Guest - Chris Redding

Please give a warm welcome to my guest here on my blog, author, Chris Redding. Congratulations on your new release!
Hello Adele’s blog! I’m author Chris Redding. I live in New Jersey with my one husband, two kids, one dog and three rabbits. I graduated from Penn State with a degree in journalism. I work part time at my local hospital. The book coming out is A View to a Kilt.

Waking up next to a dead guy can ruin your whole day. When a wise-cracking interior decorator wants to put her past behind her, the dead body of the mayor’s son makes her realize that won’t happen too easily. A conservative former computer geek for the FBI is holding on too tightly to his past. His wife died under suspicious circumstances and he believes the decorator has the information to solve the case. Unfortunately for him, she isn’t speaking until a series of events convinces her she needs protection especially when her biggest secret threatens to destroy both of their lives.


Excerpt:
The trip downtown took ten minutes in the midmorning traffic. Miriam shivered at the cool breeze snaking across the parking lot of the Philadelphia Police Administration building at Fifth and Race Streets. She wasn’t dressed for the fall weather. Pulling her coat tighter around herself did nothing for her exposed legs. The chill percolated to her bones.
Would she ever be warm again?
Donner left her in an interrogation room and went to get coffee. The room, painted in a subdued green, had what Miriam presumed to be a two-way mirror on one wall. A tape recorder for her statement sat on the table. She couldn’t seem to stop shivering despite rubbing her hands up and down her arms. Standing, she began to pace.
A urine smell wrinkled her nose. She jammed a lock of blonde hair behind her ear and caught a look at herself in the mirror.
“Bedhead, big time,” she said to her reflection. Her crumpled dress added to the picture. She admitted she looked as if she could kill someone. Even her hot pink, sheath dress looked odd on her.
How she looked was the least of her worries now. Doubling in pain, new tears streamed down her face. “Oh, God, Joe. What were you into since I last saw you?”
Her stomach rumbled as much from stress as hunger. When she straightened, Donner stood in the doorway, coffees in hand, trying not to look at her. “Want one?”


A View to a Kilt will be available electronically July 1, 2011 and in print August 1, 2011.
Where you can find me on the web:
Website    Blog   Facebook   Twitter  MySpace
Thanks for letting me stop by today, Adelle!
It was truly my pleasure. Best of luck to you :)

Under Construction

     I've been a busy bee over the past week or so for two reasons. One reason is I changed all passwords etc on all accounts I can remember to avoid the trouble so many others have experienced over the past couple of weeks with hackers. I feel your pain. Since I've already been through that nightmare, I took preventative measures to ensure it doesn't happen again. 


     Easy Peezy, right? 

Unfortunately when doing so with PAYPAL, I opened Pandora's box to a plethora of problems with my account. For over a week now I've been working through emails, phone conversations, every day, sometimes twice a day with Customer Support to no avail, until this morning. I can now access my account and all info is updated! Woot! While I appreciate PayPal's security measures, it shouldn't be so hard for the account holder to update their information. Thankfully that nightmare is behind me. 
     Just when I can take a breath of relief, I go to update my website....
     Yup, you guessed it.  http://adellelaudan.com/  I have Bravehost support working on it now. Why me? I try to do the right thing, I eat all my veggies...  lol  The universe must be out of whack and I won the Screw Up of the month position. Sigh, hopefully my account will be back up in proper format at some point today. 
     In an effort to keep my sanity, I did something I've wanted to do for some time now. I created new covers for the kindle/ebook version of my Iron Horse Rider Trilogy.

     So, what do you think?  I made them myself, and I have to say I'm pretty happy with the results. I wanted these covers to convey this trilogy is so much more than 'just' biker fiction. I hope I have achieved this with new covers. 
     Let's hope the rest of the weekend passes by smoothly. Have a Good One! 

Talent Shout Out!

Whenever I come across a new find on the net, I love to share it with my readers. 
I followed a link on facebook and it brought me to an amazing photographer.

This is one of the works of Jim Lightfoot
It is hard to find a good source of 'real' biker images, so I am very excited to find this talented photographer. This is just one of many in his profile. He has three sections. Cowboys, Bikers & Commercial Photographs. It's definitely worth taking a look at. 
Visit Jim Lightfoot  HERE

While I was looking around the site, I checked out the LINK page. Here I found a plethora of talent at
Segal Fine Art

  

70 Years of Sturgis                  Pit Stop by Holly Ellsworth

by Michael Knepper 

Whiskey Pete  by  Robert Tate

There are more artists who do things other than biker art. Here's a couple of examples...

Reflections by Juan Medina           Eclipse by Lu Hong

***Mystified by Elle Laudan

 is now also available in PRINT

Be sure to enter Elle's Contest

if you do purchase a copy HERE

My Bookmarks

1-   http://www.freeprintable.net /  

FreePrintable.net provides beautiful printable files that you can customize and print on your inkjet or laser printer.

e.g. Printable:  Paper Dolls, Luggage tags, Press Release templates, Page borders, calendars, coloring pages etc

2    http://www.clker.com/ 

The online royalty free public domain clip art.

3-    http://www.lunapic.com/editor/ 

Photo editor with over 200 great effects.

4-    http://mysilpada.com/sites/jennifer.bernier/private/content/home.jsf 

Silpada Sterling Silver Jewellery,   Great prices and beautiful items. Perfect for contests etc.

5-    http://www.guyfinley.org/free-content/writings/inspirational-quotes 

Inspirational quotes by Guy Finley.

e.g. There is no painful story in one's life without the presence of two main players: a "storyteller," and an "audience" who's willing to sit there, listen, and believe in the story being told.

6-    http://www.way2blogging.org/ 

Way 2 Blogging – Latest blogging tips and gadgets. Blogger widgets, tips, templates & tools.

7-    http://www.dashboard.simpletruths.com/ 

Your destination of inspiration – Search for 1000’s of quotes and inspiration stories.

Also has a store for great gift ideas. http://simpletruths.com 

8-    http://www.mygeekery.com/ 

Geek for the non-geek and other info.   A goldmine of tips and tricks for wordpress, blogger, facebook, guide to writing good sex. Much, much more.

9-    http://morguefile.com/ 

Public image archive for creatives by creatives. Free images for your inspiration, reference and use in your creative work, be it commercial or not!

10- http://incompetech.com/m/c/royalty-free/ 

Royalty free music for your book trailers etc.

11- http://www.writersout.com/ 

I just found this one. I’ve signed up but haven’t created my profile yet. It is a non-exclusive service offering writers  a place to share, publish & sell their work while using social networking to create a community, build a fan base, and stay connected with their audience.

12- http://www.romantic-ideas-online.com/ 

Romantic Ideas and Romance Tips for your Love Romance Relationship. I find this site helpful to kick start my muse when I am stalled in my writing.

13- http://www.tumblr.com/ 

This is my next project to increasing my online presence. My girls love it, and I’ve taken a look around and think it is worth taking the time to sign up and explore.

I hope you find some of these links helpful, or at least entertaining. Have a great day!

You can find more Thursday Thirteen participants at http://thursday-13.com/ 

Summer Is Here!

Summer Solstice at Stonehenge

Revellers cheer as the sun finally breaks through the clouds more than a couple of hours after sunrise during the summer solstice at Stonehenge, near Salisbury in England, Tuesday, June 21, 2011. The summer solstice in the northern hemisphere occurs annually on June 21 and is the time at which the sun is at its northernmost point in the sky

A druid prays for peace during incantations at the summer solstice ceremony at Stonehenge . Druids, a pagan religious order dating back to Celtic Britain, believe Stonehenge was a centre of spiritualism more than 2,000 years ago

 Stonehenge is a celebrated venue of festivities during the summer solstice - the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere - and it attracts thousands of revellers, spiritualists and tourists 

Pictures were taken from http://photogallery.thestar.com/1012359 

Whatever your beliefs about Summer Solstice or Stonehenge and the people who celebrate there, one thing remains constant..  

SUMMER IS HERE!

HAPPY Father's Day!

This isn't a Father's Day song, but it makes me happy. 

Since my Dads been gone for 3 years now, I need happy.

Motorcycle Charity Events

 1

WWR Women Who Ride 4th Annual Conga Ride to     Arrive in Shell, Wyoming July 14 – 17, 2011

More Info Here

 Breast Cancer Research

The mission of The Breast Cancer Research Foundation® is to achieve prevention and a cure for breast cancer in our lifetime by providing critical funding for innovative clinical and translational research at leading medical centers worldwide, and increasing public awareness about good breast health. Currently, over 90 cents of every dollar donated goes to breast cancer research and awareness programs. 

2
I had the pleasure of working on this project with Debbie aka Boots who wrote the initial story, and Flo, who is the founder of the Conga Ride. You can purchase a copy of this book, CD, ebook, and an awesome calendar HERE

These items are truly a celebration of Women Who Ride 

Cancer Trembles When it Hears the Conga Coming! 

There is also a video available by Carrie. 

All proceeds go to this fundraiser. 

3

A.L.S.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease. People living with the disease become progressively paralyzed due to degeneration of the upper and lower motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. Eighty per cent of people with ALS die within two to five years of diagnosis– unable to breathe or swallow. Ten per cent of those affected may live for 10 years or longer. 

I will be holding a books signing at this event.  MARK's RUN

4 Ride For Progeria

Progeria is an extremely rare condition that causes symptoms of premature aging at an early age. This is a genetic condition that is not hereditary in most cases, and 

people with progeria usually live to their mid to late teens

http://progeriaresearch.org/

5

Ride for Sight is the longest running motorcycle charity fundraiser in Canada; the first ride began in 1979 in Central Ontario. Each regional Ride has its own unique features. Annual Ride for Sight weekend celebration events are supported in part by generous corporate sponsorship and are organized by volunteer Ride for Sight Planning Teams. While Ride for Sight participants are primarily comprised of motorcyclists -- volunteers, fundraisers and supporters also include non-motorcyclists and families affected by retinal diseases.

More Info HERE

6 

Saturday July2, 2011

More Info HERE

7 CAPPY Ride - 

July 10, 2011

in the fight to end child abuse.

The CAPPY Ride – Child Abuse Prevention and Protection of Youth - is dedicated to the fight against child abuse through its support of child abuse prevention, education, and treatment programs offered by the Community Child Abuse Council. Together we are helping child and youth victims in their trauma recovery and healing and working to stop child abuse.

8The Ride for Autism

&Veterans  

Sunday, July 17, 2011

Wing 404, 510 Dutton Dr., Waterloo

Registration: 9:30 to 10:30 a.m.
Ride: 10:30 a.m.

Autism & Veterans
In the past, the Ride for Autism has been very successful in raising funds for our Service Dog for Autism Program. This year, we are expanding the Ride to include our NEWSkilled-Companion Dog for Veterans Program.

Certified Autism Service Dogs

National Service Dogs (NSD) has proven that properly trained and certified autism service dogs can:

• Increase safety levels and alleviate the bolting behaviourscommon in children with autism by acting as an anchor when tethered to the child
• Improve a child's socialization and behavior skills
• Create freedoms for the child and family members to go out of the house safely and confidently
• Expand a child's capabilities to experience more of life and to grow
• Calm children thereby giving them an increased attention span and a greater aptitude for learning

9 

More Info HERE

10 Upper Credit Humane Society

Sunday July 10, 2011

Registration:  11:00 am. 

Ride starts at noon

P.R.P. Association

10675 Mississauga Road, Brampton

Entry fee is $25 for riders and $10 for passengers

BBQ, Raffle & Prizes

http://www.uppercredit.com/

11 

                   12

          She Rides                               Mystified
Breast Cancer Research           A.L.S. Foundation


         $1 from each copy sold will go to these Charities
*** Adult Content NOT suitable for those under the age of 18

 13  More info HERE


 A LIST of Charity Rides  -  Even if you can't attend these events, donations are welcome. All going to very worthy causes. 

Your Chance to WIN!

You must be 18 yrs old or older to visit

Elle Laudan   and enter this contest. 

It's Release Day

You can now purchase an ecopy of Mystified HERE
You can also read an excerpt at above link.
 Mystified in Print will be coming soon. 


 $1 from each copy sold will go to Mark's Run for A.L.S.  I will be at this event on August 6th signing books

 Please feel free to visit both charities and make a donation. No amount is too small!

 Mystified at Mark's Run for A.L.S.
She Rides at WWR Conga Ride for Breast Cancer Research 
Remember Elle Laudan's books are all ADULT reads, not recommended for those under the age of 18. Thanks!

Things I Love

Thirteen Things I LOVE

My Grandbaby, Lexxi

Love everything about motorcycles.

I love books!

I love chocolate chip cookies from the oven.

I love the scent of fresh cut grass

I love lilacs

I love a campfire and roasting marshmallows

I love music!

I love playing in the rain

I love a cozy fireplace on a cold winters' night.

I love this pic. It is going to be my next tattoo in July. 

Minus the stockings, add the leather.

I love the look of snow and ice on a tree.