Give Kindle eBooks for Christmas--No Kindle Required

Yes, friends, it's true. What a truly amazing announcement for Amazon to make on Cyber Monday--gateway to Internet overindulgence for the next month. When you're out shopping the World Wide Web on this day of outstanding online bargains, an obvious gift for Aunt Lucy or Grandpa George for you to consider is a Kindle ebook!

Don't worry if Auntie or Gramps doesn't have an ereader--it doesn't matter! Amazon has designed their Kindle site so that you can send any Kindle ebook (and that would include my cozy mystery Sounds of Murder) as a gift that can be downloaded later by the recipient on any type of ereader or ereader app.

So, don't spend another holiday doling out fruitcakes--give your family and friends a remarkably low-priced Kindle ebook! And with Amazon's new royalty policy, many authors have recently decreased the prices on their ebooks (just as I did on my cozy mystery Sounds of Murder) so you can buy several Kindle ebooks for everyone on your gift list!

(photo from www.packratstudios.com)

We Have a Winner!

Congratulations to PK Hrezo who is the winner of a copy of my cozy mystery Sounds of Murder. PK was one of many joggers who stopped by Subjective Soup during the recent Blog Jog Day. She too is an author--you may want to check out her blog.

PK, I'll be shipping out your copy of SOM as soon as I get your address. For all of the rest of you who visited me on Blog Jog Day, I say "thank you" for stopping by.

Welcome Blog Joggers!

Greetings, blog joggers! You've landed on my personal diary blog called Subjective Soup. You must be tired from all your jogging, so why not stop and rest a while. I'm not a jogger but I do belong to a gym and my son is a marathoner, so I really appreciate anyone who can exercise this much! I'm really glad you're here. This is a friendly blog and I like visitors.

I also love comments, so please, if you have the energy, before you take off, leave me a comment. I promise, it will be worth your while, because I will be giving away a copy of my cozy mystery Sounds of Murder to one of today's commenters (but only if you leave me an email or mailing address so I can contact you about where to ship your prize!).

My name is Patricia Rockwell. I'm a retired college professor of Communication who now writes and publishes murder mysteries (Check out my publishing company Cozy Cat Press). I was born in Nebraska but I've lived all over, most recently for thirteen years in Louisiana. I'm highly motivated and anxious to see my fledgling enterprise succeed.

I live in Aurora, Illinois, with my husband Milt, who is a retired Air Force officer (and one-time English teacher). He is often the subject of many of my posts and, as he doesn't read my blogs, he doesn't know he's the subject (and I hope you don't tell him). Doesn't he look blissfully ignorant? (He's actually the smartest person I know.)

I also have another blog called Communication Exchange which is devoted to the discussion of communication-related issues. I'd love for you to check it out to at your convenience. I love answering questions about communication research on this blog.

What? You have to leave? You need to get on to your next blog jog station? But, you just got here! You really are determined to make the rounds! That's remarkable! I admire that in you! I suppose you'd like to know your next stop, wouldn't you? Well, here it is. Just click! Vila Spider Hawk. Vila Spider Hawk is an author too and she has a great site. I know because I've visited it. So, don't just sit there, get up and get moving. She's waiting for you! Tell Vila I said "hello!" If you'd like to visit a different blog in the jog, go here!

Bye! And please come again!

Our First Gig: NCIMWC

Our new group, the North Central Illinois Mystery Writers' Collective, had its first gig yesterday, giving a panel presentation at the Kishwaukee Community College library to a full house of mystery readers (the college designed a wonderful poster advertising our presentation that I've included here). The program went extremely well. The audience was receptive and we actually sold some books! I hope this first outing bodes well for our group of four to schedule other gigs at area schools, libraries, bookstores, and local clubs. If any of you live in the north central Illinois area (or the western suburbs of Chicago) and would like our group to present a panel about mystery writing for your group or organization, just contact me. Our fee is reasonable-- it's free!

Here we are after the event yesterday. From left to right: John Desjarlais, author of several historical novels and a new thriller series starting with Bleeder and the upcoming Viper; Diane Morlan, my writing buddy, and author of the cozy mystery Too Dead to Dance; Karen Gallahue, author of the international thriller Murder With a French Twist; and me, Patricia Rockwell, author of the cozy mystery Sounds of Murder.

One Month and Counting!

That adorable little grandson of mine--Braeden--is one month old today. If you aren't getting too tired of photos--here are some more.

Blog Jog Day

Here's a super opportunity for all of you bloggers out there to get acquainted, recognized, and rewarded. It's called Blog Jog Day and it happens on Sunday, November 21, of this year. On this day, blog readers from all over will be able to "jog" around the blogosphere from one blog to another via blog links and visit an extraordinary number of participating blogs--many of whom will be conducting special giveaways or contests. If you are a blogger and would like to get in on all the "jogging" action, just jog over to: http://blogjogday.blogspot.com and sign up. There is a one-time small fee of $2.00--which seems a minuscule price to pay to get this amazing exposure to so many new readers.

As for me, I will be hosting a giveaway on Blog Jog Day--a print copy of my cozy mystery Sounds of Murder. All that participating joggers need to do to be eligible to win is to leave a comment with their name and an email address where I can contact them. I will draw the winner's name at random from the commenters and send the winner's prize out the very next day!

Please join me in all the jogging. My son runs marathons and I certainly can't jog fast enough to keep up with him, but I can jog well enough to participate in the Blog Jog Day. So can you!

Did You?