Christmas In July Reader Giveaway!

Happy Christmas in July! Welcome to the 16th blog in this Christmas in July Reader Giveaway, which runs July 12-23, 2021. At the bottom of each author’s blog post, you will find the secret words. Write them all down and provide the provide the entire answer on this Google form.

Note: You must grab all the secret words from every author in the Christmas in July Reader Giveaway to be eligible to win a $400 Amazon gift card. At the end of this blog post is a link to the next blog, and so on, to the final blog post (20 in all). At each blog stop, the author will also give away copy or copies of their featured Christmas book.

There’s so much to love about Christmas, isn’t there? The family, the faith, the fun and frolic. This year, though, I feel like Christmas will be especially meaningful. Last year I was reminded by the virus-that-shall-not-be-named, how very precious time is. My parents live only five minutes away, my sisters no more than twenty, and we were separated by teeny virus thingys that landed us in isolation. Even my own children had to be “managed” since they were coming and going from work and apartments. I resented it, honestly, the not being able to hug. That was the thing I missed the most. Zoom was helpful and phonecalls were nice, but they just can’t come close to that physical presence of a loved one. Even though things are slowly transitioning back to “normal” here in Northern, CA, I find myself tearing up when I can administer a good, tight hug to those I haven’t seen for a while. Would I have appreciated it as much if we hadn’t had a “pause” year? Honestly, probably not. So this year I will hug those people, and eat those cookies, and laugh as long and as loud as I possibly can, relishing the life that God has restored. How about you? Will your Christmas feel different in this “post pandemic” season?

Now, it’s time to for the secret words: unto others

Save the secret words, and when you reach the final blog, enter all the secret words on this form for a chance to win a $400 Amazon gift card!

Thank you so much for visiting! The next author on the tour is Hallee Bridgeman and her Christmas book Blizzard in the Bluegrass. You can find it at this link. Remember, this Christmas in July Reader Giveaway will end on July 23 at 8 PM EST!

https://www.halleebridgeman.com/christmas-in-july/

Author reads an excerpt!

I just love hearing an author read their own words, don’t you? I have an old recording of Dylan Thomas reading A Child’s Christmas in Wales. Nothing better! Along those lines, I figured I’d do a little excerpt from a Christmas book I wrote. Hope you enjoy it! https://youtu.be/BrU_rdvHWeY

We’re having lots of holiday fun in my private Facebook group! Would love to have you join in the festivities! https://www.facebook.com/groups/danamentink

An insider look…from the Barney Fife of the fiction world!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so click the link. Trust me, this fiction writing world is GLAM!

Getting out some old school tools!

 

 

I have always said that the truth is far stranger than fiction. This pandemic business has proved my point for sure. I thought I’d take a break from my my current inspy suspense series to bring you three observations about this wild and wacky time we are experiencing. 

1. The old ways are turning out to be pretty handy after all! Last year I taught third grade and we finished the year remotely. Do you know what we did to help keep our third graders connected? We sent them postcards! Good old fashioned snail mail with actual handwritten jokes on them. You know what? They were THRILLED. A young teacher at our site wondered how the kids would stay in touch with each other. How about we try that old school technique known as…a phone call! Yep, the old dinosaur ways are still useful after all! 

2. Privacy is at a premium. We’ve got four people (two college kids and Papa Bear and me) living in a teeny tiny house along with a dog,  a box turtle and two frogs. There are online classes, work meetings, and personal calls going on all over the place. Having a private conversation is really a challenge. I have taken to sitting in my car in the garage to chat. Weird, huh? My mode of transportation has morphed into a private office! Stranger than fiction! 

3.  And the final strangeness…in order to celebrate our fifth graders graduation from school, we were asked to video tape ourselves clapping. You haven’t experienced awkward until you are cheering and clapping by yourself in the back yard while your hubby records you. Odd! Even weirder, my older bear cub is graduating from junior college and they were afraid the caps wouldn’t arrive in time, so they sent them a Snap Chat filter to photoshop a cap on their heads. 

In a million years, would you ever have expected the world to change so dramatically? Me neither. Stranger than fiction indeed! 

What strikes you as strange these days? 

https://www.bookbub.com/profile/dana-mentink

 

Rein in those horses, writers!

 

Hi, all. Just saddling up for some last round final edits and I thought I’d share some hard won wisdom with you! Check out the video link below!

https://youtu.be/wEEjw0jgUs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Follow me on my Amazon author page for all the exciting announcements!

Dana’s Amazon Author Page

Writing a novel is like square dancing…with chickens.

Easy, right? A novel is just a matter of making things up. How hard can it be? A little action, a hefty dose of romance, some snappy dialogue? Presto you have a novel….unless everything spins out of control somewhere in those last 20,000 words! Take a look at the video and see what you think.

To your corners, chickens! It’s time to write a novel

 

Info about Dana’s latest series

Author reads an excerpt…

In which we explore the glamorous side of professional writing….

 

Trust me. I’m a professional.

Author tip: top three ways to annoy people…

 

Yep, I worked real hard to land that first publishing contract and boy howdy, it wasn’t a piece of cake to land the other thirty plus either. Writing professionally is difficult and we authors have an obligation to trot our names, awards and five star reviews out into the world to encourage people to BUY OUR BOOKS, FOR CRYING OUT LOUD. Writing books goes hand in hand with selling them, and if one is to continue in this biz, tooting our author horns is vital. But here’s the thing…it’s really important to keep the priorities clear when one is in this nutty business. In order that my head does not begin to put too much stock in my press releases, I remind myself that, at the end of the day, people will not remember my cover, my book, and my reviews no matter how many stars are attached. It’s not false modesty, it’s fact. Each year more than a million books are published,  so my meticulously crafted words are buried in an avalanche of plenty of other fancy syllables from a bazillion other wordsmiths a lot more talented than I. (#noraroberts, #irenehannon, #geronimostilton)

So now that I’ve eaten that slice of humble pie, let me just wrap my mind around three sure fire practices that might just annoy the beejeebers out of my friends. (Pay attention, Dana. You don’t have that many friends to spare.)

1. Make sure you bring up your fancy author career in every conversation. Yep, it’s sure as shooting that everyone you encounter wants to hear all about your wacky fiction writing accomplishments. Maybe you could have a tee shirt made…. “I’m An Author, Legend in My Own Mind.”

2. Be sure to promote yourself NONSTOP on all social media platforms. Don’t talk about anything else, or people might get distracted. (I’ve been told I should have at least 30,000 Twitter followers. Only 28,000 to go! Must remember to beef up tweeting schedule to fifty three times a day.)

3. Never stray outside your “writing brand persona.” You’re a suspense writer so ALL of your social media channels should reflect this. (Brace yourself, people of Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, etc. I am prepared to deluge you with every kind of intense, edge of your seat promotion. Repeatedly. Over and over. Until your brain memorizes the name Dana- Buy-My-Books-Mentink. (No humor or warm fuzzy sentiments allowed, people. It’s all deadly serious business.)

All kidding aside, people, I know that the reality is I need to self promote in person and on social media, but that’s my business, my real work is encouraging people. I will never forget during my student teacher days, assisting a sobbing kiddo who dropped her special belt into the toilet. Did I stick my hand in there and fish it out? Yuppers. Was that important work? Absolutely. At the end of the day, nothing I ever write will probably mean as much as fishing a belt out of the toilet for a distraught child.

I hope I never forget that lesson.

Info about Dana’s newest suspense novel

Unlearning school writing lessons, part 2.

 

Oh I sure did learn all those school writing rules! And now….I gotta unlearn some of them.

Rule #2: “Spell everything right.” The second rule I heard growing up was that you should spell things correctly when you’re writing. Nope. You absolutely have to spell things correctly when you’re editing and revising and that final copy had better have some impeccable sparkly spelling and grammar, but the time for that is not when the writer is in the middle of a creative whirlwind. As a matter of fact, focusing on perfect spelling while you’re drafting, stymies the creative flow and slows down the work. I’ve seen my little students paralyzed because they couldn’t figure out how to spell a word. I tell them to write like crazy! “Circle the word if you think you’ve botched it and MOOOOOOOVE ON!” To this day, I cannot seem to spell the word rhthm? rythm? Rithim? Errgh! It baffles me, but I don’t let it stop the flow. I soldier on and make sure that the final product is going to be spelled correctly (once I have the rhythm down! Ha!)