biancadarc.com Blog

Challenge Wrap Up

It’s almost over! January, that is. Reaching for your goals never ends.   

I hope you all got a good start on your resolutions this month. I know I did. And I’m going to continue working on them in February. In fact, I think I’ll institute a month-end check-in each month on this blog. If you want to join me, please feel free.

The last day of each month I’ll post a little update on what I’m doing, what’s coming up and what’s happening with my resolutions. It would be cool if some of you dropped in and let me know what you’re up to as well.

Thanks for participating in the challenge and special thanks to all the great guest bloggers who helped me keep the blog hoppin’ this month. I love you all! Good wishes as we all continue to reach for our goals!

And now, what you’ve been waiting for – the winner of the $10 Barnes & Noble Gift Card is:

Loretta W.

Congratulations!

Be sure to email me at biancadarc at live.com within 30 days to claim your prize.

Come back tomorrow to learn how you could win free ebooks every week in February!

Challenge Check-In #4

Well, here we are at Week 4. Things are winding down. We’ll have a final check-in on the 31st, but we’ve completed our final full week of working on our goals. How did we do this week?

I met the minimum goals I set, though I didn’t for the first two weeks of this month. I’m glad I finally got on track for the latter half of the month and will continue the trend into February. Now, how did you do?

(* We’ll meet back here on the 31st for an assessment of the whole month. If you comment on the 31st, your name will go into a drawing, so be sure to check back!)

One more item of note – I’ll be doing a giveaway each week in the month of February here on the blog, so be sure to check back for details!

eCata Sensual Reviewers’ Choice Award!

I’m pleased to say that FireDrake collected another award yesterday. In adition to the Reader’s Choice SAMMIE it won last Sunday, yesterday it was awarded an eCataromance Sensual Reviewers’ Choice Award. Go Drake!

To see the complete list of winners, visit eCataromance Sensual. THANK YOU very much to the reviewers at eCata. I’m just thrilled with the awards for a book that is near and dear to my heart. Thanks again!

And the Winner Is…

 The winner of their choice of one of my backlist titles is:

Brooks

Congratulations!

Please email me at biancadarc at live.com within 30 days to claim your prize.

Thanks to all those who commented! Stay tuned to this blog every Thursday in February to win more ebooks!

Guest: Tayla Bosco

Goals.

I don’t know about you, but whenever I hear/see that word I get a feeling of “ugh” deep in my chest. I wonder, “great, what am I gonna fail this time?” How else can I depress myself, thank you very much?

It sounds like I never meet my goals , doesn’t it?. But to be honest, I do meet them most of the time. At least my realistic ones. And I think that is part of the issue, setting realistic goals.

How many of us have already failed in our New Year’s Resolutions? How many of us failed in the first week? Is it because we are “failures” or maybe because we set unrealistic goals, or goals were weren’t committed to for one reason or another.

It’s been just about a month, and I bet we are probably 50/50 with our goals. I have met some of mine, and failed at some of mine. Some I flew by with flying colors, some not. But I can tell you based on my personal history, the goals I set that I didn’t care about, or didn’t really want were the ones that I failed at. Those were the ones that I wasn’t driven to work on. The ones that whether it be consciously or subconsciously, I either was willing to or knew I would fail.

Think about that. Ones I was willing to fail. Ones I knew I would fail. Talk about a self-defeating prophecy. Setting goals you don’t want to succeed does no one any good. You fail, and you feel bad, when you didn’t want to do it to begin with.

So, if you are the kind of person that gets depressed when you fail those goals, stop setting them. Look at what you did, decide what you can do, and then set those goals. Each week/month/year reassess where you are and what you are doing. Recommit yourself to the same/a higher/a lower level. Decide what you can do, what you want to do, and then go for it.

Max and Leo want Adele, and if they have to do a bit of redesigning to get her, so be it.

Talya may be new to publishing, but she has many more stories in her head and on paper with which she hopes to entertain and amuse you all. She loves to read, write and hear from fans.

SAMMIE Awards

Just popping in to announce that my books did rather well yesterday at the SAMMIE Awards. It turns out Lords of the Were was the #9 Best Selling Book at Samhain for 2006. Hara’s Legacy was the #7 Best Seller for 2007 and the one that really tickles me is the Reader’s Choice mention for FireDrake. Thank you all!!!

Note: The contest in last night’s post is still running. I’ll post the winner on Wednesday. Good luck!

Contest Time!

To celebrate my SAMMIE wins and nearing the end of our goal challenge, I’m holding a little impromptu contest. To enter, simply comment on this blog post. I’ll pick one commenter at random and announce the winner on the blog on Wednesday. Winner gets their choice of one book from my backlist in PDF format. Good luck!

Comments Away!

SAMMIE Awards Today!

1st Ever SAMMIE Awards!

Tomorrow on the Samhain Cafe Yahoo group, they’ll be announcing the new Sammie Awards. Since this is the first year, they’ll be awarding prizes for 2006-2008 best sellers. I’ve been told three of my books are Finalists, so you can bet I’ll be there with excerpts and maybe a prize or two! Here are the details:

Samhain Publishing is establishing our very own award, The SAMMIE, for the top ten Best Selling from each year, as well as the Reader’s Choice top ten for both books and cover art! For our first year, we’re going back to catch 2006-2008!

And the categories are:

Bestselling books 2006

Bestselling books 2007

Bestselling books 2008

Reader’s choice books 2008

Reader’s choice cover art 2008

Reader’s choice books 2006-2008

Reader’s choice cover art 2006-2008

Please join us at the SP Café on Sunday, January 25^th from 2-10 p..m.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/samhaincafe/

See you there!

Guest: Michelle Hasker

Beating your muse into submission or Setting the Mood

Okay, maybe beat is a little harsh. Unless your muse has gone off on a hiatus lasting six months. Then perhaps the little twit has it coming.

There are so many things that an author can do to set the mood to make the creative juices flow. Some of my favorites are:

• Burning scented candles. That tells me it is time to release my creative side.
• Putting fresh flowers in a decorative vase on my desk. A little pampering goes a long way.
• Turning on a playlist I’ve devised for the story I’m working on. (Each story gets it’s own unique playlist.) This puts me in mind for a certain story or scene
• Reading a short, hot story to get me in the mindset to write.
• Reading a terribly written story to remind me that I could do better if I just WROTE.
• Washing dishes or folding laundry. Both are tasks that require little to no concentration (unless you are washing glass). I let my mind wander while I have the soothing sound of water or the washer in the background.

I could go on, but I won’t. What works for me may not work for you, but I hope you find something in there to try.

Happy Writing!

Michelle

To learn more about Michelle, visit her website at: www.michellehasker.com

Ever since the spell blew up in her face, Camryn’s world has fallen apart while her fellow witches have prospered. Maybe being good isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. She’s lost her job, her apartment and her boyfriend. Her health is suffering and she looks like death warmed over. What good is being ethical if you have to pay for it with everything you have?