Three Year Blogiversary and #Giveaway

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Three years ago today I set up this blog. It's changed a great deal since then, as have I. It originally started as just a meas to type out and share old stories I wrote growing up for my friends. Little did I know it would ignite my passion for writing and start me down a career path that not only brings me great joy, but has saved our little family on several occasions.
I've learned so much along the way. When a sister of a friend, who is also a friend of a friend and knew my husband growing up but I didn't meet her until this point, stumbled across my blog, she pointed me down the writer's path. I feel like I owe a great deal to Darci Cole, because if she hadn't introduced me to other bloggers and eventually twitter, I definitely wouldn't be where I am.
Through her, I started following Cassie Mae's blog, and soon after, she posted about GUTGAA.
The rest all kind of went from there.
To celebrate, I'm going to giveaway a paperback copy of any of my books of your choice (note: Branded won't be available in paperback until Nov) All you need to do is leave a comment showing me how much your writing has developed and grown since you first started out by using excepts from an early work and a recent one. I will then use random.org to pick a winner. But, your comment must be legit or I won't include it ;-)
For fun, I will post an excerpt of my first story I posted on here, and then put an excerpt of the same story, rewritten after I started publishing. It's the same scene, pretty much, when the MC meets her brother's best friend who takes an instant fancy to her. It amazes me the difference, and it's so fun to see how much I've learned and grown. Maybe when I get down on my writing, I should pull out old manuscripts and give them a look over. Maybe you should too!

Original -

The young man who had spoken took my hand and bowed. He was hansom enough, dark eyes, near black hair and by the tan of his skin I could tell he was a farmer.
"Would the Lady Alana mind if I were to call on her?" He inquired of me.
I looked at him surprised and was about to say 'Yes, she would mind, she has no desire to marry yet' but James stopped me, "No, she wouldn't mind at all, but right now we must meet our father"
"Then I shall call in on you in due time. At the cottage I presume?"
"No," Martin spoke up "We are going back to the farm today"
"Is that so?" the young man smiled at Martin, then returned his gaze back to me "Then I shall write, for I too must return to my own farm in two days so I will send correspondence"
James then gave him our farm's name and we parted. I refused to talk to him after that, but he didn't seem to mind.

Rewritten (Name changes that are more period and culturally accurate, and that overlap with stories I've written.)

The five young men approached, all examining me. I hated that. Being young, and part of a well-to-do family, I definitely had more appeal than at least two thirds of the other women around. 

“Adele,” Edmund said, gesturing at the young men. “I’d like you to meet my friends. We play rugby together.” 

They all bowed, offering me their names. 

“May we take a turn in the gardens?” Edmund asked. 

I squeezed his arm, trying to tell him no, but he ignored me. 

“Oh, yes,” one, who had introduced himself as Thomas, said. “It would be lovely to take a break to make your sister’s acquaintance.”I took a deep breath, counting to five as I tried not to roll my eyes.As we walked, the other four men slowly departed to return to their duties, but Thomas remained, strolling alongside Edmund. I watched him as he and Edmund conversed, laughing every now and then, realizing Edmund had mentioned him on occasion, calling Thomas his closest friend. No wonder he wanted me to marry him.“So tell me, Miss Escott,” Thomas said, leaning forward to see me. “Are you truly the prankster Edmund claims you to be?”“Edmund claims many things,” I replied, looking ahead to avoid admiring his pleasant features. “Doesn’t mean they are true. He is a fine storyteller.”Edmund grinned. “I have such a great source for my stories. Come, Adele, you have so many good tales to tell.”Yes, enough to hopefully scare off this Thomas. I slapped on a smile, and turned up my gaze to meet Thomas’ light brown eyes. “My father tried to have me attend a finishing school once. The problem was, the matron was cruel. So, I caught a blue tongue lizard and slipped it between her sheets.”Edmund laughed. “The wench thought it was a snake!”I elbowed him, grinning. “This is my story, you weren’t there.”“Sorry.”“Anyway, the screaming woke the whole household. Everyone went into a mad frenzy, while I rolled laughing. She knew right away I was to blame, so had me take it away, and promptly sent me packing in the morning.”“Pa wasn’t impressed,” Edmund said, a playful smile curling his lips.“No.” I shook my head. “But it doesn’t matter. I’m going to be an explorer, like Blaxland, Lawson, and Wentworth. An explorer doesn’t need finishing school.”Edmund nudged me, clearing his throat.“An explorer?” Thomas nodded, his arms behind his back. “That’s a dangerous path.”“Danger isn’t—”Edmund elbowed me sharply in the ribs.I glared at him.He shook his head.
“There is still much land to be explored,” Thomas said, apparently oblivious to our exchange. “And with new advances coming out of England and America all the time, we will be flying soon.”I stared at him, wondering if he was teasing me, but found him gazing into the sky, his eyes bright as he smiled.Edmund nudged me again, winking.I cleared my throat. “Don’t we need to be somewhere?”Edmund looked toward the docks, shielding his eyes. “No, the ship has barely docked. We have some time yet.”“We don’t have that long. We should really be going.”Edmund turned his focus to Thomas. “Pa has arranged something special for Adele. It seems she is eager to find out what it is.”“Yes.” I tugged at Edmund’s arm. “Now, can we go?”“I will walk with you,” Thomas said.“What an excellent idea. Don’t you agree, Adele?” Edmund turned his head so Thomas wouldn’t see his smirk and raised eyebrow.Really subtle, Eddie. “Oh yes, excellent.”
As we turned to head back, Thomas slipped around behind us and strolled next to me. I shuffled closer to Edmund, not wanting to give Thomas ideas.

Kiya: Hope of the Pharaoh Turns One!

I cannot believe a year has passed since my debut novel released. What an amazing year it has been! The support, the new friendships I have made, the things I have learned are all invaluable.
Since its release, the rest of the trilogy has also become available, and I've gone on to contract several more books. It's available as ebook, paperback, audio book and soon in hardback as well. Kiya has done an incredible job at kick starting my writing career. To to celebrate, and say thank you, I am hosting this blog hop with prizes to find along the way. I will giveaway copies of Kiya and critiques to participants of the hop. For the details, go here

For my 500 word short story, I'm going to do a short Horemheb perspective. As per the game, please add to it in the comments in 365 words or less. Commenters go in the running for prizes!

He paused outside, knowing if he entered prematurely he could face possible execution. But with Kiya gone, he didn’t feel like he had much else to lose. He burst through the door, and found himself looking across a round courtyard with a pool in the middle. Women gathered in, whispering to each other, and across the other side of the room, he saw Ay with Nefertiti. That meant Akhenaten was somewhere nearby.

“Where’s the king?” he demanded.

One of the concubines turned to him and pointed down a hallway.

He rushed down it, and near the end, found Gerlind sobbing in Abi’s arms. Abi held onto her, her cheeks wet, but she remained composed.

“What has happened?” Horemheb asked.

Gerlind jumped and looked up at him. “You!”

Abi pulled her behind her. “Commander, Mordad is dead.”

“What? How?”

Akhenaten stepped out of the dark room beside them. His head hung, as he spoke in a low voice. “My wives have turned against one another. My beloved Kiya is gone, and my dear Mordad now lies dead from an asp planted to kill Kiya.”

“My lord.” Abi hurried over and touched his face. “Gerlind and I remain.”

Gerlind nodded and grabbed his hand. “Yes, we will remain at your side.”

He half smiled, but his head fell. “Commander?”

“Yes, my lord?”

“How do I know what love is when my heart is torn from me by the very people who claim to love me?”

Horemheb didn’t know how to answer. He shook his head. “No man knows love like you, my lord.”

Akhenaten lifted his head and glared down the hall. “I wish I could…” He huffed. “Why do I still love her?”

“Who?”

Akhenaten lowered his voice. “That vicious creature Nefertiti.” He ran his hand over his face and tossed his crown to the ground.

Horemheb flinched and plucked it up. “My lord―”

“Did you see Kiya flee, Horemheb? Is she safe?”

He nodded. “She disappeared before the horn sounded―”

“And why didn’t you go with her? Hmm?”

Horemheb paused, seeing the ice in Akhenaten’s eyes. He knew how he felt for her, he had to know. “I need to remain here with you.”

Akhenaten sneered. “Ah yes, loyal to the crown aren’t we, Commander? I bet you only stayed to ensure her son gets that once I die.” He motioned at the crown in Horemheb’s hand.

Horemheb lifted it to him. “He’s your son, my lord.”

Akhenaten snatched it from him. “I have no one left to trust. Kiya kept everything together. She gave me love and devotion where everyone else feigned it. I am alone. Completely alone to bear this burden.” He waved the crown in the air.

Horemheb shook his head. “My lord, I still…”

Akhenaten shoved his chest. “You desire my Kiya. You only remain loyal for her.”

Now add away!!!

Here's the linky code:

Kiya's One Year Anniversary

I have been pondering over this for a while. I wanted to do something fun to celebrate Kiya: Hope of the Pharaoh's one year anniversary. It's success has blown me away and humbled me. So, I want to give a special thank you to everyone who has loved Kiya enough to read and follow this journey.

To celebrate, I am going to host a blog hop. There will be prizes, like a signed copy of each of the three books, ebooks, and I will throw in a first chapter critique and a query critique. Also, some of the bloggers will be throwing in a prize of their own.

What you need to do: On April 30th, post a fan-fic short story, Max 500 words. It could be about a side character, a pharaoh before or after the period, whatever you like, it just needs to follow the theme of Ancient Egypt in some way. Next, hop to the other blogs to continue the story. It's like that game in school where you have a piece of paper, one person writes a starting sentence, folds it over, gives two words to start the next sentence, then you pass it around the group until you are done. Then, once it gets back to the start, you read the story out loud and its a comical mess. The hop is like a variation of that. Someone writes a short story, then other hoppers leave an extension of the story in the comments. This extension must be a max. of 365 words. The more stories you add to, the more chances you have of winning!

Prizes will be awarded for Kiya fanaticism (I wanna see swooning over the guys, behind the scenes action, crazy fangirl/guy-ing etc), comic relief, creativity, and anything else that catches the blogger's eye. But let's keep it PG guys ;-)

So let's have some fun! Sign up below and get ready for the celebration.