Friday Fun-for-All

I laughed so hard I cried when I watched this. Hope you do to!

~Staci

Whose Line is it Anyway – Irish Drinking Song – Using the wrong name in bed

Monday Merriment

Top 10 Great—er, um Bad—Pickup Lines

What better way to kick off our Unromantic Valentine Theme than with pickup lines gone awry. 🙂 Enjoy…

1. That shirt’s very becoming on you. Of course, if I were on you, I’d be coming too.
2. Do you believe in love at first sight…or should I walk past you again?
3. Is your last name Gillette? Because, girl, you’re the best a man can get.
4. Just call me milk, baby, because I’ll do your body good.
5. I may not be Fred Flintstone, but I bet I can make your Bed Rock.
6. Is that a mirror in your pocket? Because I can see myself in your pants?
7. I’m a bird watcher and I’m looking for a Big-Breasted Bed Thrasher…have you seen one?
8. Wanna Play House? You can be the screen door and I can slam you all night long.
9. Hi, my name is Bob. Remember it, cause you’ll be screaming it all night long.
10. Hi, my name is Pogo, want to jump on my stick?

~Staci Culver

Contest Extended!

Good news, everyone!

I’m extending the deadline to enter to win a copy of J.D.’s Christmas Wish. My computer crashed today, so I have no way to send the winner the promised “release-day” copy. (I’m on a borrowed computer now.) I’m soooo sorry! So what I’m going to do is extend the contest deadline to Monday, Nov. 9, at midnight. HOPEFULLY, I’ll have my computer back by then!  *crosses fingers* You can either enter a comment on this post or the “Keeping it Together” post.

Good Luck & Happy Reading!

~Staci Culver

JD’S Christmas Wish
Staci Culver
Last Rose of Summer Miniature Rose
Release Date: 11-4-2009

JD McAaden is scared. His parents fight all the time. As JD writes his letter to Santa, he realizes that he’ll give up everything if only his family can be saved. With the heart-rending innocence of a child, JD pins his faith on elves and the spirit of Christmas.

A mysterious invitation to visit North Pole Village for the holidays is all that is keeping Faith and Taylor McAaden’s marriage together. Faith has promised to give her son one last special outing before she sues for divorce. But in the magic atmosphere of hope, Faith and Taylor learn that love lurks even in the darkest hours and that with JD’s Christmas Wish their family can be made whole again.

Keeping it Together

As the whirlwind season for family get-togethers nears, I can’t help but sit back and dread—uh, I mean ponder—how I’m going to manage to keep up all my obligations, both for my writing career and for my family. The balancing act isn’t easy during the best of times, but the holidays…man, talk about Stress-Fest Extreme!

Writing is, for the most part, a solitary art. Yes, it takes an entire team to actually polish and publish a book, but the creative part, where stories are formed and crafted, is a single-person exercise in fruition and frustration. Mostly frustration. =) I’m lucky to have a spouse who supports me in my writing dream and who watches the kiddos so I can have time to go deep into my mind, to the place where stories hatch.

But just because he supports me, that doesn’t mean we don’t get into fights about it. Sometimes, I want more time to write on days that “aren’t” mine. Sometimes, he wants to go on a last-minute motorcycle cruise with his friends on one of “my” days. Still, we work through it…some situations more easily than other, lol.

Not all couples, however, are so lucky. In my November 4, release, J.D.’s Christmas Wish, Faith and Taylor McAden have let their careers and desire for advance in the workplace get in the way of their relationship. The one most affected…their son J.D. A marriage that was once rock-solid is running on its last gallon of gas and all because no one bothered to stop and refill the tank. Everyone loses.

Yes, I know these are fictional characters, but their story is an all-too familiar one these days, and as we barrel into the New Year, maybe we should all take the time to slow down and reevaluate what’s really important. Ya know…like winning free books!  =)

To kick things off this month, I’m giving away a copy ofJ.D.’s Christmas Wish. All you have to do is comment on THIS blog post by midnight tomorrow (Nov 3), and I’ll pick a winner to receive a release-day copy of my debut novella! In addition, at the end of the month, we’re going to give away a copy of Hanna’s debut novel Widdow’s Peak and Delilah Marvelle’s Lord of Pleasure. As always, to be entered, just make a comment on any of our November posts.

Good luck!

~Staci Culver

JD’S Christmas Wish
Staci Culver
Last Rose of Summer Miniature Rose
Release Date: 11-4-2009

JD McAaden is scared. His parents fight all the time. As JD writes his letter to Santa, he realizes that he’ll give up everything if only his family can be saved. With the heart-rending innocence of a child, JD pins his faith on elves and the spirit of Christmas.

A mysterious invitation to visit North Pole Village for the holidays is all that is keeping Faith and Taylor McAaden’s marriage together. Faith has promised to give her son one last special outing before she sues for divorce. But in the magic atmosphere of hope, Faith and Taylor learn that love lurks even in the darkest hours and that with JD’s Christmas Wish their family can be made whole again.

Another Month, Another Contest…

Another month has come to a close. October’s chilling fall winds are just around the corner, and we know what that means. Time to break out the windbreakers as we prepare to attend those fall festivals, fairs, hay rides, and let’s not forget one of my personal chocolate-overdosing activities, trick-or-treating.

Halloween, All Hollow’s Eve, Day of the Dead, All Soul’s Day, All Saints Day…. Whatever you personally call it, it’s a holiday celebrated by many countries around the world, by different cultures, in different ways, and for slightly different reasons. Throughout the month, we’ll be discussing some of these traditions and their origins, starting with Hanna’s post next Monday on Samhain—not the publisher!—because our October theme is everything Halloween. Nothing is off limits this month! (Okay, maybe not nothing, lol.)

My daughter's (Autumn) 2nd Halloween. She was a "bundle" bee.

Not only will we be sharing a little bit about the origins of the holiday, we want to know what Halloween means to YOU and your family. What traditions do you have? Favorite memories? Costumes you or your kids wore? We’d love to know! As always, we’ve got great prizes to give away this month, including a copy of Hanna’s newly released book and an indulgent chocolate gift basket! Check back soon for more details and more prizes!

In the meantime, start posting those Halloween stories. To get us started, here’s a couple interesting Halloween traditions from around the world! (Courteously of http://www.novareinna.com/festive/world.html)

Germany: people hid their knives because they didn’t want to harm the returning spirits.

Ireland: Children like to play lots of tricks on their neighbors, one of which is called “knock-a-dolly.” Children knock on neighbor’s doors then haul ass.

Sweden: the Friday prior to All Saints Day is a shortened work day and kids get a school-free day! (Wouldn’t we all love that.)

Your turn…

~Staci

When I Fell in Love…

I’m one of those writers (probably the only one who can say this actually) who didn’t always like to read. I know, I know…you can start breathing again. Actually, I didn’t truly discover my love of reading until I met the man I love. (And yes, I grant you permission to roll your eyes and say, “How cheesy!”) In fact, I used to tease my now hubby for reading so much. Then one day, he got me back. He gave me a book I couldn’t put down…

It was book one in the Left Behind series. From then it was the Harry Potter Series and so many other books that I can’t remember them all. I read across all genres, trying to find my true reading passion…until one day, I stumbled across an innocent-looking book that changed how I will forever read one author. The book was Message in a Bottle by Nicholas Sparks, and I was six months pregnant…

Now, I’m sure anyone who has read the book probably knows where this post is headed right now, and for anyone who doesn’t…*MASSIVE SPOILER WARNINGS AHEAD*…

My sister gave me the book and just raved about how wonderful this “romance author” was and what a wonderful story this was. Now, in her defense, I did enjoy the book…UNTIL THE HERO DIED! I was devastated. It might as well have been my husband that died for all the distinction my emotions seemed to take.

For 40 minutes after I finished reading I was still WEEPING. For the next 2 weeks, every time I thought about the book, I cried. It was TERRIBLE! I was even mad at my husband for days because he let me read the darned thing in the first place! He knew how it ended! He’d seen the movie. (Don’t ask why HE’D seen the movie because I don’t know, lol.) To this day, when I pick up a new Nicholas Sparks book, I have to read the end, just to see if anyone died so I can prepare myself, lol.

Now you know my crazy story, what about you? Got any crazy stories involving books? You know we want to know! 🙂 Even more, you know you want to share…

Staci

We are Experiencing Technical Difficulties…

Okay, maybe not so much technical difficulties as lack of communication. We discussed HOW we would choose the winner but we never actually discussed WHO would choose the winner. Oops! So here’s what we are going to do…

Jordyn will do a final “June” post tomorrow (she so kindly volunteered since she forgot to post Monday—shame on you, Jordyn, lol), and then, at midnight central time, the contest will officially be over. The winner will then be announced sometime Friday afternoon and the prizes mailed out that weekend (or whenever the winner gets us his/her address). Sorry for the delay! Oh, and since I never got a chance to blog this month, I never got a chance to post the prizes I put into the prize basket…

My first addition is this beautiful necklace. It’s a great addition for that beach outfit, but it’s lousy in a game of tug-o-war between your kids. (And yes, I know this from experience! Grr…)

The second is a colorful, beaded bookmark. I took a pic of this, but because of the plastic wrapping, it didn’t turn out very good. All you really see is the camara’s flash. In the center off the bookmark, there’s a “shoe charm” dangling off. It’ll add beauty and class to your reading experience, lol.

I’m sure you all know our contest rules by now, but if you’re new to The Write Direction, here they are again: you can enter our Summer Fun Contest by commenting on EACH of our June posts. Yes, that’s right.

Good luck!

~Staci

I found my love of writing later in life, after the tedium of my day job finally took its toll. Eight hours a day, alone in a tiny room with only the voices in my head for company, my mind journeyed to other places, spinning tales of love and happily-ever-after.

One day, I decided to put those stories to paper—well at least on the computer—and never looked back. Now, two children later, life isn’t nearly as mind-numbing as it was then, but somehow, I manage to find the time to write heart-warming stories somewhere between diaper changes, hissy fits, and skinned knees.

Please visit me at www.staciculver.com to learn more about me and to get a sneak peak at my upcoming release, J.D.’s Christmas Wish.

Happy Monday!

It’s a dreary day here in The Natural State, and my 30-year-old body is feeling every one of its 30 years. (I’m not starting out very cheerful am I? Don’t worry I’ll get there!) Welcome to The Write Direction! A multi-author blog of a bunch of romance authors (yes, I said ROMANCE) who have banded together to keep each other company and, when necessary, kick each other’s butts when we stray “off path.”

 We’re still in the building and structuring phase around here, but I thought I’d stop in and make an intro post for the group. We’re kicking our first month of blogging off with some contests so check back throughout the month as our authors add on and see what new contests they’re bringing with them.

 Scarlett Childs is supposed to sign on later today (she’s one of those doesn’t-get-up-before-noon types) and sponsor a contest to give away a copy of her erotic romance novella His Final Seduction!  Romantic suspense authors Estelle Harte and Jordyn James have already joined the blog, and I think medieval romance author Hanna Rhys Barnes will join us too.

 Well, I gotta run. Dora is over, and if I don’t get another video on…*grin*

 ~Staci