Announcing A Permanent Home for TSRA Chats

Just in case no one was aware of it, your favorite Sweetest Romance Authors have their own spot in the Java Junction of Coffee Time Romance Forum. This is where we come to greet the day with readers, share news, slurp coffee (or in my case, hot chocolate!), and just have fun. :)

Beginning January 2010, it'll also be our "home" for monthly chats. These will start on the second Thursday of January, go all day, and we'll hold contests, post excerpts, and shout out any news about latest releases. We encourage everyone who is an ardent fan of sweet romance to join us on these chats.

But don't forget our other chat! In January, we'll also resume our public chats in our chat room where we'll invite a special guest, and then hold a scavenger hunt. This has been a real hit with our fans and visitors!

So, get ready for January 2010. Reserve your second Thursdays for the Java Junction, and the fourth Thursdays for our chat room. You don't want to miss a single one!

I'm a Sweetie!

Hey, look what I won at the Sweetest Romance Authors Chat tonight!

How did I win this award? By winning the scavenger hunt that follows each of the Sweetest Romance Chats on the 4th Thursday of each month. Have I mentioned how very cool these chats are? Tonight, our guest speaker was Rachel Starr Thomson, who shared with us her insights on how to become an editor, benefits of self-publishing vs traditional publishing, how to use Twitter effectively if you're an author, tips on marketing...oh, and so much more I can't remember it all now! Thankfully, Ms Thomson agreed to compile all the helpful links on these subjects (and more!) that she shared with us tonight and make them available to those who attended the chat. Now don't you wish you had been there, too?

If you're an author or aspiring writer in ANY genre, you are really missing out by not joining our 4th Thursday chats. You don't have to join the Sweetest Romance Authors Group or any other group to participate in and benefit from these chats. All you have to do is show up at the right time in the Sweetest Romance Authors chat room (honestly, one of the easiest chat rooms I have EVER used!), type in your name, and voila! you're in on the chat.

So run to your calendars right now and circle October 22, 8 PM EST/5 PM PST for our next Sweetest Romance Authors chat. Enjoy an educational experience, followed by the scavenger hunt, and maybe you can be October's Sweetie of the Month!

Sweetest Romance Author Chat: Sept 24

Every fourth Thursday of the month (this month, September 24), The Sweetest Romance Authors group sponsors a special chat on their Sweetest Romance Authors Chat Blog. This chat is open to EVERYONE, readers and writers alike. You do not have to join any organization or group, just show up on the blogsite on time, type in your name into the "login" box and dive into our chat.

These fourth Thursday chats focus more on “education” in the writing and publishing field, than on promoting our personal writing. This Thursday’s “guest speaker” will be Rachel Starr Thomson, author of Worlds Unseen and Burning Light. If you’d like to read more about Rachel before the chat you can visit the following links:

http://www.rachelstarrthomson.com
http://rachelstarrthomson.com/inklings

Following the chat will be held a scavanger hunt. The winner will be honored with “the highly coveted Sweetie award”, which the winner will be free to display on her/his website, blog, and other cyber space realms you may have.

This chat is a great chance to learn all about the guest and their niche in the world of writing and publishing. Ms Thomson will be sharing information beyond what you can find on her website and blog, and will be open to answering questions from all who attend the chat.

We hope you will mark your calendars and take the time to join us at this week’s Thursday chat!

Time: 8:00-9:00 PM EST/5:00-6:00 PM PST, September 24

We’d love to see you there!

The Sweetest Romance Authors Group is Expanding!

The Sweetest Romance Authors is adding new and exciting features! We now have our very own blog. This is your chance to learn more about our books and about ourselves as people and authors. We would love to have you visit us and become a follower on our site!

Here's a description of The Sweetest Romance Authors as listed on their blog:

"We are the Sweetest Romance Authors. We enjoy the kind of gentle, tender romances our mothers and grandmothers grew up with. Before you think "boring!", think again. Stay around, explore, get to know us, and you just might be surprised. Experience mysteries, historicals, science-fiction, inspirationals, western, regencies, romantic suspense...all written the sweet way."

Click here to check the new blog out.

Also coming soon is a Sweetest Romance Authors newsletter. Join now to receive our very first issue! All you need to do is send an email request to join the newsletter list to thesweetestromance@gmail.com.

We hope you'll visit us soon!

Join our Sweetest Romance Authors Chat This Thursday!

This Friday, August 27th, The Sweetest Romance Authors Group will be holding a chat with guest "speaker" Crystal Wilkinson, author, editor, and an associate professor of creative writing. The fun will begin at 8 pm EST, 5 pm PST in the Sweetest Romance Chat Room. No registration is necessary. Just type your name in the User Name box, and click on Login. Feel free to test it out early, if you want to experiment with how it works. (I did!)

The chat will end with a scavenger hunt, so we hope you'll join us for education, fun and games!

Coffee Time Romance Chat Winners!

And the winners of yesterday's Latte Lounge Chat contests are...

Loyalty's Web Drawing: Hollie Glover from England!

Scavenger Hunt: Martha Eskuchen from Florida!

Congratulations, ladies! Thanks for dropping by our chat and entering my contests.

Those of you who didn't drop by missed a great time. But you can still read the full thread of our chat and meet a lot of great authors if you click here. (Click on "last page" and work your way backwards)

Yesterday's chat was sponsored by the Sweetest Romance Authors. Click here and here to read more about us. We'd love to have you join our group!

The Sweetest Romance Chat Scavenger Hunt

I’ve been invited to participate in The Sweetest Romance Chat Scavenger Hunt that is going on today. E.A. asked me to include my clue in a blog about one of my favorite books. Oddly enough, the title that sprang immediately to my mind was The Three MUSKETEERS, by Alexandre Dumas. I have friends who prefer his more “serious/complex” titles, like The Count of Monte Cristo or The Man in the Iron Mask…both excellent works, I’ll grant you. But my favorite of all Dumas’ works remains The Three MUSKETEERS. Why? For one thing, I love the humor. Life can be depressing enough without ending my day with a sad, depressing or tragic novel. The Three MUSKETEERS always makes me smile, sometimes it even makes me grin, and occasionally I find myself chuckling right out loud with the larger-than-life adventures of Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and of course, D’Artangnan. Another thing I love about The Three MUSKETEERS is the dialogue. The dialogue is so clever and witty, it always surprises me that it was written 165 years ago. Many 20^th and 21^st Century authors (myself included!) could only dream of writing such spot-on perfect dialogue. But as much as I enjoy the humor and dialogue, what keeps bringing me back to re-read The Three MUSKETEERS again and again is the theme of friendship that lies within its pages. “One for all and all for one” may seem a cliché today, but it reflects an unbreakable bond between four men whose love and loyalty to one another transcends all challenges, whether external (physical danger) or internal (personal self-interest). That friendship shines as a beacon throughout the tale. What might any of us give to have three such faithful, unshakeable friends of our own!

So, have you guessed the clue you need to take back to The Sweetest Romance chat room with you? Yep, the word is “MUSKETEER”! Now click here and you will be directed back to the chat room. Just don’t forget the clue when you get there!

For more information on The Sweetest Romance, please visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/The_Sweetest_Romance/.

And while you're here, click here to check out my Book Cornucopia Drawing!