Category Archives: Contests
ABNA award

Currying Favor: Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award. Forged in Grace.

No one said that writing, or rather, receiving feedback would be easy. A writer who wants to submit anywhere, from literary journals to agents/publishers, has to grow the thickest of skins. I grow layer after layer of those gummy membranes that form on your hot chocolate after too long–not really an armor, and sometimes, the membrane rips, but I always grow a new one.

So I’m here to ask for the public, with its sometimes bloodthirsty desire to weigh in and pass judgment, for a favor.

My novel, Forged in Grace, has made it through to the quarter-finals in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award, 2013. That means in my category of General Fiction, out of 1,000 entrants, I am one of 100 finalists.

Now it is in your hands to help us get to the finals. It’s a powerful feeling isn’t it? If you’d like to help Forged in Grace win, please go here to download and review the excerpt. You don’t even have to read the whole book (though I’ll be grateful if you do).

My dreams are in your hands!

With deep gratitude,

Jordan

Day28

PUBLICATION DAY for FORGED IN GRACE!!

At long last, FORGED IN GRACE is now available in just about every format, save for stone tablet, including local, independent bookstores. Today is the release of the print copy, but you can also purchase a copy for your Kobo, Nook, Kindle, or through iBooks (via Smashwords). 

It has been a seven year journey from start of this project to its publication, and so many people have helped me along the way. Some of the things I’ve learned in this journey are: always ask for help; don’t be afraid to go deeper; kill your darlings; writers are kind, generous people, and so are readers!

I can’t thank you all enough for your support. I look forward to many deep discussions!

Today there is no Question of the Day. The first five people to tell me they purchased Forged in Grace will receive a free copy, of your choice, of either my writing guide Make a Scene, or my creativity guide (with Rebecca Lawton): Write Free.

With love

Jordan

Day27

Day 27: Countdown to Publication Giveaway: Forged in Grace

My friends, every day a new kindness blows my mind in this journey to becoming a published novelist. Unexpected champions, new readers, and people who find something I never knew was in my own work. You have all been so kind to me as I release my book into the world. In the life of an author the most powerful and important person is YOU: the reader. Exciting things are in the works: my audio-book is being produced RIGHT NOW for those of you who like a book to listen to while driving or exercising. You’ll be able to download it through Audible within the next month or less! AND, we’ve got new books coming out at indie-visible.com. Christina Mercer’s YA fantasy, Arrow of the Mist, and Julia Park Tracey’s contemporary novel Tongues of Angels.

Tomorrow is an important day for me. If you have not already purchased a copy of Forged in Grace, and you plan to, it will be great if you can do so tomorrow!

Your thoughts and opinions about my work make or break it! I want to remind you that when you do love a book, reviewing it (at Goodreads.com, at Amazon.com, at Shelfari.com) and telling others about is a most super helpful practice to support those books.

It’s been a joy having 20 authors share their work with you for the past month, and I hope new reader/author relationships were born.

Today I’m giving away e-copies of Forged in Grace.

Thanks again, friends!

Your Question of the Day: On what Christian Holiday does Dante’s Inferno begin?

About Forged in Grace:

At age 15, a horrific fire left Grace Jensen scarred and highly sensitive to the pain of anyone she touches. Thirteen years later, living with her hoarder mother and half-in-love with her former doctor, her long-absent best friend, Marly Kennet, returns to town and convinces Grace to make a leap-of-faith trip to Las Vegas. There, Grace discovers she doesn’t only feel others’ pain, she can heal it. This healing gift soon turns darker when the truth of Marly’s past and the fire that scarred Grace is revealed, pushing the boundaries of loyalty and exposing both women to danger.

About me:

Jordan E. Rosenfeld is an author, writing coach, editor and freelance journalist. She earned her MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars and is the author of the writing guides, Make A Scene: Crafting a Powerful Story One Scene at a Time (Writer’s Digest Books) and Write Free: Attracting the Creative Life with Rebecca Lawton (BeijaFlor Books). Jordan’s essays and articles have appeared in such publications as AlterNet.org, Publisher’s Weekly, The San Francisco Chronicle, The St. Petersburg Times, The Writer and Writer’s Digest magazine. Her book commentaries have appeared on The California Report, a news-magazine produced by NPR-affiliate KQED radio. She lives in Northern California with her superhero-obsessed son and psychologist husband. She is co-founder of www.indie-visible.com. Her personal website is: www.jordanrosenfeld.net.

Day26

Day 26: Countdown to Publication. Win an e-copy of Forged in Grace!

My friends, you have all been so kind to me as I release my book into the world. In the life of an author the most powerful and important person is YOU: the reader. Your thoughts and opinions about my work make or break it! I want to remind you that when you do love a book, reviewing it and telling others about is a most super helpful practice to support those books.

It’s been a joy having these 20 authors share their work with you for the past month, and I hope new reader/author relationships were born.

There are unanswered questions from days 24 and 25, so don’t forget to go back and answer to win!

Today and tomorrow I’m giving away copies of Forged in Grace.

Thanks again, friends!

Your Question of the Day: Name any novel in which a character suffers a terrible physical disfigurement in the form of injury.

About Forged in Grace:

At age 15, a horrific fire left Grace Jensen scarred and highly sensitive to the pain of anyone she touches. Thirteen years later, living with her hoarder mother and half-in-love with her former doctor, her long-absent best friend, Marly Kennet, returns to town and convinces Grace to make a leap-of-faith trip to Las Vegas. There, Grace discovers she doesn’t only feel others’ pain, she can heal it. This healing gift soon turns darker when the truth of Marly’s past and the fire that scarred Grace is revealed, pushing the boundaries of loyalty and exposing both women to danger.

About me: 

Jordan E. Rosenfeld is an author, writing coach, editor and freelance journalist. She earned her MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars and is the author of the writing guides, Make A Scene: Crafting a Powerful Story One Scene at a Time (Writer’s Digest Books) and Write Free: Attracting the Creative Life with Rebecca Lawton (BeijaFlor Books). Jordan’s essays and articles have appeared in such publications as AlterNet.org, Publisher’s Weekly, The San Francisco Chronicle, The St. Petersburg Times, The Writer and Writer’s Digest magazine. Her book commentaries have appeared on The California Report, a news-magazine produced by NPR-affiliate KQED radio. She lives in Northern California with her superhero-obsessed son and psychologist husband. She is co-founder of www.indie-visible.com. Her personal website is: www.jordanrosenfeld.net.

Day25

Day 25: Countdown to Publication. Rachel Thompson, Broken Pieces

Day 25 winners, you’re in for a deeply personal and revelatory book of essays by the author of the Mancode, and  a major force in indie publishing, Rachel Thompson.

Your Question of the Day (please answer here in the comments): What is the novel, and its author, named for a flower, that features a 12 year old orphan and her painful and transformative journey through foster homes, and her difficult relationship with her poet mother?

About Broken Pieces

This is a book about rising above; about becoming more than you can possibly believe you ever will be at those terribly low points of your life. It is about surviving, thriving and living and I recommend it more than any other book I have read.

~ Tracy Riva, Midwest Book Review, Tracy Riva Books & Reviews, Amazon Top Reviewer

From the Author

This is my most intensive work to date.

Broken Pieces is a work of nonfiction essays, poetry, and prose where I open my soul and invite you in for a visit. It’s vulnerable, it’s raw honesty, it’s no-holds barred. This is the first book I’ve published where I questioned if readers and reviewers would respond favorably due to the serious nature of the work.
And yet, they have.
Most readers know me as the funny girl, but this work (hinted at in A Walk In The Snark), shows that I can go into those long buried rooms, the ones we lock up deep inside, and share.
These stories were there. I simply had to wait until my brain caught up.

http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Pieces-ebook/dp/B00AR0T74S

About Rachel Thompson
I’m a chick who writes stuff that makes you laugh. My book A Walk In The Snark hit #1 on the Kindle Motherhood list September, 2011 (do you think they know I talk about sex? Shhh.). It’s since become a chart mainstay. #woot! I’ve been nominated for Funniest Blog, Best Humor Writer & Redhead Who Makes A Killer Dirty Martini (okay, I made the last one up, but it’s true. Honest.).

I released The Mancode: Exposed right after Thanksgiving 2011 and by January, it placed in the Amazon Top 100 Paid!

Two books of snarky goodness, baby. And book three will be out December, 2012!

I’ve been told I write in the style of that Dickens guy. Kidding.

I’m a mom, a wife, and a recovering pharmaceuticals rep. It’s been a long process but I’m doing okay, thanks.

I also used to sell Trojan brand condoms. Yeah, it’s hilarious, I know. I did it for three years way back when, and I was their top salesperson in the Western Region, a dubious honor at best. My number-one customer was the Mustang Ranch. No, seriously. The Mustang Ranch. I couldn’t make stuff like that up.

The experience definitely gave me insights into the… er… ins and outs of men.

So it should come as no great surprise that I write about how men (The Mancode) and women (Chickspeak) approach most things differently. And since I did, in fact, grow past my Trojan days (in more ways than one or–insert your own joke here), I’ve thrown in a few tidbits about marriage, kids, being a mom, living in the OC (ya know-being a pale redhead living in a sea of blondes), coffee, and vodka. Not necessarily in that order, depending on the day.

Don’t read my books to find advice about how to be sweet or nice. I’m pretty much allergic to both of those words. Actually don’t read my books for advice on anything. (My lawyer made me put that in just in case you know, you thought I could save your marriage or something – not).

Or if you are looking for some light, heartfelt humor in everyday life (Erma Bombeck-style), well, I’m really not your girl, either. Nothin’ homespun about the Queen of Snark, baby. Mostly I just laugh at stuff and make up words (See “Refrigeratoritis and Manesia.”) Yet somehow it all seems to work.

And don’t call me cute. (Hint: Babies and puppies are cute. Grown women are soooo not.)

Special note to men: I write frequently about “The Mancode”–like how you guys do goofy stuff and we women try, and often fail, to understand. (Um, change the toilet paper roll much? Yeah, that’s what I thought.) If that offends your sensibilities, this may not be the book for you. Yeah, I’m crushed.

Like everyone, I’ve also had some rough times. I share those with you, too. Life can’t always be martinis and beaches. Wait, this is the OC (Orange County, CA, for those of you from Canada, or people on the East Coast who don’t know California beyond LA). Naw, not even

Day24

Day 24: Countdown to Publication Giveaway: Michelle Minero, The Self-Love Diet

Day 24 winners, today’s book is a lovely treatise on how to take care of yourself, body and mind, written by a therapist, Michelle Minero.

Question of the Day: (Please answer in the comments here). What was the name of the Stephen King short story that became the movie Stand By Me?

About The Self-Love Diet

“This book is a must read. It is especially helpful for anyone with an eating disorder or chronic dieting and the people who love them. What a wonderful world it would be if women loved and accepted themselves and their bodies unconditionally. Michelle Minero helps the reader along that path. She helps us to see the ways that our society and we ourselves perpetuate self-criticism. She then presents ways in which we can change that critical self-talk into self-love. At the end of each chapter Michelle Minero gives practical action points that help the reader incorporate the key concepts into their life. I will definitely be recommending Self-Love Diet: The Only Diet That Works to my patients and their families.”

-Pamela Carlton, MD
Director, The Carlton Clinic for Eating-Related Disorders
Author, Take Charge of Your Child’s Eating Disorder

About Michelle:
Michelle Minero is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who has dedicated her work to helping people recover from eating disorders and body hatred. Michelle graduated from the University of San Francisco with a B.A. in psychology in 1976 and a masters in counseling in 1988. In 2000, she created the Quest Program, an intensive outpatient eating disorder program for PsychStrategies Inc. In 2005, she brought the ANAD support group to Petaluma and founded Eating Disorder Recovery Support, Inc.

Michelle co-facilitates Sacred Body Retreats with Cat Caracelo. Michelle integrates spirituality and creativity into the healing process, through mask making, body casting, SoulCollage® and other forms of creative expression. Michelle will be offering Self-Love Diet workshops, presentations and groups.

Michelle has four grown children, one granddaughter, and another grandchild on the way. She is happily married to Al Minero, enjoys painting and nature, practices yoga and qigong and lives in Sonoma County, California.

Connect with Michelle online:
Twitter: @selflovewarrior
Facebook: Self-Love: The Only Diet That Works
Michelle’s self-love group blog: www.selflovewarrior.com
The Love Warrior Community: www.lovewarriorcommunity.com

http://theselflovediet.org/

Day23

Day 23: Countdown to Publication Giveaway. Milk & Ink, a Mosaic of Motherhood.

Day 23 winners, today’s book, Milk & Ink: A Mosaic of Motherhood, is a project very close to my heart. I was lucky to be part of this beautiful project, which was my dear friend Alegra Clarke’s brainchild.

Question of the Day (Please answer in the comments here):  Which author, who is herself married to another well-known author, has written a series of “Mommy-track” mysteries? Give me her name and one of her book titles.

About Milk & Ink

Culturally, the image of the mother is often perched atop a pedestal of purity–she is supposed to be long-suffering, patient, never ruffled, always available, unconditional, and beaming white light. But there is another side. Many women find that motherhood challenges them with a scale of extremes love and terror, joy and frustration, inspiration and exhaustion. They discover that to have a child means to live with their hearts outside of their bodies. It also means navigating what can feel like a great divide between caring for their children and caring for themselves as individuals. Mothers are often doing invisible work, work that rarely gets rewarded. Mothers struggle to find balance between attentive parenting and the pursuit of their individual dreams. We believe that a mother achievements serve as a template of possibility for our children lives. If there one prime lesson a woman learns when she becomes a mother it that she won make it very far through these challenges without the support of other mothers. Milk and Ink: A Mosaic of Motherhood is an anthology comprised of writing mothers who have gathered their words to celebrate the duality and intensity of being both mother and writer; it aims to appeal to mothers of all stripes, whether they write or not.

Milk and Ink features established and emerging authors with a wide scope of experience, ethnicity and points of view, and features poetry, fiction, and essays. Profits from the sale of the anthology in 2010 were given to Mama Hope.

About Eros-Alegra Clarke

Eros-Alegra Clarke is mother to a wild tribe of three, a sometime surfer, and wife to a husband who qualifies for sainthood. She won the 76th Annual Writer’s Digest grand prize for her personal essay, “Salamander Prayer.” Her prize for that included a publishing package through Outskirts Press, which she used to publish Milk & Ink. She also placed in the 4th Annual Writer’s Digest Poetry Awards. She has been published in The Bitter Oleander, Literary Mama, Waikato Times, Flash40 and wrote as a columnist for The Motherhood Muse. She regularly contributed articles and interviews to Editor Unleashed, nominated by Writer’s Digest for the top 101 Best Websites for Writers.  She curated and edited Milk & Ink: A Mosaic of Motherhood and can be found blogging about life, writing, and motherhood at :www.alegra22.wordpress.com and My Big Leap at www.indie-visible.com.

Purchase Milk & Ink

Eros-Alegra Clarke’s Website

Day21

Day 21: Countdown to Publication Giveaway, J.A. Dennam. Flesh of Angels

Welcome to Day 21!  J.A. Dennam is a prolific and talented writer whose work ethic and writing I deeply admire. Today’s winner will be thrilled to win her novel Flesh of Angels, the first in the Flesh series.

Your Question of the Day: Name a certain beat poet/author who also wrote a book with Angels in the title. I need author and book for the win.

 

About Flesh of Angels

Tucked away in the warm solitude of her mountain cabin, Holly welcomes the lingering chill of spring as a peaceful addition to her own private paradise.  Little does she know it is no more than a cloak, disguising hidden dangers that threaten to tarnish the pristine innocence only nature can provide.  With the arrival of a compelling yet unwelcome guest, Holly’s world is about to become prey to an evil force that has been thriving in the very woods in which she lives.

Required to follow up on an unlikely lead, INS Special Agent Dodge enters Holly’s paradise with little patience and no desire to be played by the deceptive witch.  However, a devastating turn of events pushes the reluctant pair to band together in order to expose the existence of a deadly smuggling ring that has plagued the Northern Rockies for decades.  Caught in a labyrinth of danger, Holly and Dodge ultimately surrender to their undeniable attraction for one another; however, the comfort they find in each other’s arms is tarnished by deception…as well as the threat of dark secrets that may lie as close as the person lying next to them.

About J.A. Dennam
J. A. Dennam, a member of Romance Writers of America, resides in a small Kansas town with her husband and four children. Besides her great love for literary arts, her passions include fine art, culinary art and music.

Storytelling has been a part of her life since childhood, when insomnia forced a young girl of six into counting popcorn on the ceiling in the dead of night. Confessing her problem to her older sister, the two girls decided to tell each other stories to entice sleep; however, the inevitable snore always tore through her sister’s nose before she could utter the words ‘Once Upon A Time.’ So, the stories began to flow in silence, her imagination taking her to quiet, private places so enthralling, the trick was suddenly to stay awake. Each night, she went to bed anticipating the continuation of the adventure that had been interrupted by sleep the previous night. Soon, insomnia was no longer a problem and the stories would sometimes take months to complete.

Those habits carried on to adulthood until the need to purge her stories demanded she put them in print. Her fascination with romance, fast cars and adventure films is what structures her stories today, making Romantic Suspense the genre she was simply born to write.

www.JADennam.com

DAY20

Day 20: Countdown to Publication Giveaway, Julia Park Tracey

Welcome to Day 20. Oh, you lucky, lucky winners. Julia Park Tracey, whose novel Tongues of Angels is being re-released next month, is really and truly one of the brightest, most skilled writers I know. So it makes perfect sense that it runs in the family. She’s recently begun publishing her great aunt Doris’s diaries. The first installment, which you’ll win hard copy of, is I’ve Got Some Lovin’ to Do: The Diaries of a Roaring Twenties Teen is out now. You’ll love The Doris Diaries!

Your Question of the Day: In what year was famed novelist Doris Lessing (NOT Julia’s aunt) awarded the Nobel Prize in literature, for what book?

 

A Legacy in Words

The Doris Diaries are a lifetime’s worth of diaries kept by Doris Louise Bailey (later Murphy), a Portland, Oregon, native (1910-2011). Doris began keeping a daily record of her life as a 15-year-old in Portland in 1925. She attends dances, parties and rides horses (1920s); in later diaries, she attends college (1930s), moves to San Francisco and works in the War effort (1938-45). Her meticulous and artistic depictions of everyday life as well as flights of fancy capture the imagination. Follow on Twitter, Facebook, and here, and look for I’ve Got Some Lovin’ to Do: The Diaries of a Roaring Twenties Teen (1925-1926), the first volume of The Doris Diaries in bookstores now!

About Julia Park Tracey
Julia Park Tracey is the grand-niece of Doris Bailey Murphy and conservatrix of The Doris Diaries.
Julia is an award-winning writer, editor, journalist and activist. Her novel, Tongues of Angels (Scarlet Letter Press), was published in 2002. Amaryllis: Collected Poems (Scarlet Letter Press) was published in 2009.
Her award-winning column and blog, Modern Muse, appears regularly online and is featured on various web sites (www.modernmuse.blogspot.com); she received the East Bay Press Club’s award for Best Independent Blogger (2007) and Best Multimedia project for her blog posts highlighting hunger and food justice in the community (2011). Modern Muse has also been awarded The Humane Award by other bloggers (2009).

Julia was the founding editor at The Alameda Sun community newspaper, and later became publisher, one of fewer than 85 female newspaper publishers in California. The Alameda Sun won numerous awards for reportage and community service in that time (2001-2009). She has also been associate editor at Alameda and Oakland magazines and coeditor at The East Bay Monthly. Her essays, articles and reviews have appeared in numerous publications, from The Sun literary magazine to the San Francisco Chronicle. She founded the East Bay literary fair, Alameda Literati, winning grants for its support, and was also editor of the litzine, Red Hills Review.

Julia’s academic publications include critical essays on Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West, Jane Austen, and the Harry Potter phenomenon. Her poetry and short fiction have appeared in numerous anthologies and literary journals in the United States and abroad. She is an alumna of Santa Rosa Junior College, San Francisco State University (BA Journalism) and California State University at Hayward/East Bay (MA English).

She splits her time between Alameda, Calif., and the Russian River Valley, Sonoma County, Calif.

Find Julia:

www.modernmuse.blogspot.com

www.indie-visible.com

The Doris Diaries Facebook Page

Day19

Day 19: Countdown to Publication Giveaway, Renee Ho: The Friendship Effect

Welcome to Day 19 of the Countdown to Publication Giveaway. Today you can win the lovely Renee Ho’s book, The Friendship Effect!

Question of the Day:

What unforgettable series of movies does Mythologist Joseph Campbell refer to in his book Hero With a Thousand Faces?

About The Friendship Effect:
1). Part one: Before you can be a true friend to others you must first be a true friend to yourself.

Its focus is on being a true friend to yourself, finding your passions and living a life based on what makes you happy; which will inevitably attract more friends your way. Several main points you will learn more about in this section are:

Be yourself
Being genuinely happy in your life equals more friendships.
Part 1: Your Mind is your Best Friend.
Part 2: Keep it simple (“it” being: life or situations). Take action and do something about it or accept it.
Part 3: Be grateful for what you have.
Part 4: Be conscious of how you talk to yourself and others: The words you choose can affect you and others positively and or negatively.
2). Part two: How to be, create and sustain long lasting friendships while inevitably
changing the world for the better.

About Renee
Renee Ho is passionate about changing the world by helping others be happier and do what they love through the power of friendships. Her mission is to spread the message within her book, The Friendship Effect: how to be a true friend to one self, then how to be, create and maintain genuine friendships with others, which inevitably contributes to making the world a more unified and happier place.

Renee was born and raised in Northern California. In her spare time she enjoys exercising, writing, traveling and spending time with her husband, daughter, family and friends. Renee believes and teaches that friendship with oneself and others is a powerful tool which can help be a part of bettering our world.

Follow The Friendship Effect on Twitter: @friendeffect

http://thefriendshipeffect.com/

Facebook page for my book 

Facebook group for the Friendship Effect 

About Jordan


Author of FORGED IN GRACE, Jordan E. Rosenfeld learned early on that people prefer a storyteller to a know-it-all. She channeled any Hermione-esque tendencies into a career as a writing coach, editor and freelance journalist and saves the Tall Tales for her novels. She lives in Northern California with her superhero-obsessed son, Psychologist husband and their tuxedo cat, Elvert.

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