1st Birthday Contest

*CONTEST OVER*

Hi Everyone!

I have been planning this contest for several months now and it has FINALLY arrived. On August 28th, 2010, I wrote my very first blog. 3 people followed me instantly. Of course, they were my friends! Then I joined Romance Writers of America. The next day I had about 20 hits and several more followers. These were my chapter mates and their support gave me a huge boast. Over the last couple of months however, I have gathered about five more followers- all of which have been complete strangers who thought I was worth following. You have no idea how honored I am.

As a thank you, I am doing this giveaway contest. Since I haven't published anything just yet, I will be giving away two of my favorite books. The authors have even been kind enough to personalize the copies for the winners.

 

The first book is The Cowboy and The Vampire by Clark Hays and Kathleen McFall. This is a fantastic romantic mystery filled with humor and adventure. It is by far one of my favorite adult vampire novel. What kept me reading this fun ride was Tucker, the cowboy. I'm not much of a Western fan, but OMG I could spend a day with Tucker any time. Currently, Clark and Kathleen are working on a sequel and I can't wait to get my hands on it!

The second book is Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey. This is my favorite young adult vampire novel. I found this book at the library when I searched for Romanian Vampire novels a couple of years ago and wanted to know what had already been written. Never in a million years did I expect to read it cover to cover in one setting. Nor did I expect to fall in love with Jessica as she discovered she was a Romanian vampire princess and Lucias, a vampire prince, trying to woo her. What I liked most about it is the romantic relationship Beth created between the two characters. It was very sweet, yet the element of danger gave the romance an edge. Jessica's Rules to the Dark Side, the sequel, will be coming out this fall. I posted the cover here.

So what do you have to do? Here are the rules.

1. THIS CONTEST IS FOR US AND CANADA RESIDENTS ONLY. Sorry!
2. COMMENT:  (A)Tell me what your favorite adult or YA vampire novel is and (B)why. (C)Specify which of the two books you are interested in winning.
3. Share this post by twittering or Facebook or blogging or whatever social media you use.
4. Contest ENDS AUGUST 31ST, 2011.
5. 2 randomly chosen winners will receive a personalized and signed copy of the book they specified interest in.

There you go, pretty simple! Blog/tweet/facebook away! And a huge THANK YOU for you support.

Cheers and Good Luck,
Melania

CONTEST!

Greetings Folks,
I wanted to give you a couple of days forewarning about a contest that will be taking place here. August will be one year since I started this blog. As a thank you for following, I will give you a chance to win signed copies of two of my favorite vampire novels. More details and rules coming on Monday, August 1st. Stay tuned!
~Melania

Flying horses, teens, and other general weirdness

 

photo courtesy of flash-screen.com

Isn't he beautiful? I give you a moment to ogle and swoon.




*whistles*



*taps finger*



*stares at ceiling*



Okay, so now that you've had a chance to get a good look at the magical creature and revisit your childhood fantasies, let me enlighten you on the reason for his presence.

You see, for the last six months I have done nothing but live and breath vampires. I finished The Vampire Novelist, ran it through several edits, rewrote the first five chapters a gazillion times, submitted it to the requesting agents and editors from the Spring Intensive, and have received several rejections. One is still pending. Living in the dark world has been an adventure filled with blood and tears. It's not over yet. I truly believe in my characters and the story.

BUT, I'm taking a break to write something new and different. Just like last winter when I wrote the contemporary romance, I'm diving into a genre I never expected myself to write in.

Last weekend after coming home from seeing Harry Potter 7 Part 2 (which by-the-way is freaking AWESOME), I fell asleep twirling a new idea. I woke up about 3am and began writing. Today I'm four chapters into a young adult fantasy novel involving a Pegasus and a sixteen year old girl with the "sight."

Six months ago, if you would have asked me if I was interested in writing a YA novel, I would have laughed. Never say never, right? Here's where the weirdness comes in, I'm actually liking writing from a teenager's perspective.

If you know me, you know I've never really related to teens. Even when I was in high school I couldn't stand them. Now, it's not that I don't like teens. Quite the opposite, I LOVE YA novels. Hello! Did you read my last post on Twilight?

I just never expected myself to write in the genre. Yet today I find myself writing about an awkward period in a girl's life. Throw in some quirky supernatural gifts, a portal into the Otherworld, waterfalls, magic, and hot guys,  and we've got ourselves an interesting story.

Her story really is drawing me in and I find myself thinking of her and her flying stallion friend throughout the day wondering what will happen to them next.

And to my vampire-loving friends, I'm not shelving my blood-sucking baby. It's a little break, which will help the heart grow founder and give me fresh eyes to tackle my little fiends. So wish me luck and I leave you with another gorgeous rendition of the object of my inspiration.

Photo courtesy of Google images

Traveling through Twilight

Does this beach look familiar to you? Well if you've watched New Moon you'll recognize it is La Push Beach. Freaking AWESOME, eh? I was THERE.

Proof I was there!

As I mentioned in my last post, I had the recent privilege to visit the beautiful Victoria, BC. On the way back we decided to drive through Forks and swing in to La Push. We'd driven through Forks way back in Spring 2007 before the Twilight craze. My husband even treated me to Bella Italia in Port Angeles, because it was the only decent place to eat. I remember seeing the sign to La Push, put didn't go. We were there to visit Olympic National Park so I could get extra credit in my Geology of the National Parks class at Portland State University. I didn't know anything about La Push, except that the highway sign indicated it was an Indian Reservation and it completely out of our way.

*CONFESSIONS* (You have been warned)

In the fall 2008, I finally read Twilight and my old flame for vampires reignited. Smitten and Bitten! Okay, okay, I admit it. I love Twilight. Team Edward all the way. *swoon*  Ahem, yes and since I had been in the area just the year before, all my memories of the place were intact. I could close my eyes and almost feel like I was there. Stephenie Meyer captured the location perfectly. My heart longed to go back and explore the area once again.

My wish finally came to fruition last month. Unfortunately we didn't make the earlier ferry from Victoria and that meant no time to explore. I didn't even have time to snap a picture of Jacob's rental (which looks like his home in the movies complete with motorcycle in front yard) or Jacob's Java. But here's a shot of the convenient store on the Reservation and a fun bulletin board out front.

The notes are addressed to Jacob, but there is some Edward love there too. Though I stared endlessly into the lush forests lining the highway, I didn't spot any massive wolves or pale humans running at inhumanly speeds.

2007- Forks was a tiny sleepy town non-residents drove through to get from one part of Olympic National Park to the other. Those were the tourists of the area. NOW- I saw as many different license plates from all over the North American continent as I had in Victoria. These weren't people coming to visit the park. Oh I'm sure they did, since they were there, but that isn't what brought them in the first place.

While in Victoria, we saw a German family with small children on one of the tours we took. Then we spotted them & their rental RV on our ferry coming to Port Angeles. When we were driving out of La Push we saw their RV again headed to the reservation RV park. Now don't tell me the young mother isn't a Twilight fan! Why else would they travel all the way from Germany to La Push?

We drove back out of La Push and on down to Forks. What I had read online and in newspapers about the affect Twilight had on Forks was confirmed. At least 50% or more of the signs in front of shops referenced something related to Twilight.

Talk about an economic boost! The power of the written word. And it all started with a dream....