Welcome to
Carin's World

By Carin Rafferty

It's That Ho-Ho-Ho Time of Year

Gosh, it doesn't seem possible that it's less than 23 days until Christmas! One of my friends sent me a website link that actually counts down the days, hours, minutes and seconds. I know she was trying to be helpful (everyone knows that I'm disorganized, particularly during the holiday season), but I didn't find the link helpful. Instead I nearly had a panic attack as I watched the seconds ticking down. For those of you organized or masochistic people saying , "Cool! I want that link!" you can find the countdown at: mysite.verizon.net/vze201j5/countdown.htm

I really do love the holidays, but I also find the season stressful. I come from a big family, and I have a gazillion gifts to buy. Every year I tell my husband that I'm going to start shopping the day after Christmas for next year and have all my shopping done and the gifts wrapped and ready to go by July 4th. He just nods. We've been married a long time, and he knows better than to tell me that I can't organize tomorrow let alone a big project like getting my Christmas shopping done by July 4th. So every year December rolls around and I realize I've bought about two gifts, and the mad rush begins.

Since "holiday season" and "stress" seem synonymous this time of year for so many people, I decided to run a contest this month that centers around laughter. Send me your funniest holiday memory (it can be from any holiday). I'll pick out what I feel are the top ten funniest stories and post them on my website where readers can vote on what three stories they think are the funniest. The top three winners will be given their choice of one of Dave's Speed Bump cartoon books: Speed Bump: Cartoons for Idea People; Just One %$#@ Speed Bump After Another . . .: More Cartoons; or Speed Bump. You can look at these books at www.amazon.com to see which book you think you'd enjoy the most.

The rules for the contest are simple:

1. Only one entry per person. Due to shipping restrictions, entries are limited to persons from the U.S., including Alaska and Hawaii, and Canada.

2. Please submit true memories. No, I can't verify that they're true, but remember that Santa is watching and he'll know! You may change the names in your story to protect the innocent (or not so innocent).

3. Please keep your entry short. These are memories, so try to tell them in one page or less. And, yes, if you need to go over one page, I'll still accept your entry.

4. Please submit PG entries - no sexual scenes, no violence, no foul language, etc. If my mother and small children can't read it, it won't make it into the finals no matter how funny it is.

5. E-mail your entry to carin@carinrafferty.com by midnight on December 22, 2007. I'd prefer you sent the entry as an e-mail attachment to make it easier to post on the website if you make it into the finals.

6. Each entry must include your name, address, phone number, and e-mail address so you can be contacted if you're a winner. This information will not be posted anywhere, so your privacy will be protected!

7. I'll post the top ten entries on the website by December 24th, and I'll close the voting on midnight December 30th, 2007. The winners will be announced on New Year's Day, which is January 1st, 2008 for those who are calendar challenged.

That's it for the rules! If you have questions, feel free to e-mail me.

Signing off for now,

Carin

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Posted by Carin Rafferty at 12/2/2007 2:24 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
Ever Had One of Those Lives?
Thank's for stopping by!

I've been trying to get my website up and running since March, 2007.  Here it is October and it's finally happening.  I keep asking myself why it took so long, and all I can come up with is that it's just been one of those hectic years.  In fact, it's been so hectic that when people ask me, "How are you?" I tend to reply, "I've had better lives."  It generally brings a chuckle or often a startled laugh.  Do I believe in reincarnation?  I don't disbelieve, but I'm not entirely convinced either.  Someday I'll have a life regression just to see what happens.  At that point I'll probably reach my decision. 

In the meantime, I'm trying to carve more time out of my life for my writing.  The problem is I have a time thief who keeps creeping in and stealing time from me.  I look at the clock and it's 8:00 a.m.  I look at it a couple of hours later and it's 5:00 p.m. and I haven't accomplished half of what I need done for the day.  If anyone knows where the time thief hides out, let me know.  I'll sneak into his world and steal my time back! 

I'll be posting on my blog regularly, so if you have a question you'd like to throw my way, feel free to e-mail it to me at carin@carinrafferty.com.   

I'll also be adding to my website soon, so drop by frequently!

Carin

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Posted by Carin Rafferty at 10/4/2007 3:54 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
Welcome to Carin's World
Welcome to Carin's World of chaos, cats, and dragons.  The chaos is real, as are the cats--my husband and I have five cats, an elderly tabby and four Tonkinese that we call the Tonka Toys.  The dragons are a collection of dragons that range from cute to fierce. 

Many of you have written me asking why I haven't been writing.  Actually, I have been writing.  I'm currently working on an Urban Fantasy tentatively entitled Stalking Midnight.  The heroine is a descendent from an Ancient Egyptian high priestess of Bast who is tied to a 3,000-year-old vampire through a curse he placed upon her ancestor.  Hopefully, this book will be published within the next year. 

ImaJinn Books (http://www.imajinnbooks.com) is in the process of reprinting my Sanctuary witch and warlock series in tradesize paperback.  The first book, Touch of Night was released the end of February.  Touch of Magic and Touch of Lightning will be released later this year.  I'll post release dates when I have them.  And, yes, I'm currently working on some ideas for another Sanctuary book.  I hope to have a fourth book written within the next year. 

I'll be posting on my blog frequently, and if you'd like to receive a copy of my blog, just subscribe to it and it will be sent to you.  If you want to e-mail me, feel free to send an e-mail to carin@carinrafferty.com.  It may take me a few days to get back to you, but I answer all my e-mails.  If you don't hear from me, feel free to e-mail me again in case the Internet Gremlins have been playing havoc with my e-mail, which they love to do.

I'm off now to get in some writing.  Thanks for stopping by!




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Posted by Carin Rafferty at 3/5/2007 4:53 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)