It's Blogtastic

As many of you may or may not know, I also write erotic romance under the not-so-secret pen name of Arianna Skye. I recently acquired the rights back to my first published novel, WINGS OF DESIRE

Take a look at the awesome cover that the awesome gals at HotDamnStock  did for me. I am  still trying to peel myself off the floor.

Hey all! For the New Year, I’ve decided that I should post a monthly contest on my website. This month, I’m giving away a $25.00 gift card to one lucky entrant. Up for grabs will also be five autographed copies of my first published novel, Wings of Desire (a fantasy erotic romance written as Arianna Skye).

Details can be found at my website contest page. It’s easy to enter. You just need to answer one tiny question.

Good luck everyone!
Sidney

My local writing group, GRRWG, needs promo and swag (Stuff We All Get) for their 1st annual  “I Always Wanted to Write a Book” conference to fill the attendees’ goody bags. GRRWG is a multi-genre group, so they’d love items from all varieties of fiction. So send us your promo for your horror, your thrillers, your mysteries, your fantasies, and your romances.

Here’s more information:

****PERMISSION TO FORWARD GRANTED AND APPRECIATED* ***
**CALL OUT FOR SWAG**
GRAND RAPIDS REGION WRITERS GROUP is seeking swag (books, bookmarks, pens, calendars, gift certificates, all inclusive trips to exotic locales, etc.) for our “I’ve Always Wanted to Write a Book” conference Oct.22 in Grand Rapids, MI.

Our Keynote will be the fabulous Jacqueline Carey, author of the blockbuster fantasy novels Kushiel’s Dart, Santa Olivia, Naamah’s Kiss and many more.  We expect between 80-100 attendees, but anything you send would be greatly appreciated and will be used in goody bags and raffles.

Please send items NO LATER THAN October 8th to:

Chris Allen-Riley
1444 Jennette Avenue NW
Grand Rapids, MI 49504

Please mark somewhere on the box GRRWG and make sure no signature is required for delivery.

For more information about the conference, please email Cheryl Sterling at wiseprez@yahoo.com  or visit our webpage at
http://bit.ly/GRRWGConference

I’m putting together a workshop about promo adequately titled EYE-CATCHING PROMO–Cheap, Unique and Utterly Chic. If you’re like me, you’re on a really restrictive budget and  sometimes have to rely on your own creativity to get your name out there. Because of said creativity, I am now known as the “Shrinky Dink Chick”. I made bookmarks with Shrinky Dink charm adorned tassels. It was fun and a heck of a lot cheaper than buying actual  charms. Trust me, I priced charms. Some came up to almost $2.00 per charm. Uh, sorry… don’t think so. Then, while Googling promo ideas, I discovered a forum about Shrinky Dinks. A guy had used printable shrink paper to make key-chains. I then realized that printing and baking my own Shrinky Dink key-chains was tons cheaper than buying them from a promo item website.

Anyway, I digress. What I’d like is other authors to showcase their own cheap/unique/interesting promo items (including romance trading cards). I’m looking for 20-40 pieces of swag (or  more, if you’re willing to part with them).

If interested, please contact me using the contact form here with “PROMO WORKSHOP” as the subject, and I will provide you the address to send the items.

Thanks so much!
Sidney

It was a unanimous decision. Card #2 won. When I say unanimous, that’s what I mean. 100% of the voters chose the closeup of Serah. Thanks to everyone who voted and voiced their opinions.

I need some help. I designed two cards for Serah and want to know which card everyone like better. Clicking the images will load a larger version in a new window if you need a closer view.

Choice #1:

Choice 2:

Choose only one. Poll will close at Midnight on April 2nd.

Thanks so much!

Sidney

The new title for Icing on the Demon has been chosen. They’ve decided to go with DEMONS LIKE IT HOT (Which Lisa K. suggested from my earlier contest). Congrats Lisa!

I’ve made some mock up designs for the hero and heroine, Matthias Ambrose and Serah SanGermano. Ipersonally think the Serah card is kind of cheesy, but I absolutely love the Matthias one.

Let me know what you think!

Matthias:

Serah:

I was so geeked to find four packages waiting patiently at my doorstep. I’m one of the authors participating in the Romance Trading Cards venture started out by the wonderful Jeannie Lin.

So I wanted to share with you all my not-so-masterpeice-worthy design. I’m a little broke and am in a deadline crunch, so I opted to go with something a little more simple. I used Photoshop to design them. I took a class a couple years back, and I think I need a refresher. LOL.

The first set is for DEMONS PREFER BLONDES– Available June 1, 2011 from Sourcebooks Casablanca.

And this is the one I did for WINGS OF DESIRE (Written under my other penname, Arianna Skye)

As soon as I get the final art for DEMONS LIKE IT HOT (Sourcebooks, December 2011), I’ll post those cards as well.

Let me know what you think!

Also, if you are interested in receiving any of these cards, please use the contact form on the blog or on my website to send me your info.

Hugs!

Sidney

I was scanning through some old Popular Mechanics Magazines that we found in my grandmother’s basement when we were cleaning it out for her estate sale. The issue is from November 1939 (and I believe the ad ran in the December 1939 issue, as well). We were reading the ads out loud, because there were some real zingers. But this one stuck out like a sore thumb. If only they knew that over seventy years later, it would have a whole new connotation.

And now men know why it works too!!!

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Sidney

I was laying in bed one morning contemplating what I wanted to make for breakfast. My muse must have been hungry, because she instantly sent my creative mind into overdrive. I remembered the McGriddle sandwhiches McDonalds serves on their breakfast menu. Syrup infused bread. But I decided I’d kick that up one notch and be a little healthier. I took some fresh whole grain bread and cut it into slices then brushed a light coating of low sugar syrup on the bread. I cracked and egg and whisked it up. I soaked the bread in egg and cooked it up. After the french toast was done cooking, I fried up some eggs and bacon. While the eggs and bacon cooked, I threw the slices of french toast in my toaster to make it a little toastier and warm. When the eggs were done, I smooshed them between the two pieces of french toast.

Holy hotcakes! It was good. And now I am an addict… I wanted to enjoy french toast any time of the day.

And now I have! Today I found some garlic dipping sauce mix that was almost gone. I sprinkled it in with some EVOO (Sorry, I’m a Rachael Ray fan!) , brushed the EVOO mixture on the bread and dipped it in egg and toasted those babies up. I was a little worried about the taste, but it was just an experiment anyway. I wasn’t planning on serving it to the president or anything.

I have to say, the french toast came out pretty damn good. It even smelled savory. So far so good. Then I browned some ham and added a slice of Havarti cheese. It melted so nicely. Tomato and spinach finished it off. You all should try it! It was YUMMY!

Savory Ham and Havarti French Toast Sandwiches

Serves 4

Ingredients:

8 Pieces of thick bread
4 Eggs
Italian bread dipping sauce*
Ham
Havarti
Tomato
Spinach

Directions:

Brush dipping sauce on both sides of bread. Place bread slices in egg mixture and flip. Take out and let excess egg mixture drip off. Cook as you would normally cook french toast. When browned on both sides, remove from heat. In the same pan, you can brown your ham. Put toast in toaster to keep warm and a little toastier. When toasted to your specifications, take out the toast. Add ham and cheese and garnish with spinach and tomato. Feel free to brush on a little of the remaining dipping sauce and cover with other piece of  bread.

* Dipping Sauce recipe

1/4 cup Olive oil
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 garlic clove
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp Parmesan cheese

Mix ingredients. Voila!

If you happen to try this, please let me know what you think! I imagine you can even use your own favorite types of cheeses and meats too. I chose Ham and Havarti because that’s all I had in the house right now.

Wow! I designed my own recipe. Isn’t that cool?

Hugs,
Sidney