Friday Fun!

It's Friday, so it's FUN day! We're playing a virtual game of beach volleyball over on Facebook - if you see the volleyball and want to get in the game, just leave a comment on that FB post, and one of the players could volley the ball (or spike it, if I know J.A. Marx) to YOU! Then you just volley it to someone else by tagging them when you share it on your wall.

Here's the photo to look for:

Radiant Joy is looking for sandcastles. I started looking online for some to share, and found this fun video that turned into an ad. I'm not promoting the product, just sharing the fun.

J.A. Marx's new supernatural suspense, Destiny Defied, is no longer free, but you can get print and digital copies on sale now! Check it out!

[REMINDER TO WRITERS: The deadline for the first round of the Books of Joy contest is next week - June 15! You could win a publishing contract for your SERIES of books!]

And don't forget - enter to win our humongous gift basket we'll be giving away in August, valued at over $500! I'll have more pictures and add more goodies to the basket on Monday!

Yesterday, a reader asked about the Bingo Game. All the answers for this weeks' cards will be found in the blog posts about the authors' vacations.

If you're just joining us, click on the links to read all about our summer Beach Party.

Beach Party Bingo
Authors' Favorite Vacations - Part 1
Authors' Favorite Vacations - Part 2
Let's Play Bingo!
Authors' Favorite Vacations - Part 3

Readers: Have you ever built a sand castle? Tell us about it!

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Authors' Favorite Vacations - Part 3

A couple of quick notes before we discover more favorite vacations!

Yesterday afternoon, I announced all the details about the Beach Party Bingo Game. I'll add new bingo cards there every Wednesday. You could win YOUR name for one of the characters in an upcoming book!

Also, TODAY is the final day that J.A. Marx's novel Destiny Defied is FREE on Kindle! It has some great five star reviews already. Here's a snippet from one: "You won't forget these characters and won't want to because their stories continue. In this book, the foursome hunky guys meet Chiara. [nothing over PG in this book] And she is something else! Her genre of Embattled Spirits is teamed up with psychology and spiritual warfare and make this an interesting read."

Now, more of our authors' favorite vacations.

Photo courtesy of Jennifer Fromke

JENNIFER FROMKE - Grand Cayman with 6 kids, 4 adults, perfect weather, and a pile of books. The view is breathtaking. I could almost literally sit there and stare at it all day. The sand is pure - all crushed coral, clean, beautiful. The water is clear, clean, turquoise. And the food on the island is first rate. Plus, we didn’t use our phones for a whole week (in order to avoid the international rates). That might be the best part. Great togetherness, stunning scenery, warm water and sun. Can’t wait to go back someday!

VICKI TIEDE - Two years ago we took our kids to FL, rented a house and enjoyed everything Disney and Universal Studios and the beach had to offer.

MARJI LAINE - (This is really hard. I'm a homebody.) The year before we got married, my fiance joined my family on a ski vacation to Red River, NM. There were 12 of us in all, staying in a large condominium. Skied all day and laughed all night. I love being together with my family!

If you're just joining us, catch up on all the fun by starting here:

Beach Party Bingo
Authors' Favorite Vacations - Part 1
Authors' Favorite Vacations - Part 2
Let's Play Bingo!
Authors' Favorite Vacations - Part 3

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Authors' Favorite Vacations - Part 2

Print version is ready ahead of schedule
so it's available TODAY! 

Before we get started with the Beach Party Bingo, I thought I'd let you in on a little secret! Marie Wells Coutu's debut novel, For Such a Moment, is ready ahead of schedule! You can order the print version as of TODAY! The Kindle version will be here soon!

Revealing her secret could save lives … or change hers forever. In this book that re-imagines the story of Queen Esther in a contemporary setting, Ellen Neilson enjoys her comfortable life as the wife of an American CEO. Having lived in America since the age of ten, she has forsaken her mixed heritage and kept aspects of her childhood secret. Her husband has become engrossed in his job, and she believes having a child will salvage their troubled marriage. When her cousin Manuel, whom she hasn’t seen for twenty years, shows up as one of her husband’s managers, Ellen fears that her past will be revealed. The company buys a banana plantation in her native country of Guatemala, and Manuel informs her that illegal pesticides have poisoned the water. People are dying, but she doesn’t know who’s to blame for the cover-up.

Wouldn't this be a great book for the beach? Let's get back there!

As I compiled the list of all the various questions and answers, I didn't read them - just scanned. When I got ready to create this post, I realized we had TWO favorite vacations that occurred on 40th wedding anniversaries! Love that!

Readers, share with us your favorite vacations for a chance to win! Did any of your favorite vacations fall on an anniversary? 

More of our authors share their favorite vacations.

MARIE WELLS COUTU - February 2012 when we took our children and 3 grandsons on a week-long cruise to Cozumel, Belize, Roatan, and Grand Cayman to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary (which was actually in December). We also celebrated four birthdays that actually occurred close to or during the trip.

RUTH O'NEIL - Atlantic Beach weekend with my sister. No one called me “mom” or needed me for any reason for three whole days! The sharks were a bit disturbing, but let’s be honest; I hardly ever go in the water anyway, except to pee.

PEGGY CUNNINGHAM - It was only a short get away, but memorable and just what we needed. We were on furlough and made it a point to block out two days for our 40  ^th anniversary. It was September. When we arrived at the lakeside resort hotel, it was apparent tourist season had ended. The silence in the lobby calmed our stressed mood. We had a lakeside view from our room. The misty air with the fragrance of pine trees set the mood for relaxation. For two glorious days, we listened to the rain pounding on the deck outside the sliding doors while we huddled by the crackling fire and watched movies and ate take out from the nearby restaurant. Did I mention the hotel was owned by a man from our hometown who invented the Big Mac?

LYNDA SCHAB -  Definitely the All-Inclusive resort in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. There's nothing like lounging by the pool with umbrella drinks, with nothing to do except read a good book.

STEPHANIE CRAIG - After three long and tiring years of a pediatric cancer battle for my son, we were fortunate enough to go to a resort called "Give Kids the World" in Kissimmee, Florida.  It's a place exclusively for wish kids (from organizations like Make-A-Wish) and their families.  They gave us tickets to all the major attractions in the area.  But the resort itself was amazing.  It had a pool with the best splash pad we've ever seen.  The playground area was a life-sized game of Candy Land.  It had a magical Castle with a merry-go-round for the kids.  Every day, they left gifts for the kids and every night they had a themed party such as Christmas, Pirates and Princesses, or Candy Land night.  Plus they had so much more.  Any family would be thrilled to stay at a resort like that, but after spending years in treatment and in and out of the hospital, it was absolute paradise.  It was the first time we really were able to dream about what life could be like after treatment. 

[Ed. Note: Shannon Vannatter is running a special series all month long on her Inkslinger blog with the authors of Heart Bouquets. Be sure to check it out - I know they're giving away some prizes!]

DIANNE E. BUTTS - Hmm. Hard to pick a favorite.

Maybe it was last year in 2012 when we drove from Colorado to Orlando and got to see a large part of the U.S. we hadn't seen before. In Orlando we visited the Holy Land Experience, which was very awesome and memorable. Then also rode a bunch of rides at Universal Resorts and spent a day on the beach at Cocoa Beach. Or my favorite might have been in 2010 when I spent two weeks in Los Angeles at the Act One: Writing for Hollywood seminar. That was definitely the longest trip (time-wise) I've ever been gone from home, but was more work than vacation. But then my husband drove out and picked me up and we took a vacation. We spent some time on a beach near Malibu.

If you haven't picked up your copy of Destiny Defied - grab it now! The Kindle version is FREE through tomorrow!


Answer this question in the comments for your chance to win!

Bingo cards aren't quite ready - I'll post them and the rules to that portion of the game on Friday!


Readers, share with us your favorite vacations for a chance to win! Did any of your favorite vacations fall on an anniversary? 





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Read More:

Beach Party Bingo
Authors' Favorite Vacations - Part 1
Authors' Favorite Vacations - Part 2
Let's Play Bingo!
Authors' Favorite Vacations - Part 3

Authors' Favorite Vacations - Part 1

Beach Party Bingo is off to a great start! We'll have posts all during the week, but we're also having fun on Facebook and Twitter, so come join all the fun! Yesterday, we started a game of virtual beach volleyball - and Magnificent Hope joined in the fun!

But Radiant Joy wasn't about to be outdone - she decided to throw her own little contest over on the Pix-N-Pens Facebook page. She's wanting readers to send in photos of SANDCASTLES!

We asked our authors to tell us about their favorite vacations. We'll share their answers the rest of this week. Readers, we want you to share your favorite vacation with us in the comments. And be sure to sign in to the Rafflecopter below for more entries in the Beach Bucket Extravaganza worth over $500!

Be sure to come back tomorrow to read more AND get the whole scoop on the BINGO portion of this beach party!

And now, here are some of our authors' favorite vacations:

DEANNA KLINGEL - I had a very romantic week in Paris with my husband in 1979 that I will always

remember.

Summer sale! Print and digital formats
<Tweetable>

FAY LAMB - My children were still young, and my husband and I planned to surprise them with a special trip. If they’d known they were going to Disney World for the first time ever, even though we only lived forty-five minutes away, they wouldn’t have slept that night. So we told them that we were going to their great-grandma’s house. She lived in Avon Park, and we’d been going for visits so much that the kids just didn’t want to take the drive. To get to Avon Park, you have to drive through Orlando and past the exit for the theme parks, so the ploy worked wonderfully. When Marc veered in another direction away from great-grandma’s, the car got very quiet. I turned a bit so I could watch the boys. Our youngest, Ethan, wasn’t in the mood for looking out the window, but our oldest, Corey, was watching the passing scenery. His eyes narrowed as we kept passing the information signs. Then Marc turned into the drive toward Disney where it was obvious we were on park property. “Ethan, we’re going to Disney World!” Corey screamed. I have never forgotten the delight in their excited chatter.

J.A. MARX - Alpine Sledding and the Louvre

December 2010. Before the nest emptied out, we made our last Christmas together a memorable one. We rented a flat for the week that cost a fraction of the price of a hotel in the picturesque town of Interlaken, Switzerland, in the middle of the Alps. 

On Christmas Day, while the townspeople celebrated in their homes, we rode the train to the slopes. Each of us got our own metal sled with a canvas seat.

We rode the gondola up through the clouds to the top of the mountain where the yellow avalanche warning light was flashing. I glided up to a metal barrier and peered over the edge into a snowy abyss at least a couple thousand feet deep. From there, we zigzagged down the slope—for almost 2 hours. A most adventurous ride.

To France, via train. 

Accrued Marriott points allowed us to stay free right on Avenue des Champs-Élysées. While touring the Louvre, climbing la Tour Eiffel, and visiting other attractions, we feasted daily on giant crêpes lathered with Nutella. 

In Paris, you walk. Everywhere. In spite of eating all their good food, we came home thinner, our soles worn. 

Best vacation ever.

FREE ON KINDLE THIS WEEK ONLY!

And we've got some FUN news to share today. 

Destiny Defied is FREE on Kindle June 4-6! So grab your copy NOW!

Supernatural Suspense Destiny Defied by @JA_Marx FREE on #Kindle <Tweet This>

Trapped on a mysterious island, eighteen-year-old Riki finds refuge with four strangers. Isaac, the rugged EMT, insists no one else is around, but Riki cannot ignore her fear that someone is stalking her. Unless she finds a power truly great enough to overthrow Darkness, Riki will choose death over returning to captivity. 

Lord Vétis, high priest of a cultic underground, will stop at nothing to reclaim the chosen one, but he must do so before her introduction to the real world ruins her royal destiny. Using black magic, he manipulates Riki and her self-assigned bodyguards, triggering a battle that consumes the entire island. The underground will never allow Riki to live out her dreams of a normal life…something she has never known.

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Read More:

Beach Party Bingo
Authors' Favorite Vacations - Part 1
Authors' Favorite Vacations - Part 2
Let's Play Bingo!
Authors' Favorite Vacations - Part 3

Beach Party Bingo!

It's been quiet here on the blog lately - we've been planning and plotting and working behind the scenes to create a fun summer event. And today, we get to share it. I LOVE summer. And I love the beach. So this summer, we're throwing a virtual beach party.

Welcome to Beach Party Bingo!

We've asked all our authors to share some favorite things, and each week, we'll share their answers in blog posts, two or three times per week. I'm loving the answers coming in, so it promises to be a great time.

Beach Bucket is waiting for YOU!

There will be one theme per week, and it's that theme that will help you win our GIGANTIC Beach Bucket (42 quart!) filled with goodies. Each week, through August 30, we'll add a few more goodies to the basket.

This week, we'll start the basket off with:

• 42 quart plastic tub to fill with goodies all summer long!
• 2 extra-long beach towels
• 1 pair of fun sunglasses to bring some bling to the beach
• A festive photo album as a reminder to capture all those summer memories
• $50 Visa gift card
• Paperback copies of Stalking Willow by Fay Lamb and Destiny Defied by J.A. Marx

We're using Rafflecopter to give away this GINORMOUS Beach Bucket - you can earn up to 10 entries a day for your chance to win!

We're also giving away some weekly prizes - more details about that on Wednesday!

Tomorrow, we'll begin sharing our authors' answers to this:

Tell us your FAVORITE VACATION ever.

That's our theme for this week, so readers, share YOUR own favorite vacation in the comments here and/or on any post this week.

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Recap of this week's posts:

Beach Party Bingo
Authors' Favorite Vacations - Part 1
Authors' Favorite Vacations - Part 2
Let's Play Bingo!
Authors' Favorite Vacations - Part 3