Wow! Just discovered the most AWESOME review for How to Cook Up a Disaster!

"Cole’s novelette is very engaging and funny, as I was eager get to the next page. The fast-paced nature makes it an even more entertaining read. Sometimes storylines like this fail because they are too cheesy, but How to Cook Up a Disaster is balanced very well."

"I give How to Cook Up a Disaster five out of five stars."

Read more at Limerence Magazine.

Last Chance to Win!

Thanks to everyone who participated in my Launch Day Contest #3 on Twitter!

The winner is: Louise Cole! (No relation. If she is, it's prior to 1570!) Congratulations, Louise! You've won a free copy of How to Cook Up a Disaster!

Unfortunately, we did not get to 75 Likes on my Facebook page, so I won't be giving away the $25 gift card. BUT I will be doing another draw later tonight for one last chance to win a free copy of How to Cook Up a Disaster. Just Like my Facebook author page! If you missed out before, now's your chance!

 

How to Cook Up a Disaster

Her mother is in labour.
The guests are due to arrive any minute for her great-grandfather's 100th birthday party.
And she hasn't a clue how to cook a turkey.
Why did the man of her dreams have to show up on her doorstep now?
Sadie Dawson is overwhelmed--and that's putting it lightly--but with the help of her two best friends she just might pull it off and land Mr. Right too.

Launch Day Contest #3!

With all these contests and giveaways, I probably should've called this Launch Week!


So, up for grabs is yet another copy of How to Cook Up a Disaster! If you missed out on the other contests, now's your chance!

All you have to do is Follow me on Twitter (if you aren't already) and retweet this line to be entered into the draw:

RT to #win a #Kindle #ebook! @rachel_e_cole http://amzn.to/SAwOIv 1 turkey dinner 1 wacky family 1 hottie fireman What could go wrong?

Also, the $25 Amazon gift card is still up for grabs if I get to 75 Likes on my Facebook Page by Friday! You know you Like me!

 

Happy tweeting!

And the winner is...

Thank you everyone who participated in my Launch Day Contest #2, yesterday. I have to say, those were quite the dinner disaster stories.

 

Now I bet you're all eager to know who the winner is. Well, you'll be happy to know, there will be TWO winners for this contest! One for best dinner disaster story. And one from the draw. See, when I set up this contest yesterday, I was planning to pick a winner simply by doing a draw (like I did for my Facebook contest), but after reading some of these fabulously disastrous dinner stories, I decided I simply had to award a prize for worst dinner disaster story, too!

So without further ado, the winner of the draw is . . . *shakes hat full of names*

Liz Penney!

And now the winner of the best worst dinner disaster story is . . .

H. Pinski!

Congratulations! You've both won a free copy of How to Cook Up a Disaster! Step right up and claim your prize! (Okay, email me and I'll send it to you! ;) )

Thanks everyone for participating in my fun Launch Day Contests! Watch this blog (and my Twitter feed and Facebook Page) for details on another contest coming up tomorrow!

Launch Day Contest #2!

If you missed out on the Facebook giveway yesterday, you're still in luck! I'm doing another giveaway today right here through my blog. Tell me about the worst dinner disaster you've ever had in the comments below and you could win a free copy of How to Cook Up a Disaster! (Deadline: tonight at 11:59 pm Pacific Time)

Also, the $25 Amazon gift card is still up for grabs! If I get 75 likes to my Facebook page by Friday, one of my lucky Facebook fans will win it!

My dinner disasters have fortunately been fairly minor, but here are a couple almost-disasters I've had:

I was making roast beef dinner and discovered the potatoes in the pantry had grown roots and gone mouldy and were completely inedible. I didn't have a car at that time, so couldn't run to the store to buy more, so I ended up asking our guests to bring some with them! Another time I dumped an entire bowl of stuffing onto the floor while trying to stuff the turkey. This time I did have a car and was able to run out to the store and buy more bread crumbs. Still, dinner was more than a little late that night.

Like I said, pretty minor. I got nothing on poor Sadie. ;)

Launch Day Contest!

Tomorrow, October 2nd, is launch day for How to Cook Up a Disaster!

And to celebrate, I'm holding a contest!

Up for grabs is a free copy of How to Cook Up a Disaster! BUT only if I get 50 likes for my Facebook fan page. That's only ONE more likes and one of my lucky readers can win a free copy of my new chick-lit/romantic comedy novelette! BUT WAIT! There's more! If I get 75 likes, I'll be giving away a $25 Amazon gift card! So tell your friends, tell your family, tell everyone to like my page and get a chance to win a free book or a free gift card!

5 Reasons House Rabbits Make the Best Pets for Writers

Writing is a solitary endeavor and can become quite lonely. Many writers, therefore, seek out pets to keep them company. But which pet is the best pet for a writer?

A house rabbit of course!

Your books look different!

Yup, it's true. A couple of my titles look a bit different. I decided both Fallen Leaves and For Good or For Bad would benefit of having new covers.

Before:

New Release!

My flash fiction collection, Of Directions, Destinations, and Differences is now available for Kindle!

It contains six stories that explore who we are, where we're going, and what makes us each unique:

Is This Seat Taken?

Sneaking Around

The Bear Hunter

Full Circle

Free to Good Home

Porridge For Breakfast

Get your copy today!

Tag I'm It!

Thanks to Pat Esden http://patesden.livejournal.com/ for tagging me in this fun post. It gives me the chance to talk about what I'm working on and share that love with some friends.  If you're reading this, consider yourself tagged! Let me know when you post your answers!

Today, you're in luck, because I'm going to give answers for TWO books instead of one!

How to Cook Up a Disaster has a cover!

So excited I had to share: my chick-lit/romantic comedy novelette How to Cook Up a Disaster has a cover!

Available for Kindle October 2, 2012!

Blog Hop Pitch Polish

Well, I didn't get into the official Pitch Polish, so I'm participating in the blog hop. I'll be hopping around to give a hand to the other blog hoppers as time permits this week.

Anyway, here's my pitch and first 150 words.

GUTGAA Meet and Greet!

A Bit About Me:

When it comes to writing, I have a bit of a multiple personality disorder. I love, love, love children’s books, from charming picture books, to quirky and giggle-inducing middle grade novels, to gripping dystopian/post apocalyptic young adult novels. But I love poignant, heart-tugging women’s fiction, laugh-out-loud funny chick-lit, and romantic comedy, too. I also love beautifully wrought literary fiction and captivating historicals. Little wonder I write across so many genres!

Trindie Books

Trindie Books has featured The Perfect Ring: http://trindiebooks.com/perfect-ring-short-story/

How to Cook Up a Disaster: Sneak Peek!

Yes, my dear readers, today is your lucky day. I'm giving you a sneak peek at the first 5 pages of my upcoming chick-lit/romantic comedy novelette, How to Cook Up a Disaster. Now available on Amazon US and Amazon UK!

Enjoy!

How to Cook Up a Disaster

1

If I’d known what was in store for me that day, I would have convinced Mom to order take-out, locked the cat on the porch and never, ever allowed my father in the same room as my Aunt Ginny. But, being the dutiful daughter I was, I took the bus to Mom’s place that morning, prepared to bake and roast and decorate and otherwise make Grampy Joe’s one-hundredth birthday party the best it could be.

Free ebooks until August 31st!

I'm making three of my short stories FREE on Kobo until August 31st! Click the covers to download your FREE copy!

 

 

And watch for more titles coming to Kobo September 1st!

 

Learning to Fly is now available!

My short story collection, Learning to Fly is now available for the Kindle! It will be available for the Kobo and other ereader devices on September 1st! Click the cover to get your copy!

 

This collection combines five of Rachel Elizabeth Cole's touching short stories. In "Fallen Leaves," a woman must come to terms with the bad blood between her dead husband's grandmother and herself. In "Listen to the Rain," a young couple going through a rough patch struggles to find happiness. In "Caring For Lily," a young mother wrestles with her decision to return to work. In "For Good or For Bad," a disatisfied wife must decide if she'll risk everything for her ex-boyfriend. In "Is This Seat Taken?," two strangers connect briefly in a bus station. Heartfelt, bittersweet, and poignant, these short stories explore the moments where we spread our fledgling wings, take that leap, and learn to fly.

I'm a featured author at Freebooksy!

Caring For Lily is being featured along with three other short stories on Freebooksy today!

Got a title . . . and a cover!

After much back and forth and round and round, I finally settled on a title for my collected short stories: At a Crossroads. I even had a cover mocked up! But then I stumbled across the most amazing photo of a storm brewing over the ocean and a lonely seagull holding his own against the winds. Out went my previous title and cover to make way for the new:

Learning to Fly: A Collection of Short Stories will be available August 20th for Kindle and Kobo!

In Need of a Catchy Title

Titles come to me any number of ways. Sometimes a catchy title pops into my head and I just have to write a story to go with it. This happened with my yet-to-be-published middle-grade novel, The Rabbit Ate My Homework, and a recently written short story, Free to Good Home.

If a title doesn't come to me before the story is completed, I'll go back after the fact and comb through it to find a descriptive phrase or line that fits the story. Listen to the Rain and my upcoming chick-lit novelette, How to Cook Up a Disaster, were titled this way.

Sometimes I choose a symbol, image, or object that represents the story. That's how The Perfect Ring and Fallen Leaves got their titles.

There's as many ways to title a story as there are stories to be titled. Here's a really great article on titling: Choosing the Right Name For Your Story.

Right now, I'm in the process of bundling several of my short stories (Fallen Leaves, Listen to the Rain, Caring For Lily, For Good or For Bad, and a bonus story, Is This Seat Taken?) into a themed collection. The theme that seems to run through these stories is choices, and how the choices we make affect our lives in good and bad ways.

However, I am having the worst time picking a title for this series (even after reading that excellent article and several more like it!).

Novel, Novella, Novelette? (What the heck?)

Probably 99% of the population knows what a novel* is. It's a work of fiction. Usually 300-400 pages (80,000 to 100,000 words) long. It's got chapters. It's got characters and plots and sub-plots. And it can take hours and hours to read, even if you're a fast reader like me.

Photo by Alberto G.© 2006

But you ask readers if they know what a novella or a novelette are, and they start scratching their heads (at least the readers I asked sure did!).

So what exactly is a novella and a novelette?

Lessons in Marketing (or How Not to Market Your Literary Short Story)

So the free promotion I participated in last week was a resounding success . . . for one of my titles.

Fallen Leaves reached a high of #53 on the Top 100 Free Ebooks on Amazon.com. Pretty darn good for a short story! It also garnered a glowing 4 star review!

But my other short story, Listen to the Rain, didn't fair so well. It started off well, with downloads pretty closely matching those of Fallen Leaves, and even reached the #100 spot on the Top Free Ebooks list. But then the 1 and 2 star reviews started showing up:

"There's no ending! It just stops with no resolution."

"The author leaves you hanging. Lame. Just lame. Thanks so much for robbing me of 10 mins of my life."

"The ending is 'meh' at best with absolutely no attempt at conclusion or catharsis."

Ouch.

4th of July Hangover (Free Ebook Event Extension)

The highly successful 4th of July Literary and Thriller Fireworks Free Ebook Event will now extend through July 5, 2012. Five of the literary fiction and thriller authors have announced they will continue to offer their ebooks free for a third day.

The authors, who are all members of the Backspace online writers organization (www.bksp.org) include Rachel Elizabeth Cole, Loretta Giacoletto, Mary Beth Daniels, Daniel A. Smith and Nora Carroll.

The ebooks included in the free promotion are:
• Fallen Leaves by Rachel Elizabeth Cole
• Chicago's Headmistress by Loretta Giacoletto
• Heteroflexibility: A Romantic Comedy by Mary Beth Daniels
• Listen to the Rain by Rachel Elizabeth Cole
• Storykeeper by Daniel A. Smith
• Hemingway Point by Nora Carroll

Free Ebooks!

Today nine literary fiction and thriller authors announced that they will be offering their ebooks free on Amazon.com (http://amzn.com/lm/R2WOWYEBBT2Q8E) during a two-day promotion. The two-day free ebook promotion named 4th of July Literary and Thriller Fireworks will take place on July 3, and July 4, 2012.

In the spirit of writers helping writers and as such making ebooks more easily accessible to readers, the authors who are all members of Backspace (http://www.bksp.org), an online writers organization, include Karen Dionne, Eileen Cruz Coleman, J.H. Bográn, Danielle Younge-Ullman, Rachel Elizabeth Cole, Loretta Giacoletto, Mary Beth Daniels, Daniel A. Smith and Nora Carroll.

The ebooks included in the free promotion are:

Sweetwater American by Eileen Cruz Coleman
Freezing Point by Karen Dionne
Falling Under by Danielle Younge-Ullman*
Assassin's Mistress, a short story by J.H. Bográn
Fallen Leaves by Rachel Elizabeth Cole
Chicago's Headmistress by Loretta Giacoletto
Heteroflexibility: A Romantic Comedy by Mary Beth Daniels
Listen to the Rain by Rachel Elizabeth Cole
Storykeeper by Daniel A. Smith
Hemingway Point by Nora Carroll

*Falling Under by Danielle Younge-Ullman will be free only on July 3, 2012, but will be discounted to .99 cents on July 4, 2012.

“The 4th of July Literary and Thriller Fireworks promotion is a unique opportunity to pick up some exciting thrillers and gorgeous literary novels from several talented members of the Backspace Writers' Organization -- for free!” said Darcie Chan, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the literary novel, The Mill River Recluse (http://www.amazon.com/The-Mill-River-Recluse-ebook/dp/B0051PRFLQ/)

Readers may easily download all ten free ebooks from Amazon.com on July 3rd and July 4th by going here: 4th of July Free Ebooks

Don't have a Kindle? Don't worry! You can download a FREE Kindle app for your computer, smart phone, tablet, or other electronic device here.