn’t even have the decency to stop.”

I hope you enjoyed.  The excerpt is from Always and Forever.  I'm not to page 77 yet on the new WIP.  I don't know who else will participate, but these blogs are all worth checking out; they are terrific writers:

• Rachelle Ayala
• Travis Casey
• Melinda Dozier
• Kimberly Sullivan
• Michele Shriver

I'm always looking for new writer friends who blog.  If you've made your way to this post and want to participate, I'd be happy to tag your blog here. 

Happy Thursday, everyone!  I hope it is terrific!