Sorry I’ve been silent for a few days. There’s some stuff going on here, but I’ll get to that later in the post. First, let’s close the contest. Thanks to everyone who suggested songs for my workout playlist. There were a lot of songs I never would have thought of and am going to add to my list!

I chose the winners using random.org. Of course, the first two #s it chose were me. Duh!

The winner of the Australia Bronzed Boys calendar is…Mad! Congratulations, Mad, please email me or use the contact form here on the website and let me know your mailing address.

The winner of the Australia Bronzed Girls calendar is…Albert. Same goes, Albert. Please contact me using the form here on the site and give me your mailing address so I can get your calendar in the mail.

On the good news front, Sony sent me a 700 to try out (because they rock like that) and I got it Friday. I’m going to use it for a few days over this weekend and will try to post my thoughts on it next week.

Other good news: My dad was in the area for a business meeting and decided to extend his trip and come visit us. He got here yesterday afternoon and will be here just for the weekend. Since they live in North Dakota, we usually only get to see them once a year because it’s expensive, and time intensive, to fly in and out of there. So we’re all glad to see him, but Brianna is especially thrilled. She loves it when she gets to see family and she’s seen a lot of them lately!

On the bad news front: Ugh, I don’t even like to type this but we’ve joined the ranks of Americans affected by the economy and the “reduction in workforce” as of yesterday morning. Josh was laid off yesterday morning when he went into work. It was a complete shock to us and not expected at all. Obviously we’re still processing this, since we only just found out. But I just keep telling myself it could be worse and that we’re certainly not a unique situation.

And to end on a positive note, we visited the beach yesterday, even though it was windy and cold. But we walked the beach, collected seashells and I took some pictures. It was a good day. Mostly

It was fun to read how long many of you had been reading, and why you come back. Thanks for all the kind things you said, it made me smile.

Random.org picked comment #57 as the winner:

MarnieColette Says:
January 20th, 2009 at 12:56 pm e

I found you sometime in September, truthfully I can’t remember how, most likely you were referenced on one of my other blogs. I stayed because, well just because. There is also the wonderful new authors you mention that I probably wouldn’t know about.

Congratulations, Marnie! Please contact me with your mailing address using the contact form. If you’re outside of the US or Canada, please send me your email address and I’ll send your gc to Fictionwise. If I don’t hear from you by next Monday, a new winner will be drawn.

You might think I’d forgotten, but I didn’t. I said I’d name a winner for the license plate contest sometime after Christmas so here we are…

I really enjoyed reading the suggestions. I have to admit that my favorite was actually Shannon Stacey’s of KDNTRNK (Kid in trunk) since it’s a two seater and there’s three of us. It made me laugh but my husband was quick to nix it, darn it! He and I both had had the thought of EVLEDTR and that was a popular recommendation in the comments. But I also like Kristen’s suggestion of HOTWHLS and Stephanie’s of HOTMOM. Actually, I like a lot of them so I’ll stop listing now. I haven’t decided yet. If I can’t have KDNTRNK I’m just not sure I want any

Anyhow, the winner’s prize is their choice of one of these books: Undercover by Lauren Dane, Wicked Burn
by Beth Kery or Riding Temptation by Jaci Burton. All are recommended reading! If the winner is international, the prize will be in ebook format. U.S. winners will get a print copy delivered from Amazon.

The winner is:

» Dena said: | Edit { Dec 25, 2008 – 05:12:40 }

My first thought was EVLEDTR too. So another one is YOUWISH

Dena, please contact me using the contact form, give me either your mailing address and book preference or, if you’re international, your book preference and I’ll gift the book to you via Fictionwise. Congratulations and thanks again to all of you who left comments and suggestions.

Thanks to everyone who entered. I got some great ideas for future posts for both here on my own blog, and future RtB posts. As it turns out, I think I’m not actually going to use any of your suggestions this time because while I was editing yesterday, I thought of one of my own (kind of funny, after I went to all that trouble to get suggestions!) But it seems like I’ve picked up a lot of new readers recently, and there are some topics you’re really curious to hear my opinion on, so I’ll be posting on some of your ideas soon.

In the meantime, random.org picked me a number and the winner is Tiffany who said:

SUGGESTED_RTB_TOPICS: Which to do prefer the alpha man or the more subdued man?
What makes a book a great romance story?

Congratulations, Tiffany! You don’t need to do anything, the books will appear in PDF format in your inbox shortly.

Thanks again, everyone!

Tomorrow when I make this post, I’ll be posting the Kindle winners as well. Can you stand it? I can’t! I’m so excited for two of you to win Kindles. I wish I could be like Oprah and give one to all of you!

I was kind of sorry we had to end this contest, because I found the answers so interesting. Reading through yesterday’s comments about your re-reads, I was struck by how many of them are older books and how a few of the same seemed to pop up. Also, I was surprised to find some of you don’t re-read at all. I can’t imagine! There are some days where I get a particular scene or piece of dialogue from a book, or even an emotion, stuck in my head and I just have to re-read the book then and there. Reading through your comments made me have the mad urge to pick up some of those books you mentioned and re-read them.

For me, I do re-read. Not as much as I used to, but I love to re-read because I think it gives me a chance to really sink into the nuances and depths of a book. It’s why I do several editing passes, because I see things I didn’t see the first time.

Some of my comfort re-reads are the same as yours: Pretty much all of Julie Garwood’s historicals, especially The Secret, Saving Grace, Honor’s Splendour and The Bride. Naked in Death by JD Robb (as long time readers of my blog already know) and probably the first 5 books in that series. The Belgariad by David Eddings (as someone in the comments said, showing my fantasy roots), Warrior’s Woman
by Johanna Lindsey, and Tell Me No Lies (STP – Mira)
by Elizabeth Lowell.

One series that I have HAD to reread, probably three or four times, just to keep up with it, is The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. It’s so dense and there are so many plot lines, there’s just no way I could remember everything.

But enough about me. You guys want to know who won. The winner of the Day 11 prize pack was Megan who said:

I tend to turn to Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Little House books.

It’s been a lot of years since I read those books, Megan! Congratulations on your win. Please contact me using the contact form to give me your full name and mailing address so I can get your prize shipped out next week. If I don’t hear from you by the 15th, I’ll draw a new winner. Congratulations, Megan!

Thanks, everyone and good luck in the drawings tomorrow.

Reading all the comments about all the wonderful things you did for the people in your life yesterday really made me smile. I unexpectedly received a wonderful compliment from an author (in a totally unrelated happenstance) yesterday, and I can tell you it made my week. I hope you’ll all remember the awesome feeling of making someone else smile and try not to wait too long (or for a contest) to do it again!

The winner of the Day 10 prize pack is Aliviah who said:

I run an RPG Harry Potter site. (haha I know, major dork here) But you meet people from around the world and have fun. xD

Today I brightened up my members day by posting a large comment for them to read about how much they rock, which they do. lol They get a kick when the moderators show appreciation to them for being awesome.

Congratulations, Aliviah!

Sorry for forgetting to post the winner yesterday. By the time I remembered, I was in bed, and I was comfy!

Day 8 was the day you all gave me such fantastic ideas for questions I could ask for this contest. I made a list so I could use some of them for future contests.

The winner of Day 8 is:

Valerie from Poughkeepsie, NY

Day 9 you all shared with me the best and worst gifts you’ve given or received and some of them had me really laughing out loud. The winner of Day 9 is:

Paula from Finland (our first international winner!) who said:

The best gift I’ve received is a bright light lamp that has lasted for years and years. The worst has probably been the digital scale my mother gave me. She means well, but Christmas is the last time you want to be reminded of your weight…

Congratulations to both of you!

Unrelated to anything, but I have been so cold all day. Just very chilled. I’m going to log off after I post this and snuggle under a soft, fuzzy blanket with my husband, who’s like a walking heater.

The winner of the Day 7 Holiday Hell contest is Jennifer from MD who said:

I really like all the free e books. I think it is a good way to get us hooked on a new author.

You weren’t alone in liking those free books, Jennifer! That and the Discover New Authors program were the most popular mentions. Congratulations! I have your mailing address and will be mailing your package out by the 20th.

Thanks to everyone who entered and good luck in the last few days of the contests!

It must be Sunday. I forgot to close the entries for this contest this morning. Sorry about that! But I did have a really nice day and Josh and Brianna made a gingerbread house! It’s pretty good, I’ll have to share some pictures. Sadly, we did not listen to any Christmas music while they did it, but that would have been appropriate.

It’s amazing how many Christmas songs there are out there, how many versions and how many I had never heard. Thanks for sharing!

The Holiday Hell Day 6 winner was Heather who said:

So so many…but the first one that comes to mind is…

“Grown Up Christmas List” by Amy Grant

Heather, please contact me via the contact form and give me your mailing address so I can get your prize mailed out to you by the 20th. Congratulations!

Thanks, everyone and good luck in the upcoming contests!

One of my favorite things to do on this blog is to ask for reading recommendations and favorite books/authors, so yesterday’s contest was particularly fun for me. I saw a lot of my favorites, some of my good friends, some of my authors and some books and authors I’d not heard of before. But now I have a list! Thanks to everyone who participated.

The winner of the Day 5 prize pack thanks to random.org is the very first commenter! Random.org picked #1. I love it when that happens.

LadyVampire2U who said: The best book I’ve read recently has to be “King of Sword and Sky” by C.L. Wilson. This is book 3 of Wilson’s Tairen Soul series and each new book just seems to keep getting better. I simply love this series.

I must say, I’m a big fangirl of C.L. Wilson’s and have been lucky enough to get ARCs of all the books, thanks to Dorchester. If I could go to C.L.’s house and do all her chores so she could write faster, I so would! If you haven’t checked out her books, here they are in order:

Lord of the Fading Lands

Lady of Light and Shadows

King of Sword and Sky (Tairen Soul)

Congratulations, LadyVampire2U. Please contact me via the contact form link at the top of the page and send me your full mailing address so I can get your prize out by December 20th.