'Tis More Blessed Giveaway: WINNERS!

Last week, I participated in Milo James Fowler's 'Tis More Blessed Giveaway, where I raffled off two copies of my flash fiction collection, The People We Used to Be.

The tortoises were in charge of picking the winners. Here's what happened….

As you can see, Larry went at this with the same gusto he has when attacking a basil plant. Mrs. Larry? Not so much.

Once Larry picked a name, we moved him away so Mrs. L could pick a winner. But apparently, she had no desire to be involved in something as pedestrian as a raffle and thus, she turned her nose up at the whole affair.

So, we let Larry pick the second winner, since he obviously has no qualms about participating in games of chance.

And the winners are - 

JULIE

and

MICHELLE

If you send your email addresses to Madeline Mora-Summonte (at) hotmail (dot) com, I'll get The People We Used to Be out to you ASAP. I hope you enjoy reading it!

'Tis More Blessed - GIVEAWAY!

It's time again for Milo James Fowler's 'Tis More Blessed Giveaway, where every Friday in December literary giveaways abound! 

Click here for the list and links of all the authors
participating TODAY = DECEMBER 20, 2013

I'm really excited to offer up two Kindle copies of my flash fiction collection, The People We Used to Be. 

How to Enter: Leave a comment. (That's it. We've all got enough to do, especially around the holidays. At least one thing should be simple, right?)

All the names will go into the tortoises' food dish and they'll each choose a winner. They've been training hard for this moment - chomping on their greens to keep their strength up, napping to conserve energy, and soaking in the "spa," also known as the water dish, to keep their muscles loose. And they insist there will be no shenanigans, like rubbing basil on any of the paper slips to influence their choices. They run a tight terrarium. 

Deadline: Saturday, December 21st at 5 pm EST. I'll announce the winner here on the blog some time next week. 

Good luck!

'Tis More Blessed - Giveaways!

Last month, author Milo James Fowler started his Creepy Freebies giveaways. It turned out to be such a huge success, he decided to keep the concept going into December. So, here we are!

Every Friday in December, some of your favorite blogging buddies and authors are giving away all kinds of literary goodies - books, ebooks, short stories, collections. 

As a reader, I'm excited. I can't wait to enter some of these giveaways!

As a writer, I'm thrilled for the opportunity to give away a copy of The People We Used to Be on Friday, December 20th. (Even the tortoises are prepping to pull that name out of their food dish!)

*** For all the details, head on over to Milo's blog. ***

Motivational Monday: An Ebook Release!

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming - Motivational Mondays - for...well, for me actually practicing what I preach....

Here it is: the release of my first ever ebook. This collection has been a long time coming, mostly because I've been too anxious to take the plunge. But I did it. Finally. So please, use me and my ebook as an example, a motivator, to go ahead and take that chance, that next step, that plunge. Take something you're passionate about and do something creative and wonderful and fulfilling with it.

I just want to say thank you to my wonderful, supportive husband who is truly my best friend, and to all of you who read my stories and are moved by them - whether to tears or to terror. Thank you!

*****

ABOUT THE BOOK:

The stories in this flash fiction collection are like day trips - brief, illuminating journeys - across the landscape of the human condition. 

An old woman, with the help of a neighbor and a terrified dog, challenges a young punk disturbing the peace. 

A middle-aged woman confronts a former lover as he holds her at gunpoint. 

A boy learns the meaning of true friendship as a baseball game takes a terrifying turn. 

A runaway searches for her own face among a wall of Missing posters. 

Some of the characters find the strength to move forward while others struggle to just move on. Old. Young. Grieving. Lost. Alone. Smart. Funny. Tough. They are us. 

This collection of 17 stories contains both new and previously published work. It includes "Hungry," winner of the Writer Advice 6th Flash Prose Contest and "A Quarter for Your Thoughts," winner in the Published Flash Fiction category of the Florida Writers Association's Royal Palm Literary Awards, 2008.

HOW TO BUY:

Available exclusively through Amazon

[If you don't have a Kindle or a Kindle App, click here for PC, here for Mac.]

The People We Used To Be

I'm thrilled to tell you all that my story, The People We Used to Be, placed in the Top Ten of the WOW! Women on Writing Winter 2010 Flash Fiction Contest! 

Now, I like/love all of my published stories (and a number of unpublished ones, too, including novel manuscripts) but this one really touches me...and I'm not exactly sure why.  It's one of those pieces that when I read it (or re-read it, in this case) instead of saying "Man, I wish I had written that"  I say, "Wow, I actually wrote that."

I don't know if that makes sense to any of you, and I hope it doesn't come across as braggy because I certainly don't mean it like that.  I think what I'm trying to say (where's a writer when you need one?!) is that I'm proud to have written this story, and I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.