April 28, 2008

You haven’t forgotten about my most recent website drawing have you? Well, I guess it’s not actually a “website” drawing, since I’m giving you all the information you need to enter it here without ever having to visit my website this time round.

To celebrate the upcoming re-publication of my medieval novel, Loyalty’s Web, by Leatherwood Press, I’m offering a 1 pound box of Mrs. Cavanaugh’s Home Fashioned Chocolates (I’ll even let you choose…dark, milk chocolate, or mix!) to someone who emails the line, “Can’t wait to see the new cover!” to me at jdipastena@yahoo.com. Be sure to type “Loyalty’s Web: New Adventure” in the subject line. The deadline for entering is May 30th. I know that seems like a long time away, but enter early before you forget!

Speaking of new covers, my editor at Leatherwood Press wants me to hold off on offering copies of Loyalty’s Web as drawing prizes until the new cover version becomes available. What to do, now, with the few copies I have left of Loyalty’s Web that look like this?

My “leftovers” have to go, preferably before the new cover version comes out, so while supplies last, I’m offering anyone interested the opportunity to reserve and purchase a copy with the “old” cover at a 30% discount. That beats even the current 10% discount on Amazon! (And you never know…it could be a collector’s item some day!)

If you’d like to purchase a copy of Loyalty’s Web for $13.25 (a $5.70 savings off the cover price!), plus only $2.00 shipping (total: $15.25), email me at jdipastena@yahoo.com to reserve a copy, since this offer is only good for as long as my supplies last. I will email you back with details on payment options. International orders will have to pay the full cost of shipping, minus $2.00/USA.

In other news:

I have updated my medieval research with joyce blog with a book review of the medieval novel, Walk With Peril. Although the book is currently out of print, used copies are available very inexpensively through Amazon. Personally, I think the book is a treasure for hardcore medievalholics. Check out my review to see if you think it might be up your alley too, or not.

I have also (finally) updated my Medieval Vignettes blog with a new flashback scene based on Loyalty’s Web, entitled, “Picking Herbs”. Hope you enjoy it!

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JDP NEWS is also available in a Subscriber version. Subscribers receive extra privileges, such as extra chances to enter my website drawings and special Subscriber-only drawings. To join, send an email request to jdipastena@yahoo.com. Upon confirmation, be sure to follow all the instructions to successfully become a Subscriber member!

April 21, 2008

And the winner of my latest Loyalty’s Web-site contest is…AnneMarie DeRemer of New Jersey!!!

Congratulations, AnneMarie! You will be receiving a signed copy of Loyalty’s Web, along with a miniature medieval pillow/sachet from the Arizona Renaissance Festival. Keep an eye on your mailbox. The pair will be on their way to you soon!



Now for some good news for me! I have just been offered a contract by Leatherwood Press to take over publishing rights for Loyalty’s Web. That means a new cover, new promotion, and future availability in brick and mortar bookstores, in addition to the internet.

A contract offer is a biggie, and how better to celebrate than with chocolate? I’d like to share some with you! So I’m offering a 1 lb box of Mrs Cavanaugh’s Home Fashioned Chocolates to some lucky person who sends me an email to jdipastena@yahoo.com. Please type “Loyalty’s Web: New Adventure” in the subject line, and in the body of the email type: “Can’t wait to see the new cover!” Deadline for entering is May 30th.

More prizes to follow as future milestones are reached along the way to new publication, so keep an eye on this blogsite. You never know what will be coming next!

JDP NEWS update, April 14, 20

Are you having a good spring? We hit 92 degrees in my part of Arizona today, so it’s quickly starting to feel like summer here. (Although when we hit 110 degrees, I know I’ll be looking longingly back on this 92 degree day.)

Tomorrow night (April 15), I will be doing a presentation on my medieval novel, Loyalty's Web, for the 50th Anniversary of the Kearny Public Library. I’m pretty nervous about it, as it’s my first “presentation” on pretty much anything, so wish me luck!

I have a few updates and reminders to share with all of you.



I have posted a new Clio’s Corner on my website. If you’d like to read about exercise advice for people in the Middle Ages, check it out!




Loyalty’s Web will once more be Book of the Day on AuthorIsland this Wednesday, April 16. If you’re like me, you’ll be needing a reward the day after “tax day”, and how better to reward yourself than with an entertaining romp through Middle Ages? Check out AuthorIsland on Wednesday to see how you can win a free, signed copy of Loyalty’s Web.






April 20th is the last day to enter my website drawing to win a copy of Loyalty’s Web plus this beautiful miniature “medieval” pillow from the Arizona Renaissance Festival. Check out the News & Contests page on my website for details on how to enter.



Finally, I have some exciting news coming up about Loyalty’s Web in the near future. So stay tuned. Celebratory prizes may be involved!

JDP NEWS update, April 1, 2004

I’m back from my trek to Salt Lake City, Utah, where I had to switch my wardrobe from Arizona short sleeves to Salt Lake City long sleeves and sweaters while I was there. Brrrr! As if that weren’t bad enough, it actually had the nerve to SNOW one day. My deepest sympathies to those of you still suffering from frigid weather, but there’s a reason I live in Arizona, after all, and it doesn’t include seeing snow outside my window at the end of March.


Nevertheless, I had a wonderful time soaking up knowledge to improve my writing skills at the Storymakers Writers Conference and attending the very elegant Whitney Awards Gala, even though my novel, Loyalty’s Web, did not win an award. However, Loyalty’s Web was nominated in the largest category (over 80 entries in the Women’s Fiction/Romance Category), so I remain very pleased to have landed among the top five finalists.


In other news:

Amazon is now offering Loyalty's Web at a 10% discount. If you do not already own a copy, this would be a great time to hop over to Amazon.com and snap a copy up!

Website drawing reminder: If you haven’t already entered the new drawing on my website, check out my News & Contests page there.


On the way home from Salt Lake City, I stopped at the Arizona Renaissance Festival and did a book signing for Loyalty’s Web at Lady Ann Chamberlin’s bookshop. It was a wonderful experience, meeting both readers and aspiring writers, and I’ve been invited to return next year. I’ve attended the Arizona Renaissance Festival “for fun” for all twenty years of its existence, but this is the first time I’ve dressed up in costume. Thought you might all get a kick out of seeing my Lady Joyce of Pastena attire. If you’d like to read an account of my experience at the festival, you can go to ANWA Founders & Friends and read my blog.

ANWA Founder & Friends is a blog maintained by members of the American Night Writers Association (ANWA), a writing group for LDS women and women who uphold similar standards in their writing. I blog there every other Monday. The topics are wide ranging, from writing, to family, to spiritual, to personal experience. If you’re interested in such subjects, you might like to check out ANWA Founder & Friends to see where our ramblings take us.

Finally, in other blogging news, for those of you who follow my medieval research with joyce blog, I will regrettably be cutting back my blogs to once a month for the foreseeable future. The reason? I am beginning work on the final revisions of my spinoff to Loyalty’s Web, tentatively titled Illuminations of the Heart. Needless to say, this will be consuming a great deal of my free time, hence my need to cut back on other projects a bit. However, once I have completed my revisions, I hope to resume a twice monthly blog on my medieval research site, with both continuing posts on my research for Loyalty’s Web, as well as new posts on researching Illuminations of the Heart.

Well, that’s it for now! I wish a blessed spring for you all, and a swift thaw for those of you still struggling in the cold! May April bring you many warm and happy days.