I’m Not a Virgin Anymore

That’s right, I’ve been screwed by pirates for the very first time. And, I’ve got to say, it’s not so pleasant. No, this isn’t one of the countless lecturey blogs out there. I know you guys aren’t stealing and I love you for it. This is something else…it’s a contest! I'm giving away a .pdf copy of Dragonborne (<--click on Dragonborne for the blurb). Just post “I want Dragonborne for free” somewhere on the net with a link back to this blog post (could be tweeted or facebooked or worked into your blog) and let me know where it is either in the comments section (with an e-mail address so I can contact you if you win) or e-mail me at Chandra @ ChandraRyan . com. Make sure you remove the spaces in the e-mail account if you e-mail me.

As to the pirates—I’ll send them a take down notice. But I’m not going to stress over it. I’m a firm believer of karma and I can’t believe their lives are very fantastic with as many people as their fraking over.

The contest is open until midnight central time April 30^th so you have a couple days.

Hope it’s bright and shiny where ever you are today…it is here :)

Me, Only So Much Better.

A couple days ago, I passed a major milestone with Dragonborne. I returned my edits to my editor. Yay! No, I’m not done with edits, I just returned a round of them. And I know knowing more edits are on the way should be a downer, but it isn’t. Here’s the thing, I don’t mind edits. I actually kind of like them. Why?

First, because I know the editor liked the story, that’s why they agreed to pick it up. So I never take anything they say personally. I realize my work isn’t perfect, that I get too close to see where it needs fixed, and I really don’t want to look like an idiot when the story is released. So I appreciate the time and energy my editors put into my work.

Second, because some of the mistakes I make are funny as hell and I’ve never had a problem laughing at myself. If you’ve chatted with me on-line (or in person) I’ve probably told you some of these, but I can’t resist repeating myself. They’re just too good. So here goes, some of my best typos:

Instead of imitate, I once used immolate, which means to kill as a sacrifice. I’m sure my hero would not have approved of the heroine immolating his mount. It probably would have pissed him off, but it made my writers group laugh hysterically.

Instead of bowl, I once used bowel. Not that I’m terribly prissy or anything, but I do believe soup tastes better when eaten from a bowl. Just saying.

Instead of vile creature, I once used vial creature. Any dragon that could actually fit in a vial would probably not be much of a threat. Sophie would argue that one with me. But she just likes to argue.

Instead of stairs, I once used stars. Try climbing those sometime.

Instead of dining, I (more than) once used dinning. I’m not even sure what dinning is, or what a dinning room would encompass, which is sad seeing as I look it up every time my writers group calls me on it.

So there you have ‘em, some of my best typos. Oh, and one of my most common mistakes…Clinch does not mean the same thing as Clench. I think I have that one down now. I’ve actually started doing word searches in my works for Clinch, because I hardly ever mean that one.

Hope you’re all having a great week!

Interview At Believing is Seeing

Today I’m being interviewed at Believing is Seeing. Please come by and say hi to me. If you leave a comment with your name and e-mail address, you’ll be entered to win a download of Ink in the Blood.

http://sandrasookoo.wordpress.com/

And The Winner Is...

Stacey who loves fried chicken!

You can e-mail me at Chandra@ChandraRyan.com to tell me what format you'd like the download in and give me an address to ship the swag :)

If you didn't win and would like another shot at getting Ink in the Blood for free, I'm going to be interviewed and guest blogging at a couple spots this week and next. I'll announce them in the Current Happenings section of my website www.ChandraRyan.com

Thanks, everyone for entering. I had a lot of fun talking food :)

Chandra

Eeeks!

The cover for Ink in the Blood is in the Clash of the Covers over at Embrace the Shadows blog this week. And it’s going up against two other gorgeous covers, one of which is from Larissa Ione’s newest book, Ecstasy Unveiled. She’s one of my all time favorite authors. If you haven’t read her, I highly recommend you giving her work a chance. It’s dark and edgy and just fantastically written. Actually, I have the Embrace the Shadows blog to thank for introducing me to her stories. I won Desire Unchained, the second book in her Demonica series, from them by commenting on a blog entry about a year ago, and I fell in love with the series.

Actually, now that I’m thinking about it, I have Embrace the Shadows to thank for many of the authors I’ve started reading over the past year. I guess that’s one of the reasons I’m so excited about being in the clash this week. Another reason I’m excited? The Clash of the Covers has always been my favorite part of the blog. Don’t get me wrong, I love the interviews and the guest blogs, but I really look forward to the clash every week, and I can’t remember the last time I missed one.

If you’d like to check out the Clash of the Covers here’s a link to the blog.

Is it really Monday?

It is? That means one week from today Ink will be available to buy and download—Yay! To celebrate I’m starting a contest today. On March 1st I’m going to give away a download of Ink in the Blood and a bag of Ink swag (pictured on the right side of this post) to someone. All you have to do to enter is post your favorite food in the comments section of this blog entry before Midnight central time on Feb 28th. Then, on March 1st, I’ll randomly choose a comment and post the winners name. So make sure you check back on March 1st to see if you’ve won. I’ll try to post the winner as early as possible.

I’m going to get the ball rolling. My favorite food is cheesecake. I can’t resist the stuff. Once, my husband and I got a cheesecake for our anniversary. We both had a piece for dessert and then put it away for the night. The next day he went off to work and I snacked on a half a piece for breakfast, a half a piece for a mid-morning snack, a half a piece for lunch…well, I think you can see where this is going. When he came home, I was horribly sick. It didn’t take him long to figure out why. He went into the fridge and saw I’d eaten half the cheesecake. After that, I wasn’t able to look at cheesecake for a year or so, but I’m all better now.

Now it’s your turn. Are you a sweets kind of person, savory? What’s the food you can’t resist?

My Website Has Been Redesigned…

And that makes me happy! My original site was serviceable, and all the links worked, but it wasn't dynamic. It was actually a hassle to update, which is why it was never updated. It also wasn’t very polished, in my opinion. So my husband did a complete redesign for me. Isn’t he great?

I have to say, I love the site. I love the colors and the pictures and the excerpt link that has the book cover on it. But the thing I love the most, most people will never see. My husband, knowing I’m not the most computer savvy person, designed a custom content management program just for me. It’s so cool. I have a table for my news, my works, and my links. Whenever I want to update, I just open the program, edit it, and then FTP into my site and upload the new info. It’s so cool and I'm very grateful for it.

In other news, Ink is being release a week from Monday. Yay! In celebration I’m going to be having a contest. It’ll start tomorrow and will run to release day, so check back on the blog tomorrow to get all the details. In the mean time, if you have a moment and want to check out the new site, you can either click on this link, or click on Ink's cover in the side bar.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!