Reason Number Five Why I Will Probably Never Run For Office

This is besides the whole public speaking thing, which I think is kinda mandatory.

Reason Number Five Why I Will Probably Never Run For Office:

[drum roll, please]

I keep forgetting to ask people to vote. For me.

I Smell Sheep is having a very cool contest/award ceremony called the First Annual Boogity Boo Awards. And the grand prize is BEYOND cool. They will be donating a sheep (in the winning author's name) to a needy family. This is being done through World Vision, a non-profit organization that does some amazing things.

So, please VOTE. You don't have to vote for me. But this is for a very good cause. And it's fun. And you should really check out I Smell Sheep, because it's one of the most fun blogs out there!

Dinah Eng's Amazing Adventures at RT or How I ended up in an article with Melissa Marr and Pamela Palmer

Dinah Eng, a freelance columnist in Los Angeles, wrote an amazing article for Scrippsnews that got posted yesterday. Titled, "Romance novels feature paranormal twist," Eng's article discusses her recent trip to the Romantic Times Convention 2011 in Los Angeles, and most specifically, the Avon Paranormal Party. She interviewed three authors that attended the Avon Dusk To Dark event, Melissa Marr, Pamela Palmer, and believe it not, me.

SQUEEEE. I know. I was trying to play the part of the journalist and tell this story all professional, but it's really hard when someone writes an article that includes ME alongside amazing authors like Melissa Marr and Pamela Palmer.

Okay. Deep breath. Now, back to my "professional" voice...

Here are some quotes from the article:

“All my books are based in folklore that have been popular for centuries. I come from an Irish and Scottish family, and grew up hearing about faeries, ghosts, vampires and things that go bump in the night.” [Melissa Marr speaking.]

“In society, we want our men to be kind and civilized, but in fantasy, it’s fun to think of a man who’s not civilized and can be tamed by love,” [Pamela] Palmer says. “I used to be an IBM engineer, so I’ve got a very logical, analytical mind that can think through the story. But I’ve always had an imagination and story to tell.”

And here's a part about me [pardon me, my SQUEEE is coming back!]:

Another popular aspect of the paranormal romance genre can be categorized as urban fantasy. Merrie Destefano likes to write a combination of fantasy, romance, mystery, and science fiction. Her second novel, “Feast: Harvest of Dreams” debuts June 28, is a story with new monsters.

The characters in the book are a cross between faeries and vampires, and harvest people’s dreams. The idea came to Destefano one night when she was unable to sleep.

“I thought, okay, I can’t sleep... what if there were other creatures who can’t sleep?” Destefano says. “What would they be doing? The main character’s in the midst of the hunt. She’s slightly enchanted, and not horrified, by what she sees. She’s a survivor. I like strong women, and women are allowed to have roles in which they win in urban fantasy.”

---------------------------

So very cool. Really.

And Dinah Eng ends the article with this lovely line:
"Romance novels always have a happy ending."

And this author, who loves to include romance in every story, would have to say, "I heartily agree! I love happy endings!!"

Contest winners, upcoming events and MORE

I wanted to let you all know about some fun things going on now and in the near future:

CONTESTS ON THIS BLOG::

WIDGET CONTEST WINNERS:
Congrats to Renee, Katie, Cath, Natasha, and Patricia! You all won a signed cover flat of FEAST. Yay!! Please note, I will need all of you to send me a quick e-mail with your mailing address and let me know if you want the cover flat signed to you. (If you already have one, this flat could make a fun giveaway on your blog!) My e-mail is: merriedestefano [at] yahoo [dot] com. And thank you ALL for helping to share the love for my next novel, FEAST. You all rock!!

SIGNED RT SWAG GIVEAWAY
You still have time to enter this contest, where the prize is a book bag that I got at the Romantic Times Convention in Los Angeles. This beauty has been signed by 12 authors including: Kimberly Derting, Melissa Marr, Rachel Vincent, Carrie Ryan, Kami Garcia and MORE. I am dearly in love with this totebag and hope that it goes to a good home! Contest ends Sunday, April 30, and the winner will be announced on this blog on Monday, May 1.

VIRTUAL FEAST DESSERT-TO-DIE-FOR
There's still time to enter your fave dessert in the Virtual Feast Dessert Contest. Last date for entry is May 20. Prizes and rules included in this LINK.

CONTEST ON ANOTHER BLOG:
RED HOT BOOKS:
Again, a hearty thank you and round of applause to the folks over at Red Hot Books for doing an AFTERLIFE giveaway. And congrats to the winner, Judy!

REAL LIVE EVENTS:

OCCWF Writer's Conference:
April 29-30: This Friday and Saturday I will be speaking at the OCCWF Writer's Conference in Irvine, California. On Friday evening I'll be doing a panel with all the other speakers. Saturday I will be teaching a class on Backstory: The Secret Reason Why Readers Might Love or Hate Your Novel. I'm really excited and look forward to meeting all the people who will be attending the conference!

Ladies' Guilty Pleasures Book Club
June 17: I will be discussing AFTERLIFE and FEAST with this amazing group of ladies. I've been told that I will be the first urban fantasy author to visit their book club, so that is way cool!

ONLINE EVENTS:

May 12: Interview and AFTERLIFE giveaway at Bookmark Your Thoughts.

June 15: Interview at My Bookish Ways.

June 28: FEAST RELEASE DAY!!! WOO HOO!!

June 27 & 28: Review of FEAST and interview with moi at the ever-incredible I Smell Sheep blog. We will be doing a giveaway there to celebrate the release of FEAST.

June 28: Launch Party Extravaganza at Bitten By Books. We will be doing a giveaway to celebrate the release of FEAST.

June 29: Guest post by moi at the delightful Book Faery blog. Again, a fun giveaway in honor of the birth of FEAST.

There will be many more online and live events to celebrate the release of my second novel, FEAST. I will let you know what they are and when they will be as soon as I have more details!!

Meanwhile, Happy Reading!

You CAN create a Keynote presentation with an iPad

This Saturday I'll be teaching a class on backstory at the OCCWF writer's conference. Of course, I'm still fine-tuning my speech and organizing all the points I'll be discussing. But one way cool thing that I recently discovered is that I should be able to do a Power Point presentation using my iPad.

!!!!

Suffice to say, I'm just really in love with my iPad. I don't have another laptop, so this puppy has to do everything I need and more.


I just finished up my presentation using a program called Keynote. I downloaded it from iTunes and had to purchase two copies, one for my desktop computer ($20.) and one for my iPad ($10.) A total of $30 for a program isn't that bad. Apparently Power Point doesn't work on an iPad, or I might have used that instead.

I had two sessions at the local Apple store, both one-on-one, and they really gave me all the info I needed. Which, again, was cool.

Of course, the rest of the world runs on PCs, so I had to get a special, snazzy adapter that will connect my iPad to the projector where I'm going to be speaking. But the way I see it, once I conquer this Dragon, I will be one step closer to being Dungeon Mistress.

So, the final word on all of this is: Yes, Virginia, you can do a presentation using an iPad.

Guest Blog Posts on Organic World Building, Story Ideas, The Quest for Immortality and more...

Just in case you missed these, below are some guest posts I wrote during the AFTERLIFE blog tour.

SciFiGuy: The Intersection of Faith, Science and the Supernatural

Literary Escapism: Where Do Story Ideas Come From?

Speculative Faith: Organic World Building, Or Avoiding The Stereotypical Speculative Fiction Wormhole

Dark Faery Tales: Short story titled, "Chasing Spring-Heeled Jack"

Bookgasm: The Afterlife Evolution

Dark Faerie Tales: The Quest for Immortality

Red Hot Books hosts a Cool Giveway

I just found that Red Hot Books is giving away a copy of AFTERLIFE. Woo hoo!! AND they're giving away a copy of Tracey O'Hara's DEATH SWEET EMBRACE.

So, I highly recommend that you check out their blog and their giveaway!

Better late than never (that’s what she said)

It’s no secret that I love to read. I mean, I REALLY love to read. So, I thought I would let you all know what books I fell in love with in 2010. I know, everyone else made their lists months ago. No excuse here. But late’s better than never, right?

I’m taking your silence as a yes.

So, here’s my list of fab, couldn’t put them down books:

1. The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting
2. Mr. Shivers by Robert Jackson Bennett
3. The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen
4. Origin: A Novel by Diana Abu-Jaber
5. Let Me In by John Ajvide Lindqvist
6. The Breach by Patrick Lee
7. Ash by Malinda Lo
8. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
9. The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan
10. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

I posted a partial list over on The Supernatural Underground last week, but then I realized, Hey, this really needs to be a Top Ten List. As I mentioned in my other post, every one of these books ranks five stars for me. You’ll note that I enjoy a somewhat diverse selection of books, but they all have one thing in common.

They’re all fantastic stories told by incredibly talented writers.

That’s always Number One in my list of preferences. I hope that you discovered some new authors this year too and that you continue to look for new things to read. And I’d LOVE to hear about your favorite books. Really. Let me know your faves in the comment section. I’m always on the hunt for What To Read Next.