Enter the HeavenSent.com contest today!

To celebrate the release of my novella, HeavenSent.com, in the Holiday Brides anthology, I'm giving away books, gift cards, and beautiful keepsakes!

There are two ways to enter and yes, you can enter both ways.

Reader Thank You Prize Pack:

Sign up for my newsletter and you'll be entered to win a $10 Barnes & Noble gift card and a signed copy of my backlist books, Where Souls Collide and The Holiday Inn. Three lucky readers will each win one of these prize packs.

Grand Prize Pack:

My heroine, Brenna, has decided that the only way to make good on her mission to find a man is through online dating at HeavenSent.com. For a chance at the Grand Prize Pack, you need to sign up for my newsletter AND write your own online dating profile! It can be funny or serious. Please keep to 50 words or less. I'll pick five to be highlighted on my web site, here on my blog, and on my Facebook and MySpace pages. Two winners will receive a grand prize pack that includes a $20 Barnes & Noble gift card, signed copies of my backlist books The Holiday Inn and Where Souls Collide, and a gorgeous souvenir ceramic tile from Detroit's nationally renowned Pewabic Pottery studio.

Click here to enter the contest!

**Contest ends midnight, January 1, 2010

Holiday Brides is now available!

It's release day for Holiday Brides! Woo hoo! I've been celebrating around the blogosphere, promoting my novella HeavenSent.com and talking about the writing life. I'm also enjoying the reviews that have rolled in so far, including this one from Ramsey's Reviews:

4 1/2 stars!
"HeavenSent.Com is a sensuous and compelling read. Stefanie Worth has conveyed a splendid, romantic and angelic story with a happy ever after ending. She has a unique gift for portraying lifelike characterizations which radiate true emotions and designing a plot that is as charming as the story itself. I am sure any reader will find this a delightful and inspiring short story."

I have to admit that this release day is pretty much as exciting as the first was for Where Souls Collide, except that today I've topped the occasion with a wee bit of anxiety. There's a different pressure to produce now -- precisely the kind I've longed for -- that keeps the thought of "I have to get back to writing" on the fringes of my celebration.

That is why I do this after all; so that each release day leads to new readers and new reasons to keep writing. I love being an author and count myself blessed to have another book to share with the world.

About HeavenSent.com in the Holiday Brides anthology:

The holidays aren’t so festive when you’re celebrating by yourself. But with a little luck and a lot of love, three single women find their soulmates and get the holiday weddings of their dreams.

Brenna has a list, and she’s checking it twice. But unfortunately for her coworker Evan, she just doesn’t seem to see him as anything more than a friend. Can an online dating site and two guardian angels change her mind before the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve?

Read chapter one

Watch the trailer

Visit my web site

Early reviews for HeavenSent.com!

Reviews always stir the angst pot for me. Of course, I believe I've written one heckuva story. But it's like an author said at a workshop once: Out of 10 people, one person is going to love your writing. Period. One person is going to hate your writing. Period. One or two may feel so-so about it, another couple of folks will really enjoy it. The remaining readers fall somewhere in between.

And in the years since I first heard that philosophy, I've come to believe that the "like it" scale sways with each new work, and that for people -- like me -- who write paranormal, we have to factor in the whole "Did they get it?" question that comes with writing otherworldly stories.

That said, I'm pretty excited about the following two reviews that have come in for my novella HeavenSent.com in the Holiday Brides anthology due out in about 10 days. I'm going to spend the moment feeling fabulous, then get back to work on my WIP.

From Huntress Reviews:

"***** FIVE STARS! I was sent a galley copy of this novella for an honest review. I am going to assume (yeah, I know the joke about assuming) that the other two stories are as good as this one. Therefore, this book receives the full five stars from me. Stefanie Worth's story hits close to home as she clearly shows how the economic world of today is, as well as how it affects people who live in it. Her characters, both mortal and angelic, are totally believable. Nothing comes across as odd or false. This book is perfect for reading while you are cuddled up in front a cozy fire indoors while the snow piles up outside. *****"

From Darque Reviews:

"HeavenSent.com is part of the Holiday Brides anthology. Ms. Worth does a fabulous job of bringing readers into this short story while filling it with an unexpectedly sweet romance, as well as heavenly paranormal elements. A fast-paced escape that’s sure to capture reader’s attention."

Visit the HeavenSent.com page on my site to view the book trailer or read an excerpt.

Reading to not make changes

The galleys for Holiday Brides arrived yesterday. They come via email and -- this being my third set -- I now have this ritual of checking the ink cartridge, adjusting the print settings, and readying a stack of fresh paper to feed into the machine as it spits forth the laid out pages for me to proof.

It's a little nerve-wracking, the whole "read and don't make any 'unnecessary' changes" thing. Don't publishers know we're writers and constantly improving our prose is what fuels our existence??? Then again, I'm sure that's why the guideline is in place. *sigh*

So, my only real to-do this weekend is to re-read HeavenSent.com (a/k/a Brenna and Evan's story) and make sure what's on the pages-to-be matches what I submitted. I quit last night after two chapters. The back and forth was making my head spin. . .and I got distracted by VH1's "Black to the Future." My bad.

I'll do better tonight. When the June 16th deadline to return these galleys rolls around, I so need to back into my WIP. Deep, deep back.

On that note, wish me few typos, missing words, or lost chunks of plot!

Stefanie