Jun 11 2012

Last Second Filler by PJ Schnyder (Thanks!)

Hi all, Monday’s post has broken again   :’(   Our immense apologies for that!  At the last moment PJ Schnyder was awesome enough open some time in her schedule and sit down for an impromptu interview.  

That interview will go up in a few short hours – in the meantime here’s her most recent blog post.  Thank you for your patience awesome readers!  We promise more and more giveaways in the future!  :D

 

Lori Foster’s RAGT 2012

June 4, 2012

Whew. Back from my very first Lori Foster Reader and Author Get Together. Thank you so much to Lori Foster and staff for organizing such an enjoyable event!

The weekend began with an ambitious road trip. Dana Marie Bell, Stephanie Flash Burke and Joyfully Reviewed piled into a rental van thanks to the L33t packing skills of Dana’s hubby.

Upon arrival, we found the hotel lovely and people already mingling a bit in the lobby. Being short of sleep and having had a day job commitment in the morning, I have to admit I didn’t make it down to socialize until lunch time. However, actual registration went fairly quickly and I nabbed my swag bag plus t shirt. After that, it was a bit more relaxed chatting and hanging out with various people both of old and new acquaintance.

Later in the afternoon, I sat with the ladies for the Friday afternoon book signing. It was so great to meet new readers, say Hi to familiar faces and generally have a good time. All of the copies of HEART’S SENTINEL I’d brought were sold and several copies of GIMME SHELTER, the anthology. Thank you to the readers who decided to give me a try!

Later in the evening, I pitched in to help with the Carina Press Pictionary event. That was incredible fun! Many of the authors of Carina Press were there to help with the game and giveaway prizes. Laughter, shouts and general hilarity ensued. We closed out the night in the lobby again, having been a mission to polish off a couple of bottles of wine. Keri Stevens and Dana joined me to meet the challenge.

Saturday began bright and early. I was told to hit the breakfast in my jammies, and that I did. Bagels, Krispy Creme Doughnuts and juice turned out to be a carb loaded, sugar rush of a start to my day. Congrats to Mimmi on winning the basket I donated for the charity raffle. I hope you enjoy the Almond Champagne. It’s one of my favorites!

Meal times stick out the most in my mind for Saturday. And while those who know me wouldn’t be surprised considering my love for food, it was really the awesome company. The Carina Press authors made lunch very pleasant with conversation covering everything from writerly views and deep thoughts to zany stories about stalkers and mayonnaise. Also, gotta say, it was a life-changing event going to dinner with Monica Burns and many other authors. My abs still ache from all the laughter and my voice is going to take days to recover. Besides, I not only got to witness but also captured on video, an impromptu reading by Monica from her book, KISMET. How cool is that? Big shout out to waiter Larry and bartender Wally for being so much fun.

Late night at the bar saw me checking in with so many cool people. Really, this event was fantastic for hanging out and chatting, making new friends and meeting new readers. I loved it! Not to mention playing Dirty Mad Libs with Linnea Sinclair and several others. Oh the insanity. LOL

After all of that, Sunday was a tired but cheerful cluster of good-byes and packing the van. The majority of the day was beautiful and I napped through quite a bit of it.

To leave you all with a peek into just how fun the weekend was, (click–>) here’s the video of Monica’s impromptu reading. Enjoy!

 

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Jan 18 2011

Predator or prey? with PJ Schnyder!

Back in the game! It’s blog Wednesday and we have PJ Schnyder here to entertain us! Are you marked as prey? Do you know? We’ll let’s find out!


Experience the hunt for a day. Know every minute of every hour, something about you awakens predators of every kind. Know the predators will single out and pick you. Face fear and learn the strength a person must summon to survive to see every new sunrise.

In a world where the supernatural is hidden by the veneer of human disbelief, Aine was raised in the melting pot of human cultures where she could grow up free of the stigma of half breed. However, power calls to power. Touched by an eight headed dragon, Aine’s blood incites the hunger of every predator, marking her so the beast can hunt her and feast.

Out of the masses, the herd of humanity, every predator either mundane or supernatural picks Aine of Mischief’s Daughter as prey. Her curse has an origin outside of herself.

In our world, in our day and age, what marks anyone as prey?

An article in Psychology Today (http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200812/marked-mayhem) provides insight on how criminals select their victims. You might be surprised by the thought process behind their choices.

I’d thought perhaps criminals had a particular taste in gender or looks, size or stature. But it goes beyond those to many other factors, including cues as subtle as body language. Posture, the way you walk, or your facial expressions as you move from point A to Point B are all tells.   They let a predator know how vulnerable you might be.

Heck, in the article, researchers ran a study with convicted criminals, showing them images of a busy city street crowded with pedestrians. The victims the convicted criminals picked out weren’t chosen by gender or race, age or size. Those marked as prey weren’t always petite women, sometimes they were men of large stature.

What marked people as prey?

Read the article. Aine knows why she is marked, but do you know if you are?

I recently attended a Women’s Self Defense workshop given by Tri State Martial Arts Academy.  We learned the 4 A’s of Self-Defense: Awareness, Avoidance, Attitude and Action. We then spent two hours learning how to take action if the first 3 A’s fail and there is no recourse but Action to escape.

Leading up to the workshop, I ran a promotion (http://pjschnyder.com/blog/2011/01/07/dont-be-a-victim/) with an offer to give a free copy of Heart’s Sentinel and a signed cover flat to one of the attendees of the workshop. Many of my local friends thought it was a great idea, but all had similar sentiments. They passed on actually attending the self-defense workshop because they weren’t interested or were even intimidated by the physical aspect of the skills to be taught.

A question floats in my mind after learning so much at the workshop. What if my friends who passed on attending need those skills someday?

I’d like to offer a free ecopy of Heart’s Sentinel with this guest post.  Please comment for a chance to win and I’ll select a winner at random in one week.

Be safe.

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