The Winner is...

The winner of Connie's signed poetry book is...Carolyn V.

Congratulations, Carolyn!  Thanks to everyone for stopping in and meeting Connie.  Don't forget to stop by Connie's poetry blog tomorrow to see if you were a winner on her blog tour give away.

Have a safe and happy weekend!

AND THE WINNERS ARE...

(I can't quite remember where this was taken, but it was on my last trip to England and I thought it was  lovely.)

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving (if you live in the States) or a wonderful week if you live somewhere else in the world...We had a smashing time with my Dad and Step-Mum (from England) and then hit the road to visit our families in Arkansas.  We even managed to see a couple friends and one of my cps from The WAD.  All in all it was a great week!  We had fun every single day!  We did a lot of laughing....which is good for your health! (Lenny did a post on this a while back that really made me think about how little I had been laughing.)  I hope you are working towards that 300 laughs a day that kids are getting in....

The winners are:  (drum roll)

ANGELA ACKERMAN

 JEFF KING

LENNY LEE

Did you do something special for Thanksgiving or for the weekend?  



AND THE WINNERS ARE...

The winners of signed hardback copies of Judy's books are...Angela and Vicki.  Congratulations, Ladies!  Please email your addresses to: skmayh at q dot com.  I hope you enjoy the ALL THE NUMBERS as much as I did.  If you didn't win, please order a copy today....

I am so bad at posting awards...It's not that I don't appreciate them because I really do.  It makes me feel wonderful, like my words and photographs matter to you. 

Shannon O'Donnell gave me this lovely award.  Shannon is an inspiration to all of us.  I don't think I've ever seen a blog without one of her comments in the comments section.  She ROCKS!

I'd like to pass this award along to:

Jackee and Jill who have really inspired me set goals and to work harder.  If you haven't met them yet, go check them out...be prepared to be inspired.

Amy is one beautiful person and puts up some lovely blog posts....I've had the privilege of reading some of her work and it is AWESOME!

Carolina just did the funniest, heart wrenching vlog (I think that's what they are called)...You've got to check it out!  Seriously, I mean it!

This adorable award was presented to my by action and suspense author Stephen Tremp.  If you haven't met Stephen he's one smart cookie and you should check him out.

I'd like to pass this award along to several awesome bloggers:

Lenny is an awesome blogger for sure!  He is bright and witty and a sweetie on top of all of that.

Sierra is a lovely young woman that shares bits of her life with us.  She talks about fashion, travel, pop culture and pretty soon she's getting her own pad!

Brian is one of my newest friends.  He helps me a little bit every day since Stripes died.  He's one cool cat!

This award was presented to me by one of my blog idols, Buffy Andrews.  Buffy is an assisting managing editor to a variety of publications on the East Coast.  She has a beautiful "voice" and is an even more beautiful friend.  Buffy is one of the founders of The Inkwell, an awesome (free) writing community, that covers picture books to young adults.  If you haven't been there please go and join.  (I am the moderator on one of the forums and would love to see you guys over there!)

I'd like to pass this award along to a few bloggers that I think have beautiful "voices."

Sharon McPherson is an awesome (adult fiction) writer from Scotland.  Her blog is a riot!  So check it out if you want to be immersed in her dating life and Scottish culture.

Donna Aviles is has written a series of books about her grandfather and his adventures on the Orphan Train.  Her writing is exceptional!

Hema has one of the deepest blogs.  Her discussions are thoroughly enjoyable and thought provoking.  I recently had the privilege of reading a bit of her work....(Nice stuff!)

I don't usually do the "this is what I did today" thing , but today my daughter and I did something and it's going to affect all of you.  I'm only 823 people away from having a 1,000 followers!  Can you believe it?  I can't, so I've been thinking of what I could do to celebrate when I'm only 800 followers away from 1,000.  My daughter (now a high school freshman) and I decided to have a Really Random Prize Give-A-Way...one of EPIC proportion!  It's going to be sooooo (I could add more o's) much fun for you, me and a committee of judges....That's all I'm saying for now.  (wink wink)

Have a great weekend!

AND THE WINNERS ARE...

Catherine and Amy were selected by random.org, as the winner's of Gene Gagliano's book MY TEACHER DANCES ON HIS DESK.  They each will get a signed copy.

While I was working through losing Stripes several of my lovely blog friends gave me some awards and I'd like to pass them on:

Wendy, aka Quillfeather, has a lovely blog full of interesting and informative posts.  If you haven't checked her head down under...well, err..to New Zealand and have a look around.  :)

I'd like to pass this along to a few of my new blog friends...Brian and Jacqueline have creative cat blogs.  If you love cats check them out.

So let's see four truths and one untruth about me....
1. I'm 5'5.5" tall.
2. I've been to five countries including the US.
3. I'm a women's rights activist.
4. I've helped build a Habitat For Humanity house.
5. I was honored by the American Red Cross in Missouri a few years ago.

This award comes from one of my new critique group members: Hema.  Hema has an insightful blog full of deep thoughts.  I'd like to pass this award along to...Joany who has been steadily blogging and emailing even in her dentist induced tortured condition and to Talli who posts the most wonderful pictures of England and Wales and makes me a little bit homesick.

This lovely award came from Shannon.  Shannon is all over the blogging world.  I think I have yet to visit a site that she hasn't made a comment on.  I'd like to pass this along to Jill. She's a Christian romance writer and has a lovely blog.  She's the one who motivated me to post my weekly goals.  I'd also like to present this award to Jennifer, aka Old Kitty.  She and her cat Charlie frequent a lot of blogs and leave wonderful insightful comments.



This sweet blog award came from Jade.  Jade is in the middle of trying to make a big decision about her career.  So hop over and see if you can offer up any advice...I'd like to present this award to Dawn.  I met Dawn through Mark McVeigh and hope you'll check her out.  I'd also like to present it to A.L. (Amy).  I had the honor of reading the first 15 pages of one of her manuscripts.  To me it's a huge honor when someone wants my advice on a piece.  (big smile)  If you haven't checked out these blogs...give 'em a shot.  (really big smile)



Again, I'd like to thank all of you for helping me during my struggle with losing Stripes.  Over the past two weeks I discovered a whole new world of bloggers.  I had no idea people blogged about so many topics.  Seriously, I just thought blogging was a writer thing.  I found a whole world of bloggers that appear to be cats...cats that can type and take beautiful photographs.  (wink)  I found bloggers that talk about different diseases.  Blogs that are about our current culture and ones about decorating and crafts.  I put a few of my favorites on my sidebar.

Have you discovered any non-writer blogs that you have to check on, just because they make you smile?  Feel free to share.  I'm close to reaching my new blogs visited (and commmented on) goal for Jackee's May Scramble.  I promise, I will go visit any blogs you list (unless I think they are naughty ones...).

AND THE WINNERS ARE...

Thew winners of a signed copy of SEW DEADLY by Elizabeth Lynn Casey are: Hema P. and Carolina!

The winner of a signed copy of KAYLA'S DADDY by Laura Bradford is Dru.

The final winner wins a signed copy of FORECAST OF EVIL and the winner is Susan Fields.

Congratulations to all of the winners.  Thanks to everyone who stopped and read my interview with Laura Bradford/Elizabeth Lynn Casey....You still have time to get in on Elizabeth's Launch Week Challenge!

Could the winners please email me their full names and addresses: skmayh at q dot com?  Thanks so much...

AND THE WINNERS ARE...

If you didn't have a chance to enter the drawing for one of two signed Mary Casanova books you can still check out my interview with her and check out her website.

The winner of  a signed copy of CHRISSA is....Old Kitty!  If you haven't checked out her blog, you should!  She is witty, tells great tales about her cat Charlie, and lives in England.

 Talli Roland is the winner of CHRISSA STANDS STRONG!  Talli is a self-identified caffine-aholic who writes YA and also lives in England.

I chose the winners using random.org.   random.org decided I needed to send two AMERICAN GIRL books to the old country.  Congratulations to Kitty and Talli!  Email me at sharonkmayhew (at) gmail (dot) com with your addresses.

Thanks to Mary for doing the interview and to everyone who stopped by to read it.  (You'll have to wait and see who my next interview is with...it's a secret...)