Email Campaign #4 - Announcing a winner!

Congrats to Langley!
We have a winner!

Soon after the release of my latest book, Future Past, I held a drawing for a signed, free, print copy of the book. Langley Cornwell of South Carolina is the winner of the drawing. Congrats, and thank you, Langley, for your kind words regarding my writing.

Don't have your copy yet? Click here to go to Future Past's CreateSpace page, or if you prefer to order from Amazon, you can click here. Prefer an ebook? We have those, too! For a limited time, get Future Past for Kindle or Kindle apps for only 99 cents! This release price won't last much longer. In February/March, Future Past will be available on many other sites, including Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, iTunes, Kobo, Sony, and more!

To see a YouTube book trailer, click here.

What's Next?

I was a guest author in DIVA's latest serial killer themed anthology! Check out my story, "Stealing Kisses" in Silenced, now on Amazon and many other online retailers. I have also had a story, "The Wish", accepted into No Regrets, an upcoming anthology from Silly Tree.

In just a few short months, I will be releasing my first short story compilations, Life and Life Odd, so be on the lookout for those. Another Barrier story and a writing prompt book is also in the works. It's going to be an exciting year!

Thank you for your support! Peace, love, and happiness to all!

FREE Downloads and reduced pricing

As the countdown to the release of Future Past begins, we went through my titles and reduced the prices on both "The Hand" and The Influence. "The Hand" is now 99 cents and the ebook version of The Influence, my debut novel, has been reduced to $1.99. *Please note that it will probably take a few hours to a few days for Amazon to reflect this price change.

In addition, now begins the free promo for two other titles.

"Into Pieces" began as a writing prompt flash contest on a writer's forum. The contest challenged writers to create another version of a well known fairy tale or nursery rhyme. I chose "Humpty Dumpty" and the story evolved from there. I won the contest but asked the moderators to remove the actual story from the board when I realized I was on to something. I rewrote the tale, submitted it to an anthology and it was accepted. A year later, when the anthology never came to fruition, I withdrew the story and published it myself.

You can download "Into Pieces" from Smashwords for FREE using coupon code BA24D. Smashwords has formats that fit many different ereading devices, including reading it right online.

"The Crazy Ole' Bird Lady" is one of those short stories that began as a dream. Though it is an unusual story, I can safely say it isn't of the "Kubla Khan" variety. (Samuel Taylor Coleridge, a writer of the Romantic period, wrote this odd poem after he woke from an opium induced slumber, having dreamed the imagery of the poem.) In any case, in my completely normal dream-state, I dreamed about being holed up with a bunch of other people as we hid from monstrous bird creatures. (I swear I wasn't tripping on anything!) I knew when I woke that it would make a great story and my editor called it, "Classic horror."

You can download "The Crazy Ole' Bird Lady" from Smashwords for FREE using coupon code QD74B. Smashwords has formats that fit many different ereading devices, including reading it right online.

These coupons expire on July 15, 2013 so go download your copy today!

Only a few more weeks until the release of Future Past! Oh crap, I got a lot to do!

Peace, love, and FREEBIES!

Pamela

Guest Post- Helping Young Kids "See" Their Savings

by Angie Mohr

Today, Pam Caves asked me to drop by and share some tips for helping kids learn about money. Thanks, Pam!

There are many ways to get your kids started on the path to learning good savings habits, but none is as effective and simple as starting them out with a piggy bank or even just a jar. Kids can begin to grasp basic money concepts almost as soon as they can walk and it’s never too early to let them start accumulating some coins.

Young kids can add to their savings in many ways: from their chores, from gifts from family, and even from scrounging in couch cushions. There is no such thing as “not enough money to bother with”. Help kids understand that every penny counts--literally. Allow them to pick up pennies on the sidewalk and add them to their savings. That way, they learn that all money is to be respected and cared for. People who don’t learn to care for the pennies when they’re young grow into adults who waste dollar bills...and ten dollar bills.

Let kids count their stash as often as they like. Schools often teach coin recognition in the second and third grade when they start to teach the concept of fractions but there’s no need to wait that long. Kids can learn that four quarters make a dollar and that two dimes and a nickel are the same thing as a quarter before they start kindergarten.

As soon as kids are old enough to count their money, tape a piece of paper on the outside of the jar and let them update their balance every time they count. This gives them a second way to see that their money is growing. There are (expensive) piggy banks on the market today that use coin recognition technology and keep a running balance but nothing beats a canning jar, a pencil and paper, and some basic math skills.


To see more tips for raising money smart kids, check out other stops on my March blog tour at http://www.piggybanks2paychecks.com/p/piggy-banks-to-paychecks-2012-blog-tour.html

Hello, Kindle, I'm new-fangled now!

Even though I thought I'd made myself clear about not getting a present, the hubs took it upon himself to break that pact not once, but twice.

About a week before Christmas, I discovered a brand new coffee maker hiding in (drum roll please) the trunk of my own car. It was all digital and stuff, too. I felt new-fangled. Okay, so I let him off the hook for that one but only because caffeine was again coursing through my veins. Addiction kinda blurs lines, ya know.

You have to understand that in my neck of the woods, people around here don't have a lot of money, including my family. We don't get the NEXT BIG THING that hits the shelves, especially technology. So for as long as ereaders have been out, I still didn't have one. If I downloaded anything, I did so in .pdf and then dealt with the eye strain and the heat that comes along with reading on a computer screen.

I suppose that my addiction to caffeine mirrors my addiction to reading. In my rural area, bookstores are few and far between. Not that I could really afford to buy a new book every time one that interested me came out and I can rarely disappear to the public library without a kidlet hanging on my coattails. I was always on the lookout for something new to read. I despised reading on my netbook screen and always found myself out of books.

So hubs surprised me with a brand new early model Kindle. Now, I should have been mad because we both knew we couldn't afford gifts for each other and had discussed that we wanted to get gifts for all the kids instead. But I couldn't be mad at him for long. I was like a little kid in a candy store. I immediately headed to Smashwords and started downloading. Talk about feeling new-fangled, I certainly felt it then. I have about a dozen stories waiting on me in my new Kindle right now. Once I can get to an area with WiFi, I'll be able to register it with Amazon and start downloading from there, too. I'm ecstatic at knowing that I'll never be out of reading material again!

Paper books vs. Ebooks

This has been an ongoing debate for as long as ebooks have been sprouting up like dandelions. Some people are so fiercely attached to paper books that they will refuse an ereader until the day they die. And what does this mean for authors? No more book signings? No more bookstores? Personally, (even as much as I hate to admit it) I think the world is headed into an era where if we don't have an ereader, we won't read much at all. It will happen gradually over the next several decades. The only time where print books will be available will be part of collector sets, specifically printed for the author to sign. But that's just my prediction.

People talk about the joys of thumbing through pages and the smell of the book being part of the "reading experience". I sometimes wonder if these people really know what they are talking about or if they've ever given an ereader a try. It's not the smell of a book that I love or the probability of paper cuts as I turn the pages; it's the story, it's the characters, it's the author's ability to tell me about the world that has formed within his imagination, to make it believable and realistic, to make me care about and relate to the protagonist. It doesn't matter if it's on smelly paper or on a Kindle. If it's not good, it's not going to succeed in either venue.

I'm not against print books. I'd like to think that I have a few signings in my future, not to mention I am sooooo looking forward to the day I can hold up my very own copy of my very first novel... in print. It's been my dream as far back as I can remember. That will never change. But I've discovered that an ereader, my Kindle, is so easy to handle. I take it to the gym and set it up on the elliptical as I chug away. I put it in my purse to read on car rides or anywhere that I would have to wait for any length of time. It passes the time very quickly.

I'm looking forward to a long relationship with my Kindle. Of course, I'll still have a few print books here and there but because I'm a reading junkie, I will likely get most of my material via electronics. They will be more accessible to me that way.

Peace, love, and happy (electronic) reading,

Pamela

Standing up - Part 2: Life isn't like the movies

Last night I overheard my husband remark to his daughter, "Zeke isn't free anymore." He was referring to the fact that my youngest boy just turned 4 and many of the restaurants in the area will now no longer let him eat free. "And we can't say he's still 3 because of Honest Abe over there," he remarked gesturing toward me. I'm sure he meant it as a joke because he knows how important it is to me to set a good example for the boys. What are they going to learn if I have them lie in a restaurant about how old they are? That lying is okay as long as you're getting something for free?

Even though I knew it was more than likely a joke, I admit (yeah, sometimes I'm a great big wuss) that it does hurt my feelings when completely innocent people poke fun at people who are good natured. I can't tell you how many times I've been called a "goody two-shoes" growing up. It was a contradiction for me to see movies where the good guy always won, for me to see the arrogant prick get the take down he deserved but then go back to reality and see the exact opposite. More often than not, the people with hidden agendas win and it is the good guy who has to suffer the humiliation of failing when he tries to stand up for himself.

And then we wonder why there ain't (yeah, I'm southern; sue me) more good-natured people out there. Who wouldn't feel incredibly withdrawn after a lifetime of "Honest Abe" stabs or being called self-righteous or self-important for only wanting to do what is right?

Twist of Fate

Then I opened up my Facebook this morning to discover that a man who grew up in my community, a man whose family I've known since I was little, is actually a fellow writer who has just released his debut novel, The Mason Jar (by James Russell Lingerfelt). I don't know Russell that well personally; I was more associated with his big brother, country singer/songwriter Dewey Wayne, who was a grade ahead of me in school. I met their father a few years ago and their mother a few months ago and I can easily say they are one of the nicest families you could ever hope to know.

But anywho, back to the point, I found out about the book through our local paper and in the interview, Russell is quoted, "As kids, we grow up, and we are taught by society that if we are the right kind of person, and do the right things that things will work out... Reality tells us that's not true." I thought it a strange coincidence that I read that interview this morning while contemplating the very same things last night.

The book looks very interesting and I can't wait to read it. It's now officially on my (very long) reading list. Congrats to Russell on his debut. I wish you great success!