Giveaway Winner and Writerly Ramblings

First -- ta da!! -- drum roll, please. I just put all the names of the participants of my One Year Anniversary Giveaway into my favorite floppy hat, closed my eyes, and selected one.

The winner of the signed copy of THE VAMPIRE SHRINK (as soon as my author copies arrive) is:

Debbie Rhoades

Congratulations, Debbie. Thanks so very much to everyone who entered. I'm sure I'll have other contests/giveaways, so check in here regularly.

I'm probably in the minority here (and you've likely heard me talk about this before) but I'm counting the days until cooler weather arrives. Along with the rest of the world, the climate has been changing in Colorado. My brother, who still lives in Michigan (where I was raised), says summers are very different there, too. We've had a long string of 90+ degree days here and, since I really don't like being out in the hot/sun, I stay barricaded in my writing room, where the air conditioner is. I'm going stir crazy. So, as of today, there are officially 41 days until the Autumn Equinox (Sept. 23), the first day of Fall. But I also celebrate the first day of September, a month I associate with new beginnings.

I'm especially looking forward to September this year, because this will be the first time I'll attend the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers conference as a published author. Yay! I'm not sure if I'll be able to get any books from the distributor/publisher by then to actually sell, but it's just the idea of it. And I'll be giving a panel on psychic abilities, along with sharing a presentation with Jeanne C. Stein and Mario Acevedo. It all sounds great to me!

After I devoured the Harry Potter book, I read the second in Stephenie Meyer's wonderful series. The first is Twilight, the second New Moon and the third (on hold at the library), Eclipse. I'm a character writer/reader and Stephenie's characters are interesting, colorfully flawed and well done.