News From Karen Fenech

Dear Friends,

Happy Summer! After a long, and for some of us, cold winter : - ), Summer has finally arrived. I hope you are all enjoying lovely, warm weather.

I have a lot to celebrate this Summer that I'd like to share with you, beginning with the announcement of our latest contest winner.

The winner of the drawing for a signed copy of UNHOLY ANGELS and a $20 gift certificate from Amazon is:

Ron Miller

from

Michigan

Congratulations!

Thank you to all of you who participated. Again, response was tremendous. You continue to make the contests great fun.

Of course, we're hosting another drawing. This time, we're giving away a signed hardcover edition of BETRAYAL and a $20 gift certificate from Amazon to one winner. Just send me an e-mail for your chance to win. Please remember to write "contest" in the subject line. Enter as often as you like. We're in the process of updating my website with the new contest information. Please visit my Contests page at: http://www.karenfenech.com/contests.html
if you would like a re-cap of the details for the drawing, and for the closing date.

Speaking of editions of BETRAYAL : - ), a Japanese edition was released in April. I'm thrilled that BETRAYAL is now available in Japanese.

I have completed a new book, a contemporary romantic suspense. The title of the new book is GONE and it will be released late next year. Thank you to all who wrote asking when my next book would be available. Your interest and support mean so much to me. More about GONE soon! : - )

I now have pages on MySpace and Facebook. To "befriend" me, please click on these links: http://www.myspace.com/karenfenech and http://www.facebook.com/people/Karen_Fenech/727271203

Reading and responding to your letters and e-mails is a great part of my day. I love hearing from you. Thank you for keeping in touch.

Feel free to let all of your reader friends know about the new contest, and feel free to pass this newsletter along to them.

Until next time, very best wishes,

Karen

Confessions Of An Internet Junkie

There are a few blogs I read regularly, or as regularly as time permits. One of them is the blog by author J A Konrath. His posts are often laugh out loud funny, and I also enjoy his take on the world of publishing.

I'd fallen behind in reading his blog lately, and when I was scrolling through it this week to read what I'd missed, I came across his humorous post, "The Top Ten Signs You're Spending Too Much time Online."

As I read over the list, I realized that I'm guilty of many of the signs he named and I started to wonder - am I an internet junkie? : - )

I DO communicate with family and friends via e-mail as much as possible. (#8 on the list).

Recently, I complained to my husband that my nether region HAS left a permanent imprint in the chair at my desk. (#4 on the list).

And, the bump I have on the middle finger of my right hand from holding a pen for hours at a time now DOES have a companion - I now also have a bump/callous on my mouse finger. (#5 on the list).

Out of the ten signs, I have six of them. EEK! : - )

In case you'd like to take a look at the list, here's the link to J A Konrath's blog: http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/ Scroll down to his post dated Friday, September 14, 2007.

Do let me know if you have any of the signs too! : - )

Regards,
Karen

My New Year's Resolution

I've been thinking about New Year's resolutions. I realize that I'm a few weeks late in the year with my list : - ) I'm not sure "resolutions" is the right name for my list anyway. More accurately I've been thinking of "improvements".

An honest look in the mirror will tell me that I have a few pounds to lose : - )

I'm a nail-biter - I could certainly work on that : - )

But it isn't outward improvements that I've been thinking of. I'm thinking more of internal change, characteristics that I would likely be better off without. Topping my list is that I'm a control freak. That one is key for me.

So, this year, I'm going to let go a little. There, I've said it (actually written it : - )) . I'm going to adopt more a "take things as they come" attitude. There are times when things happen the way they're going to happen no matter what we do to the contrary. This year I'm going to work on being okay with that. : - )

I wish you every success in whatever you've set out to change, accomplish, or gain this new year.

Regards,
Karen

If the shoe doesn't fit

I got to thinking about Cinderella this week. How both of her stepsisters tried on the glass slipper with no success. Then, Cinderella tried it on and it fit!

A few weeks ago, I was trying to make something fit, trying valiantly, and it just wouldn't.

In my case, the ill-fit wasn't a shoe, but a scene I was editing for my then novel in progress. I had a powerful scene which just wasn't working.

I fiddled with it, tweaking it, changing the odd word and punctuation mark, and was no happier. I knew the scene was good, and good for the story, yet it wasn't working.

I finally admitted that it wasn't going to. Not at that point in the story.

So I moved it. It works now : - )

Sometimes a problem with a piece of writing is just a matter of an ill-fit. A scene that may not be working may be due to where it takes place in the story, rather than due to a problem with the scene itself.

Regards,
Karen

The book with no title

I'm struggling with the title for the book I just finished. Usually, the title is one of the first things I decide on before I start writing. For me, the title cements the book, summarizing it in my mind.

With this book though, I wasn't able to decide on the title at the outset and so I settled on a "working title" to keep myself from calling my work-in-progress the "book with no title" : - )

I'll be turning it in this month and I still haven't come up with what to call this book. Maybe it will be released as "the book with no title" after all. : - )

Regards,
Karen