and the winner is…

I’m still catching up on scheduling and conducting additional author interviews for the Wednesday Q&A series. Since I know that’s a favorite amongst the blog readers, I hate to disappoint with no interview today.

The only thing I can think of to make it up to you is to give stuff away!

But... you already knew I was planning on giving away a book at the end of September, so how about I make it more interesting?

First, I’d like to announce the randomly drawn winner from the current list of blog-followers is… (drum roll, please)….. Kaitlyn Stone.

Congrats, Kaitlyn! Please email me to a) let me know if you prefer to receive my new poetry book, stains: early poems, or perhaps one of my fiction titles (The Profiler or Moving Target). Also be sure to tell me your postal address so I know where to send it!

Second, I’m happy to announce I will again be doing a random draw during the month of October. So if you’re listed as a ‘follower’ on this blog (you can click to sign up now, if you haven’t done so already), you are automatically entered into October’s draw for a signed copy of one of my books. Follow the blog, get a chance to win. It’s really that simple.

But… I’m feeling generous today, so how about….

One more chance to win! The first person to email me today will receive a signed copy of stains: early poems. Just ‘cause. Yup. In your email, let me know your postal address and I’ll get a signed copy of stains out and on its way to you immediately.

Phew. Talk about freebies. Who knows what I’ll do next? Actually, I do! Friday’s blog is coming up and I have some events and news to share with you, some new writing links and tips, and yes… I’ll be posting the updated author interview schedule shortly, so please do check back on future Wednesdays for the latest Q&As.

Thanks, and congrats to all the winners!

standing room only… for poetry!

The adrenaline has settled, the hype has calmed, and the photos are making memories last. To all those folks who made it out to Friday’s launch party, thank you for your support and for sharing a pretty cool night with me. Not only was this the launch party for the inaugural issue of The Ambassador Poetry Project, this was also my book launch for stains: early poems. I am so very, very pleased to report we had a wonderful crowd of nearly one hundred people… and yes, we were left with standing room only!

Suzanne Schneider Ross, of Marick Press, did a wonderful job as MC for the night, introducing such poets as Mariela Griffor, Ken Meisel, Dan Ames, and Amy Stilgenbauer. Ten poets read throughout the evening, with yours truly closing out the night with selections from my new book. The audience was a gem… truly supportive and enthusiastic about the launch of Ambassador and I couldn’t have been happier. We made the press, we made some friends, and I think we made a tough act to follow for any of my future events. I was truly impressed and humbled.

As if that weren’t enough, I was so pleased to see another wonderful thing today: a new review of stains: early poems. The review is at The Smoking Poet, a rockin’ review site where founder and editor-in-chief Zinta Aistars personally took the time to review my latest release. It’s really such a wonderful review, I hope you’ll click on this link and see what Zinta had to say about stains. Thank you, Zinta, for making me blush.

More events are in the works but for right now I am just going to take in all the wonderful moments of this past weekend…