I'm so pleased to announce that Carol from South Africa is the winner of my New Year's Resolution contest. Carol has entered every one of my contests over the last few years, and she feels like an old friend, so I'm doubly delighted.

Thanks to everyone who entered. I'll undoubtedly be holding another contest soon.

Kate

Hi everyone, happy holidays!!

In honor of the new year, I'm having a little contest. It will give you a chance to win a free book, and give me a chance to learn what your writing-related New Year's resolutions are.

So send me an email at katedonovan at hotmail.com, or leave a comment here to enter. The details will be on the website January 1, 2008, but you can also view the rules in the sidebar to the right of this blog.

Good luck!

Kate

I've been trying to post for two days! It was a long one, so maybe that's the problem. Let's try a short one:

Stacy of OHIO won the contest!!! I picked her name out of a hat (well, actually out of a basket that looks like a cottage, but close enough). Yay!!

A new contest will begin July 1. I had a good idea for questions, but I've since forgotten it. How bizarre is that?

Have a great day. Congrats, Stacy! And thanks to all who entered.

Kate

Technically the contest isn’t over until May 31, but I recently compiled the preliminary results, and thought I’d share some of them. (I’ll pick the winner on the 31st, of course, so if you haven’t entered, there’s still time!)

How many of the contest entrants believe in time travel – i.e. that it is theoretically possible, whether or not it’s possible in our present time:
14 said YES, 12 said MAYBE, 26 said NO.

That’s right, 26. Half of the respondents are nonbelievers. I’m very surprised.

But tons of you believe there’s intelligent life on other planets:
30 said YES, 8 said MAYBE, only 12 said NO.

I expected more of a correlation between TT and ET. Hmmm….

Oh, and if you could time travel to the PAST or the FUTURE, only 5 would choose the future. That surprised me too!

I’ll save the ghost/reincarnation stats for another post.

BTYL,
Kate

My thanks to Penni at eharlequin for posting info on her blog about my contest. The rules are explained in the March 31st blog entry below. Good luck, everyone.

Penn's focus is on question #6, since she inspired it by confessing that she peeks at the ending of a book. As it turns out, quite a few people do, and I'm enjoying the reasons they give for it. Worried about whether a favorite character will survive; want to be sure the hero and heroine end up together; want to see if they guessed the solution to the mystery; losing interest in the story.

I've decided that the last justificiation is a perfectly acceptable one, even to a purist like myself. I wouldn't do it personally, but still it doesn't give me pause. Why? ( Read more )

I’m trying to tabulate the answers to the contest questions, but just adding them up doesn’t seem useful. The more interesting aspect is the clustering, as in, if someone believes in reincarnation, they almost always believe ghosts, but not necessarily in UFOs – it makes sense, but still, it’s fun to see the numbers support it. Some responses are very mystical, some are fairly scientific – very cool.

Meanwhile, in preparation for the reincarnation discussion, I’m posting this link, even though I don’t believe a word of it. But it was interesting timing, given the contest, so I thought I’d share it. Plus, I need to practice my linking skills (thanks, mizkit!)

So without further ado: reincarnation article

Livejournal’s charming and talented mizkit (a.k.a. author C.E. Murphy; a.k.a. Bombshell author Cate Dermody; a.k.a. my friend Catie) has sent some provocative answers to my contest questions.

She agreed to let me post them here, so let’s use them as discussion points, shall we?

In regard to time travel, mizkit answers thusly:

1. Do you believe time travel is possible? ...you know, I don't think I ever *really* thought about that before. Offhand, my answer is no. I want it to be, but no. But on the other hand, I actually do think time and space are fluid and we see them as linear because it's one of our methods for coping (I am gorgeously reminded of a moment in Doctor Who, where the companion has been sent away from the danger and her family are trying to reassure her that all the trouble is happening a billion years from now, and she says, "*No*, it's happening *right now*, and I can't *do* anything about it!" I think that's true.), and so suddenly I realize that yeah, actually, I /do/ think it's *possible*. We just don't have the tech for it. And when I say tech, I mean any sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic, and vice versa.

Don’t you love that answer? She starts out with "no" then proceeds to talk herself into it. That's imagination at work!

I particularly like the path she takes, because it’s so similar to the one I experienced. I started out writing TT when I wasn’t really sure it was possible, although I fervently wanted it to be. So my first TTs had a mystical element to them.

Then one day on the news, I heard a story about scientists watching through a super-telescope as a solar system on the other side of the universe was forming before their eyes. The announcer explained that this solar system was actually born millions of years ago but since it takes light so long to travel from one end of the U to the other, we couldn’t actually see it until now. For us on earth, it was virtually happening in the present.

Just like the companion from Dr. Who said. And she should know, because she travels back and forth all the time!

What does this tell me?

Simple. The scientific community really isn’t trying hard enough. Most of them say human TT is impossible. But obviously, the answer is right there in front of their eyes (and it starts with c). They should stop celebrating these minor successes about spots on Jupiter and such. It’s time to take off their party hats, put down their cosmos (;-)), and get back to work.

Anyhow, ever since I heard that news story, I’ve been a believer, and my new TT stories reflect that.

Meanwhile, as mizkit so wisely said, science and magic are indistinguishable for now. Just the way sending voices through the air was only possible by magic until recently.

And maybe we shouldn’t be in such a hurry for things to change. Who wants magic crowded out of our lives? Not I!

More from mizkit later. For now, send in those entries! Or use the comment feature if you prefer. I’m dying to know what you think about TT.

Kate

p.s. You can visit mizkit's website: here (where you will find excerpts from her stories!)

p.p.s. Do I really think scientists drink cosmopolitans? Probably not. I’m guessing rum-and-diet-coke for everyday, and champagne from a box for big events. (Can you tell I’m upset with them for dissing TT?)

Hi everyone!!

Here’s my new contest. It’s a way for me to gather information and for you to try to win a new book (and also for you to influence me as an author, and maybe even influence other writers who visit my blog.)

I will report on the responses at the end of the contest, but I will not reveal your full name or email address. Of course, if you want me to reveal your full name, just let me know!

I will eagerly read your responses, but everyone who sends an entry will have an equal chance as long as I can tell it’s not a duplicate (and by duplicate, I mean, either the name is the same or the answers are absolutely identical to another entry). One entry per person, please.

You can answer most of the questions with a simple “yes” and “no,” but in order for your entry to count, at least one of your answers has to be more than that. For example, if you believe in ghosts because you’ve seen or sensed one, tell me a little or a lot about it – please! I’d love to hear it.

Here are the questions:

1. Do you believe time travel is possible?

2. If you could safely time travel to any point in human history, past or future, as an observer only, where would you go?

3. Do you believe there is intelligent life on other planets?

4. Do you believe in ghosts?

5. Do you believe in reincarnation?

6. Do you read the ending of a book first? If so, do you just take a quick glance to make sure everyone survived, or do you actually read it? Please explain. (And by the way, cut it out!)

That's it.

Email your responses to me at my hotmail address. It’s katedonovan at hotmail dot com.

The deadline for entering is May 31, 2007. You can pick any one of my books as a prize, although if you choose TIMELESS, be aware that I’ll have to send you a slightly beat-up used copy, because I’ve run out of new ones.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll post my own answers to some of the questions. As you know, I believe TT is possible. And as you have probably surmised, I don’t read the ending of a book prematurely. But the other answers might surprise you!

Good luck.

Kate

Congratulations to the winners of the SPIN contests! Debby from Connecticut and Melissa from Rhode Island. Debby’s favorite blog entry was the rant about writers being asked to be “thick-skinned,” and Melissa liked the movie reviews, especially the horror movies.

Yay!!! They’ll each be receiving a signed copy of SPIN CONTROL.

My thanks to everyone who entered. I found all of your comments so useful and intriguing. I’ll probably run this contest again in a month, so there will be more chances to win.

Kate

Well, the SPIN contest is almost over. I didn’t expect to get many entries, since I made the requirements a little stiffer this time. My thinking was it was better to get a few entries from readers who actually visited the blog. Plus, I wanted feedback.

I’m pleased to say that I actually got quite a few entries, and I enjoyed every single one of them. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Everyone who entered told me something different about what they liked to hear on the blog. The overwhelming majority commented on one or more of the movie reviews. That’s great news, because I enjoy writing those entries, and now I have extra incentive to do so.

Movies, food, books, TV and the demise of Bombshell – those were the hot topics in the contest, mirroring the hot topics in my personal life!

Each entry has gone into a shoe box, and for those of you who entered the bonus contest, your name went into that shoe box too! I’ll pick the winners late at night on Sept 30 – that’s my daughter’s birthday, by the way, and the day after my own birthday (she was my present that year!).

Thanks for entering. And if you haven’t entered yet, you’ve still got a couple of days to do so. I’m going to try and write a little something today about FLIGHTPLAN, which I watched on DVD over the weekend, so you could even comment on that in your entry – pretty convenient, huh?

Kate

To celebrate my latest SPIN book (SPIN CONTROL/Sept 2006) I’m holding a contest for the months of August and September. To enter, all you have to do is send me an email telling me which of my blog entries you’ve liked, and why. The idea is that I’d love to know where to concentrate my blogging efforts – writing tips, movie reviews, updates on my writing woes, updates on my feud with the Bunny…

Anyway, to make it a little easier, I’ll list some of the entries that I think are representative. Check them out and tell me what you think. You can send your entry through the link on my website at www.katedonovan.com or just write directly to me a katedonovan AT hotmail DOT com. If you think of it, put SPIN CONTEST in the subject line in case hotmail throws you into the junk folder. I’ll still find you in there, but it’s always an adventure opening emails with no subject.

The Omen movie review: June 12
Superman movie review: July 11
Rant about people who tell authors to toughen up: June 30
Writer’s block: June 10
My heroes (in my current books): July 24
My unfinished book is too long!: June 17
My feud with the Bunny: April 15 and 16

If you want to see other topics, just click on the calendar feature and view “subjects” month by month.

BONUS DRAWING : any contest entry that talks about a blog entry that’s not on the list, above, will also be entered in a special second drawing. You can still pick one from the list as your favorite, but mention another one too. This special drawing is to give a better chance to those of you who – well, you know who you are! I’ve really enjoyed your contest entries the last few months, because you really got in the spirit of it!

Good luck!

Kate

Congratulations to Penni from Fort Worth!! She won the July Contest.

Thanks to everyone who entered. Please try again this month. I'm using the entrants as guinea pigs, as you'll see from the rules -- in other words, I'm doing research on topics for future blog entries. I hope you play along.

Kate

My July contest is winding down, and I have to say, it’s been wild. Over 200 entries!

I’ve held the same kind of contest three months in a row, and for August, I’m changing formats. I thought I’d mention it so that if you stop by, you can figure out your answer now and avoid the August rush.

Basically, I’m doing a little research on what visitors would like to see in a blog entry. Do you like hearing about my writing woes? Tidbits about upcoming books? Do you prefer movie reviews? My opinions on miscellaneous? My feud with the you-know-what?

Semi-seriously, I want to know. It would help me decide what to blog about, and how often to do so.

So officially, the August/Sept question will be, which blog entry have you liked best so far, and why. I’m going to keep track, and perhaps modify my blogging accordingly (or not, depending on how valid the results seem, as in, if I get 100 entries that all say the same thing, word for freaking word, I won’t be too impressed.) But if a dozen people want movie reviews, well – that gives me a reason to go to the movies more often, so I’d be very, very inclined to take it to heart!

It’s still four days away, but I’m planning ahead as you can see.

Meanwhile, I Fed Ex’d my CHARADE manuscript to Silhouette today – and I was definitely ready to let it go. The first draft was pretty solid, but I made tons and tons of one-or-two-sentence changes during the read-through, which then produced the second draft. I made dozens and dozens of one-or-two-word changes to that one, and printed the third draft. Could I have found more tweaks? Sure, but basically, I was happy with it. The difference in shipping if I had gone one more round? 72 dollars instead of 38 – yep, that’s 34 reasons to ship it today, so I did.

BTYL! – Kate

Hi everyone. I’m having another contest. Send me an email at katedonovan at hotmail dot com with the correct answers to the following three questions and you’ll be entered in the contest. There are more details at my website at www.katedonovan.com. Plus the excerpt for SPIN CONTROL is up at the website too!

(1) What does SPIN CONTROL heroine Suzannah Ryder do for a living? (hint, check out the excerpt from my new book at my website or see the blog entry for June 9th.)

(2) Which P.S.I.C.U. plot do you like best? (hint June 22 blog entry)

(3) Which of my Silhouette Bombshells did Kathy, the May contest winner, choose as her prize? (hint, see the June 6 blog entry)

Good luck!

Kate

I'm pleased to announce that Susan of Lanesborough, MA is the winner of my June Contest. I've contacted Susan, and I'll let you know which of my Silhouette Bombshells she picks as her prize.

Congratulations, Susan! And thanks to everyone who entered.

Kate

P.S. I'll be posting the questions for the July Contest later today.

Just a quick bloggette to let you know that the May contest winner Kathy chose EXIT STRATEGY as her prize. Yay Kathy! I think that’s a great choice. Even though it’s the second SPIN book (after ID CRISIS) it stands alone, and it has a cameo appearance by the hero of my upcoming September book SPIN CONTROL. So the timing is perfect.

I also should have announced what the most popular Tyrannical Rex plot was in the May contest. By a mile, it was the one where Rex is a paleontologist and the heroine is a free spirit who makes wind chimes out of dinosaur bones. Since I love that one too, I got a kick out of that result.

As for the June contest, it cracks me up that some die-hard Christopher Lambert fans are “voting” for him even though they’re supposed to tell who my favorite Highlander is. Of course, the entries are still valid. Plus, it’s fascinating to me that he’s got such a super-strong following. Who knew?

All of you contest junkies should check out Karmela Johnson’s website, where she’s giving away books , plus blogging about her bombshell-in-progress. Karm’s a newly-published author. Her first book EVIDENCE just came out this year, and it’s terrific. I read it in one sitting, and really loved it. I’d put the little link here but I don’t know how to do that, so here’s the long one: http://www.karmelajohnson.com/contest/

Later! Kate

p.s. I haven't been blogging because I've been cleaning the house in my spare time. Don't ask, it'll just depress you.

Same rules as in May, same prize (a signed copy of your choice of my Bombshells). More details at my website, www.katedonovan.com, but all you really need to do is send me an email with the answers to the following three questions. My email address is katedonovan at hotmail.com. If you think of it, put June Contest in the subject line so it catches my eye quickly.

1. Who is Justin Russo? (hint: see the May 5th entry)
2. What is the title of Kate's upcoming Athena Force book? (hint: see April 22)
3. Who is Kate's favorite Highlander? (hint: May 23)

Good luck!!

Kate