Bollywood: Main Hoon Na

I haven't posted a Bollywood song for a while - here's one from an older movie that's a lot of fun. Main Hoon Na is more than a little tongue in cheek, and very cute.

Hope you enjoy the video!

Archangel's Storm ARC Giveaway...

...at my agent, Nephele Tempest's blog! (Giveaway closes Thursday, August 9, 2012, at 5pm Pacific Time - full details on Nephele's blog).

Good luck! :-)

Waterfall, Blue Mountains - Australia

I've realized I have thousands of photographs that I haven't had a chance to go through, so I've made it a project to post at least one new image every week.

I'm also playing with some photo software to sharpen and intensify the colors of some of the images - this might turn into an addicting kind of hobby. ;-)

Hope you enjoy!

This image is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

(i.e. If you'd like to repost, pin this photo etc, you're free to do so, as long as the use is non-commercial, you don't make any changes to the image, and provide a link back to this blog or my website. If you're not certain your usage is non-commercial, shoot me an email to discuss).

Popular Romance Project

While I was at the RWA Conference in Anaheim, I had a chance to see a small piece of the documentary film titled "Love Between the Covers" currently being made by film-maker Laurie Kahn. You can see the preview now on the Popular Romance Project website.

I highly recommend you go by and have a look - the preview received a standing ovation in Anaheim and with good reason. I've met and been interviewed by Laurie, and really felt that she's trying to make a film that truly shows the heart of the romance community in an unbiased and most importantly, non-condescending, way.

I'm excited to see what the final film is going to look like.

Laurie asked me to let you know that through August, she's running a Kickstarter campaign to raise $50,000 to go toward the completion of the film. She's lined up a number of different gifts/rewards for those who make a pledge to support the project, including for example, dvds of the finished film and, for writers, offers of critiques from a number of authors and editors. You can see full details on her campaign page.

I hope you're all having a great weekend and that you enjoy the video. :-)

Friday Book Club

Time to talk books! What are you reading and loving at the moment?

Edited to add: The random winner of the Swag contest has now been posted!

Gunmetal Magic - Ilona Andrews

Link to Excerpt

My super professional review: This book is awesome!!!!

I love the voice of writing team Ilona Andrews, and inhale their books. This one was no different - the plot is fascinating, and Andrea and Raphael make an explosive couple. (For those of you who've read the book already, I have one word for you: carpet. :D)

Gunmetal Magic is set in the Kate Daniels world, but even if you haven't read the other books in the series, I think you can pick this up without problems, as it focuses not on Kate but her best friend Andrea. Of course, the entire series is amazing, and if you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend you check it out. You can read more about the books here.

Spoiler note: If you have read Gunmetal Magic, please keep any comments spoiler-free or sneaky so folks aren't accidentally spoiled. Thanks. :-)

Here's the backcover blurb for Gunmetal Magic:

Some people have everything figured out—Andrea Nash is not one of those people.

After being kicked out of the Order of the Knights of Merciful Aid, Andrea’s whole existence is in shambles. All she can do is to try to put herself back together, something made easier by working for Cutting Edge, a small investigative firm owned by her best friend Kate Daniels.

When several shapeshifters working for Raphael Medrano—the male alpha of the Clan Bouda and Andrea’s former lover—die unexpectedly at a dig site, Andrea is assigned to investigate…and must work with Raphael. As Andrea’s search for the killer leads her into the secret underbelly of supernatural Atlanta, she knows that dealing with her feelings for Raphael might have to take a back seat to saving the world…

 

Swag-orama

Contest Now Closed

Winner: And the random winner is Kui!! Congratulations. Please email your mailing address to naliniDOTassistantATgmailDOTcom

New winner chosen as we didn't hear from the first: Toot! Please email your mailing address to naliniDOTassistantATgmailDOTcom

I'm back home in NZ and catching up. It was great to see so many of you in Anaheim!

As promised, I picked up some swag for you - these include bookmarks, excerpt booklets, some neat little promo items, and books, plus a conference bag. Just like when you receive a swag bag at a conference, I won't tell you what books are included - it'll be a surprise. ;-)

If you'd like to go into the draw to win the swag, just leave a comment on this post (If you're reading this blog on a feed, for example at Goodreads, please comment on this post on the main blog) by 5pm New Zealand time, Friday 3rd August 2012.

The fine print: Contest is open internationally. One entry per household. No purchase necessary to enter. One winner will be chosen randomly using random.org and his or her name posted on this blog late on Friday 3rd August 2012. If we don't hear back from the winner within 72 hours, a new winner will be chosen. Chance of winning dependent on number of entries received. Void where prohibited.

Contest Now Closed

Friday Book Club

...coming to you from the RWA Anaheim Conference! I hope you all had a great week!

I was just down having a look at the swag in the Goody Room, and I met Tessa Dare. She mentioned she was going to do a swag giveaway on her site, and I realized I had room in my luggage this year. So I picked up some swag, too.We'll do a giveaway when I get back! (Thanks for the idea, Tessa!)

Okay, onto the books. What are you reading and loving at the moment?

Walker & Lara, and Anaheim

I've just completed the current draft of Walker and Lara's novella.It's not yet final, but it's getting there. I'm hoping to work on it further on the flight to Anaheim - it'll be good to do a read-through start to finish.

Talking of Anaheim, I'm looking forward to seeing some of you on Wednesday! Full details of the super-duper gigantic book signing here.

You might have noticed we've made some changes to the blog - I hope you all like! Please test out the comments - they should be working fine, but if not, shoot me an email (nalinisinghwrites AT gmail DOT com).

And in the spirit of comment testing, here's a tough question for you: Shapeshifter or vampire? Reasons?

Archangel's Storm ARC Contest Winners

We had an amazing number of entries for the Archangel's Storm ARC contest. Thanks to everyone who entered. The random numbers have spoken, and the winners are:

Erin F.

Janna U.

Donna S.

Congratulations! Official confirmation emails will be heading out to you within the next hour. 

If you didn't win, don't despair - keep an eye on the blog in a week for a heads-up on another chance to get your hands on an ARC. ;-)

Friday Book Club

...now open! Time to talk about your favorite books this week. :-)

Too Adorable not to share

Brie tweeted me this link - trust me, you want to look! I bet you end up smiling! :-)

Twin Baby Panthers Have Coming Out Party

Catchup

I've been a bit scarce online this week as I'm hoping to get this draft of Walker and Lara's novella completed before I leave for RWA next week. If you're in Anaheim and attending the Literacy Signing, do make sure to come by and say hi!

What are you all up to?

Friday Book Club

Before I kick off the book club, a heads-up that my agent, Nephele, is giving away copy each of Burning Up and Angels of Darkness on her blog, so drop by and enter the draw if you'd like to win one of the anthologies.

Now, onto the books we've been reading this week! What are you enjoying at the moment? I'm focused on the Wild Invitation novellas at the moment, so I've been spending time in Psy/Changeling lands. 

Okay, your turn!

Interview, Smiles, & Newsletter

Hope you're all having a great week everyone! I have some links for you today.

I did an interview with Casey at Literary Escapism at the RT Convention, and it's now live. It's a long, relaxed interview, so hope you enjoy.

I posed this amazing link on Facebook yesterday, after finding it on Meljean Brook's blog, and thought I'd share it here as well: 21 Pictures that will restore your faith in humanity

And last but not definitely not least, the July newsletter went out earlier this week, with lots of news, including an update on Wild Invitation and a new excerpt of Archangel's Storm. If you missed it, you can now read it at this link. If you'd like to get the newsletter from now on, you can sign up on the Contact page of the website (on the bottom right).

Comments & Newsletter

Some bad news first - I've had to turn off Anonymous comments for the moment because of an influx of spam. Grr... Let's hope the spammers move off soon!

Onto the good news! The July newsletter will likely go out late tomorrow, or early Monday, with some extra goodies in it *coughexlusiveexcerptcough*. If you'd like to join the mailing list, follow this link for the signup form (bottom right of page)! 

Don't worry, we won't spam you - the newsletter goes out once a month or so with a roundup of news, heads-up on future appearances, and I usually try to include something exclusive in it, too.

Friday Book Club

Time to talk books! What are you reading and loving at the moment?

Have a great weekend everyone! :-)
 

Archangel's Storm ARC Contest

If you'd like to go in the random draw to win one of three Advanced Reading/Review Copies of Archangel's Storm, send an e-mail to naliniDOTassistantATgmailDOTcom with "Archangel's Storm ARC Contest" in the subject line by 7pm Friday July 20th, 2012, New Zealand time. 

Please follow the correct format for entry re the subject line, so your e-mail goes into the right in-box. Thanks!

(Your e-mail will only be used to contact you should you win.)

Since these are Advanced Reading/Review Copies, if you win, I'd request that you please post a review somewhere, on or before the release date (September 4th, 2012) - on a blog, on Amazon, B&N, Goodreads...it's up to you, but it would be much appreciated if you'd post your thoughts somewhere. The contents of the review are, of course, totally up to you, but I would ask that you not share any major spoilers until after the book is out.

A note about the ARC - it's substantially the same as the final book, but since ARCs are printed prior to the final round of edits, there are some errors in the text that aren't in the final book.

I'll give each winner 48 hours to respond to the email indicating they've won. If I don't hear back within that time, I'll redraw. By entering, you give me permission to post your name on the blog should you win.

The fine print: Contest is open internationally. One entry per household. No purchase necessary to enter. Winners will be chosen randomly using random.org and his or her name(s) posted on this blog on Sunday 22nd, 2012. Chance of winning dependent on number of entries received. Void where prohibited.

 --
p.s. If you'd like to use the black Jason button above on the right, feel free! We'll be uploading a wallpaper, too, with the next set of website updates.
 

UK Cover: Archangel's Storm

Check it out!

 

For NZ Writers: RWNZ August Writing Workshop Press Release

I received this press release from RWNZ and thought it would be of interest to local authors. I've attended previous RWNZ workshops/conferences and always found them good value, so check the details out to see if it might suit you.

This press release is specifically for the Friday workshop. For the full conference schedule, head over to the RWNZ website. You can attend either or both.
_______________

Fiction-writing Dummy No Longer

A Day with Randy Ingermanson (The Snowflake Guy)

Calling all writers. It's time to learn how to get that inner novel into print.

Romance Writers of New Zealand is bringing Randy Ingermanson, the author of six novels and the bestselling book, Writing Fiction for Dummies, to New Zealand to present a full-day workshop. This will take place on Friday, August 24, from 9am to 5pm at Auckland's Crowne Plaza Hotel. Writers of all genres are welcome and encouraged to hear this world-class speaker guide them on the path to creating successful commercial fiction. The workshop consists of five sessions: Building Great Characters; Story Architecture; The Snowflake Method; Writing the Perfect Scene (divided into two parts); finishing with analyzing the popular book The Hunger Games.

Affectionately known as ‘America’s Mad Professor of Fiction Writing’, Randy’s passion is teaching people how to organize their writing lives, how to create fiction, and how to market that fiction to the reading public. The award winning writer says,“Great organization keeps you productive. Great creative skill will sell you to the publisher. Great marketing will sell you to the reader.”

Most people believe they have a novel in them waiting to be written and after spending a day with Randy that dream could become reality.

For more details and early bird discount bookings before July 13 go to http://www.romancewriters.co.nz

There are concessions for members of NZSA, KiwiWrite4Kids, SFFANZ and NZ Writers Guild.

Romance Writers of New Zealand Inc is a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting excellence in romance writing and the romance genre, helping writers become published and establish careers by providing networking, support, information and resources.

BIO

Randy Ingermanson is the author of six novels and the bestselling book WRITING FICTION FOR DUMMIES. He is known around the world as “the Snowflake Guy” in honor of his wildly popular Snowflake method of designing a novel. Randy has a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University of California at Berkeley and still works half-time as a scientist for a biotechnology company in San Diego. He publishes the free monthly Advanced Fiction Writing E-zine, with over 30,000 subscribers and sits on the advisory board of American Christian Fiction Writers. Randy lives in southern Washington State with his wife and daughters and three surly cats. Visit his web site at http://www.AdvancedFictionWriting.com