Carol Kilgore's SECRETS OF HONOR Contest

I'm delighted to have Carol guest posting on my blog. Let's make her feel all warm and welcomed as we sit around a sip our favorite adult beverage!

Thanks for hosting me, Bish. It’s fun to be on the blog of another Texas writer.

Bish and I live fairly close to one another by Texas standards – an hour and a half or so, depending on traffic and how closely you adhere to the speed limit. Yet we've never met in person. Maybe one day we’ll remedy that, especially since we share a love of the beach and the ocean.

We tried to put our heads together to think of something unique for this post, but we weren't terribly successful. Plus we were each busy with other projects at the time as well. So I decided to riff off of one of Bish’s suggestions and write about tropical drinks.

Sadly, the characters in SECRETS OF HONOR drank mostly coffee and water, as they were working during most of the story. Even so, beer, wine, and a few drinks made appearances, too. And there was one scene in which iced tea was the star – yes, you’ll need to read that scene for yourself J

But what beach book blog post would be complete without saying something about the beach. So I looked up the recipe for Sex on the Beach – it sounds much less gritty than the real thing, but just as potent!

It’s also appropriate since in my original thinking about this story, I envisioned a yummy sex-on-the-beach scene – that didn't make the final cut. Wouldn't you know.

But there is a scene in a hotel bar in Corpus Christi. Surely someone there was drinking a Sex on the Beach.

But we can’t forget these other beachy drinks: Mojito – Margarita – Daiquiri – Pina Colada.

So after I wrote this I asked Kat Marengo and Dave Krizak what their favorite tropical drink was.

Kat said hers was a Margarita – because it goes with Mexican food.

Dave said he wasn't fond of umbrellas, but he’d choose a Mojito.

I know they really meant Sex on the Beach but didn't want to fess up J

CONTEST INFO

Monday through Friday this week, I’m visiting five different blogs to promote my just-released novel, SECRETS OF HONOR. You can visit my blog, http://www.underthetikihut.blogspot.com, to see where I am each day. On each blog, I’ll give away a $5 Amazon Gift Card.  Everyone who comments on my posts will be entered into a drawing for a $5 Amazon Gift Card for that blog. So there will be five separate contests, and it will be possible to win all five, for a total of $25. Although what are the odds of that? Don’t ask me – math isn’t my BFF!

Winners will be announced next Monday on my blog, and I’ll make an effort to contact the winners over the weekend prior to the announcement.

SECRETS OF HONOR

By the end of a long evening working as a special set of eyes for the presidential security detail, all Kat Marengo wants is to kick off her shoes and stash two not-really-stolen rings in a secure spot. Plus, maybe sleep with Dave Krizak. No, make that definitely sleep with Dave Krizak. The next morning, she wishes her new top priorities were so simple.

As an operative for a covert agency buried in the depths of the Department of Homeland Security, Kat is asked to participate in a matter of life or death—locate a kidnapped girl believed to be held in Corpus Christi, Texas. Since the person doing the asking is the wife of the president and the girl is the daughter of her dearest friend, it’s hard to say no.

Kat and Dave quickly learn the real stakes are higher than they or the first lady believed and will require more than any of them bargained for.

The kicker? They have twenty-four hours to find the girl—or the matter of life or death will become more than a possibility.

U.S. Links:

Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Honor-Carol-Kilgore-ebook/dp/B00NH0QTO6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1410735340&sr=8-1&keywords=secrets+of+honor

Paperback: http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Honor-Carol-Kilgore/dp/1500522031/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1410735340&sr=8-1

This thriller was so much fun to write. I hope you have as much fun reading it as I had writing it.

AUTHOR BIO

Although Carol has deep Texas roots, she’s lived up and down the eastern seaboard and in other locations across the U.S. as a Coast Guard wife. She sees mystery and subterfuge everywhere. And she’s a sucker for a good love story—especially one with humor and mystery. Crime Fiction with a Kiss gives her the latitude to mix and match throughout the broad mystery and romance genres. Having flexibility makes her heart happy.

You can connect with Carol here:

Under the Tiki Hut blog:  http://www.underthetikihut.blogspot.com

Website with Monthly Contest: http://www.carolkilgore.net

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/carol.kilgore1

Twitter: http://twitter.com/carol_kilgore

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6094110.Carol_Kilgore

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Carol-Kilgore/e/B008FRCXQY

A Little Good News and a Contest

These are difficult, trying, emotional days. Most of the time it seems I'm right of the edge of tears.

I don't know about you, but a little good news has helped me. So I thought I'd pass it on.

***

Maybe you've heard? A turn for the better has taken place for the lives of a few precious children thanks to a bust by European police of a huge Internet pedophilia ring. You can read the story here. This means a lot to me as I worked for 23 years with abused, neglected and emotionally disturbed children. My thanks goes out to those who smashed up the ring and my prayers go out to the children who have been rescued. May they find peace.

***

Here in the Hill Country of Texas, Spring is slipping into place.

Our lawn is making its annual comeback.

Redbuds and pear trees are in bloom.

Wisteria vines are draping their long large purple clusters over ancient arbors.
There it was, ah, a sulphur butterfly.

And the mockingbirds are singing again.

***

If you've read my blog for a while, you know I hate plastic. Impossible to live without (as it shows up everywhere made into everything) impossible to live with (we are drowning in it, turning our planet and oceans into a plastic waste dump) I moan and groan and bitch and do everything I can to reduce, reuse and recycle.

This is NOT an advertisement.

BUT... if you're into buying sodas...

Pepsi has now come up with a non-plastic plastic bottle. That's right, next year they will begin test marketing a vegetable based biodegradable bottle. I'm so excited I could pee my pants! Read all about it here.

***

HEADS UP!

I am now very close to the 200 follower mark. What a pleasant surprise! Thanks to ALL of you. When I reach that auspicious number I will of course have a CONTEST which, of course, will be interesting and I hope unique. There will be a PRIZE.

Got any good news you'd like to share?

An Anniversary

Can it really be true that I've been blogging for three years today?

A BIG THANK YOU to my faithful Random Readers for helping to make my journey a most enjoyable one.

To celebrate I thought I'd steal an idea from Jen over at unedited. Which is...what would you like to know about me that you don't already think you know? Go ahead, ask me questions. Just please let's keep it PG. You're questions can be about anything. But of course the flakier the questions the better chance you have of winning....

Oh didn't I say there was going to be a contest?

All you have to do is post your questions by November 3rd. Three winners will be announced November 5th. I will answer all questions in due course, but the questions that tickle my fancy best (a purely subjective contest for sure) will recieve these!

First Place: Three TATTED SNOWFLAKES (get it, flakes, flakier?) which have any number of uses. The snowflakes range in size from 3 inches to about 2 1/4 inches across.

Second Place: This 3 inch tatted tassel angel.

Third Place: This little wreathe just an inch in diameter.

So help me celebrate! Jump in with both feet, or head first, make snow angles, or snow balls, what ever suits ya and let's party!

Historical Fiction Writing Contest

The Institute of Children's Literature, is having another one of their wonderful writing contests. This one is calling for Historical Fiction. Go check it out. Your story could win $500 and be published in Children's Writer.

I'm promoting it for several reasons:

1.) I'm a graduate of the Institute. Their courses were a HUGE stepping stone to my getting short stories and articles published in children's magazines.

2.) I won the last contest they had with my retold Folktale, "Why Dogs Beg."

3.) I've entered this one.

Lastly
4.) Jan Fields, who faithfully puts out a FREE e-newsletter and to whom you can submit articles to Rx for Writers (and get paid, I've had three articles in Rx) is offering a boat load of children's books for anyone who promotes the Historical Fiction Writing Contest.

Got all that?

I know most of you are novel writers, but it's good to flex your muscles and write something short and focused. S0 check out the contest rules. You might have something that fits.

Thinking About a Contest

I'm up to 71 followers. Only 29 to go and I'll be at 100. Which got me to thinking about having a contest when I reach that auspicious number.

This is a heads-up to let you know something will come along.

It will involve words.

There will be three winners.

Prizes will be unique one of kind items.

To move this contest forward, to help it along... if you know someone who might like to become a Random Follower of Random Thoughts, well I'd be just elated. The sooner we can get to 100 the sooner you can play with words and win a prize for doing it!

Good News!

I am honored, humbled, and ELATED to announce that my story, "Why Dogs Beg," has won first place in the Children’s Writer Fantasy/Folktale Contest! The story has been published in the March issue of the Institute of Children's Literature's newsletter, Children's Writer.

I got the news on January 5th in a phone call from Deborah Vetter, ICL instructor and editor for the Cricket Group, but had to wait to make the annoucement. The news has been burning a hole in my britches.

But now I can shout it from the roof-tops!

"Why Dogs Beg," is a retold Jamaican Anansi story. For those of you who may not be familiar with Anansi, he is a spider, a trickster character who traveled across the Atlantic from Africa with the slaves and made his home in the Caribbean. His stories are fluid, changing from island to island and from storyteller to storyteller. Growing up in the Virgin Islands I heard Anansi stories and have always enjoyed them.

An interesting note is that in the United States, the Anansi stories evolved into the Uncle Remus stories of Brer Rabbit and company.

Still doing the happy dance....!

I'm a Winner! When the Whistle Blows

Angela had a contest: Write a story in 300 words or less. It could be fact or fiction, prose or a poem. The only requirement was it had to have something to do with trains. The prize would be copy of WHEN THE WHISTLE BLOWS by, Fran Cannon Slayton.

My friend Vijaya won a copy too!

Yippee! I've heard great things about this book and I'm looking forward to reading. Thanks Angela, for having the contest. It's been a long time since I thought about my first train ride.

I'm a WINNER!

The Bookshelf Muse had a contest for their faithful followers. As I are one, I entered. The contest consisted of sending them a one to two sentence blurb about your novel or your current WIP. Three blurbs would be chosen. The prize? A critique of the first chapter or first 3000 words of the novel, which ever came first. I thought, what the heck, I'll give it a shot.

I've struggled with a blurb/hook for my young adult novel for some time. If this one hooked Angela and Becca then maybe I'm finally getting on the right track.

Thanks ladies!

Here's what I sent them.

A PLACE CALLED HOPE'S WELL

When Maya's mother, and only family, is brutally murdered Maya is thrown into the foster care system. Not only must she deal with the small things, like having a room mate and a new school, but she must deal with her grief and the discovery that the murderer is living in her new back yard.

You can read the blurbs of the other two winners and the reasons why Angela and Becca chose us at THE BOOKSHELF MUSE. That's The Book Shelf Muse, where you can find wonderful thesauruses (thesauri?) and great advise.